Thus Spake the Divine - Who is Responsible? What is the Remedy?

Thus Spake the Divine

Who Is Responsible? What is the Remedy?

I have raised a couple of questions earlier. Who is responsible for these politicians and other learned lot blaming the caste as the most uncivilised structure of a society? Who is responsible for the collapse of a well-structured system? Let me give you the answers to these two questions.

It is the Brahmin community, which is responsible for emerging of a distorted view among people regarding Varna Dharma. It is the Brahmins, who are responsible for the collapse of Varna Dharma, though it had been for centuries providing for wellbeing of various castes as also for wellbeing of the country and world. Let me substantiate how.

First, the Brahmin disowned his duties of practising Vedas and adhering to his daily spiritual chores. He then disowned his own village or town and moved to cities. He disowned his external identities and other sacraments. He changed his hair style and clothing. He embraced Western education as against his Vedas. He got into employment of British companies. Then, he replicated the culture and behaviour of Westerners. He did all these just for the sake of money and other short-lived worldly pleasures. Hindu Shastras say a Brahmin should not accumulate wealth at all; he must not focus his efforts on earning money. So long as he was adhering to the Codes of Dharma and lived for the world’s harmony, people from other castes respected him the most.

They kept him at a higher pedestal as their model and guide. The other castes, who were impressed and influenced by his earlier ways of simple and modest living, now saw the flamboyant life of the Brahmin under the influence of English culture. This influenced them too to follow the example of Brahmin. They also left their professions, left their villages and aspired for government and other

kinds of jobs.

The Brahmin had been performing his duties involving his intellect for hundreds of thousands of years. He led a selfless life and strived for welfare of the society. Because of such selfless attitude, his brain was sharp as a knife. But once he changed his entire self, his intellect went blunt. But, like when a cycle is pedalled to certain distance and when pedalling is stopped, the cycle would still run owing to earlier pedalling, the Brahmin could still get the accumulated intellect of his ancestors’ generation after generation.

With that strength, he continued to excel in the education system of the English. He acquired great knowledge on different subjects, such as law, business processes etc., and was even in a position to teach English and nitty-gritty of many subjects to others including the English themselves.

So long as all people had a peaceful life by engaging in their own professions, there was nothing to worry about their future. Now, seeing the Brahmin community giving up its roots and shifting to English culture, other people also left their professions and joined employment offered by English in Banks, Railways etc. Where there had been Division of Labour and allocation of professions based on everyone’s hereditary traditions, now the scenario turned opposite. With this, the society entered a dangerous phase, where there was tough competition among various people accompanied by personal animosities and hatred.

As I told you earlier, Brahmins being intellectually strong owing to their ancestral pedigree, they could fight the competition easily. They occupied more and more space in all arenas – government jobs, colleges, medicine, law etc. This led to other castes getting into a confrontation with Brahmins. British took advantage of this and fuelled the Race Theory of Aryans vs. Dravidians. It is the British who first sowed the seeds of discrimination among Indians.

Considering different scenarios and different sets of environments, many drastic changes come in many aspects practised by each caste, including their food habits. The dark room in which films were washed had to always remain dark, whereas where there was film shooting, the area had to be bright. Similarly, there had to be people to serve food in the canteen of a company and those who maintained machineries in the company. While the man in the canteen should be neatly dressed and tidy, the man on the machines remained untidy with oily clothes. Does it mean that the attendant in the canteen is superior to the machine man?

At another level, the Brahmin had to undertake fasting for welfare of his fellow beings, whereas the man on the battle field had to eat healthy food including meat to keep him strong and protect his fellowmen. Because there were such differences in food habits, does it mean that there was animosity between Brahmins and Kshatriyas (warriors)? To establish equality between the two, if the Brahmin sat with warriors and ate their food, will that not ultimately harm the entire Rules of Dharma that he had all along been adhering to?

The set of rules on food, culture and norms of Dharma should remain applicable to different sects of castes. If they are mixed with each other, the whole purpose will be defeated. That is why there were divisions in places of living of different people, such as Agraharam (where Brahmins live), Velalar Street, slum etc. This was feasible in village life, whereas it is unviable in city life. All take up similar jobs on different shifts, sit in the same canteen and eat the same food. This way, the Brahmin, who is supposed to be adhering to his own Rules of Dharma, embraces the rules of any other castes and claims himself to be equal to everybody.

Thus, not only did Brahmins disown their Dharma, they also triggered people of other castes into disowning their own Dharma. Thus, the major responsibility for decay of Hindu community lies only on Brahmins. This is my strong view. Some people provide a justification to this. If the Brahmin is expected to be spending his entire life time in chanting Vedas, doing Yagas and protecting Vedas, what will he do for his livelihood? The Shastras say he cannot take up a full-time job other than his own duties to feed his stomach. If he does so, the truthfulness of his Veda chanting will blur and human welfare will go for a toss.

That is why Vedas permitted Brahmins alone to take alms (charity) from others for their livelihood. Even Kings of those days offered subsidies to the Brahmin community to meet its basic necessities. Dharma underlined that Brahmins should not opt and accept even one iota of wealth required over and above their basic necessities. But once the English Rule came, there were no more subsidies. Then, how could they carry out their lives? That is why they had to get down to the level of accepting English education and jobs. We can call it a force of circumstances that made them do this. Thus, some people are also of the view that one should not condemn the Brahmin community alone for such state of affairs.

At this juncture, I have to put forth one more argument. Let us assume that Brahmins left their towns and occupied cities because there was no livelihood left for them in their villages. But having come to the city, was he content with acquiring just his basic needs? No. He was not. If he got Rs. 1,000 as salary in Madras, and if someone offered Rs. 2,000 in Delhi, he ran to Delhi for that! At least in Madras, he was able to adhere to some of the Dharma, which went to a naught in Delhi! Then, if he got a job for 4,000 dollars in New York, he ran there and totally disowned the remaining Codes of Dharma.

A Brahmin is now willing to take up a job in the military for more money, though he knows that he has to accustom himself with alcoholic drinks, meat etc. We see that he is now doing everything for money, though there can be no acceptable justification at all for a Brahmin to disown his own dharma. Let us assume that even for a handful of rice, the Brahmin has to necessarily run away from his home town and take up a job in city. Even at that stage, I would say, they should not disown their dharma. They must adhere to dharma even if death is nearing them. That means that even when

he knows he is going to die, he should adhere to his swadharma, one’s own duty in accordance with the Varnashrama or caste.

The body of the Brahmin is not meant to indulge in any physical pleasure. It is meant to preserve Vedas and adhere to the Rules of Dharma prescribed for the Brahmin community. The fundamental rule of Dharma is that there should not be any addition of an intoxicating substance that provides physical pleasures.

It is absolutely wrong that he has disowned that Dharma and fallen prey for short-lived pleasures. Even in adverse situations, he should be protecting the Dharma. But he has failed in his Dharma. We are only experiencing the resultant hatred and animosity that has emerged out of this among our own people, who were like siblings earlier. Because of this, we have created a great deal of misery for others too.

What is the remedy now?

Are you asking me whether I am expecting Brahmins to relinquish their current way of life and resume their older ways of Veda chanting? I don’t know whether I expect them to do so, or whether you think it is possible. But, I do want to reiterate that they must resume their earlier way of life. When the very source of Dharma is drying, it is not wise to keep our mouth shut and watch whatever is happening.

Even though the return of Brahmins to the fold of Vedas looks impossible, it is the religion and its institutions that must insist on them to return. They should exert their entire energy towards this cause. There was a belief that non-violence will not be able to chase the British out of the country, but it did. I cannot compromise on truth and Dharma. To make it happen or not is only in your hands. The best I can do is keep drilling about our Dharma into your ears and insist that you all constantly adhere to the prescribed Rules of Dharma.

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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