वर्ण संस्कार is a four-fold spiritual categorization of universe as per the वेद. As is commonly understood, there are four वर्ण specified ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, वैश्य & शूद्र. Following paper attempts to throw some light on this topic for a better understanding of these terms. At the start however, I will admit that this topic is very intricate and requires expertise while I am a novice. My paper is however based on my own limited readings thus far and personal conclusions from such readings.
The वर्ण Problem
वर्ण is seen as a problem in modern India. And there are good reasons for this. Over millennia, a hierarchy came to be associated with the four वर्ण both on account of practice as well as Dharma texts that have been written by various authors. Many Dharma texts starting from Manusmriti have extolled the ब्राह्मण and have written disparagingly on the शूद्र. Use of extreme language in a couple of verses is quite repelling especially to us moderns who value “Equality” as a concept very dearly.
Having said that, when we approach the interpret the various rules of behaviour in the scriptures, it becomes essential to understand clearly the reasons or perspective as to why the वर्ण is mentioned within the वेद . All scriptures always insist that prescriptions must be learnt from a Guru who is himself leading a Vedic way of life and does come across as a genuine ज्ञानी. Without a Guru, we may end up colouring the texts with our own prejudices. If one does not have access to a Guru, it may be useful to pray to Ma Saraswati asking Her to guide our mind and enable it to understand the intent of the scriptures in the true spirit of the author. Second, given the oral nature of the Vedic tradition, it is widely felt that Smriti texts like Manusmriti appear to have verses which seem like interpolations by later people who have added their own wrongful verses as per their own prejudices. Institutions associated with Dayananda Saraswati (Arya Samaj) have come out with critical edition using certain standard principles to weed out such interpolations. Once we then read our texts duly aligned with the spirit of these texts, we must also have the courage to reject the words of the scriptures too if they state something that violates basic norms of common sense and reason (even Adi Shankara has said this).
The paper below attempts to bring together certain ideas contained in various texts to appreciate the वर्ण संस्कार better and thus assess its utility, if at all, to us.
The पुरुषसूक्त
The first place where the four वर्ण have been used is within the पुरुषसूक्त within the Rigveda which is quoted as below:
The ब्राह्मण (spiritual wisdom and splendour) was His mouth; the क्षत्रिय (administrative and military prowess) His arms became. His thighs were the वैश्य (commercial and business enterprise); of His feet the शूद्र (productive and sustaining force) was born. The Moon (symbol of the mind) was born from His (cosmic) mind; the Sun (symbol of self and consciousness) was born from His eyes. Indra (power of grasping and activity) and Agni (will-force) came from His mouth; from His vital energy air was born.
Note that the term वर्ण does not appear here. It has become fashionable even by the so-called academics to quote one verse as supportive of their opinion that caste system within human society is promoted within Rigveda itself. However, if one looks at the following verse in the same पुरुषसूक्त which reads as follows:
(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. The enclosures of the sacrificial altar were seven (the seven metres like the गायत्री), and twenty-one (the twelve months, the five seasons, the three worlds and the sun) were the logs of sacrificial fuel, when the देव (the प्राण, the senses and the mind) celebrated the Universal Sacrifice with the Supreme पुरुष as the object of contemplation therein.
If this मंत्र is only about human society, the following मंत्र dispels this since there are numerous other emanations conceived of from the body of the पुरुष. There is no mention of human society in these मंत्र . And if a शूद्र needs to be looked down upon because he has emanated from the feet of the पुरुष, so has the Earth which is however extolled as our Mother. Clearly, each emanation from the body of the पुरुष is conceived off as a spiritual principle (denoting space, time, etc) that is Universal in nature. One needs a गुरू who is a ज्ञानी to understand what exactly these verses are attempting to convey. Thus, both modern literature and ancient literature which have taken these words literally in a sub-optimal manner needs to be critiqued and not fully accepted.
What is वेद?
Some background on the वेद may be useful here though this may seem like a digression. The position of वेद as per the traditional construct has always been very focal/ central to their way of seeing the Universe as well as themselves. As per them, वेद is eternal; वेद is time-space transcendent; वेद is a non-human expression of Universal truths. To state that during Vedic times, this or that was the world view is a nonsensical line since वेद is not meant to be valid on a certain date and time in the past since its revelations are meant to be eternal or Sanatana. To a modern educated person, to claim वेद as non-human may bring an all-knowing smile (or grimace) on the face. But to someone who takes the वेद seriously, this is indeed the Truth. All the verses in the वेद are referred to as मंत्र (and not as श्लोक). Each such मंत्र has three components:
- The द्रष्ट or the seer who is the ऋषि who first expressed the मंत्र
- The देवता to whom the मंत्र is addressed to
- The छंद in which the मंत्र is expressed (गायत्री, उष्णिक्, अनुष्टुप, etc)
All the मंत्र will have the basic three aspects given above (for the sake of simplicity, other aspects are not being referred to here). One must note however that the ऋषि is not seen as someone who has composed this मंत्र. He is instead seen as a द्रष्ट who has merely put into words a certain Truth that already exists. This ऋषि is an enlightened person and in a state of union with the Highest, he saw something and what he saw become expressed in words as a मंत्र. These words were noted down by disciples in what is known as Vedic संस्कृतम् (that is different from classical संस्कृतम् that was systematized much later by पाणिनि). So the bottom line is that the Truth always exists but the ऋषि merely expressed this Truth in a language as an expression of joy which was noted down also by his disciples for the benefit of others. Later Indians took great pains to preserve this expression in a pristine form so that later generations can also use this coded expression for their own liberation.
Understanding वर्ण within human beings
To return to पुरुषसूक्त, the specific मंत्र referred to above does indeed refer to four-fold classification but this does not refer to human condition alone. One needs to understand that this classification applies to other aspects of creation. Therefore, plants, animals, even planets have the four fold classification within Indian texts. Among animals, pigeons are referred to as ब्राह्मण, hawks, kites and crows are referred to as क्षत्रिय, वैश्य and शूद्र. Similarly, Pipala, Neema, Tamarind and Babool tree are referred to as ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, वैश्य & शूद्र. Even if one takes the human body, the physical body is referred to as शूद्र, the Pranas as वैश्य, मन as क्षत्रिय and बुद्धि as ब्राह्मण. Also, the same human being may act as ब्राह्मण at a certain time and शूद्र at another time. पुरुषसूक्त thus expresses this as operational truth for the whole universe. Indians see the वेद as source from where they can learn these Universal Truths and then apply these to human life. To see this as ONLY birth-based appellation is not the vision of framers of the धर्मशास्त्र though now and then, it has been applied in this manner by lower intellect people. If we take even our modern human society, we do indeed have people who are intellectuals who frame economic theories, Constitution of countries, Law, etc which are used as sources of governance. Similarly, we have politicians or CEOs who run leadership positions; we have people who create wealth by adding value to activities and thus contribute to overall prosperity and we have people who are merely serving people in other three classes (as employees, as service providers, as an implementer of decisions made by others). This may thus be seen as an operational Truth that is indeed a reality of the way of the world. No one is inferior or superior as each such part is essential for an overall smooth functioning of the society. And one cannot deny that it is people themselves who choose such lifestyles at least in the modern era (whether out of choice or circumstances) and there is no diktat for people to choose the professions they have chosen for themselves.
वनपर्व within महाभारत has numerous instances where this topic is discussed in good detail. Within this पर्व, in the अजगर पर्व, युधिष्ठिर is asked a question by one of his ancestors who was cursed to turn into a अजगर on this topic. Select exchange of this conversation as related to the topic is given below:
The अजगर said: O King, whom we call a ब्राह्मण?
युधिष्ठिर said: O अजगर, it is said that he is a ब्राह्मण in whom are found (the qualities of) सत्य, दान, क्षमा, शील,, मान, असंशयम् (benevolence), तप and घृणा (mercy).
The अजगर said: O युधिष्ठिर, even in the शूद्र are found truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, benevolence, mercy, kindness and knowledge of the Veda, which promotes welfare of the four orders, which is true and which is the guide in religious matters.
युधिष्ठिर said: The शूद्र in whom these characteristics are present is no शूद्र (i.e) something higher, a ब्राह्मण and the ब्राह्मण in whom these are wanting is no ब्राह्मण at all (ie) a शूद्र.
जगर said: If, O King, as you assert, a ब्राह्मण is recognized by certain virtues, then, O long lived one, the distinction of वर्ण is to no purpose so long as he does not possess these qualities.
युधिष्ठिर said: I think, here in this world it is very difficult to ascertain one’s वर्ण on account of promiscuous intercourse of all the orders. Men of all the four orders are without restriction constantly begetting children with women of all the वर्ण. And speech, cohabitation, birth and death of men of all the orders are similar in all respects. The proof of this, i.e. difficulty of ascertaining one’s caste is found in such expressions made use of by the ऋषि, as “Whatever Jati one may belong to, we celebrate the sacrifice”. It is, on this account, that the wise have asserted that the character is the chief and needful thing. The natal ceremony of a male person even before the severance of the navel chord. On that occasion, this mother is designated Savitri and his father Acharya. Before initiation into the वेद, every man is regarded as a शूद्र. There being a difference of opinion on the point Svayambhuva Manu has laid down; That if having gone through the वेद through the purificatory rites (as laid down in the वेद) the first three orders do not regulate their conduct, according to them, in that case, the mixed Jati must be considered as superior to them. O अजगर, I have thus now designated him as a ब्राह्मण who observes the principles of good behavior.
वर्ण संस्कार is NOT “caste system”. The word “caste” is a European import into India.The Indian texts instead use three distinct words – वर्ण, जाति and कुल.
- वर्ण – unique descriptor tags, unique distinctive features that can be used for identification of individual entity for a specific identity, attribute, trait or feature.
- जाति – When individual entities of a certain attribute become a group, the observing mind/ seer cognizes a common cause inhering all the elements of the group. The mind consolidates the data and वर्ण from what is seen. जाति is thus a common inheritance – common clause perception by the user in a given group. Knowledge of वर्ण tag plays an important role in this seeing experience. Thus, a professional group of doctors or engineers may be referred to as a Doctor जाति or an Engineer जाति.
- कुल – कुल is an organization of entities within common Jati. In a mixed bag of fruits, once sorted, the final group of oranges, apples, etc represents a kula or oranges, kula of apples, etc. So you may have certain ब्राह्मण who are doing Pujari work, certain others who may teaching while others may be cooking food – however, owing to certain common characteristics or attributes, all of them may be collectively referred to as ब्राह्मण.
Grouping is thus made based on a specific understanding of the topic or subject of such a grouping. Such a classification is done seeing common traits of behavior within such a group. Thus, when a person becomes a doctor, he will be referred to as part of a Doctor जाति and when a group of such doctors meet and discuss issues, we can refer to this as Doctors कुल discussing topics of mutual interest even though they may be doctors of different specialization or may even be doctors of animals. Once a person stops being a doctor, one is no longer seen as having being part of Doctor कुल. Thus, the conduct and behavior makes a person be assigned to such a जाति or कुल and not just his or her trait by birth.
While therefore birth may be one of a determiner (owing to reasons of genetic heritage which does have a major role in determining one’s orientation), conduct and actions of persons over time determines the वर्ण. I can think of a few episodes in our history that may be relevant to convey this:
- In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, we have this episode of Satyakama who was from a poor family with no father. When he asked his mother Jabala who his father was, his mother told him that she does not know since she had worked in various places and anyone could have fathered him. But knowing his Kula was important to seek education in schools. Nevertheless, he went to a Guru asking him to be admitted. When asked his name, he mentioned his name as Satyakama Jabala. His Guru was impressed by the truthful nature of the student in that he openly stated his reality rather than hiding or being guilty and thus was worthy of education. This Satyakama Jabala ended up being a great Guru himself.
- Shivaji was meant to be part of शूद्र Kula but was anointed as a क्षत्रिय once he became a king.
- Ramanujacharya used to regard one Varadaraja as his Guru even though he was born in a शूद्र In fact, the whole town used to revere Varadaraja and he used to have direct access to Garbhagriha of the local temple owing to his piety.
- Gyaneshwar was born to ब्राह्मण parents but owing to lower minded ब्राह्मण in his town who looked down a certain act of indiscretion by his father banished him from the village and made them live like outcasts. This is another example though negative where the birth criteria was set aside owing to conduct of the person.
- Even in Mahatma Gandhi’s life, owing to his decision to leave the country and cross the seas, he was outcasted from his Jati by the local Jati leaders. Of course, this did not matter to him and we can see that the conduct of Mahatma was like that of a ब्राह्मण (irrespective of him being part of वैश्य clan).
- In this compelling book, the Beautiful Tree, Dharampal has discovered that pre-British till the early 1800s, India had a large number of schools where students were being taught various subjects including mathematics and other value based education from the Smritis and the Puranas. The interesting discovery is that these schools had people from all four वर्णs including teachers being शूद्रs in a few schools. In fact, early British visitors were stunned by the number of schools in India and they commented that in single district of Murshidabad had larger number of schools than whole of Britain in late 1700s. This style of schooling was actually replicated in Britain in a mass manner from early 1800s – their inspiration was from India since they realized that unlike India, the masses in Britain were illiterate and this had to be changed. However, with the intervention of the British in the form of a very high dosage of taxation, these schools which were self-funded by local Panchayats and running in this manner for thousands of years were broken down within a timespan of 3-4 decades and India became largely illiterate largely due to the violent British intervention. Else, all across the country, we had people from all वर्णs who were literate in regional languages and could read and write. This truth has unfortunately not been made main-stream owing probably to political compulsions. Modern India had to therefore restart all over again and because we adopted English as the elite lingua franca, we completely lost our native style of education.
Human society is thus resilient enough to interpret texts in their true spirit. What we have today in modern India is an abomination where birth based system has been made as a rule disallowing the society to exercise its own judgement as to who is a ब्राह्मण or who is not. This deviation from the norm of thousands of years is erroneous but unfortunately continues to be perpetrated.
One point must be made though. The study of the वेद had been restricted to three वर्ण. Over the millennia, this appears to have got restricted further to ब्राह्मण only. The reasons may have been more practical really since study of the वेद does not actually generate money for the students. The curricula lasts for at least two decades and one becomes essentially unfit for making money using such education. This is what probably explains the situation today that even ब्राह्मण family kids have left such education and adopted Western fare. Besides, even with वेद available in public domains and with tons of books available in the market, we do not see people from the so-called lower वर्ण taking on Vedic education since its practical utility is not present at all. We thus have a unique situation that breakdown of वर्ण structure is probably killing Indian education (not just Vedic but even other types of education) almost completely and what was started by the British in early 1800s has more or less been thoroughly dismantled by modern India.
श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता perspective on the वर्ण
We have thus far not examined as to how the वर्ण actually needs to be understood to apply this to the human condition. Let us now turn to the famous श्लोक in the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता which refers to वर्ण संस्कार and will be helpful to us in our efforts to understand the concept:
चातुर्वण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः । तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम् ॥४.१३॥
The four-fold grouping of people (चातुर्वण्यम्), a division based on duties and qualities (गुणकर्मविभागशः), was created (सृष्टम्) by me (मया). Even though (अपि) I am its (तस्य) author (कर्तारम्), know (विद्धि) me (माम्) to be a non-doer (अकर्तारम्), ever changeless (अव्ययम्).
These are interesting lines. On one side, श्रीकृष्ण is stating that He has created चातुर्वण्यं. Immediately after this, He says that He remains the non-doer even though He is the author. How do we reconcile these two contrary statements? The above lines occur in Chapter 4 and people who have reached this will obviously have known how to reconcile these seemingly contrary statements. Humans develop गुण and take up certain types of कर्म as per their own choice. श्रीकृष्ण provides a facilitating environment – that is all. How does one thus identify a ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, etc? If one takes Chapter 18:41 – 18:44, the गुण – कर्म markers to identify are summarized below:
|
ब्राह्मण |
क्षत्रिय | वैश्य |
शूद्र |
| शम – Control over senses, compassion | शौर्यम् – Valour | कृषि – Making productivity from earth to get food and wealth | परिचर्यात्मकम् – Service related activity to the domains listed earlier |
| दम – Regulation over senses, restraint in behavior | तेज: – inner potency manifestation in action | गो रक्ष: – Protection of wealth in the form of knowledge, agriculture | |
| तप: – Penance | दाक्ष्यम् – efficiency in executive action | वाणिज्यम् – Trade, Commerce, Wealth enhancement activity | |
| शुच: – Cleanliness, Purity | युद्धे अपलायनम् – One who does not turn his back away from war | ||
| क्षांति – Tolerance | दानम् – charity | ||
| आर्जवम् – honesty, straight-forwardness | ईश्वरभाव: – Leadership quality | ||
| ज्ञानम् – Knowledge | |||
| विज्ञानम् – Scientific temperament and approach | |||
| आसिक्यम् – faith in supreme Divine |
These qualities are universal qualities and can be expressed by anyone really. Depending on the context therefore, depending on the behavior expressed by a person, one will be called as a ब्राह्मण, शूद्र, etc. The traditional sources do provide multiple factors for वर्ण concept construct in a specific context. The Dharma Shastra is focused on a specific aspect of identity that is best suited for rites of passage (संस्कार) and spirituality. Artha Shastra is focused on specific aspect of identity that is best suited for social governance. वेद are focused on spiritual global identity. These texts and concepts do not map to the context of caste-race-profession based categorization models which have been mounted artificially by modern writers.
Managing Conflict of Interest
Even if we take a society, we have people who are intellectually inclined, are analytical and inquisitive, vie for leadership positions even without being literate. People appear to possess such inclinations naturally. Now, given these inclinations, how does one build a society using these innate orientations? Just like in medieval Europe, there was developed a concept of separation of Church and State, the framers of ancient India society felt that the वर्ण orientation also creates conflict of interest situation. वर्ण orientation is a source of power – ब्राह्मण has intellectual power, क्षत्रिय has leadership power, etc and such power must not be given access to a position that creates disharmony in the society. This is why श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता continually emphasizes that people in society must be organized in such a way that they use their innate power only to help others (Yagna Bhavana) and live a lifestyles with a few NO-NO to keep society stable. Given this approach to society construct, how does one balance the power that each possesses to help the society while living their innate orientations?
- A ब्राह्मण must focus only on learning all his life. He needs to perform Yagnas since early morning and all throughout the day. He must impart teaching to others or convey stories of Puranas to society at large like Eknath or Tulasidas had been doing all their life. Intellectual power however is a powerful one that can give scope for arrogance. Hence, they have been asked to live in poverty and beg from others to keep themselves humble or else intellectual arrogance will take over. Equally, since society is gaining wisdom from them to lead their lives, society needs to support such people by giving them food.
- A क्षत्रिय is a natural leader. Leaders are necessary in any society to ensure that society is organized in a systematic manner. However, if a ब्राह्मण becomes a king, such a king can end up misusing this intellectual power into misleading the people who have come to trust this person. Hence, a leader must take advice from a ब्राह्मण and take wealth from वैश्य. He must not have access to his wealth directly in a manner that can make him misuse this wealth for private profit.
- A वैश्य is naturally attracted to wealth. This person can literally turn earth into gold through his genius. He revels in money making and enjoys getting into dealers for private profit. Society must therefore ensure that a वैश्य is never given political power nor a source where people turn to for advice. The advice given by a वैश्य may end up being focused on personal profit and thus dangerous for the society at large.
- A शूद्र is naturally oriented to take orders and serve others. He may be a farmer or may also be involved in labour oriented activity which can generate wealth too. Society is completely dependent on the शूद्र for many activities since no activity is possible without labour. Given that शूद्र is oriented to taking orders rather than taking initiative (most in society are indeed of this sort), such people must definitely not be either given wealth or access to political power.
Conflict of interest in society is thus managed effectively through this distribution of power. No one is superior and no one is inferior. All are a part of Paramatma only. Do we manage this conflict effectively in modern society? It does not appear so. For example, we do have a situation where businessmen can become a leader of the country. If a traffic law is broken, the law treats all equally whereas in the ancient era, the law was different for different mental orientations – meaning that transgression is dealt with more seriously on a ब्राह्मण since he is educated but committed an error unlike a Sudra who was left off relatively easily. While it may be difficult if not impossible to determine who is a ब्राह्मण and who is not, nevertheless, one needs to acknowledge the merits of this thought process. Equally, we have a bizarre situation where people are identified by a वर्ण by their birth only which was never intended as per the scriptures in the first place. A human society will function effectively only if all roles are done by people who are suitably qualified to run these roles. Such qualities are today being determined by education but the core component of the mindset that is within the individual is not really tested. Which is the reason why we have corrupt doctors, businessmen taking up political positions, intellectuals who lack the क्षत्रिय spirit, taking up the role of leaders, etc. Such a situation is a recipe for disaster and social harmony cannot be achieved if wrong people are doing roles that are not suited to their persona. The वर्ण संस्कार helps in this process of organizing society if only we know how to look at individuals with this perspective.
No wonder, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता says the below under Chapter 5:18
विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि । शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः ॥५.१८॥
Wise people are indeed those who see the same (Brahman) in a ब्राह्मण ¸ a who is endowed with knowledge and humility, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog, and (even) in a dog eater.
And all have equal access to Him, the Supreme One. So even if a ब्राह्मण says that he is better placed to reach the final goal of Moksha, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता makes an emphatic statement in Chapter 9:32
माम् हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य ये अपि स्युः पाप-योनयः । स्त्रियः वैश्याः तथा शूद्राः ते अपि यान्ति पराम् गतिम् ॥ ९-३२॥
O Arjuna! those who take shelter in Me, though of impious birth, women, वैश्य as well as शूद्र, whoever they may be, they too attain the supreme destination.
Why should we even have this classification?
In the phalasruti of Vishnusahasranama, one finds the following line as benefit that the persons who chant the Shlokas obtain:
If the person who chants these names is a ब्राह्मण he will attain the knowledge of the vedanta; if a क्षत्रिय, he will become a victorious warrior; if a वैश्य, he will acquire immense wealth, and if a शूद्र, he will remain happy.
Irrespective of orientation, whosoever chants the 1000 names of Vishnu, they will benefit from it. Vishnu is thus accessible to all and not just a few people. At the start therefore, we must have this mindset that all mental orientations must be happy and must achieve success.
Second, some form of classification is always done within society anyway – literate-illiterate, conservative-modern, religious-atheist, right-wing, left-wing, etc are already being used. These terms however create mere binaries and pit one against another and thus a recipe for civil breakdown if cultivated for a long time. However, unlike the ब्राह्मण ideal described within the वर्ण mode of classification, there is no direction provided to society at large of what each individual must strive towards. Striving towards ब्राह्मण idea can thus be a goal for all interested in becoming one with the Supreme.
Third, we must allow society to determine the वर्ण orientation of individuals rather than dictating this falsely as per birth by a government. Wrongful interpretation of scriptures and perpetuation of classification based on birth is ridiculous but political interests have made this as a rule. It is said that when British used this wrong approach to classification of people, they had identified around 200 social groups during this time which post-independence has metamorphosed to around 6000 sub-groups today. Such classification of people on a birth based identify is the biggest abomination that is far far away from the वर्ण ideal stated within the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता or other Dharma Shastras.
Fourth, वर्ण classification of people is organized around a spiritual ideal and meant to provide direction to people in terms of making them understand their innate orientation. Equally, there is respect for all for their individual contribution. In modern society, at least in modern India, certain jobs are regarded as menial or low-level while some domains like science and business are deemed as superior Dignity of labour and respect for all as a principle demands that such attitudes are negated in the bud itself. Instead, we have a strange situation in modern India that farmers consider their jobs as low value adding and are leaving farming in a big way. Instead of looking at themselves as providing health and strength to all, they are embarrassed about their vocation. This has come about within a century of modernization of India in a manner that did not happen for centuries.
Lastly, there are issues like marriage across वर्णs or choosing professions across वर्णs. Clearly, no one must (or in fact can) be prevented from exercising these choices. Such decisions are personal decisions. Dharma texts however merely inform people to engage oneself appropriately on a self basis – these are not meant for regulation by an external agency. The वर्ण way of thinking will give some input before deciding what profession to take or whom to marry that enables one to maintain their orientation while living happily in society. Even today, decisions are made by selecting people as partners or for certain professional roles based on certain criteria. वर्ण orientation can be used to prepare aptitude tests and thus used effectively in selecting right people for the right role.
It goes however without saying that any system is as good as the intention of the participants. If there are people with deviant intentions, any good system can be turned bad and bad system good. But वर्ण being a universal truth and not a falsity in its innate idea, building a society based on innate orientations will keep the society in harmony besides keeping the people happy with their choice of professions. If success in a society is seen only for certain kinds of people – actors, wealthy people, etc., people who may not have been able to achieve these will remain in a state of despair. However, if people of all orientations are respected irrespective of what profession they choose, people will be happy pursuing even the menial jobs since such a job may be suited to the orientation. But irrespective of the profession, all have equal access to Paramatma as stated in the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता itself. In fact, as long as one sticks to Swadharma viz doing a role as per one’s innate orientation, one is actually getting closer to Paramatma but if one deviates from this, one is courting difficulties (Gita 3:35).
India’s strength is Unity in Diversity. While we celebrate the Unity, we must realize that the beauty of Unity comes from Diversity. In pursuit of equality, we must not kill the beauty of diversity and take our world towards homogeneity. Imagine that there is only one kind of fruit or one kind of vegetable or one kind of flower. The world would have been dreary in such a case. Beauty of a society also thus comes from diversity where all four वर्णs come together collectively and contribute in their own way to a noble world.
References
- Non-human examples on वर्ण taken from commentary on the Gita called as Sadhak Sanjeevani by Swami Ramsukhdas. वर्ण within human body idea taken from series of 42 lectures in Telugu on the Gita was Sri Shanmukha Samadeva Sharma.
- Paper above draws ideas from paper titled “Traditional Taxonomy of Varna – Jati & Kula” by BV Venkatakrishna Sastry at Waves 2011
- Translation of Purusha Sukta by Swami Krishnananda in his paper on पुरुषसूक्त
- Quotes from Mahabharata taken from translation by MN Dutt
- Some related papers that readers may want to go through:
Adhyatma Writings 