I would like to begin writing this article by quoting the father of our Indian constitution. "Caste is a state of mind," said Babasaheb. Both the colonial rule and Islamic invasion has left us with few inspiring leaders and has replaced the benevolence in our thinking with parsimoniousness, it is this mindset that Babasaheb is trying to abolish and thereby annihilating the entire system of caste as such
I strongly believe that Indian society and ancestors at large were more concerned with global harmony than their personal desires or greed. It seems to be a contradictory statement if we say that we were largely kind and benevolent but still followed the caste system which is a symbol of tyranny in today's standards. When contemplating this contradiction I came to observe the quote of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita
चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः
This sloka is commonly used to criticise Gita as a text which creates unrest in society, but the explanation to caste comes from this sloka. In the opening part of the sloka, Lord Krishna admits that the four varnas were created by him when he says "चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं"
This came as a shock when I thought why should Lord Krishna himself create such a tyrant system, but the real explanation rests in the later part of the sloka "गुणकर्मविभागशः" This part of the sloka takes us to two criteria with which Lord Krishna designate the work namely, guna—quality; karma—work, no part of this explains the intention to divide the varna by birth.
The sloka itself does not end here, as I have revealed only the first part of the sloka, let us see what Krishna has for us in the next part
तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्
This latter part of the sloka was hard to digest, hence I turned to the explanation given by prominent people, I find the great sage of Kanchi explanation to it more relatable. Lord Krishna may seem to disassociate himself from the four varna's when he says "विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्". But in reality, Lord Krishna means that the non-doer of the actions(Karma) frees oneself from the Varna's become one in God himself.
On further reading the great sage of Kanchi I found that the non-doing of actions advocated is not to remain idle and let the time pass, but do our action as much as our duty and by only acting as an agent to that actions. This eliminates the worth attached to any action as every action is done by Lord Krishna himself and we are only the agent to those actions, and hence pride that we attach for this karma also gets eliminated as we are no more the owner of this pride.
This explanation though a lot of philosophical has enlightened me with the selflessness that we should carry in our life. Let us hope that the selflessness advocated by Lord Krishna be a guiding motive to all our actions.
Thanks for reading, let us all pray to kill our "I " within to make this globe harmonious again.
I strongly believe that Indian society and ancestors at large were more concerned with global harmony than their personal desires or greed. It seems to be a contradictory statement if we say that we were largely kind and benevolent but still followed the caste system which is a symbol of tyranny in today's standards. When contemplating this contradiction I came to observe the quote of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita
चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः
This sloka is commonly used to criticise Gita as a text which creates unrest in society, but the explanation to caste comes from this sloka. In the opening part of the sloka, Lord Krishna admits that the four varnas were created by him when he says "चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं"
The sloka itself does not end here, as I have revealed only the first part of the sloka, let us see what Krishna has for us in the next part
तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्
This latter part of the sloka was hard to digest, hence I turned to the explanation given by prominent people, I find the great sage of Kanchi explanation to it more relatable. Lord Krishna may seem to disassociate himself from the four varna's when he says "विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्". But in reality, Lord Krishna means that the non-doer of the actions(Karma) frees oneself from the Varna's become one in God himself.
On further reading the great sage of Kanchi I found that the non-doing of actions advocated is not to remain idle and let the time pass, but do our action as much as our duty and by only acting as an agent to that actions. This eliminates the worth attached to any action as every action is done by Lord Krishna himself and we are only the agent to those actions, and hence pride that we attach for this karma also gets eliminated as we are no more the owner of this pride.
This explanation though a lot of philosophical has enlightened me with the selflessness that we should carry in our life. Let us hope that the selflessness advocated by Lord Krishna be a guiding motive to all our actions.
Thanks for reading, let us all pray to kill our "I " within to make this globe harmonious again.
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