Varna-ashrama Dharma is irelevant

[Guest guest]

Dear Prapannas

 

I would like to submit to this forum that varna-ashrama dharma is defunct

and irelevant in the modern multicultural global experience in which we are

now living. The vast majority of Hindus are no longer concerned with caste

or its duties and obligations since we all have modern careers in big

multi-dimensional cities and no loger live in villages. Secondly ashrama

system has also been on the shelf gathering dust for more than a century.

Those who have been brahmacharis before grhastha are like flowers in the

snow. No one even considers vanaprastha and much less sanyasa. All that

remains of the ashrama system is the farce of kasi-yatra before a brahmin's

marriage and possibly the thread ceremony which is more a social function

that one of comittment to the brahmacari dharma! So let's stop this pretence

and paying of lip-service and as modern Srivaishnavas relegate varna-ashrama

dharma to the cultural museum where it belongs.

 

Adiyen

 

Sri Rama

[Guest guest]

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Dear Shri Swamin and other Bhagavathas,

 

As one reads this post, one would see that I have touched various

topics instead of precisely sticking to one point. I apologise for my

inability to do so. Kindly forgive me. Also, the usage "you" does not

literally point to any particular person in the following post. It is

just a "second person" usage. Kindly do not take anything personal. I

question only the thoughts and opinions of people and not the people

themselves. In the same way, when you reply back, I will not take

anything personal(unless it is too obvious, in which case, I would

stop replying:)). There are no emotions embedded in this mail. Just

my meagre limited observations and learnings which might sound rude

or whatever. Kindly do not get into analyzing my intent or my

emotions. Try to get the gist of this post. If it is not worth it, of-

course you would dump it, so there is not any problem. Kindly do not

break this mail into bits and try to reply. Kindly try to get

the "wholesome" message. I know that reading this will not exactly

express what I intend to communicate, but I am writing this to the

best of my ability to achieve that! Also, this is a very long mail.

Please proceed only if you have some time in leisure. Sorry if I have

wasted any of your time.

 

Sarva Aparaadhaan Kshamasva

 

> The vast majority of Hindus are no longer concerned with caste

> or its duties and obligations since we all have modern careers in

> big multi-dimensional cities and no loger live in villages.

 

I humbly request you to provide references to few statistics based on

which you have made the above statements.

 

> So let's stop this pretence and paying of lip-service and as modern

> Srivaishnavas relegate varna-ashrama dharma to the cultural museum

> where it belongs.

 

I did not want to discuss the varnashrama dharma in detail, but this

post did tempt me to:

 

A person born in the america calls himself american though of any

origin(parental) and enjoys the previliges of this super power

country. Why must he get this previlige just BECAUSE he is born in

this country? What is so special in him that distinguishes from those

who are born in underdeveloped countries? If you have the answer for

this, then the same would be the answer for the question on Varna-

Dharmas. If you are not supposed to discriminate one by birth, then

why are there boundaries in this world for countries? How many people

call themselves as PATRIOTIC and are still against casteism in India.

What makes one do something for the place where he is BORN? How is an

Indian different from other country men? Why would we need visas to

go to other countries? Why are we supporting Kashmir and are still

fighting Pakistan in not letting it take away kashmir? When one is

obsessed about their country and discriminates other country men, it

is being treated as a pride and is called PATRIOTISM whilst when one

obsesses his/her race, his is called a RACIST. You may call it

Varnashrama Dharma or by different name, but it will exist in various

forms world wide. It is because of the very nature of human beings.

The Varnashrama Dharma was designed based on this very nature. I

would like to invite those people for a personal conversation over e-

mail on this subject who wish to debate this. Irrelevance has nothing

to do with the existence. Dinosaurs and their family do not exist.

Why are we still discussing about it? It is the instance of the type

called Dinosaurs that do not exist, that does not mean Dinosaurs are

irrelevant or that they are meaning less in our life. Everything

was/is for a reason. You call it socialism, capitalism, racism,

imperialism, secularism or whatever, it does not matter. It will stay

in one form or other. Rich and poor, white and black, intelligent and

stupid, good-looking and ugly, tall and short - people are of

different types and have likes and dislikes. If I don't like onion

and do not eat and if one says I am discriminating that vegetable

from the other vegetables, I have only my regrets to them. Before

even discussing on Varnashrama Dharmam, one must first attain a level

of spirituality and clarity of thought. We always talk based on our

preconceived notions. How many of us are first ready to give up OUR

notions and SEE-THROUGH things. We end up seeing what WE want to see,

rather than what is AVAILABLE to see. Call it our limitation not that

of the shruthi and smruthi. When Shri Ramanujar says in his Shri

Bhasyam -> "Varnashrama Dharmanugraheetha Tad Upasana Sampat" we must

first try to understand what it is. If Shri Ramanuja says something,

he means it. Manavala mamunigal says -> "Nyanam ANUTTANAM ivai

nandragave udayanaana guruvai adiandhakkal, naanilattheer thenaar

kamalatthirumaamagal kozhunan thaane vaikundam tharum".[if one seeks

refuge under the feet of an acharyan who has the knowledge AND the

ANUSHTANAM then the refugee automatically will be lead to the

moksha]. I request you all to look at the usage of ANUSHTANAM by

swamy Maamunigal. If knowledge was all enough, he would have stopped

with that. Why did he add anushtanam? We could say we are doing

prapatti and we know the athma swaroopam and we see paramatma in

everyone. Come'on! Let us come to reality. When will we reach that

level? Just at the time when we hear about prapatti and its meaning?

In that case, what do we do after prapatti? Can we change our mindset

overnight and start seeing everything as bhagavath kainkaryam?

Including the act of using a pesticide to kill the pests? This is

when I suggest one MUST sit under the right acharyan and try to learn

things rather than reading everthing by themselves via books and

developing wrong notions. Books are for the writers for their own

references. That is why we have the system of UPA-NI-SHAD(would

suggest that the reader shall try finding out the meaning for the

same). Did Shri Ramanujar write Shri Bhashyam for us to read? NO.

This is a wrong notion. He wrote for HIS reference. Same with all

other purvacharyas. But, the sampradayam is to learn all these from

the appropriate authority. Swami Desikan claims that he did the

kalakshepam of Shri Bhashyam around 80+ times(may be I am wrong in

this number) in his lifetime. If books were to read and understand

everything, why do we have the concept of kalakshepams? The

sampradayam is to learn it from the authority and use the books only

as a reference. If Brahmins are not supposed to touch a person

of "lower birth", is it a limitation of the brahmin or the person of

the "lower birth"? Talk about lower and higher births! Don't we say

the dolphins are the smartest amongst all the fishes in the aquatic

kingdom? Is this a discrimination? Let us go back to the history.

Shri Ramanujar did unja vrutthi as per the varnashrama dharma and

renounced as per it. So did our purvacharyas upto 700/800 AD(?). What

happened after that(left to the reader to find this out)? A brahmanan

though was declared to be born of a higher birth, has to lose his

beauty(by chopping of the hair on the head and having shikhai) and

his financial status(has to beg to eat). So, who was in good status?

Who had more limitations? The higher birth in the SPIRITUAL/KNOWLEDGE

sense got MISINTERPRETED as a higher birth in the financial terms.

Holy caste became Forward caste. How did this happen? The service

oriented caste was project as a slave caste. How did this happen? To

serve by will is service while by order is slavery. Did anyone order

the shudras to serve to brahmana at all? And whom did they serve?

They served only the kshatriyas and the vaishyas. Devotees!

Varnashrama dharma and its society back dates to time immemorial

while its defeat is perceived only in the last 1000 years(?). If it

were a failure how did it manage to survive for 100s of thousands of

years? Whilst the brahmanan has to do all his duties and even if he

stopped chanting the purushasuktham in the middle due to unavoidable

reason, was supposed to go and stand in a river before the sun rises

and has to do some prayacchittham, the other varnas enjoyed the

freedom to many things and were well off with wealth(money and gold

and ornaments), happiness(any number of wives and any drinks and

anything that they want). FORWARD and BACKWARD, HIGHER and LOWER are

perspectives. A Brahmana when touches a shudra, has to go and take

bath. How was this misinterpreted as UNTOUCHABILITY. Did brahmanas

say shudras should not touch them, or did shudras, out of respect

avoid touching the brahmanas? Do not bring politics into the

religion. What we are now is because of our own people who projected

a wrong image of this entire system for whom the politics, the medias

and the phenomenal growth of illiteracy favored. From the knowledge

point of view, brahmanas maintained their knowledge. What is wrong?

Do you expect America and Russia to share all their nuclear/defense

secrets with every one in this world? Well, you can only argue for

the heck of it:) If you cannot learn the secrets of the nuclear

weapons and defence strategies of the NASA, you would keep quiet,

whilst, if a brahmana tries to maintain the secret of brahman, you

will criticize him to the fullest possible. When a person comes to

know about these defence secrets is prosecuted for a possible misuse

of the information, a person who was threatened to be punished by

pouring heated lead in his ears for over-hearing the shruthi, is

perceived with sympathy. Kindly note the usage of the word

threatened! Though this was in manu smruthi, this NEVER happened as

their is no historic references. But let me quote another historical

event that has been mentioned in the Mahabharatha. There was a

mistake that was collectively done by four people, each belonging to

one varna. Guess what? The brahmana was given the most lethal

punishment i.e he was executed while others were just imprisoned for

some number of years. The reason being, as per the varnashrama

dharma, a brahmana is supposed to be the most knowledgeable and when

he does something wrong, gets the highest degree of punishment. These

days, instead of Vanaprasta parents go to orphanages:) and bachelors

go to hostels(for discipline) instead of gurukulam.

 

The reality is, in one form or other the Varnashrama Dharma will

prevail. You can call a donkey, a monkey or a horse, but it still

stays as a donkey. Call it a "developed vs underdeveloped

(countries)", a "secular vs monoreligious" or a "socialist vs

capitalist" or a "patriot vs traitor" or a "brahmana vs shudra"

whatever... The differences WILL prevail. So, whether one wants to

follow it or not is upto the person. But, I humbly request that, DO

NOT TALK WRONG ABOUT WHAT OUR SHRUTHI/SMRUTHI SAYS and PUT THE BLAME

ON THEM and PROJECT A WRONG IMAGE OF OUR TRADITION. History repeats

itself. Varnashrama dharma may seem defunct today. But what we fail

to see is that - the SANKSRIT SCRIPTURE - MANU SMRUTHI(or whatever)

is being seen as defunct, while, Varnashrama Dharma still prevails in

some other form. Perceptions are not REALITY all the time:) They are

DECEPTIONS many times.

 

Again, if you associate my ideas with myself, you might call me a

fanatic and if you try to analyze me instead of my post, you would

define me as a person who talks but never practises! But if you

really are interested in knowing the reality and are ready to see the

truth as is, I request you to kindly ANALYZE ONLY the contents of

this post and then decide to accept it or not.

 

Yatheendra Pravanam Vandhe RAMYA Jamataram Munim

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

Lakshmi Narasimhan