Varna System-Caste System is the need of society
Sanatana dharma(Hinduism) means eternal knowledge. Many of these eternal philosophy is further explained beautifully in bhagavad gita, a small part of epic Mahabharata. These basic fundamental principles being eternal were followed in the past, is followed in the present and will be followed in the future. One of such eternal principle, also the most controversial one talk about the division of human beings in four orders explained completely in epic Mahabharata. These Four orders are :
Shudras-Labourers
Vaishyas- Those who are engaged in trade and economic activities like business, barter traders, merchants etc
Kshatriya-Warriors forming the government to serve its citizens and defends its kindom from outsiders.
Brahmins- Sages, gurus and Priests of religious activities.
"These four division of human beings is applicable to whole mankind and is not limited to any one country or race.Generally, These four orders are associated only with hinduism where it is often abused, misused and misunderstood as caste system.
Now imagine the scenario where india is made invisible from map of this world. Still, you will find the law of four orders of human beings applicable to nations across the world.
If you can't see so, then imagine a country where everyone including womens decides to join defence force to become fighters or warriors. Giving equal rights to all, all are now sitting on the border of their nation with weapons in hand waiting for the enemy to come up.
If this will become the case, then Who will cook the food for thw warriors? What will grow the food in their farmland to feed their nation warriors? who will do the surgery of their wounded soldiers? Who will wash and iron their clothes?Who will teach in schools, colleges etc? Who will clean the city by removing garbage, cleaning seages etc? The whole generation of that nation will remain illiterate because the whole damn citizens of that country is defending their nation with a rifle in their hand.
There is no labourers, no industries, no business nothing etc. such a country will be destroyed within few days? The answer is simple because the four order of human beings were not followed. With no labourers and even a simple strike of few days by workers causes huge damage to the industry and the country. So, just imagine a nation without labourers.
if any country legislate a law of no human beings performing the hectic difficult hard task of laborers. Will such a coutry survive and if it can then Why doesn't any country enact such a law?
No body in this world is a labourers by choice. For ex: If a laborers wins ten lakhs dollars in lottery, will he remain a laborer thereafter?
So, now the question arises: who will decides who becomes a warrior and who becomes a labourers? TAccording to sanatana dharma, human beings are divided in four orders based on their talent(Guna) and deeds (Karma)".. Guna in Vedas means Rajas, sattva and Tamas (prakriti).Depending upon the gunas and karma an individual does in his life, he becomes a brahmin, kshatirya, shudra or vaishyas.
No doubt that such a system is followed today in all countries of the world. For ex: An engineer becomes a software developer, less literate person becomes a motor mechanic or work as mason, farmer etc, Good architect need not be a good musician, a good painter is known for his painting skills and not for his dance and so on.In short, one own decision determines his path and his chosen path determines what he is gonna to be based on his knowledge, qualities, talent and capabilities.
Caste system is nothing but heirarchy by which you are entitled to do a task depending on your qualities, knowledge, karma etc.Such kind of heirarchy is followed in all fields, all industries and all countries. For Ex: In software industry, a person having good management skills is given the task of management. A person good in coding does development whereas a person good in testing tests software. An inefficient manager or a tester doing development and devloper doing testing will severely hamper the quality, features, performance and software related parameters, ultimately resulting in loss of revenues and clients. Similarly,only a person(Brahmin) having depth knowledge of religious scriptures is entitled to do yagnas,pooja and other religous rituals. Any person(Kshatriya) skilled in fighting becomes a warrior. Anyone interested in business becomes a vaishya whereas the unskilled and illiterate ones becomes shudras.
Hence, if anyone say that these four orders should be abolish, he is talking about the destruction of this world by disgracing the ancient sages and scriptures. No matter what the modern world thinks these four eternal orders still apply today across the world. Following verse from bhagvad Gita confirm this:
"O Arjuna, the duties of sudras, kshatriyas, Vaishyas and brahmanas are attributed according to the qualities determined by their own deeds."
Lord krishna Teaching Arjuna
This four order includes wholes mankind and is not limited to any one religion like hinduism. A simple analogy can explain my point. If i hurt my finger, then the natural process of healing apply automatically. My hurt will heal within few days and so, no way one can say that this process of healing was not applicable to humans who lived thousands of years ago. This healing process is natural and independent of any religious belief. Whether one believes or not, like the eternal principle of healing, principle of four orders of human beings is also eternal. These eternal principles were realized by great rishis and sages long time ago and they wrote about this concept in various ancient texts.
one can only see the physical attrbutes of any newborn. We cannot realise the great potential in this newborn and cannot determine if this newborn becomes the future Michelangelo,beethoven, Einstein, priest or a wanted criminal? According to karma in their previous life, One newborn may be gifted some innovative thinking, another may be gifted musical talent while other may be devoid of any such characteristics. Only human efforts and karma decides their future. There are many natural proceses like the healing process but human efforts can survive some destructive natural processes like inventing lifesaving drugs, well constructed buildings to face disasters like floods or earthquakes etc. Without Such human good karmic efforts, many lives would be lost.
Human efforts and wisdom should go together else one wrong step taken by humans can destroy the whole mankind. Nuclear weapons is an supreme example of this case which shws that human are quite capable of destroying whole creation unless stopped by gods. Without wisdom, knowledge is very dangerous because knowledge shos the way and wisdom decides the end. Four orders of humans are based on "qualities born of their own nature", and then its's upto the individual to decide whether to misuse it or abuse it.
No one decides in the hospital if the newborn is going to be an engineer, industrialist, poet or a musician. The situation and the karma of the individual determines his future role in society.
Is Principle of four orders universal? Yes although the definition vary from country to country. Some say it the basic fundamental rights whereas other says it as the discriminative caste system. All civilised countries of this world has citizens performing diverse activities. These civilised activities can be broadly divided into four categories:
1)Shudras(Labourers)
2)Vaishyas(Traders, businessman and similar wealth related economic activities).
3) Warriors(Defence forces and government) and
4)Priests and teachers
Is there any activity which does not fall in the above listed categories. How can people engaged in labour activities cannot be termed as labourers?
Once again i repeat that these four orders of human beings applies to all nations of this world. (Movie Bruce almighty perfect depicts the divisions of people into four varnas). . Only thing wrong in this context is the discrimination, inequality and avoidance of basic fundamental rights to citizens of these four groups. These discrimination and inequality is not taught in Vedas and other religious scriptures. In the next section, we will see Vedic texts against present discriminative caste based system.
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