On becoming a Brahmin

I was born in a Brahmin family
Therefore, I am branded a Brahmin
But that does not make me a Brahmin
I do not even know my Vedic genealogy

My Vedic genealogy could tell me technically
Which lineage I have descended from
That knowledge may make me a literate Brahmin
But that does not tell me, who I really am?

As I grew up in a Brahmin family traditions
I have witnessed Hindu rights and rituals
And comprehended what my religion is
But all that did not reveal my real identity

As I grew up and matured
Rituals gradually gave way to thoughts
And thoughts to introspection
To learn further about my real identity

Career seeking was easy for me
Because I just followed other's foot steps
My career just happened to me
In absence of a real plan or vision

I did not ask for much
So I did not receive much
But I always toiled hard
To learn what I did not know

But then one day at 6 AM at age sixty
When I was preparing to go to the hospital
For my scheduled heart by-pass surgery
My entire life stood still in front of me

I seemed to glimpse at my entire life
Without any passion nor disdain
It just seemed as if entire life span is a flash
And all the sixty years, seemed like a moment




For a moment I felt detached from life
Neither in pain, sorrow, nor joy
It was just a feeling of total immunity
To all the existing forces around

All of a sudden, whole life seemed to mean
A whole lot as well as nothing simultaneously
Not in an expression of any joy nor desperation
But simply expressing itself through a unique vibration

Through this unique vibration arose a quest
A deeper desire to sense my very identity
In the greater mass and time of this universe
In which an entire human life seemed just a tiny moment

This unique vibration is an outgrowth
Not of any particular event or a moment
It is like a seed which germinates very slowly
Starting at a point unknown in ones life

This unique vibration does not generate any sound or word
And yet it communicates a message undisputedly
That self enlightenement is a frame of mind
For each individual to connect with creation itself

Brahmin is not a caste
It is a frame of searching mind
Trying to become the ideal Man
With total harmony within and without