[Reader-list] vedas and hindu and castes.

[rajendra bhat]

Tapas
     your post on this subject matter made very interesting read, but the starting point itself is not in line with right start. Vedas are for the mankind, originated in universe and hindu is one who learns and knows the way of life to live life in material, intellectual and spiritual spheres to fullest extent in dharmic way. Dharma again is not religion, but it is way of life to live life to the fullest extent in righteous way, which means by living fullest, by not hurting any living being in body, mind and soul. Religion word can not, does not capture the full essence of dharma. Again rituals do not confine the dharma. rituals performed without understanding the meaning of such rituals are of no use to the performer as well as to the society in which he lives.

  Now, about castes, the vedas do not attribute to castes, but only vocations of different types, those who perform the kriyas of the super soul, perform worship of super soul are one varna, so also those who rule the subjects, those who perform cultivation of agricilture produce, and those who sell the services, products and also those who serve all these type of varnas. The birth does not give varna to any individual, his work in society gives him the varna, deeds define the varna. Thus a person who is supposed to perform rituals of worship indulges in sale and service of products can not be in the worshipper in broad sense, even when he worships everyday in his home. What he does for the community matters, not in his home.Geetha is the essence of veda in the sense, even if one does not take it as religious treaty, but as treaty on human psychology, mind and body in different tathvas, it gives the guidance to live life in righteous way. religion has
 nothing to do with it.

  As everyone is aware, the continent also known as bharatha khanda, or this sub-continent is, of many kingdoms ruled by different rulers in the bygone era, of whom, the different clans are well known, that of surya vamshasthas, chandra vamshastas etc, and then many other of different origins. Of these, the earliest recorded is lord rama, suryavamshastha, later Lord krishna, chandra vamshastha, and as all of us aware what happens today, is news, what happened few years ago is history, many centuries ago is history in many narratives as legends. !

  For administration of rule of the king, many kings made their own set of rules, many kings were of different kinds, some autocrats, some dictatorial, some very consierate for their subjects at all times. manu, the king made his rule of looking at the entire subjects as one composit cosmic body, in manusmirthi, as says that those who are learned are the "heads' or intellect of the society, those who defend the kingdom are the soldiers of the kingdom, or arms of the king, those who do business in kingdom,lend and borrow money for the kingdom are the bussiness of finance for the king, and all others who serve the king and kingdom as they do not possess any other skills other than that of service, are the subservients of these three classes of citizens in the cosmic body of composit society, none lesser or more important, all being part of the same one single cosmic body. But being intellectuals, who advice king in administration, the learned naturally
 got more status, being close to power, so also the executives who implemented the orders of the king, as they had powers vested in them to enforce the dictum of the king. last but not least money and fiscal masters who did attend to finance of the kingdom, by virtue of the money power were also powerful in the kingdom. But judicious rule of the kings never gave inequality in rule, that it is known as good rule of the kings.

   After invasion of different kings in to this continent, the different kinds of rule took roots, those who ruled included the turkish, mughal and islamic kings, and subjects to gain closeness to the rule even changed faith to that of the rulers as it happens even today.? To justify such change of faith, the castes were invented and it made easier for british rule which came to indian subcontinent as business contigent with hardly 200 soldiers, to rule the nation by divide of caste. Ofcourse the greed of the rulers to own more lands for their kingdoms was catalyst to break down of the kigdoms and inheritence was decided by british businessmen.! During this period, the missionaries had a role to play, as they saw the intellect of learned to exploit their faith, created the upper and lower birth as criteria for the inferiority complex to propagate the faith of christianity as all are children of god, equal, god loves all his children etc, but after
 conversion to faith, one can see even today the converts retain their cate names, proudly say that they are upper cate converts ! And also marriages within the faith also is determined more by dowry power in all the faiths to obliterate the caste equations.  social status again is more determined by material wealth possessed by the person, how much he can donate for the god, is the status symbol even in these new found faiths. new bless new home by bishop, one has to shell out few lakhs in Kerala and if a mulla has to recite prayers for the new business or new home one follower of faith has to shell out the large amounts if he wants a renowned mulla. Whereas this is true to some extent in followers of hindu way of life, one can also see that the importance of clergy is minimal in hindu faith unlike these abrahamic faiths.

  Evebn today, the conversion do take place more because of the bad governance of rule of laws as the good of democracy does not reach all, and the aspirations of these citizens when is not met, the cravings to get what is rightfully due to them, is leading them to convert to the faith of the rulers, in this case the christianity.Unfortunately, the evangelists that have come from far off nations have come with large funds to meet the small needs of the poor when the system has failed them, and the false promises of all in the ruling has made the job of conversion that much easier. With divided polity in diffrent segments of caste, language and regions the voting percentage being what it is today at dismal 45 percent, even small section of "commune" votes can make or mar the chances of rulers..?

 And the system also wants to retain the identity of castes and faiths so that the divide is stark and useful to divide and rule. Even the left parties who say that religion is the opium of masses, do retain the religion as we see in their ruled states as they appease the refugees with id proofs and driving licence and voters ids , ration cards in the process of vote bank build up.


      Get perfect Email ID for your Resume. Grab now http://in.promos.yahoo.com/address