Shastras restrict who Hindus may accept as guru regardless of learning

Evidence

The Mandal may be asked to explain why it has disobeyed the shastric injunction in selecting the president. According to the shastras, the Brahmin is appointed to be the guru for the three varnas. 1 is a direction of the shastras. The Mandal therefore knows from whom a Hindu should take his lessons and from whom he should not. The shastras do not permit a Hindu to accept anyone as his guru merely because he is well versed. This is made very clear by Ramdas, a Brahmin saint from Maharashtra, who is alleged to have inspired Shivaji to establish a Hindu Raj. In his Dasbodh, a socio-politico-religious treatise in Marathi verse, Ramdas asks, addressing the Hindus, can we accept an antyaja3 to be our guru because he is a pandit (i.e., learned)? He gives an answer in the negative. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 810

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s caste-annihilation thread: scriptural restriction of who may teach is a core mechanism of Brahminical hierarchy. — connects to: Caste membership rather than merit determines who Hindus will follow as leaders — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 902
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Caste membership rather than merit determines who Hindus will follow as leaders — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 902