If a Brahmin doesn't perform duties as per his varna, is he still called as brahmin?

Question

Normal duties of Brahmana varna are waking up early morning, learning and chanting Vedas, etc, But if a Brahmin doesn't perform these duties, is he still respected like other brahmins who perform these duties regularly? I am providing a verse from Manusmriti.

अविद्वांश्चैव विद्वांश्च ब्राह्मणो दैवतं महत् । प्रणीतश्चाप्रणीतश्च यथाऽग्निर्दैवतं महत् ॥ ३१७ ॥

avidvāṃścaiva vidvāṃśca brāhmaṇo daivataṃ mahat | praṇītaścāpraṇītaśca yathā'gnirdaivataṃ mahat || 317 ||

Learned or unlearned, the Brāhmaṇa is a great divinity; just as consecrated or unconsecrated, the fire is a great divinity.—(317)

Answer 1

No. He will be considered degraded then. He will be a Brahmin just for the namesake.

From Manu Smriti:

2.103. But he who does not (worship) standing in the morning, nor sitting in the evening, shall be excluded, just like a Sudra, from all the duties and rights of an Aryan.

From VYasa Smriti , chapter 4:

A Brahmana, who has not studied the Vedas, is like a wooden elephant, or a leather-deer, but bear the name of the genus he belongs to. (37)

Like a deserted hamlet, like a waterless well, a Brahmana, who has not read the Vedas, is a Brahmana only in name. (38)

Grains of rice given to an unholy Brahmana, who has broken his vows and neglected the study of the Vedas, begin to cry in dismay, saying, " what evils have we committed to be punished with such a degradation.

And, from the Parashara Smriti:

3. Brahmans who know not the Gayatri relating to Savita, who are unacquainted with the Sandhya prayers, and with the sacrifice of fire, and who betake to tillage, — are Brahmans in name only

4. If Brahmans, the mere bearers of a Brahman's name, presume to prescribe a penance for sin, — they are guilty of a sin, and are destined to go to hell.

5. A Brahman, ignorant of the Gayatri hymn, is more unclean than even a Shoodra ; the Brahmans who know the nature and the sanctity of the Gayatri hymn, are honored and revered by all persons.

Also, in afterlife a Brahmin, who has not performed his duties well, becomes a particular preta as mentioned in the following verse:

Manu Smriti 12.71. A Brahmana who has fallen off from his duty (becomes) an Ulkamukha Preta, who feeds on what has been vomited; and a Kshatriya, a Kataputana (Preta), who eats impure substances and corpses.

Answer 2

If Brahmin not follow his Dharma properly than he become a lower caste.

Manusmriti 2:103:-103. But a twice born who does not (worship) standing in the morning, nor sitting in the evening, shall be excluded, just like a Sudra, from all the duties and rights of an Aryan.

Manusmriti 2:172. A twice born should not pronounce (any) Vedic text excepting (those required for) the performance of funeral rites, since he is on a level with a Sudra before his birth from the Veda.

Manusmriti 4:245. A Brahmana who always connects himself with the most excellent (ones), and shuns all inferior ones, (himself) becomes most distinguished; by an opposite conduct he becomes a Sudra.

Answer 3

One can't be Brahman by his/her birth but instead by his/her karma (deeds that man does).

Once Shree Ram said to Lakshman that Man can't be a saint or branhman by his birth but instead he can be by his karma (Deeds that man does). Even if you are son of a Maharish that doesn't make you also a Rishi but your karma will decide what or who you actually are... This is the reason, Maharishi Vishwamitra is know as the great Brahma Rishi instead of a great king (Vishwamitra is a son of a king) And Bhagwan Parshuram knows as Kshatriya more than Brahman (His father Maharishi Jamdagney was a Great sage). Both of their karma was apposite of their father's that's why they are not famous for the same thing, for which their father was.

Hence your karma will decide what actually you are, not your birth or your father's karma. So what kind of karma we will perform in our life that karma will decide whether we are brahman or anything else.

Answer 4

janmana jayate sudrah samskarat dwij uchchte veda pathnat bhavet viprah brahma janati iti brahmanah

“By birth one is a sudra (lowest caste), by the purificatory process one becomes a dvija (higher caste), by study of the Vedas one becomes a vipra, and one who knows Brahman is a brahmana.”