India’s CASTE System : CASTIGATED and Misconstrued

• I would like to begin this entry by quoting one of the primordial scriptures our religion –
  
  One must not treat any body badly even when they are physically handicapped, uneducated, the aged, ugly, poor people, people of lower castes. One must treat everyone as equal.
  - Manu Smriti
  
  I reckon,that writing about India’s Caste System requires a profound understanding of our ethosand tenets,of which I am no savant.Nevertheless,I shall make an honest attempt.First,I would like to dispel some myths about our caste system.
  
  HOW IS CASTE DECIDED?
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  I see claims like “caste, the complex social order which assigned people a place in the social hierarchy based on their occupation”
  
  I differ and vouch to come back with dictum's in our scriptures that unequivocally evince that:-
  
  The Caste System is based on OCCUPATION and BIRTH.If a Brahmin begin’s to rule a kingdom ,he becomes a Brahmana Kshatriya.If he becomes to get into trade and business,he becomes a Brahmana Vaishya and so on.
  
  With the caste census being talked about many people think "Will caste ever wither away - with or without a caste census - from India's social landscape?”
  
  ..They also believe that the Caste System is at Fault and therefore, Culpability rests on it ,rather than the people itself,Caste system is obsolete and detrimental to our society.
  
  I seek to offer the stand of our religion on this system.
  
  LEGITIMACY OF CASTE SYSTEM:-
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  I would like to ratiocinate the legitimacy of caste system in India. The West and now, our own Media andreformists,leaders and some people fromthe fourth varna or caste(I do not wish to call it lower caste) have accused our Caste system of being bigoted, discriminatory and evil. Let’sforget the politics for a moment and try to understand the Caste system in its own merit.
  
  1.Rebirth and Caste : Fate and Free will
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Why is it so,that a toddler born in a rich family, enjoys a comfortable life from the beginning and one in a poor family endures the plight of destitution? Why can’t God decide every one to be equal? Why can’t God ensure that life on this planet begins with equality OR égalité? Why is a soul born as an elephant calf or a spider on this planet than a human? Why does a person ,despite being hardworking and honest,does not necessarily become as successful as desired? Why is a person more lucky and successful than the other? What is Fate and what is Free-Will? Should a person work hard to succeed or should he rely on Fate?
  
  The answer lies in Karma.I would like to cite from a someone very
  reveredin the book : ‘Dialogues with the Guru’
  
  [ http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2277818 ] ,
  excerpts from which are used in quotes to justify the Caste System
  
  “As a follower of our Sanatana Dharma, you must know that fate is nothing extraneous to yourself, but only the sum total of the results of your past actions.As God is but the dispenser of the fruits of actions, fate, representing those fruits, is not his creation but only yours. Free-will is what you exercise when you act now.
  
  “Fate is past karma; free-will is present karma. Both are really one, that is, karma, though they may differ in the matter of time. There can be no conflict when they are really one.”
  
  Hence understood, a person wins his/her caste by his actions in previous births.
  
  If a person believes in our RELIGION,he believes in REBIRTH. As our religion says that a soul/atmanis born again and again as it assumes a body in each birth,till escapes the cycle of births and deaths to attain salvation by its ‘Karma’.
  
  A person being born in Brahmin Caste has more responsibilities.He should strive to live up to his duties and set an example to others in the society.He should respect all every individual irrespective of their caste(see the shloka – verse in the beginning).
  
  2. Samanya Dharma (common laws) and Vishesha Dharma (special laws).
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  In an Organization there are rules of conduct and directions of ‘Ethics and Fairplay’ that apply to all employees.There are special duties and higher responsibilities assigned to the higher management and a seperate set of duties for employees in the lower title based on ‘Competency level’.Does it mean if a CEO or an Employee flouts the rules and misuses his position of power,the whole system is guilty? Fact is, that the good and bad breed are seen everywhere.
  
  Quoting the book again:-
  
  “Our system and,In fact any system which aims at the regulation of conduct must be based on the principle of ‘adhikara’ or competency.Those who belong to the castes are competent to pursue the Vishesha Dharma;the others are competent to pursue only Samanya Dharma.Further the nature of the competency required can be learnt only from the Sastras which prescribe the Dharma.”
  
  Brahmin by Birth and Action,say before 1000 years : Brahmins generally had“The feeling of rest and peace,contentment and happiness,was normal,natural and healthy and therefore lasting.””Such a feeling is born and ingrained in a Bramhana especially,and if he neglects it and seeks happiness in the outside world,he is seriously impairing his chances of getting it again in the next birth”
  
  Hence whatever be our caste, we should adhere to the rules of conduct that are common or special to our caste.I agree that some Brahmins have done their share of injustice in the society and there have been rotten apples in the barn.Similarly ,some of the Kshatriyas or the Kings, by their misrule and disunity have looted the wealth of the people,surrendered to the Colonial Raj to hold their royalty.
  
  By straying away from their ordained path,they have in a way nurtured discontent and in a way, channed the anger towards the Upper Caste and the Caste System as a whole.The results that followed are not surprising.
  
  Brahmins have been ostracized by the Dravidian movement in the South –
  [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Brahminism ] .If born a Brahmin in TamilNadu,a boy cannot dream of getting into a good medical college despite 95% percentile due to rampant reservation.Same is true in Govt Engineering colleges.
  
  I fully support reservation in terms of economic incentives for the backward class ,but admissions to any higher educational institution should be based on PURE MERIT and not CASTE.So,in a way reverse discrimination seems to be the theme used by politicians to divide our society.
  
  Demonizing one caste or to bash our Caste system without the knowldge of what is actually says,by just being carried away by foreign /local media or the views of the socio-political landscape is not fair.
  
  THE SOLUTION : Caste System in the Contemporary Era:
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Emancipation of the people of the fourth varna(caste) is essential.We should strive for getting modern education to our deprived fourth varna.
  
  The political parties in our country have mastered the art of insular politics to foment hate among castes and pile up votes.They don’t want unity between 4 varnas.They seek to divide us by virtue of our caste and the fourth varna being the majority and economically backward, makes it an ideal selling cake for pliant vote-bank.
  
  Sanskrit – the Elixir ?
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Government has a responsibility for the spiritual well being of its people.To the very least,it should reign supreme to counter the massive smear propaganda against our religion,which runs amok without the knowledge of our scriptures.
  
  Why so much dissonance on this issue? Its simply lack of understanding, which can be addressed by introducing Sanskrit in our Schools and mandatory for Hindu children.Sanskrit ,when promoted as a lingua franca will address the issue of obliviousness to our scriptures.It will not create unrest in South as dravidian languages retain more Sanskrit words and as for Tamil language,It jells so well with Sanskritas akin to mixing Milk and Honey.Even Germany gives more importance to Sanskrit than we do.
  
  How can we forget the language that defines our culture and lifestyle ? Should we not be ashamed for pushing this beautiful language to oblivion and adopting a foreign language to overshadow it for the fear of being called not secular? India needs English and regional languages, but it also needs Sanskrit if it wants an identity.
  
  Knowledge of Sanskrit will be our vent into our scriptures,it would stand up toagainst the calumnies on our religion and the caste system.It will ensure we preserve the ancient wisdom of India,its ethos in our daily lives.It would on top of all,unify us as the ‘People of India’.Than focusing on the political harvest from the caste based census..
  
  -Governmentshould promote unity and respect among the Caste’s and the sense of Pride in a united India, than carry notion to destroy the Caste system,which we know it cannot.
  -Government should realize,that however powerful it may be ,it should not seek to meddle into the primordial Caste System.It should instead focus on its sole purpose – Development.
  -The Supreme Court should ban any political party that has an ideology or a record of hate towards one particular caste.
  -The Government should respect the views of our religion andCaste system implied by reason or at least keep quiet on the Caste System and our religion by treating it sacrosanct ,than holding it accountable for our fallacies,it should hold itself and the people who have erred,responsible for poor development and corruption .
  
  Middle class Renaissance
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The middle class have led revolution in France,Russia or any other society.The middle class has the onus to divest its apathy towards the politics of this country.The middle class should manifest itself as a formidable votebank that is not lured by Caste abasement or any kind of parochialism ,but by competence,development and performance. By helping our fourth caste stand up in the Knowledge economy,we can ensure their wellbeing and also make India operate at the frontiers of science and technology ,yet happily holding on to our roots.And this is only possible if the middle class knows about our scriptures,it knows Sanskrit,it can see Perspectives on both sides of the aisle and decide for itself.
  
  I would end by the words 2 great tamil poets (fromsecond century C.Eand the past millennium) from whom we as Indians should realize - ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Unity of this country’ are inextricably linked.
  
  Subramaniya Bharati –
  
  "Ayiram undhu igne Jathi,Yenil Anniyar vandhu pughalenna Nidhi"
  - We may have thousand of sects; that, however, does not justify a foreign invasion.
  
  Avvaiyar (The Granny Poet of the Tamil heartland) –
  
  "Katrathu Kai Mann Alavu, Kallathathu Ulagalavu"

• Avvaiyar (The Granny Poet of the Tamil heartland) –
  
  "Katrathu Kai Mann Alavu, Kallathathu Ulagalavu"
  - What we have learnt is mere handful.The unlearnt and the unconquered is as big as the world.
  And thus we would begin to fathom that our religion is indeed ‘Sanathana’ or Eternal.