On Caste and Karma theory

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

 

Greg Michel, in his posting on 'Social Justic' regrets that there is no Vedic

equivalent of the Christian directive to 'love your neighbour as yourself'.

 

Upadesa Saram by Ramana Maharishi is considered as a condensation of the

Vedic/Upanishadic teachings and gives guidance for developing a spiritual way of

living. His advice on dealing with fellow human beings:

 

"jagatha IshadhIh ukta sevanam

ashTamUrtibhrut deva pUjanaM."

 

You want to worship the Lord?

Consider the whole world as the Lord

And do Service to one and all:

That is true worship of the Lord.

 

None is excluded. That is the true spirit of the ancient philosophy of Sanatana

Dharma.

Caste, creed etc are later human inventions which go against this fundamental

commandment to

serve everyone as an embodiment of the Lord, without any discrimination.

 

In the last century(?), the great Vaishnavite saint Narsinh Mehta gave

expression to this view

in his famous slokam: Vaishnava janato tene kahiye, the favorite prayer song of

Gandhiji; the following posting

by Shri Mani which appeared in Bhakti List (May 23, 1994) gives its text and

meaning:

 

Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je

[One who is a vaishnav]

PeeD paraayi jaaNe re

[Knows the pain of others]

Par-dukhkhe upkaar kare toye

[Does good to others, esp. to those ones who are in misery]

Man abhimaan na aaNe re

[Does not let pride enter his mind]

Vaishnav...

 

SakaL lok maan sahune vande

[A Vaishnav, Tolerates and praises the the entire world]

Nindaa na kare keni re

[Does not say bad things about anyone]

Vaach kaachh man nishchaL raakhe

[Keeps his/her words, actions and thoughts pure]

Dhan-dhan janani teni re

[O Vaishnav, your mother is blessed (dhanya-dhanya)]

 

Vaishnav...

 

Sam-drishti ne trishna tyaagi

[A Vaishnav sees everything equally, rejects greed and avarice]

Par-stree jene maat re

[Considers some one else's wife/daughter as his mother]

Jivha thaki asatya na bole

[The toungue may get tired, but will never speak lies]

Par-dhan nav jhaalee haath re

[Does not even touch someone else's property]

Vaishnav...

 

Moh-maaya vyaape nahi jene

[A Vaishnav does not succumb to worldly attachments]

DriDh vairaagya jena man maan re

[Who has devoted himself to stauch detachment to worldly pleasures]

Ram naam shoon taaLi laagi

[Who has been edicted to the elixir coming by the name of Ram]

SakaL tirath tena tan maan re

[For whom all the religious sites are in the mind]

Vaishnav...

 

VaN-lobhi ne kapaT-rahit chhe

[Who has no greed and deceipt]

Kaam-krodh nivaarya re

[Who has renounced lust of all types and anger]

BhaNe Narsaiyyo tenun darshan karta

[The poet Narsi will like to see such a person]

KuL ekoter taarya re

[by whose virtue, the entire family gets salvation]

Vaishnav...

 

A similar spirit of humility and treating every one as equal is apparent in Raja

Kulasekhara Azhwar's

plea to the Lord to make him a servant of the servant of the servant of the one

rendering service

to a servant of the servant of the Lord. He, a king, was acutely aware of the

dangers to the mind

of a superior attitude adopted due to birth and hence his plea for help in

cultivating humility and spirit of

service.

(tvad-bhRtya-bhRtya-paricAraka-bhRtya-bhRtya

bhRtyasya bhRtya iti mAm smara lOka-nAtha)

(Mukunda Maala)

 

Instances of cruelty, selfishness and arrogance abound in all countries. But one

does not therefore, decry a whole community.

Unfortunately, casteism has come to dominate the view of the 'Orthodox' section

of the Hindu Horizon due to our own fault. It is regrettable that this continues

to exist, inspite of Statutory provisions in India to the contrary, banishing

discrimination based on caste and making it a legal offence to practise

discrimination in any form.

 

The Karma theory might possibly be a plausible philosophical hypothesis for

explaining the belief in a compassionate and omnipotent God co-existing with

evil and the sufferings of people on this earth. But it certainly is not a

justification for those who believe in Him to cruelly ignore or justify such

sufferings and not try to relieve their sufferings/pain.

 

Lord Krishna has assured us that when the ordinary people suffer unjustly,

helplessly and their sufferings multiply due to the negligent and contributory

attitude of the powerful and the affluent, He would come personally to balance

the scales of Justice in their favour.

 

Dasan,

M.K. Krishnaswamy

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

Our ancient literature - and this is not limited to religious literature alone -

abounds with messages, dicta, axiom or whatever other name one wants to call it

by. Let me quote a well known verse from the Pura-naanUru, four hundred verses

on themes other than that of pure romance and romance-related love. It is

estimated that these verses belong to a period at least 200 years before the

birth of Christ. In particular, the second verse of pura-naanUru mentions that

king Perum-chOtru-udhiyal-am-Cheran sent foodsupplies from the South, when the

Pandavas and Kauravas were engaged in a fierce battle. This means, the time of

these verses run much much deeper back in the majestic river of Time.

 

 

yaadhum uurE yaavarum kELir

theedhum nandrum pirar thara vaaraa

 

Any land is our land. Everyone is our kith and kin. Anything good or bad is

not the making of others.

 

That is, 'I make no difference between this land and that. All are same to me'.

The 'land' mentioned here is not the soil. It means people. And 'the people -

whoever they are - are my kith and kin.'

 

The second line is of deeper significance. 'Neither good nor bad is caused to

me by others,' it says. I am responsible for what I am. I am responsible for

what is good or what is bad in my life. I do not have anyone else to blame.

 

Theories of Karma - and fate - have not been properly understood by the West.

What is known as 'fate' to the Hindu is so totally and materially different from

what a Westerner understands it to be.

 

Take for instance the Tamil word 'oozh' for what is known as 'fate' in English.

'Oozh' simply means 'sequence' or natural order. If one is followed by two, two

must be followed by three which in turn must be followed by four. If four is

followed by seven, then there is something wrong. It is what is known as

'oozhal'. oozh+al. That which is not in order. The English word 'fate' is not

potent enough to convey the full import of its Tamil counterpart, 'oozh'. That

holds good for any language. The Sanksrit 'dharma' and the Tamil 'aRam', though

seemingly synonymous are in fact same flowers of different fragrance. Like

malli and nithya malli both belong to the jasmine family but they smell

differently.

 

The karma, vidhi or oozh theory is not for discriminating people from people. It

is laid down as a rule for the individual (we will discuss this separately, if

at all it is needed) and not for the society and for social relationship. If

Thiruvalluvar says 'What is stronger than fate? If we think of an expedient (to

avert it), it will itself be with us before (the thought).' (Kural 380) and in

the next breath says 'They who labour on, without fear and without fainting,

will see even fate (put) behind their back,' he is not contradicting one

statement from the other. Both are valid in individual contexts. They are

context sensitive and should not be interpreted out of it.

 

This is not any different from what Jesus told the Satan, 'Man does not live on

bread alone.' and on the other hand remembers to ask in the daily prayer, 'Give

us this day our daily bread.' The Hindu understands the validity of both

statements and does not look at it quizzically. He won't ask, 'If man does not

live on bread, why do you ask for it in your prayer to your Lord?' He perfectly

understands that in the first statement the emphasis is on the word 'alone'.

Which really means, 'man DOES live on bread ALSO; but that is not the ONLY thing

in life.' He therefore understands the validity of the prayer 'Give us this day

our daily bread,' for one has to live, after all!

 

Our society has been such that it took whatever is good from other religions. It

is thus that what was good in Buddhism and Jainism and numberless other

relligions were assimilated into this religion. But this religion,

unfortunately, did not receive the same kind of treatment from others.

 

Without malice, hatred or ill-will, I would recommend a study of the biography

of Roberto de Nobili, the first missionary who studied Hindu scriptures (of

course with his own purposes behind it) and the way our scriptures were

represented from then on - if at all one wants to understand the nature and

purpose behind the anecdote that Mr. Greg Micel heard. I would only say -

Allegory is not an argument and anecdote need not necessarily be part of history

or custom.

 

In case someone needs particulars of the book on Nobili, here are the details: A

Pearl to India by Vincent Cronin, published by Darton, Longman & Todd Limited,

64 Chiswick High Road, London W4.

 

I once again want to lay emphasis on one fact. I write this without the least

little trace of malice towards other religions. I respect the Bible, in fact

have read it as zealously as a Christian. If at all one wants to understand

other religions - even one's own religion for that matter - one should have a

very open heart and mind. That was why Mahatma Gandhi could say, 'I read the

Bible and my understanding of the Gita increased a thousand-fold.'

 

Regards,

 

Sincerely,

Hari Krishnan

 

-

"MK Krishnaswamy" <surfings

<bhakti-list>

Sunday, January 20, 2002 12:24 AM

On Caste and Karma theory

 

 

| Dear Members,

|

| Greg Michel, in his posting on 'Social Justic' regrets that there is no Vedic

equivalent of the Christian directive to 'love your neighbour as yourself'.