Brahmin Communities

The word Brahmin means many things to many people resulting in confusion. One of the reasons for this confusion is Sanskrit language. 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 on. 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.
ब्राह्मण हा हिंदू समाजातील चातुर्वर्णातील एक वर्ण किंवा जात आहे. पूर्वी ज्या लोकांनी धार्मिक ग्रम्थ आणि वेदांचा अभ्यास करून त्यातील ज्ञान ग्रहण केले अशा लोकांना ब्राह्मण ही उपाधी दिली जात असे. त्यावेळी ब्राह्मण बनण्यासाठी कोणावरही बंदी नव्हती फक्त धर्मोपदेशक म्हणुन त्यांना स्वत:चे कर्तृत्व दाखवावे लागे.