08-22-2009, 10:30 AM
Let me clarify that I was born in a Vaishya caste, raised in the city, where caste is disappearing very fast. I have no intention of singing Brahmin glories here. My earlier post was in the humble intention of promoting peace and understanding. Man evolves from Shudra to Vaishya to Kshatriya to Brahmana. Every shudra will evolve into a Buddha - that is the great belief of Hinduism & I subscribe to that.
Caste is the greatest sociological system ever created. It is a complex idea and I sincerely hope that God (whether Allah/Brahman or however you want to call Him/Her/the idea) helps you to understand it. Caste is like 90% good, 10% bad. All the media & english educated modern generation is focused on the 10% bad & would passionately love to see the death of Caste. When Caste dies, India will die along with it. Indians will lose their identity, like Iranians, Afghanis, Native Americans & many countless races. (Luckily, I dont see that happening in the foreseeable future)
Workers (Shudras), Business class (Vaishyas), Political Class (Kshatriyas) and the academic class (Brahmins) exist in all the societies. Only in India, they exist harmoniously. Look at all the revolutions (French, American, Russian, Iranian, Chinese...). The main reason is not ideology, but the arrogance of the rich/political class and the outrage of the worker class. The best system the west has ever come up with is Capitalism. Even that is not stable in US: Big corporations have wiped out small businesses. They have grown so big that they effectively lobby with the govt. They have pushed the worker class more and more into debt. Stage is set for the next revolution (socialism) in US. Things will only go from bad to worse. Same thing in China. A small political class controls the wealth of a billion+ people. If anybody complains, they will roll out their tanks (Tiananmen square massacre).
The political class is ruthless by nature. Only in India, the strong warrior is bound to listen to the humble philosopher. I dont know any instance of the kings enslaving the common people in India. Its very common in European civilizations. "Ram Rajya" is a dictatorship, but people consider that as the Utopian governance in India, because the dictator is honour-bound and dharma-bound. Even Duryodhan, the baddest person in Mahabharatha, is portrayed as a great king, who works for the welfare of their people - he had the support of an army 1.5 times bigger than that of Pandavas.
In India, even before the West came up with democracies & individual liberties, the people recognized the need to protect the under privileged. The low castes have the most freedom. The shepherd may not be around always, but when the sheep are united, no wolf can ever take advantage of them. Overtime, unfortunately it degraded. The smartest thing to do is to refine rather than to destroy.
I will list some of the accomplishments of Caste.
* India withstood 1000 years of foreign rule. The native culture is still intact.
* Islam & Christianity have successfully wiped out all other native religions elsewhere, except in India
* Jews were never protected anywhere else, except in India
* Parsis have disappeared in Iran, but continue to live in India
* Largest, most diverse democracy in the world.
* India was the first nation to embrace democracy before it became rich.
* Everyone predicted that India will fall into pieces, due to the diversity. They all failed to understand that "unity in diversity" is as old as the caste system.
* Eventhough there is a huge poor population in India, no communist movement ever succeeded in overthrowing the democracy
* Crime rate is lowest in the world: 12000 police stations for 700,000 villages/towns.
* Richest nation in history: till 18th century. (briefly overtaken by China twice)
"Children of India, I am here to speak to you today about some practical things, and my object in reminding you about the glories of the past is simply this. Many times have I been told that looking into the past only degenerates and leads to nothing, and that we should look to the future. That is true. But out of the past is built the future. Look back, therefore, as far as you can, drink deep of the eternal fountains that are behind, and after that, look forward, march forward and make India brighter, greater, much higher than she ever was. Our ancestors were great. We must first recall that. We must learn the elements of our being, the blood that courses in our veins; we must have faith in that blood and what it did in the past; and out of that faith and consciousness of past greatness, we must build an India yet greater than what she has been. There have been periods of decay and degradation. I do not attach much importance to them; we all know that. Such periods have been necessary. A mighty tree produces a beautiful ripe fruit. That fruit falls on the ground, it decays and rots, and out of that decay springs the root and the future tree, perhaps mightier than the first one. This period of decay through which we have passed was all the more necessary. Out of this decay is coming the India of the future; it is sprouting, its first leaves are already out; and a mighty, gigantic tree, the Urdhvamula, is here, already beginning to appear" - Swami Vivekananda