In the Vedic era, a Brahmin was a person who had acquired Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana Atma Gnana.+

The one who has realized the Brahman (God in truth) is Brahmin, not the one who is born in the Brahmin caste.

In the Vedic era, a Brahmin was a person who had acquired Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana Atma Gnana.

This was an extremely difficult path of the discipline of body, mind, and intellect, and people irrespective of their birth or class, who were dedicated to such an austere life, were recognized as Brahmins.

A great example of this tradition (that a person becomes a Brahmin, rather than born as one) is the case of Vishwamitra, a warrior (Kshatriya), who became a Brahmin after attaining Atma Jnana or Brahma Gnana or Self-Knowledge.

A smriti or code of conduct composed by Sage Atri defines Brahminhood very clearly.

"By birth, every man is a Shudra (an ignorant person). Through various types of disciplines (samskaras), he becomes a dwija (twice-born). Through the studies of scriptures, he becomes a vipra (or a scholar). Through the realization of supreme spirit (Brahma jnana), he becomes a Brahmin.”

The belief that people born in the Brahmin caste, automatically become Brahmins, is a much later concept in very ancient India. Thus, Brahmin means not a caste but one who has attained Atma Jnana or Brahma Gnana.

The one who has realized the Brahman (God) is Brahmin, not the one who is born in the Brahmin caste. Anyone can become Brahmin by acquiring Brahma Gnana.

The very concepts of castes by birth, upper/lower castes, superior/inferior castes, outcastes, untouchables, Dalits, etc. are clearly prohibited by Rig-Veda”.

A Brahmin is not a Brahmin merely because he is born out of a Brahmin mother’s womb. Nor he is a Brahmin merely because he is born into the Brahmin caste. Brahmin is not Caste it is the state of God. Anyone can become a Brahmin by acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

A Brahmin is one who has acquired Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana or one who is free from ignorance.

He has got rid of ignorance; He has traveled beyond all bounds of form, time, and space. He is no longer tied to the illusory form, time, and space.

A person who has acquired Advaitic Gnana is a Brahmin, not a person who indulges in priestcraft.

A Brahmin is one who has got rid of the strap of ignorance by acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

A Brahmin is one who frees himself from the dualistic illusion.

A Brahmin is one who has broken all links with the illusory form, time, and space by acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Brahmin has taken off the cross-bar of ignorance. He has become aware that the truth is hidden by the ‘I’.

A Brahmin is abused and insulted by the ignorant. He is tortured, imprisoned, and bound up by the ignorant. But he endures all these without being provoked or without losing his temper.

A Brahmin has patience as his power and his firm conviction about the truth, which is hidden by the ‘I’.

A Brahmin is free from the ignorance of his true existence. He is not a performer of religious worship and rituals. He is not a scriptural scholar. He is restrained. He is fully aware of the fact that his individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Brahmin is one who does not belong to any religion, caste, race, or nationality because he does not belong to the domain of form, time, and space. He, even being within the domain of the form, time, and space is not of the form, time, and space.

The water does not get attached to the surface of the lotus leaf. The mustard seed does not get attached to the point of a needle. In the same way, the Brahmin does not get attached to religion or caste, race, or nationality. He is non-attached from the world in which he exists even though he is in the world; he is not of this world.

A Brahmin has become aware of the fact that the world in which he exists is an illusion created out of consciousness.

Brahmin is the one who is aware of the fact that Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana frees the Soul from the cage of the dualistic illusion.

A Brahmin possesses profound wisdom. He is full of insight. He is capable of discriminating the right path from the wrong path. He has reached the highest state.

A Brahmin is one who has established in reality of his true existence. He is not attached to the world in which he exists.

A Brahmin is the knower of Brahman. His speech is true. His words are well-meaning, constructive, and not harsh. By his words, he will not give offense to anyone. Nor will his words provoke people. He silently shares the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

A Brahmin is the knower of Brahman. He has no attachments to the ‘I’ - He has no spiritual doubts due to his right awareness, He has entered the deathless existence.

A Brahmin is one who has traveled beyond form, time, and space and realized that true existence is formless, timeless, and spaceless.

The Soul is like the moon at the full - spotless and free of blemishes. The Soul, the Self is pure, calm, serene, and exceptionally tranquil.

A Brahmin has crossed over the quagmire of passion. He has gone beyond the difficult terrain of the dualistic illusion that is hard to traverse and has crossed the boundaries of ignorance. He is fully and totally reached the other shore.

He is in Self-awareness. His spiritual doubts are resolved. His quest is over He is no longer given to grasping. He is cooled.

A Brahmin is one who has realized Brahman. He has given up the bonds that bind him to humanity. He has gone beyond the bounds of form, time, and space. He is disengaged from all bonds of the dualistic illusion.

A Brahmin is one who has given up the religion and religious idea of God and religious rituals. He has also given up yogic Samadhi and the practice of meditation. He has achieved total tranquillity in a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. He has conquered the effortless reality with his mental effort.

A Brahmin knows the experience of birth, life, and death, and the world is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. He is not attached to the illusory experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

He has reached a destination that is beyond the illusory experience of birth, life, death, and the world. He possesses the knowledge of the essence which is the cause of the world in which he exists.

The path of truth is neither of Gods, nor the religion, nor of humans. All taints of ignorance are totally eradicated in the Atmic path. Those who tread the Atmic path have attained the highest spiritual knowledge.

He is a great Sage as he has realized the essentials. He has conquered the truth which is beyond birth, life, death, and the world. He is devoid of blemishes. He has washed away all the ignorance. He has awakened to the essentials.

He has a higher awareness. He has reached the state of a Sage. He has achieved the final perfection.

Brahmin is the one who has realized the Brahman (ultimate truth) and helps fellow seekers towards the inner path.

Mundaka Upanishad:~ As rivers flow into the sea and in so doing lose name and form, so even the wise man, freed from name and form, attains the Supreme Being, the Self-luminous, the Infinite. He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman. ~ 3.2.8-

The one who knows Brahman knows his body and his experience of the world are merely an illusion and also he knows his body and his experience of the world are also as Ataman (consciousness), which is Brahman.

Thus, the priestcraft which is crafted on the body-based theories will lead one to hallucinate Moksha. But real moksha or freedom is possible only through the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.:~Santthosh Kumaar