True for some but not all. Among the dashanami the "giri" line accepts non-brahmana.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On Jul 13, 2010, at 1:22 PM, Mike Dixon wrote: > > > > > > > I hate to say this, but when I was in India, at Jyotir Math, the > > friend I was with, swore to me the monk baby sitting the place, > > told him that the current Shankaracharya, forget his name, was M's > > son! At the time, I laughed it off as a missunderstanding, but in > > light of what I've read on FFL, I have to wonder if it's not true. > > He, the current Shank, does resemble a younger M. What a Soap Opera > > that would make! > > > Think about it Mike: there's a huge caste problem with that theory. > Indians are extremely caste-conscious. The second you utter your > surname, you're "pegged". The Shankaracharya Order is extremely > Brahmin-centric. No other castes need apply. No other castes would be > teaching in that tradition, let alone standing as one of it's line- > holders. >