Shri Kalyankumar,
I am not a regular "poster" here. I am also a conservative "Brahmana" trying to adhere to the old ways of life - as far as possible. And I think the main reason is that the lure of an IT job, big salary, foreign tour/settling down, etc., are beyond my ability. With this introduction, I start.
Yes, as you say in the OP, we brahmanas are getting extinct. But even now there are sufficient number of brahmana families which believe in marrying only within their caste and the boys and girls from such families do not "jump the fence" (this is my English translation of a common Malayalam usage, "vEli cADuka", meaning go out of the fence by jumping over it; this signifies the recourse to illegal and unpermitted sex by women, mainly but I think in the present context it can be used for both boys and girls.). So, the complete extinction of the Tamil Brahmin community will take a longer time than what may be seen from the enthusiastic support usually found in this forum for inter-caste, inter-religious, etc. marriages.
According to me the large number of marriages between brahmin girls and NB boys, is happening because the girls are nowadays mostly earning a high salary and they want to "prove" to their parents that they are modern girls, no longer like the girls of old who were always obedient to their parents, elders and so on. Perhaps they also want the thrill of living with a NB and leading a "no holds barred" life style, including their private life; with a brahmin boy as husband, these girls know what type of life they will have, observing their mother, elder sisters and sisters-in-law (who will have hundred and one complaints about their husbands, usually), etc.
But this trend cannot be reversed, I strongly feel. May be the extinction of true Brahmanan is God's plan for Kaliyuga.
These days, as you say, think on their own because of their high salary besides building an
emotional relationship on the basis of their own thinking without caring or giving cognition to their
friends or relatives.
Coming to the Temple Priests, the vocation of Temple Priests is not welcomed by their own
family members in some area, mainly because a few Brahmin Girls do not welcome that profession.
This move, perhaps, drives the age old Priests to have a second thought and advise their
children to switch over to some other professions (as they do not get girls from within their
fold). If we go back to our precious documents, we find that we should accept a vocation
which our Dharma Sastrass assign to us. Brahmin Priests are highly orthodox, scholarly,
trained in the field over many years, an authority to do all services to the God; in fact they
were respected as a Liaison Officer between the God and the general Public. My relatives
used to mention that those days in Kerala, girls preferred cohabitation with Namboothiri,
as it would pave a way for an intelligent children. If the above trend prevails, we may
find extinction of Brahmin Priests too.
Above all that, it is just because we belong to Forward Class Community, a fear or an
apprehension started cropping up in the minds of our people and we are put to problems
and sufferings owing to non-availability of reservations, as is done in other cases, the
job market is occupied by others and we are denied our entitlements. This slowly leads
to economic weakness. Over and above that, we find some Brahmin boys do not show
resistance or retaliation (owing to non-availability of support from their brethren people)
to get over the crisis if something comes upon, with the result they give up very easily.
If we are to proceed along like this in the years to come, our community boys getting jobs
in Government Sector or in prominent Corporate Sector Offices (due to reservation element)
will slowly bring a picture of dismal prospects. I do not want to term it as the future looks
wind-swept.
Balasubramanian
Ambattur