The caste system of the Hindus is the most
misunderstood, maligned and abused of all
systems in the world. Some support the system, some oppose it , but all
of them have equally been responsible for the atrocities committed in the name
of the castes because of an incorrect understanding about the system. Due to
this, even the scriptures are being condemned in modern times as sources of
social evil.
In
the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord says: caturvarnyam maya srstam guna-karma
vibhagasah- the four fold castes were created by me according to the
division of qualities and actions.
This statement is not a
confession of guilt by the Lord, but a scientific explanation of the
inequalities found in life and a suggestion as to how to get rid of these
inequalities. Philosophy is not a handmaid of politics which varies from
country to country, and from time to time with individuals, but is a profound science, which explains the way
and the wherefore of all existence. While the lower creations cannot think wisely
and change their own nature, man – the roof and crown of creation- can intelligently think, analyse and improve
his nature into something divine. To him- Arjuna- the man, Krishna, the Self in
all, the supreme Reality, explains how to raise himself to the level of
perfection. This is the privilege of all human beings and the ultimate goal of
all people. Unconsciously, we are all tending our way towards this perfection,
but the progress is necessarily slow, since we do not know where we are
heading. If we know the science of life and how best to lead out lives, the
progress will he accelerated.
Though all beings in the world
are in essence the supreme Self, they
are deluded into thinking that they are petty little beings, limited in
existence and power. This delusion is caused by a veil that covers the
perfection and projects the limited personality. If the veil is torn off, then
the inner perfection is revealed.
This veil is known in Sanskrit
as varna. The word varna is derived from the root vr which means,
‘to cover’. That which covers Self-knowledge is called varna. The veil
varies from individual to individual, because it is not imposed upon us by some
outside agency, but created by ourselves. The veil is caused by the quality and
action of an individual. As our qualities are different and each one of us
performs different actions with different motives, the veil improves (becomes
thinner) or deteriorates (become denser) according the guna and karma-
guna-karma vibhagasah. The guna within urges desires and brings out
actions, while actions in their turn deposit impressions and create gunas.
It is like a seed growing into a tree and the tree bringing out more seeds. By
nature, each one causes the other and is sustained by the other. Thus, life
sustains itself in the cycle of action by the law of causation. This
movement from the subtle to the gross
and vice versa is called srsti in philosophy. Who is responsible for
this rhythm of the subtle to the gross and the gross to the subtle? Is it the
Lord?
The above sloka from the
Gita says: maya srstam – moved by me. In one sense, it applies to the Lord and
in another sense to the individual. The Lord is the substratum of life. Without
Him, no movement can take place. The presence of the Sun in the sky makes the
water get evaporated into clouds and brings down rain, but the Sun can hardly
be blamed for too much or too little rain. So too, the presence of the Lord in
us is necessary before the guna becomes karma and vice versa. This is the
technical explanation for srsti. But what really activates this law is
the ‘I’, the sense of ego. When actions are performed by the individual with a
sense of ego, such actions deposit vasanas,
which are the gunas of that individual. Again, when these gunas
express themselves as thoughts and emotions, if the individual identifies with
them with a sense of ego, egocentric
desires are created and egocentric actions are performed. Thus, caught in the
web of action, he forgets his own real nature of perfection. So the Lord
explains that the veil is created by the ego ’I’. Maya srstam is thus an
indication of the source of the veil.
The cycle goes on unhindered
forever, unless the individual pays attention to his motives while performing
an action, removes the ‘I’ therein and eliminates the wrong attitude. When the ego and egocentric desires are
eliminated, the very same action becomes a purifying action and the veil
becomes finer gradually. The veil is not fixed, nor unchangeable, but is
variable. Hence the Lord says that it is a caturvarnya. The word catur,
in the popular sense, means the number ’four’. The derivative meanings is ‘a changeable entity’. Because of this feature, it is possible for
the individual to regulate his attitude while acting in the world and improve
his veil to such a fineness that at one stage it falls apart, reveling the
inner perfection.
(The article is by Swamini Sharadapriyananda of Chinmaya Mission. Taken from Tapovan Prasad, Monthly magazine of Chinmaya Mission)
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