Thus Spake the Divine - Varna Dharma

Thus Spake the Divine

Varna Dharma

The Varna system was an attempt to regulate social categories on the basis of clearly demarcated roles that they had to perform. The system divides society into four major groups – Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. In short, Varna means the nature of an individual’s propensity as per which he is expected to do a particular kind of job or occupation to earn a living.

Religious reformers are, however, of the view that we must abolish the Varna Dharma, which is prevalent only in our religion but not in any other religion.

What is a religion all about? Religion is a system that is meant to cure the illness of the soul (Atma). Only a doctor will know about an illness and the treatment required to cure that illness. Likewise, Rishis and composers of our scriptures, who had lived a selfless life with ultimate commitment towards the entire humanity’s well-being, prescribed the unique Sanatana Dharma as medicine for welfare of the overall society. In other countries, similar leaders have prescribed other religions as medicines for well-being of those countries.

When a doctor treats us, we cannot question him saying, “That doctor is giving a different treatment and why are you providing this treatment?” Will the doctor ever listen to us? There are different kinds of treatments under the medical science. One will be very bitter and another very sweet; one treatment could be tough and the other easy. It is not possible to combine all kinds of treatments into one. Instead, one should follow the prescribed way of treatment, so that the objective of curing the disease is achieved.

Les us now see the differences between Codes of Dharma, as stipulated by Hindu religion, vis-à-vis other religions. Other religions have only Universal Rules that are applicable to all living beings. Our Vedic religion alone has divided the Rules of Dharma into two parts. One comprises the Universal Codes of Dharma, which are common to all people in general. They include, to quote a few, non-violence, truth, cleanliness, control of senses, not possessing anything over and above one’s needs, devotion to God, gratitude to mother and father, and random love for all living beings. The other involves Codes of Varna, the special codes, which categorise human beings into different classes, based on their ancestral professions and occupations.

Had these Varna codes been made applicable to all, they would not have been adhered to by anybody. Let me give you an example. In Buddhism, eating non-vegetarian is banned as a general rule. But what do we see in Buddhist countries? All seem to be eating non-vegetarian food. Our rishis and rule makers were aware of human attitudes. Hence, a ban on non-vegetarian food was imposed only on some class of people as a special rule. Seeing this, others also avoided eating non-vegetarian on days of fasting and other ancestral or memorial ceremonies.

There are instances of religions that have collapsed in their respective countries when they tried to impose rules on all people. We can quote examples of Hellenism in Greece and Hebraism in Central Asia in this regard. Even those following Christianity, Islam and Buddhism have started losing interest in their religions. Atheists are increasing in number in all countries. Either they are atheists or they have started embracing our religion through yoga, Bhakti and knowledge-inquiry. Do not think that because I am a representative of Hindu religion I am trying to undermine other religions. My desire is that people of all religions must be able to elevate themselves following their own religions. I am also not forcing anyone to embrace our religion as, according to me, doing that is totally against the fundamental tenet of our religion.

Further, when I talk about the unique aspects of Hindu religion that are not seen in other religions, I am not doing it with the intention of deriding other religions. Since followers of other religions abuse our religion without understanding the crux of our Dharma and some of our own people also fall suit, I am trying to bring out the good aspects of our religion. Moreover, it is not my point of view nor am I happy that religions in other countries are struggling for survival. I am only reiterating the views of some eminent people like Toynbee, Paul Brandon, and Koestler etc. They have pointed out that disbelief in religion and atheism are on the rise all over the world, making it tougher for religions to survive.

It is a matter of concern that such a trend is on the rise even in our country. This is despite foreigners unanimously proclaiming that “When compared to other countries, your country is in a much better position. In your country, belief in religion has not deteriorated to the extent as in other countries!” But if one contemplates deeply, it cannot be denied that even in our country, belief in our own Codes of Dharma is slackening and atheism is on the rise.

There is also an irony here! We think that if a religion divides its people under different groups, there will be no unity and bonding between them. The resulting internal conflicts in such a religion will automatically lead to its decay. When we examine our own history, we see that there have been several invasions since Alexander’s era. In such a scenario, our religion should have been buried under the earth. But the reality is different! The religions, which prescribed one general rule for all, have all been washed away by time, whereas our religion, which had categorised people into different groups and framed Special Codes of Law for those segments, is surviving and strong! We should look at this underpinning point with an unbiased mind set.

Why is it that our religion, which has founded the Varna Dharma, continues to remain active and alive for thousands of lakhs of years? Is it because the majority of Brahmins have protected our sacred scriptures? Did they have the power of weapons to protect our religion? Did they have the power of wealth? Our religion remained active because everybody followed his duties as per the Rules of Dharma. Even in case saints and sages like Buddha or Mahaveer had insisted that “All these Vedas and yagas are not necessary; let us all only follow the common universal rules applicable for all; let us discard Sanskrit; let us keep our Codes of Law in our languages like Bali”, then, may be, some people would have embraced those religions influenced by some temporary charisma. But history is witness to the fact that these religions gradually deteriorated and ultimately dwindled, while our ancient Vedic religion has kept its head high!

It is not surprising to see the breath staying in a body that has nine holes. Similarly, it is not surprising to see the breath going out of the body through the holes! Likewise, it would not have been surprising had the Hindu religion collapsed, what with the divisions inside and frequent external attacks on it over centuries. What should surprise everybody is that Hinduism is still alive! That is all because of the internal strength it has gained over the centuries.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

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