Varna ratio - more vaisyas!

[Guest guest]

Mark Middle Mountain wrote:

 

> >

> > They can not manifest until a protected brahminical class is established to

> > guide the society on the spiritual path. As soon as that is there then the

> > vaisya sector, the productive order can and will be able to act properly.

>

> This has been debated ad nauseum on the VAD conference. I believe a house is

> built by first building a foundation, a plant grows from a root. Vaisyas

are

> the basis of a true brahminical society, and until that economic base is

> there, no true brahminical class can exist. Only one with delusions of

> granduer, feeding off the teat of ugrakarmic society, speaking hollow

> platitudes out of the corner of it's blood milk sucking mouth.

 

Hmm... sounds like another good quote to put on the refrigerator. Without true

vaisyas, the brahmanas will continue to build disneyland palaces and offer to

Krsna on the altar of those palaces milk from slaughtered cows.

 

But if you are talking about social structure, you really need a social

engineer

-- and that would be a ksatriya, the person who keeps people from being hurt by

making sure that everyone has an opportunity to be engaged in the way which is

most productive and satisfying for them. These ksatriyas will also reign in

the

false brahmanas, who are simply misguided sudras seeking fame and adoration --

which the false brahmanas could receive much better if they were engaged as

actors

and performers, which is what they really are anyway.

 

> Anyone have a reference for the old hearsay quote that for every 10 sudras,

> one

> vaisya, for every 10 vaisyas, one ksatriya, for every 10 ksatriyas, one

> brahmana? Always struck me as true.

 

Here's the breakdown from that quote: 1 brahmana, 10 ksatriyasa, 100 vaisyas,

1000

sudras = 1111 citizens. The current situation which attempts 50-100% brahmanas

is

certainly artificially top heavy. But, I think the ratio of 1 brahmana to 1000

sudras goes to far in the other way. I'm afraid that the one brahmana runs the

risk of being unnaturally glorified to the point of being unquestioningly

accepted

as a king. We've also seen the ill effects of that with our gurus who have

several thousand disciples, and give very little personal instruction. So I

think

that swings too far in the opposite direction.

 

I don't have the quote at hand, but somewhere during the March 1974 varnasrama

walks I believe -- or maybe it's his talk with Professor Kotofsky, Srila

Prabhupada mentions that society can become perfect with 5 % brahmanas.

Elsewhere, he criticizes the present age because the majority of the people are

sudras. So how can we make a breakdown of 5% brahmanas, but also keep the

sudras

as less than 50%.

 

Here's the 1111 citizen community under two models. One is with the .09%

brahmanas of the "old hearsay" you mentioned. The other is designed with the

5%

brahmanas which Srila Prabhupada suggests:

 

1 brahmana .09% 56 brahmanas 5%

10 ksatriyas .9% 111 ksatriyas 10%

100 vaisyas 9 % 444 vaisyas 40%

1000 sudras 90% 500 sudras 45%

 

 

The first model is similar to communism. My belief is that under that model,

too

many people are being relegated to the sudra class -- more than is natural. If

you go to the Srila Prabhupada on Varnasrama book and read Prabhupada's

conversation with Professor Kotofsky, you'll notice an interesting passage.

 

Srila Prabhupada tells Professor Kotofsky that in every society, there are

naturally Brahmanas, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. Professor Kotofsky

ponders

over that analysis. He determines that in the Soviet model, they have

Brahmanas

(teachers and theorists), Ksatriyas (administrators and soldiers) and sudras

(workers) -- but there are no vaisyas.

 

You may wonder about that, considering that so much agriculture was going on in

Russia. But according to Srila Prabhupada's analysis elsewhere, Professor

Kotofsky is correct. Prabhupada explains that the vaisya class is naturally

independent -- but farming in Soviet Union was done by a class of people who

had

no independence. The central planners (ksatriyas) told them what to plant and

how

much. Any independent spirit was crushed.

 

So, here was a society designed to have no vaisyas. Well, the vaisyas were

actually being born according to Krsna's arrangement. But they weren't allowed

to

act as vaisyas. Their vaisya tendencies were repressed, and they were forced

to

act as sudras.

 

**********

 

Okay, let's pause for a moment. What happens if I take a young man and

artificially force him to be a sannyasi instead of letting him get married, as

he

wanted to. Probably, in a few years he will fall down into illicit sex of one

type or another.

 

**********

 

Alright, back to the vaisya-free Soviet Union. Many people had a vaisya

nature,

but in the Soviet Union, there was no legitimate outlet for that nature. (Which

I

interpret as an independent productive impulse, not necessarily and amassing

money

grubbing impulse.)

 

Eventually, they could no longer tolerate this artificial repression. (Remember

Krsna's warning from Bhagavad gita: What will repression accomplish?) They

overthrew the system which repressed them -- and then became so-called

"vaisyas"

with a vengence, merciless capitalists and ruthless mafia members.

 

In sum, I think Srila Prabhupada's model in which there are 5% brahmanas is

probably superior to the .09% brahmana "hearsay" model which we sometimes hear

about. Also, I think that many people will be happier as independent yeoman

farmers than as artificial sudras.

 

We need more farmers, but we need to give thoughtful consideration as to what

kind

of farmers they will be. In general, I don't think becoming an agribusiness

farmer will do much to help one's spiritual advancement -- we would be too busy

figuring out how to crush everyone else.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi