Varnasrama Exposition

[Guest guest]

All Glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga! Oct. 14, 2004 Krishna Era 5231

 

Dear Vaisnavas,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

In order to establish varnasrama, I think we must try to establish

Varnasrama College as Srila Prabhupada indicated. However, we brahmanas are

not wholly conversant with the principles of varnasrama. Therefore it would

behoove us to first thoroughly educate ourselves on the subject which we

must teach as the future brahmana professors of the varnasrama college.

 

In order to accomplish this we would need to 1) compile an exhaustive

collection of knowledge. This collection will be vast and will require

systematically gathering information on all aspects of varnasrama---

including scriptural references, statements by Vaisnava acaryas, historical

accounts, practical experiences, visions, realizations, etc. 2) once that is

available, then the learned Vaisnavas will pour through it extracting,

expanding and arranging the work into an exposition guided by Srila

Prabhupada's instructions. This exposition will most probably be massive,

perhaps six volumes of 1,000 pages each.

 

Then we will have an authoritative text, rules of the game, if you will, A)

for our teachers to use, B) from which to teach our students, C) and from

which to establish our own varnasrama projects.

 

If we take up this task in earnest, our discussions on social details and

applications will be extremely fruitful because they will take place within

the entirety of varnasrama culture, allowing us the ability to see the whole

picture rather than just a tiny extract not necessarily considering all the

factors.

 

To summarize, I propose the establishment of a worldwide committee for

compiling a varnasrama exposition.

 

Your servant,

Danavir Goswami

 

PS:

 

So in the beginning if we start a varnasrama college to teach internation

ally students from all over the world to learn to be educated as brahmanas,

as Ksatriyas, as vaisyas, as sudras, by quality and work, that will be the

basic principle of Krishna Consciousness.

…If you kindly consider on this point and the varnasrama college is started,

I am sure the chaotic condition of human society will be completely settled

up. (Letter to: Tarun Kanti Ghosh Babu; New Delhi 11 March 1974)

 

Therefore to save the degradation, this catur-varnyam must be established.

That I... The ideal class. People will follow, "Oh, here is the ideal

class." So we are trying to make an ideal class of Krsna conscious people.

And if you treat yourself as degraded, then who will care for you? You

should remain an ideal class. People will follow gradually.

Mahamsa: If a brahmana class is created, then automatically the ksatriyas

and vaisyas and sudras will be changed.

Prabhupada: Yes. Yes. The ideal, if you be ideal class, gradually they will

take your advice, what to do. Then immediately the whole degradation will be

finished.

Satsvarupa: Why will they take advice? Will they actually be attracted to

the virtues?

Prabhupada: Yes, naturally. Just like people come to see me. Similarly,

everyone comes.

Aksayananda: Everyone is attracted to you, Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Yes. So you should be such qualified that people will come to

consult you, to take your advice, and... That is the way. [break] ...one

after another. Just like if you are a qualified lawyer, when one has

difficulty, he comes, consults you, what to do. If you are a qualified

physician, then people will come to consult you. So you become qualified,

ideal; people will come. Otherwise who will care for you? [break]

....principles. No illicit sex, no gambling, no meat-eating and chanting.

These five things only, if you strictly remain on these principles, see how

you are respectable. Immediately you'll be respected. . VedaBase => Morning

Walk -- April 23, 1974, Hyderabad

[Guest guest]

> To summarize, I propose the establishment of a worldwide committee for

> compiling a varnasrama exposition.

 

This is an good idea from His Holiness Danavir Goswami, in my view. As

other devotees have pointed out, there are many instructions on VAD by Srila

Prabhupada which we could better apply right away in order to get VAD going,

even before we manage to establish working varnashrama communities.

 

This must surely be an urgent requirement. We are working hard to bring in

devotees, but the attrition rate is huge. For the most part we do not train

them for a lifetime in KC, giving them an appropriate engagement, or at

least the proper guidance in that direction. Rather it seems we often

consider the needs of the institution before those of the individual,

adopting a kind of 'one size fits all' approach, and in the end we fail to

serve either of these needs. For example, not all devotees should become

brahmanas, as SP made clear.

 

Prabhupada: "Therefore why a sudra artificially should be a brahmana? Let

them, let him remain a sudra, and if he follows strictly the rules and

regulation of sudra, he'll also be as good as a brahmana. The same example:

Just like head is as important as my leg. It is not that because it is leg,

it is less important than my head. And if you ask the head, "Do the work of

a leg," it is impossible. And if you ask the leg to work as a brain, that is

impossible. Let him remain brain, let him remain leg, and do your duty and

you become perfect." Mayapura Feb 14, 1977

 

And sastra directly tells us that gurus should be engaging their disciples

in VAD.

 

"The people who take birth in this tract of land are divided according to

the qualities of material nature -- the modes of goodness [sattva-guna],

passion [rajo-guna], and ignorance [tamo-guna]. Some of them are born as

exalted personalities, some are ordinary human beings, and some are

extremely abominable, for in Bharata -- varsa one takes birth exactly

according to one's past karma. If one's position is ascertained by a bona

fide spiritual master and one is properly trained to engage in the service

of Lord Visnu according to the four social divisions [brahmana, ksatriya,

vaisya and sudra] and the four spiritual divisions [brahmacari, grhastha,

vanaprastha and sannyasa], one's life becomes perfect." SB 5.19.19

 

How many gurus currently see this as their responsibility? In any event it

should be clear that we need varnasharma colleges, as the Maharaja says. On

one occasion SP even said that all our centres should have such a college.

 

"Everywhere, wherever we have got our center, a varnasrama college should be

established to train four divisions: one class, brahmana; one class,

ksatriya; one class, vaisya; and one class, sudra." Vrindavan 12 March 1974

 

Before signing off I would also like to add my voice to Kripamoya prabhu's

when he says that grhasthas need encouragement if we are ever to see VAD

happening. Surely that is true. Grhastha ashrama is the root and support of

all the other orders. SP writes:

 

"Factually, according to the instructions of Srimad-Bhagavatam, every

grhastha is a great communist who provides the means of living for

everyone." SB 7.14 Summary

 

It's a tough call for most grhasthas to do this, and therefore they need

plenty of encouragement and support. And here's some of that right now,

from the Shanti Parva, where Nakula is addressing Yudhisthira just after the

war, trying to convince him to take up his kingly duties:

 

"All persons acquainted with the Vedas have declared the life of a

householder to be superior to all the other modes of life...

"The four different modes of life were at one time weighed in a balance. The

wise have said that when grhastha ashrama was placed on one side, the other

three modes were required to balance it.

"To a householder the performance of sacrifice is fraught with impediments.

Therefore this mode of life has been described as exceedingly difficult and

unattainable." MB Shanti Parva Chap. 12

 

with obeisances

 

yhs

KDd

[Guest guest]

> > To summarize, I propose the establishment of a worldwide committee for

> > compiling a varnasrama exposition.

>

> This is an good idea from His Holiness Danavir Goswami, in my view. As

> other devotees have pointed out, there are many instructions on VAD by

> Srila Prabhupada which we could better apply right away in order to get

> VAD going, even before we manage to establish working varnashrama

> communities.

 

I very much appreciated the points you brought up in this text, Yes there is

much to be done in this regard.

 

YS Samba das