chAthurvarnam mayAsrshtam

[Guest guest]

Yajna in those days was a cooperative endeavour undertaken for the welfare of the society. It was done by the people from all the varnas, which were formed on the basis of the division of labour and not birth. Brahmanas were so called because they were the custodians of the knowledge of the Vedas which culminates in the realization of Brahman. The word Brahman in Sanskrit denotes the Absolute Reality, veda and yajna. Hence they were in charge of conducting the yajna, or the priests. Kshathriyas were those who protect the people from enemies and maintain law and order. The king, a kshathriya was usually the yajamaana, the master of the ceremony, as he had the authority to organize. Vaisyas were the men of trade who supplied the commodities needed by the society an they were in charge of providing the materials for the yajna. Sudras

were the unskilled labourers doing the manual work. All contribute their share towards the success of the yajna and what is left over as the result of the yajna is distributed equally to all. There is no other word more misunderstood in sanskrit than the word svadharma,. It really means the work suited to one’s own nature, which may change as the individual changes. It is not uncommon to find that a person qualified to be an engineer, for instance, turn out to be a successful businessman because he has the inborn talents to become one, or a man giving up his successful profession and choose a less lucrative one because his attitude has changed. So svadharma is what naturally comes to you and not something which others do, however tempting it may appear to be. Here in the context Arjuna wanted to

give up his svsdharma which is that of a warrior and Krishna points out that to leave his duty as a kshathriya is dangerous as he will come to ruin as he is not fit for other life, say, that of a sanyasi. Why should there be any difference in the activities of the .people if all are following the same path? The answer is given by Krishna that the difference is due to the propensities which differ according to the inborn qualities. “They were created by Me,†says the Lord ,â€according to the mode of prakrthi predominant in each, and apportioning duties corresponding duties to them, †and his is he basis of classification of the four orders of society, namely, braahmana, kshatriya, vaisya and sudra. So the Bhagavatgita very clearly

specifies that the caste system was man made and does not have he authority of scriptures. Chaahurvarnyam mayaa srshtam gunakarma vibhaabasah, and not by birth From commentary on the Gita- www.geocities.com/sarojram18 May god bless you, Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

Everyone is raving about the all-new Mail.