Society classification in Hinduism

            Every society in every age sees some stratification and classification. It may be tribes or classes in some, clans and others. In India everyone believes it as the caste. The modern caste system was made rigid due to politicians and vote banks, whilst it was never about the birth. The hinduphobic forces coupled with the inherent tamas in the society not to learn about its roots have worsened the case as they believe the western prism more than their own traditional wisdom. While the caste system of today has numerous problems, no one wishes to give up their privileges and continue to perpetuate a false narrative that feeds more hinduphobia, conversion, digestion and sends the society on a downward spiral.

            If one were to believe the distorians or AIT believers, the largest sections of Indian society was oppressed for millennia. The Independence followed by overhyped politicians brought equality. The only danger to this hallucinatory idea is, if we question why we have caste based vote banks. Why don’t people rise above the caste mindset now that the government encourages one to get over it? Why does the government even recognize the hundreds of caste groups? While these may be valid questions for researching the current socio-political framework, our exercise is to understand the early Hindu model.

            Let us cast aside our strong prejudice and open our minds to the numerous literature of ancient times, spanning millennia. The exercise is neither to aggrandize the past nor to reclaim some lost glory, but to study the human psyche, to understand the wisdom of the past and absorb whatever is practical and translatable to the times we live.

Key Hindu concepts

            To understand the societal stratification we need to understand four key ideas – Varnas, ashramas, gunas and Purushartha. Krishna informs us that the universe (could be even multiverse, which will make it ironic), better called as prapancha, a combination of the five mahabhutas. They exhibit a combination of the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas. They are constantly in flux both at the cosmic level and at the individual level. They are usually confused as three properties or characteristics of nature. To understand in the best explanation by Swami Krishnananda – “These properties are the very constituent elements of prakriti. They are not qualities like the whiteness of a cloth, which is different from the cloth, and the blueness of a flower, which is different from the flower. That is not the way in which we have to understand the qualities of prakriti. The gunas are qualities of prakriti in the same way as the three strands of a rope are qualities of the rope. We cannot say that the strands are qualities; they are the very substance of the rope. These qualities, these properties, are the very substance, the very stuff, of prakriti; and they cause bondage to the individual—nibadhnanti. Dehe dehinam avyayam: They bind us.”

 

            It is crucial to note that the gunas have different significance depending on the scale at which it operates. Here we limit our focus on human level. Sattva is purity, transparency. It gives clarity of thought and lets us reflect the true nature of the Self, Atman, as it reflects it. It brings happiness, brilliance, sharpness of understanding, knowledge and rationality. Sattva makes us calm and content, satisfied with ourselves. Rajas has inherent dissatisfaction and makes us restless. It pushes one into toiling after desires. There is an insatiable thirst, trishna. This brings in distraction, passion and attachment. Tamas brings idiocy, lethargy, ignorance and a desire to do nothing. Most of us know as habitual proscrastinators the first hand effects of Tamas. It pushes one into illusion and delusion, making one prone to mistakes. In a nutshell, Sattva leads to happiness and satisfaction, Rajas to nonstop activity and restlessness and Tamas to ignorance, inability to decide or act or even discern what is proper and improper.  No person is made of only one guna and their ratio keeps changing all the time. The 14^th chapter of Bhagavad Gita explores in depth and will be a good place to gain some deeper insights.

            Let us look at the next idea – Varnas, which we have dealt it at length in Varnas – a journey to its roots. The society was stratified based on the gunas and karma into Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. On numerous occasions I have emphasized that birth alone does not constitute the varna, though it definitely acts as a factor. The fallacy that the Brahmana and Kshatriya are superior in society to make them as more desirable creation is a mischievous and erroneous one. In Hindu societies of the past, there was no special privileged work, but suffice to say that the work is a choice based on gunas. In “How anyone can become a Brahmana – Bhagwan Krishna’s insight” and ”How anyone can become a Brahmana – Yudhishtra’s insight” we learnt that by cultivating certain traits, anyone can become a Brahmana. There are many examples in the past from Aitreya Rishi to Jabala of the Upanishads or Viswamitra of Itihasas or even many who were initiated to SriVaishnava during Ramanujacharya times. We see this echo even in ISKCON of modern era. In “Kshatriya – do you exist?” we pondered along the same lines which assure us the birth is not the primary qualification to be a Kshatriya, it is one’s gunakarmas.

            The next aspect of classification is Ashrama, based on the focus area of the life. They are again four – Brahmacharya (Student), Grihasta (Householder), Vanaprastha (Detached or recluse) and Sannyasa (Renunciation). This was not specified only for any one Varna but all. We dived a little deeper in Fourfold Hinduism. In “Purusharthas – a simplified insight” we studied the four aspects of the Purushartha as Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.

Interplay of the Guna-Varnashrama-Purushartha

            Varna literally means color. The rishis attributed a color to each guna – sattva as white, rajas as red and tamas as black. In the modern society we do ascribe colors like in traffic signals, symbols like skull with bones to warn something as dangerous. It is a human way to communicate ideas. From the Varnas, the nonexisting caste was given birth by mixing it with Jati. The word caste is Portuguese in origin (casta). From caste, it further degraded into casteism and secured firmly by Indian politicians as vote banks. To ensure their death grip, they have unleashed secularism and blatant hinduphobia to abuse anything and everything connected with Hinduism with justification.

            Perverted and mischievous minds have twisted the very idea of Krishna’s Gita sloka (4-13) to say Krishna created caste, when the word used is clearly varna.

चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः। तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्।।4.13।।

chātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛiṣhṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśhaḥ । tasya kartāram api māṁ viddhyakartāram avyayam ।।

            Krishna emphatically states that based on the Gunas and Karmas, He has created the fourfold Varna model. If we study the logical possibilities, a person can be dominated by Sattva or Sattva with little Rajas. Such individuals are naturally more contented, immersed in atma vichara. They were called Brahmanas. Their mind was centered on the Moksha. Naturally their goal is to educate themselves and others which became their profession. Rajas dominated people with Sattva inclination were rooted in preserving order in themselves and society. Such individuals were Kshatriyas and gravitated towards Dharma. All the ancient texts highlight the importance of the Kings and rulers of India to be rooted in dharmashastras as they helped maintain order and harmony for all in the society to prosper.

            It may be possible for a person to be predominantly Rajas, yet have a strong streak of Tamas. These individuals work hard but they aspire to relax or enjoy the fruits of their labor. Such individuals were Vaishyas who preferred trade, agriculture and farming. As their aspirations are centered on Artha, it merely expressed as their profession. There is another group which is either mostly tamasic or Tamas mixed with Rajas as secondary. Such a group preferred to give helping hand to the above three groups which showed some direction. They were called Shudras.

            Note neither gunakarma nor profession make one community superior or inferior. Nor did it ever imply that certain privileges were reserved only for certain groups. For instance, the first three groups were given mandatory yajnopavita and rites and rituals, the last one was given the option. Also in any societal endeavor, it was the combination of all the groups that enabled the success of any projects. Valmiki Ramayana quotes elaborately on the broad participation of all the varnas in Ayodhya’s grandeur.

            When we overlay ashrama dharma over Purushartha, we get an interesting picture.  There seems to be a focus on certain aspect of Purushartha to guide the human evolution. The Brahmachari is most prone to lack of discipline due to lack of information. To create a structure in life there was an extra emphasis on dharma. A Grihasta on the other hand is not only in an earning situation, but also one that supports the other three varnas (in the past) or saves for future (in today’s world). Hence he needs to master Artha, not just money, but all resources. This one may be surprising thing as most of us model after Dhritarashtra, who was stuck to his symbolic throne and kingdom for years, despite the death of all his children and Pandavas taking over the rule. In today’s world we celebrate it as retired life. Instead of taming Kama, it becomes a great idea to relive the unfulfilled life. This must have been Vanaprastha, where the mastery of Kama is crucial. The last stage is Sannyasa, though there is no age to enter into it. It is merely a state of mind, where Moksha is the primary driver. 

            The Rishis have thus perfected human society based on guna, karma and their orientation to the predominant Purushartha one tries to tackle. One must note though Purushartha appears fourfold, a careful analysis reveals they are four aspects of the same idea. Kama tempered within Artha’s limits and when both abide within Dharma lead to Moksha. Therefore it is very much possible to simultaneously work on all the aspects of Purushartha while leading normal lives, by constantly working on our gunas and Karmas.

            These patterns also seem to be guided over large spans of time. When Sattva dominates as the primary character of the society, it is called as Satya Yuga or Krita Yuga. In time, this is replaced by Rajas with Sattva as secondary and eventually by only Rajas. Such a period is called Treta Yuga. Slowly Rajas increasingly infiltrated by tamas. This period is known as Dwapara Yuga, which gets slowly replaced by only Tamas. This is the times we live in and it is referred as Kali Yuga. We saw how even in the worst Kali Yuga, by doing Purushartha we can ward off its evil effects.

Usual Hinduphobia, but necessary to clarify

            Most Hinduphobes usually quote selectively some lines from Purusha Suktam found in the RigVeda as evidence of ancient abusive way to segregate into castes (note even there a mistake, varna is not same as modern caste) . Purusha Suktam is also found in the samhita portions of Shukla Yajurveda and Atharva Veda. Purusha Suktam is the veneration of the Cosmic being. It is definitely not treated as a person like Abrahamic Father in Heaven or Allah. But definite anthromorphism is applied to bring this abstract idea into the realm of understandable.

            The criticism stems from highly selective parroting of this line.

ब्रा॒ह्म॒णो᳚ऽस्य॒ मुख॑मासीत् । बा॒हू रा॑ज॒न्यः॑ कृ॒तः । ऊ॒रू तद॑स्य॒ यद्वैश्यः॑ । प॒द्भ्याꣳ शू॒द्रो अ॑जायत । १३

brāhmaṇo'sya mukhamāsīd bāhū rājanyaḥ kṛtaḥ, ūrū tadasya yad vaiśyaḥ padbhyāgï śūdro ajāyata.

      The Brahmana (spiritual wisdom and splendour) was His mouth; the Kshatriya (administrative and military prowess) His arms became. His thighs were the Vaisya (commercial and business enterprise); of His feet the Sudra (productive and sustaining force) was born. – Swami Krishnanada

            Note: In the Hindu civilization, the feet of Bhagawan is the holiest of all. One surrenders to HIS feet, not to his mouth or arms or thighs. Secondly in the visualization of different gunas, different parts of a generic human are assigned to convey that everything came from HIM. 

            What the hinduphobes and critics forgot to do is read the next line and apply the same logic.

नाभ्या॑ आसीद॒न्तरि॑क्षम् । शी॒र्ष्णो द्यौः सम॑वर्तत । प॒द्भ्यां भूमि॒र्दिशः॒ श्रोत्रा᳚त् । तथा॑ लो॒काꣳ अ॑कल्पयन् । १५

nābhyā āsīdantarikśam śīrṣṇo dyauḥ samavartata, padbhyāṁ bhūmirdiśaḥ śrotrātathā lokāṁ akalpayan.
(In that Universal Meditation as Sacrifice) the firmament came from His navel; the heavens were produced from His head; the earth from His feet; from His ears the quarters of space—so they constituted the worlds. – Swami Krishnanada

            By the critic’s logic, the earth came from HIS feet and must be treated with contempt. On the contrary the earth is adored and worshipped as divine, as a Mother. 

            Shallow critic’s logic works only in a polluted secular hinduphobic environment. The only option to counter is to gain depth in our ancient wisdom. This won’t happen without regular reading of scriptures and Sadhana. As we focus on gaining more Sattvic thoughts, our understanding centered on dharmic actions is the only antidote available, even if an avatara is sitting beside to guide us. The Vedic prayer sums it succinctly, “tamasoma jyotirgamaya”, Lead us from darkness to light, in other words from tamas to Sattva. We need to imbibe this as our motto, attitude and mantra.

ॐ तत् सत्

Abrahamic afterlife obsession

            Jnana is the hallmark of all Vaidic philosophies and even avaidic, indic religions like Jainism and Buddhism. Primary focus is to experience the Knowledge of the Self. Every Jiva can have this experience. Depending on one’s vasana baggage, one is able to extract different angles of this inspired experience, resulting in different philosophies. Contrast this with the Abrahamic mindset which emphasizes to blindly accept that someone in the remote past had an enlightened experience. No one can or must evaluate or question even the claim.  Knowledge is never the goal and even today is despised. Christianity took root in Europe, resulted in centuries of dark ages. Hard core Islam even today doesn’t like science or rational questioning, as it exposes all its claims. We studied the finer aspects at length in Jehovism Deconstructed, both purvapaksha and uttarapaksha. 

            At the core of the differences is the afterlife belief. All the religions believe that there was something that happened before birth and something awaiting all of us after death. In fact, for Islam, belief in their prescribed version of afterlife is a must, as an article of faith.  In this exercise, we will center our thoughts on afterlife. To make it easier let us take the Abrahamic idea and contrast it with Sanatana Dharma. The idea is not to demean other religions, but most certainly to understand the inconsistencies in their model while using it as a backdrop to understand our own.

                The Abrahamic idea revolves around the central theme that Truth was given by God to a Prophet only once. This cannot be validated or questioned and failure to follow it blindly will result in eternally being sent to HELL. Just accepting this idea will be the signup for eternal HEAVEN. Though Christianity accepts the need for Ten Commandments, as long as one accepts Christ as the Son of God, who is also God at the same time, your residency to Heaven is assured, even if you spend a liftetime of abhorrence and terrible deeds. Both Christianity and Islam, assure the passport to Heaven, but privileges within may depend on your one lifetime. Radical Islam even goes further to justify that violence done in the name of Allah can be cashed for Heavenly benefits.

            Sanatana Dharma keeps reiterating that the Karmic debt cannot be balanced in one lifetime. All the desires  and actions leave their imprints as vasanas. If we have conflicting desires how will they come to fruition? If we have a desire to fly and also be a human, one will end up as a chimera. Worse still is the idea that one goes to Heaven with their near and dear, which implies one is carrying their marriage and divorce there. Sanatana Dharma emphasizes that we are not the BODY, MIND or INTELLECT. All Karma is binding only to these layers and our real nature is Atma which is not stained by these, which has arrogated itself as these instruments wrongly. That is why in Indic religions the body is cremated and not waiting for the body to get resurrected for an afterlife.

            The Karmic debt, both good and bad, binds us to the world of Objects, Emotions and Thoughts. Breaking this bondage liberates us, to realize the true nature of Atma and its relationship to Paramatma. This is Moksha and one can and must strive to achieve this in this very birth. This is our birth right as all human.

                The Abrahamic religions’ unique selling point is that eternally you can enjoy Heaven and if you fail to agree, burn in eternal Hell. All sins are forgiven (which conflicts with the Heavenly privileges) for merely signing up.  Questioning anything is a sure way to HELL.

            These methods appeal to the primordial greed or fear. Since irrationality ensures Hell or gets meted with violent force in order to protect their version, it has silenced the masses to live and breed like animals with no spiritual growth. Fear, greed and reinforced violence are the direct outcomes of the Abrahamic faiths though they try to market themselves as Religion of Peace (ironically Islam) and Religion of Love (ironically Christianity).

            Sanatana Dharma wants you to question not only it, but more so of yourself. Every Jiva has to resolve the equation with Jagat and Ishwara. This resolution leads to numerous seemingly conflicting philosophies, yet they all point to the same Brahman or Paramatman. In fact questions are encouraged as we find in all Upanishads. But the sad thing is today’s generations we lost the subtlety, knowledge of the ages and morphed questions into blindly questioning and irrationally not even digesting the answers to continue more questioning. Easy fix, get genuine with your Spiritual journey.

            Sanatana Dharma emphasizes Purushartha. This constant exertion in every direction ensures a better life here and in the after. The idea of Svarga and Naraka exist, but to remind that their fruits are tied to Karma and their duration is ephemeral in contrast to Samsara, Breaking this bondage is crucial and the only primary purpose of human life. 

            Abrahamic faiths do not have any philosophical foundation. Though Christianity desperately stole Greek ideas to lace it over, there exists a huge rift between philosophy/logic with their theology. In Jehovism Deconstructed one can clearly understand that blind belief in Christ is a must, else he won’t absolve you of the sins. The sins came because his Father (God) cursed all humanity. Worse yet in Islam, remotely trying to argue a different flavor makes one unMuslim and apostate with an assurance of horrible death. Questioning Abrahamism is Blasphemy and even experiencing a partial Prophet state is ruled out, as the final words cannot be revised.

Christianity offers the lure of recreating all the relationships in afterlife with more riches. Islam embellishes it with offer of 72 virgins and a promise that the wife will not be jealous of this orgy deal. It even promises for the alcohol one abstains in the earth, they can get non-intoxicating alcohol in Heaven.

            Sanatana Dharma wants you to question yourself all the time, not against the backdrop of your own morality or belief, but to probe deeper to understand the larger relationships. This is the way out, not blasphemy. There are no business deals that you give up now to enjoy same senses later for you are not the senses, body, mind or intellect.  Contrast this with Abrahamism, where you are not only given a body in Heaven, but also all the sensory delights. Dharma is subliming, transmuting, not suppression or bargain of desires. This is the exact opposite of Abrahamism, where it appears this entire creation, Universe and the small insignificant earth was created by this entity only to make a choice to glorify and accept Him (seems more than ridiculous jealous, as described in Old Testament) or He will throw a tantrum fit and send one for eternal punishment for not siding with him.  If you were to ponder this one line, you already committed Blasphemy for it makes the reasoning very clear.

Predestination or Karma

            Abrahamic religions assert that there is only one life, given to choose your side. All the conditions in the World are predestined. In fact if someone is born poor or sick or having genetic problem, one must accept it is part of God’s wise plan. One life leads to eternal Heaven or Hell. Purpose of life is to make that choice.

            Sanatana Dharma says this world gets recreated through our own actions. It is evident that the human exertion through industrial age and science and technology has resulted in all the creature comforts. This cannot be explained through Abrahamism as they were at loggerheads with science forever. Karma results in Janma which results leads to more Karma. This cycle is Samsara. For the lack of better English vocabulary is reincarnation.

            Swarga is not the end goal, as many Puranic stories tell how Indra, the King of Swarga is tossed around by desires, makes mistakes, pays huge and is still staying there against a clock. Both Papa and Punya are bondages resulting in more Karma, which result in Janma. Breaking this samsara cycle is the only exit. This in Sanatana Dharma can be done through many ways - Bhakti, Jnana, Meditation, Karma Yoga or a composite blend of one or more. The real goal is to target our Ahamkara which keeps reinforcing our identity as BMI, which can be broken only by Brahma vichara and Sadhana.  

            One reason why Abrahamism dissuades using logic is it exposes the incompetent Heaven or Hell model thoroughly. Proving or disproving may be very difficult, but evidence of reincarnation is accruing through strange memory recollections of many well documented cases. People seem to recall intimate details from events separated in space and time and many of them are young children. The argument why not everyone is able to recall or recall at will may be challenges for evidence mongers. All of us seem to be born with some preferences in our tastes, habits and proclivities.

Do you want to rot in eternal Hell or sign up and go to Heaven forever? – Asks Abrahamism.

            Common sense makes one wonder why should a benevolent God (as defined by their proponents) create this world, that too so diverse and make sure some are given the ONE choice to sign up and accept HIM alone as GOD, else HE won’t hesitate to unleash the darker side which can be worse than the evil Anti God, Satan. Perhaps this jealous creator has killed more people in the Old Testament than even the worst tyrants it records. Interestingly most of world’s current and past population has always been on the side of non follower of this God. Why? One is not supposed to ask why this creator didn’t create everyone with equal knowledge if the test is based on it.

            A serial murderer on death bed if he/she turns to Abrahamic Faith will go to heaven while the most pious person or even Buddha will go to Hell because they were spatio-temporally born in a different place uninfluenced by these religions. This logical nonsense is untenable. This seems rather pathetic desperation on part of this imagined creator.

There is no accountability for a lifetime of actions. If fear of Hell didn’t do the trick then signup bonus to heaven does the appeal. To soften this ludicrous notion, some Abrahamic faiths include the idea that one will have more pleasures given according to their actions. In Islam, there is an extensive Heaven marketing which caters to every hedonistic variant conceivable.

The test of their actions is based on basic question of whether the creator was able to convince that HE was the coolest salesman For instance in Islam,

 Nakir and Munkar prop the deceased soul upright in the grave and ask three questions: "Who is your Lord (Allah)? What is your religion? What is your faith about this person (Muhammad)?". 

The desperate worry plaguing this creator is if HIS own creation will accept HIM or not. This fear drives the creator over the edge, one who cannot even control HIS own emotions and sends HIS subjects to eternal damnation, no second chance also. How ludicrous can this get in Abrahamism?

            Assurance of the sign up deal and the afterlife eternity belief gives an open permission to be ADHARMIC. On top of this, the clause that only they are right and all others are not makes them treat others inferior, worse yet as targets for conversion or abuse. Most Christian saints canonized have worse track records whitewashed for marketing in the area.

If a lifelong criminal, for example Hitler, says please forgive me, will we leave him without fair trial? Why is Karma going to behave any different? If we believe in gravity or not, tripping over from a skyscraper will not make us fly, even if one believes in their choicest prophets or God. We can do what we want, but the karmaphala is sealed by our own Karma.

Christianity believes in repentance. That should take care of wrong doings.

There are umpteen methods suggested by various Rishis and Mahatmas on how to scrub this vasanas. We see even great sages and saints have idiosyncrasies, health challenges all due to their karmaphala of the past, be it Ramakrishna paramahamsa or Ramana due to their cancer. Like the late Satya Saibaba of Puttaparthi once remarked on the reason behind his hip replacement, he remarked "Pain and suffering due to karmaphala is mandatory, but misery is optional".

This subtlety or spiritual maturity is lacking even in the suffering centric Catholicism. Suffering is purgatory only when there is associated spiritual maturity to contemplate.

Apocalypse at the center of Abrahamic marketing

            Christianity has been awaiting the apocalypse since its inception. The continuous need to maintain that the end is near seemed to be the only way to maintain the flock. Islam seems to have improvised it by constantly focusing on the afterlife.

            While these religions seem to constantly promote apocalypse, what happens to the universe once their claimed apocalypse happens. Will their God start creating better, learning from his mistakes? Will we see a new universe created? If so, then their God made mistake with this prototype then? So He is far from perfect then. If it was a onetime creation, was HE bored with this futile attempt? Of course to these and many other questions, the ONLY response that an Abrahamic mindset can give is, this is blasphemy and satanic.

If the theory of apocalypse is really true, why there is no history of living with higher ideals. Abrahamic mindset of two millennia has been characterized by negativity, hate, spite, deception and wars only to prove religions. There has been genocide across many continents, when the religion of love failed to demonstrate love and the religion of peace showed nothing but bloodshed. All of this for a hallucinatory promise from their founder or followers - just sign up your way to heaven or rot in hell.

            Abrahamism is cast in murky origins, something no one can validate or allowed to, an idea that defies science, logic or even common sense.  Constant fear mongering doomsday culture always has an eye towards apocalypse or afterlife and resetting the date to maintain the flock has been the hallmark of these cults.  It appears their version of God created this world so that they can enjoy however they choose of help create a taste of hell to others who refuse to follow their beliefs.

Sanatana Dharma alternative

Sanatana Dharma challenges us to live a more complete life now in all areas. The idea of Purushartha is to exert ourselves in every dimension and be in harmony with the laws of nature. There is no fantasy of chasing a desire based future, but one based on dynamic action that is guided by an intellect that is rooted in a higher Reality.

Chasing Sukha constantly morphs into Dukha as they are the obverse and reverse of a coin. One need not chase it even for afterlife, if one is willing to improve oneself through introspection, refining one’s own character through superior thoughts, words and actions. The energy is not expended in abusing other’s Gods as Satan or asserting dominance through loudspeakers, instead one must try to understand one’s real Self.  Real spiritual growth is not in parroting what someone might have experienced in the past and claiming allegiance but to experience that Supreme Self. So the shift has to happen from Sukhadukha to Shanti and Ananda.

            In summary, let us meditate on the wisdom of Swami Sivananda Maharaj - "Be satisfied with what you have, but be unsatisfied with what you are."   

Om Tat Sat