For centuries, Hindu society as it is called now(losing its identity as Sanathana Dharma since the foreigners entered the country), had been inflicted with dogmatic decisions made by selfish people which have caused a lot of problems for genuine people as they were listed ineligible by virtue of some excuse. Lord Krishna had divided the society based on the type of work they do into four different sections, i.e Brahmins, ksathriyas, vaisyas, and sudras. There is no mention of one is superior to the other. But they have multiplied into hundreds or may be thousands of castes and how and who decided that one is superior to the other and one is eligible for something and the other is not.

Coming to the point, these divisions have obstructed some intelligent and civilized people to learn Sanskrit and thereby stopping them to study Vedas. The net result is those who put themselves on a pedestal blocking others, are not interested in Vedas as they think it will not give them a money spinning job to live and those who are interested are not allowed and so much so, the society is missing out the Vedic knowledge which has been world renowned. Foreigners(mostly Germans and British) came to the country, learned Sanskrit, studied Vedas and took the knowledge with them to their home lands with full appreciation of what they learnt. Then why deprive some natives of this great ancient knowledge? My own great grand father wanted to learn Sanskrit as a child but almost everybody turned him down because he was a non-Brahmin. Looking at his brilliance and determination somebody taught him Sanskrit language at a high school level and he managed to read Vedas. He managed to successfully condemn the selfish attitudes of the minority in the society dominating and dictating the life of majority.

To start with, women were disqualified to study or even to listen when the men were studying. That excluded 50% of the society. Then sudras or the working class were excluded. That left a minority formed by Brahmins, ksathriyas and vaisyas. Vaisyas are busy doing business and making money for themselves and for the society by doing commerce. The Kshathriyas are involved in their kingdoms(in the past) or politics and ruling. The Brahmins who pride themselves in their caste, some of them don’t even know the meaning of the word. When born as a child everybody is a Sudra. When given the rights to wear white thread at a ceremony at the age of eight(starting the second life or dvija - being born second time) they should start studying Vedas and do regular Sandhyavandanam(praying to Sun). If and when they do that then they are qualified to call themselves a Brahmin. Also by studying Vedas and acquiring Vedantic knowledge knowing about Parabrahman then they are the true and real Brahmin(one who knows about Brahma). But not even one percent of them do all this. Lot of them eat meat, drink alcohol and lead a life which makes them ineligible but, know they don’t agree with that.

Another interesting and damning rule that is being observed in atleast some places is, if a charitable person wants to donate money to an Advaitha peetha(institute) or a Sanskrit school to support a student, they want to know the donor’s caste. As long as the money is earned honestly by hard work, how does it matter what caste the donor is? So this is another way of ruining the ancient golden nuggets of Vedic knowledge. The other places established to teach Upanishads have dedicated themselves to yagnas, homas and upasanas but not interested in teaching the knowledge about SELF, which is the essence and nectar that should be relished. Almost 100% of Vedic schools now a days don’t allow a non Brahmin student into the school(I have gone through checking nearly 27 schools in A.P).

It is mentioned in Yajurveda, Parameswara addressing "Oh Scholars! I have enlightened Vedas for all human beings including Brahmin, kshatriya, sudra, including women, you should also do the same". Gita says “Streeyo vaisyasthadha stepi yanthi paramgathim”(Ch 9 sloka 32) meaning all should listen to Mahavakyas and attain Moksha. This dogmatic stupid minority conveniently ignored the instructions of Veda and forgot that Vidura in Mahabharatha, Dharma Vyadhudu were Sudras, who attained Brahmajnana and also taught some others. Kavashi, Yiloosha, Kashava were sudras, and Apala, Lopamudra(women) etc have made Some mantras from Rigveda(most ancient of all) very popular. Gargi and Mitrayi, Sulabha, have attained Brahmajnana, are women. There could be many more examples of the so called ineligible groups who have excelled in Vedic knowledge.

In the modern times, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Ramatheerdha, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Dayananda Sraswathi have tried to redress the situation but it is a drop in the ocean or may be two and how long would it take to open the eyes of dogmatic people? Has this to be until the Vedas disappear altogether and then even if they open the eyes there will not be anything to save or learn. Perhaps the Hindus have to beg the foreigners to teach them the Upanishads!! Alas, what a sad ending for a once glorious nation.