At the outset let us know that cast will not fit into our dharma. Please find this simple example. There is cast iron. Several different utensils are made out of it but the belong to the same caste. This is Portuguese word, which is no way connected to our Sanatana Dharma. We have Varnashrama Dharma. Lord Sri Krishna says as follows:
चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः।
तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्।।4.13।।
Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ
Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ
Tasya
kartāram api māṁ
Viddhy
akartāram avyayam (Bhagavad Gita 4.13)
This
is Adi Shankaracharya’s Sanskrit commentary on the above sloka of Bhagavad
Githa, translated into English by Swami Gambhirananda.
4.13 Catur-varnyam-meaning the
same as catvarah varnah, the four castes; srstam, have been created; maya, by
Me who am God, which accords with such Vedic texts as, 'The Brahmanas were His
face৷৷.'
(Rg. 10.90.12); guna-karma-vibhagasah, through a classification of the gunas
and duties. [Guna-vibhagena karma-vibhagah, classification of the duties,
determined by the classification of the gunas.-Tr] By the gunas are meant
sattva, rajas and tamas (see note under 2.45; also see Chapter 14).
As to that,
the control of the mind and body, austerity, etc. are the duties of the
Brahmanas, who are sattvika, i.e. have a predominance of the quality of sattva
(purity, goodness, etc.). Courage, valour, etc. are the duties of the
Kshatriyas, in whom sattva becomes secondary and rajas (passion, attachment,
etc.) preponderates. Trade and Agriculture etc. are the duties of the Vaisya,
in whom tamas (indolence, ignorance, etc.) is secondary and rajas is
predominant. Service is the only duty of the Sudra, in whom rajas is secondary
and tamas predominates (see chapters 14, 16, 17 and 18). (Here I would like to
elaborate a bit on what the English translation says about Sudra. As clearly stated
above Sudra is the services sector and here his concentration is confined to
only his job as such his thinking circumference is limited to his job. If he
grows in that trade he can maintain his own unit and thus elevating himself to
Vaisya and he thus shuns a higher proportion of his tamoguna. The technician
who works under him will be having more tamoguna only. Hence as and when
promotes himself his guna switches over to the higher plane and vice versa.
This is possible up to the classification of Kshatriya. As far as a Brahmin, in
its true spirit, is concerned his environment makes him adopt satvaguna from
the childhood and after attaining his 8 years of age he will
become dwija by Upanayana samskara accompanied by Brahmopadesha. As this is a
herculean task, the child will be brought up from the tender age in the
Brahminic environment. Still there existed people like Vishvamitra, Matanga,
Vlamiki, Vedavyasa, Sootha etc. who dedicated their lives to attain
Brahmatva.)
In
this way, the four castes have been created by Me through a classification of
the gunas and duties. This is the idea. And these four castes do not prevail in
the other worlds. Hence the specification, 'in the human world'. 'Well, in that
caste, by virtues of your being he agent of the acts of creation of the four
castes, etc. You become subject to the conscience of those actions? Therefore
you are not eternally free and the eternal Lord!' This is being answered: Api,
even though; I am kartaram, the agent; tasya, of that act, from the empirical
standpoint of maya; still, from the highest standpoint, viddhi, know; mam, Me;
to be akartaram, a non-agent; and therefore, also know Me to be avyayam,
changeless, not subject to the cycle of births and deaths. 'In reality,
however, I am not the agent of those actions of which you think I am the
agent.'
From
time immemorial we have been having the division concept through Varna and
Jathi. These two were combined and transformed into caste system by the Colonial
British Administrators for their administrative nomenclature and
classification.
Caste: This is a Portugal word. The following are the definitions of cast from Wiktionary.
Casta(Noun)
The institutionalized system of racial and social stratification in 17th century Mexico.
Casta(Noun)
Variety, in reference to and in names of Portugal grapes or wine.
Origin: : feminine form of casto, "pure". "Lineage", "breed" or "race" in Spanish and Portuguese languages.
This will never suit to our Varna system. We were completely carried away by so called European Scholars and their henchmen. Let us at least open our eyes and find the reality.
VARNA: The word Varna is etymologically from "Var" meaning 'to choose’ and not 'Varna' meaning colour. We can also find no reference to colour in explaining about it in our Scriptures. This is the path chosen by the ancestors who were good at that particular vocation. Of the four Varnas Brahmas, Kshatriya, Vaisya are adherent with no deviation but in Sudra the vocation was optional. For example in the sect ‘KAMSAALI’, who are also called Acharyas, have options for carpentry, Black smithy, Gold smithy or Stapati (Sculptors). In weaver's community the proficiency segregates them as cotton weaver, the silk weavers and the wool weavers. For certain other communities the options are little.
Varna
also means colour. As we observe we can infer that all the four segments
contain various colours within them. Hence the concept is based on choice,
attitude and aptitude of the individuals practicing from ancient times. In
Bramhanas practicing vaidika dharma is not an easy task as it is today. They
have to abide by several rules and regulations of which non-earning is the most
important thing. He has to only act as PUROHITA (Who envisages only good and
truth for the benefit of the society with no mala fides with in. similarly the
Kshatriyas also should be committed to protect the society even at the cost of
their lives. As their lives are uncertain they were awarded relaxations
regarding with regard to enjoyment. The Vysyas also should do trading within
the frame work of prudence and morality. They should allocate certain
percentage of their earnings for spending to the benefit of the society. The Sudras
are accessible to Brahmins for any sort of advice related either to their
legacy or even any personal matter. The Brahmin is not expected to charge
anything from him for that matter from anybody who approach him. This was
totally misconstrued by the westerners and especially by Colonial British
rulers and their henchmen.
THE
Indian Christians also practice cast system rigidly, they have segregated
churches cemeteries processions everything. All the umpteen divisions never
enter into other's church nor respect the word of the other Church Heads.
The
Muslims also practice the cast system with 'AZRAF' being the noble and 'ARZAL'
being the degraded. 'MAYAZUR' are the low cast bonded labor in PAKISTAN.
Even in Sikhs there are 'JAT SIKHS' and
'CHAMAR SIKHS.'
From
this are we not able to understand that this so called caste is not just in the
Hindu Religion but it is a pan religious reality.
Swasti.
