On Monday 24 Nov 2008 8:00:51 pm ashok _ wrote: > On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 5:11 PM, ss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The virtues of not being overly materialistic, and overly greedy are both > > actively taught in Brahminical Hinduism and actively practised by many > > including some in my own family and among my ancestors. It is not at all > > clear to me that such things are actively taught as part of family > > culture among non Brahmins in India. > > I have closely seen a microcosm of various indian communities, none of > whom are brahmins, some are not even hindu : oshwals, patels, bohras, > khojas, badalas, lohanas... I can think of any number of examples > where people drive 30 year old cars (kept in pristine condition)... or > don't use cars at all... not because they can't afford better... but > because they know they don't need anything more... Maybe they all had > brahmin teachers to indoctrinated them into brahminic virtues (or > maybe they were all descended from brahmins...)... I think I should > enquire ...
The owner of a hospital I visit has a net worth that is at least 8 figures in US$. He is not a Brahmin - but his family have all the traits that I have stated are Brahmin traits - being studious, honest, self effacing, humble, non materialistic, etc. He is a friend of Naryanmurthy (of Infosys) and claims to admire Narayanmurthy's "Brahminical" frugality and lack of show of wealth or arrogance in his personal life. However this man openly states that Brahmins by and large have no idea how to handle, and make money. He is, of course past master at that. However his personal integrity prevents him from permitting "business tactics" in his hospital of the sort that are used by some other hospitals. These include kickbacks to referring doctors and even to autorickshaw drivers and private ambulance drivers who can divert trauma patients to their hospital. One hospital even maintans an "agent" as the accident and emergency department of busy government hospitals such as NIMHANS who is on the lookout for distressed people waiting to be seen to tempt them to be taken to the private hospital who is paying the agent. In general, my friends and acquantances of the Vysya comunity are amused at the Brahmin's naivete in terms of money. Money is God for the Vysya community and they are good at multiplying money. They are extremely hardworking when it comes to running their businesses, and very frugal - with no needless spending, But some "business tactics" which they use would be rejected by the Brahmin as immoral. The Vysya justification is that it is done out of Bhakti (devotion) - a part of all profits are set aside for a deity - usually of Tirupati. They make money for God. If their god gets richer, so do they. "Everything I do, I do it for you". shiv
