BRAHMINS Brahmin Motto:

BRAHMINS
Brahmin Motto:
|| Lokaha Samastaha Sukhino Bhavanthu || (May the whole world be happy)
|| Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu || (May all people be happy)
|| Sarva Jeeva Janthu Sukhino Bhavanthu || (May all beings be happy)


"The wisdom of the ancients has been taught by the philosophers of Greece, but also by people called Jews in Syria, and by Brahmins in India."
-Megasthenes, Greek Ambassador to Gupta Empire of India (now Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India), writing around 300 BC.


Meaning of “Brahmin”
The word Brahmin means many things to many people resulting in confusion. One of the reasons for this confusion is Sanskrit language5. Many words in Sanskrit have many meanings6. Depending upon the context one has to take the meaning of the word. The word Brahmana (hereinafter "Brahmin") means the God, one who knows God, one who has the knowledge of God, one who has the knowledge of Vedas, an intellectual, a priest, a teacher, a professor, a person belonging to Brahmin caste, a superior person, a text related to Vedas, and so on7. Accordingly, priests in a mosque, church, a synagogue, a gurudwara etc. are all Brahmins because they are all , obviously, priests. They are also Brahmins because they are supposed to have the knowledge of God. They are also Brahmins because they are intellectuals. However, none of them are God and at least a couple of them would consider it blesphemous to say so. They may not have the knowledge of the Vedas and they may not belong to the Brahmin caste. And certainly, they are not the texts related to Vedas. To add to this confusion there are Boston Brahmins who are Americans and have nothing to do with the Vedas or vegetarianism. They are not even remotely related to the Indian Continent.

The Vedas are the primary source of knowledge for all Brahmin traditions, both orthodox & heterodox. All religions of Brahmins and all traditions, in one way or other, take inspiration from the Vedas. Traditional Brahmin accepts Vedas as apaurusheyam (not man-made), but revealed truths and of eternal validity or relevance and hence the Vedas are considered Srutis that which have been heard and are the paramount source of Brahmin traditions and is believed to be divine. These Srutis include not only the four Vedas (the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda), but also their respective Brahmanas. Brahmins also give tremendous importance to purity of body and mind and hence attach importance to ritual baths and cleanliness.