<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In reality it is safe to say that the resulting exploitation of economically disadvantaged sections of society by their fellow human beings has no sanction in any of the scriptures of the Sanatana Dharma.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Kaushal Ji,
I humbly ask:
1. Does the grouping 'scriptures of the Sanatana Dharma' include the purANa-s?
2. Reserved social and economic privileges, or lack of these, to varNa-s in a strict hierarchical (and also hereditary) basis - are these totally absent in all the scriptures too?
My own feeling is that the above statement - 'scriptures of the Sanatana Dharma' -will include the Vedic literature, Ramayana-Mahabharata, some others, but should certainly exclude at least some of the purANa-s, which have very clearly presented varNa-description in a way entailing an ossified form of the varNa-dharma different from that described in veda-upaniSada-s, mahabharata or ramayana.
Such ossification did take place, and one will do justice to show that it did indeed take place, as argued and criticized by sages like Maharshi Dayananda and others.
Therefore I whole heartedly support this part in the concluding section:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Is the Guna Varna System a valid paradigm for the 21st century, and if so should we defend and retain it. It is time to redefine it or better yet if possible, discard it altogether. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Kaushal Ji,
I humbly ask:
1. Does the grouping 'scriptures of the Sanatana Dharma' include the purANa-s?
2. Reserved social and economic privileges, or lack of these, to varNa-s in a strict hierarchical (and also hereditary) basis - are these totally absent in all the scriptures too?
My own feeling is that the above statement - 'scriptures of the Sanatana Dharma' -will include the Vedic literature, Ramayana-Mahabharata, some others, but should certainly exclude at least some of the purANa-s, which have very clearly presented varNa-description in a way entailing an ossified form of the varNa-dharma different from that described in veda-upaniSada-s, mahabharata or ramayana.
Such ossification did take place, and one will do justice to show that it did indeed take place, as argued and criticized by sages like Maharshi Dayananda and others.
Therefore I whole heartedly support this part in the concluding section:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Is the Guna Varna System a valid paradigm for the 21st century, and if so should we defend and retain it. It is time to redefine it or better yet if possible, discard it altogether. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->