Swamy Dayananda Saraswati on BG Verse 4.13 - Part-4

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CAturvarNyam -Verse 4.13 Bhagavad Gita Home study by Swami Dayananada

Sarasvatiâ€" Continued â€"3

 

Superiority is determined by one�s maturity and not duty

 

No duty is superior to another. Each duty is as good, as necessary, as

every other duty. Therefore, one group of people is not superior or

inferior to another group of people. The people themselves are nothing but

parameshvara, irrespective of which group they belong to. In every society

there are certain activities to be performed and these activities or duties

fall into four general groups. Thus, the groups that people belong to

differ from each other only in terms of the duties attached to them.

When a person belonging to any group performs his or her duty with an

attitude of karma-yoga, that person becomes, guNa wise sattva-rajas-tamas.

A brahmaNa who chants the veda for personal glory becomes

rajas-sattva-tamas; if he does it for money alone, with no other ambition,

he becomes rajas-tamas-sattva. And if he performs a ritual in the temple

with an attitude of dullness, for no other reason than to feed himself, he

is tamas â€"rajas-sattva.

There is another kind of brahmaNa who enjoys what he does and does it well

but, at the same time wants everyone to listen to him. He is always looking

around to see who is coming. There are also those who, seeing someone with

a lot of money coming, will stop right in the middle of performing a puja

and fawn all over the person. God has to wait it seems! Thus, there are

several varieties of  brAhmaNas â€" brAhmaNa â€" brAhmaNas, meaning

brAhmaNas, both duty-wise and guNa-wise; Kshatriya-brAhmaNas, those who are

brAhmaNas duty-wise and kshatriya guNa-wise; vaishya â€" brAhmaNas, those

who are brAhmaNas duty-wise and vaishya guNa-wise; shudra â€" brAhmaNas,

those who are brAhmaNas duty-wise and shUdra guNa-wise.

In the same way there are brAhmaNa â€" kshatriyas, kshatriyas- kshatriyas,

vaishya- kshatriyas  and shUdra â€" kshatriyas;

brAhmaNa â€"  vaishyas, kshatriya â€" vaishyas, vaishyas- vaishyas, and

shUdra â€" vaishyas;

brAhmaNa â€" shUdras,  kshatriya â€" shUdras, vaishya- shUdras, and shUdra-

shUdras.

Who is superior in all of this?  A brahmNa â€" brahmana,

brahmana-kshatriya, brahmana-vaisya, and brahmana-shUdra all are equal. So

the brahmana is superior.   This statement must not be misunderstood. When

we refer to a brahmana as superior, we are not taking about a person who

performs the duties of a brahmana. We are talking about the quality, the

maturity, of the persons mind. There is a lot of confusion around this very

point that has given rise to the prevalence of caste related problems.

If a man who performs brahmana duties says he is superior, he is definitely

demonstrating a lack of the qualities of a brahmana and is therefore not a

brahmana- brahmana. You will find many historical saints who were not

brahmanas by birth being worshipped in the temples of India. Some were

Sudras and some were harijans, meaning those who do not belong to any of

the four groups. Most of these saints were duty-wise Shudras, but they have

places in the temples because they were brahmana â€" Shudras. Therefore

guNa-wise, people can be brahmanas while belonging to any of the four

duty-based divisions.

 

Duties may change but qualities do not

 

This classification of duties and people can apply anywhere, not just in

India. Here, the only difference in the four-fold division is that it was

reflected within the family structure itself, each family belonging to one

of the four groups. Probably less than one percent of the people follw this

system, but amongst those who do, the son of a brahmana still studies and

teaches the Veda, performs the prescribed rituals, prays for the society,

and lives a simple lief. The system is almost gone because it requires a

certain protection that it no longer enjoys.

No system can survive unless it is protected. Prior to the Mughal

invasions, the four-fold classification structure in India was protected by

the royal families. However during the eight hundred years of Muslim rule,

it was destroyed. Later, in the interests of survival, people concerned

themselves only with doing what had to be done to look after themselves and

their families. Because a man no longer bothered about what his fathers

karma was, the whole structure changed in terms of duty.

However, in terms of quality, guna-vibhaga, the division of people does not

change. This is where karma-yoga as an attitude becomes clearer. A

karma-yogi is one who does what has to be done with a proper attitude. Such

a person is also a brahmana, sattva-rajas-tamas, with reference to the

quality of his or her mind. Only this brahmana can be a sannyasi. The

mandate that a brahmana can be a sannyasi is based on the quality of the

mind alone and it has nothing to do with which group a person is born into

in terms of duty.

To be continued.

Om namo narayanaya.

Lakshmi Muthuswamy

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Let me first thank Srimathi Lakshmi and Shri Bhasker for posting these

series of posting with the focus on Varnashrama Dharma according to

Gita. This topic is quite important for everyone to read and

understand so that we can avoid equating Varna Dharma with the caste

system. The list had quite extensive discussions on this topic several

times in the past. They are all available in the archives:

 

ProfVK has provided a series of postings on Varnashrama Dharma during

the third week of July 2002. Please read those well written ariticles

with extensive references and this subject matter has also been

discussed by ProfVK at his homepage in geocities. I request ProfVK to

provide a brief note with site references appropriately.

 

Also, please note that site has upgraded their search

engine and you can search using the advanced search features that will

facilitate - author/title/keyword search.

 

Also members not to open up new discussions on "Caste System" which is

an social evil and is nothing to do with the Vedic Varna Dharma. Any

discussions on how to get rid off the system, etc., etc. are beyond the

scope of this list. This is just a reminder to those enthusiastic

members who are more than eager to divert the list from spiritual

discussions.

 

With my warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

advaitin, bhaskar.yr wrote:

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> CAturvarNyam -Verse 4.13 Bhagavad Gita Home study by Swami Dayananada

> Sarasvatiâ€" Continued â€"3

>