CASTE SYSTEM
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Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, born in an untouchable family, was in 1947 appointed chairman of the constitution drafting committee to write India's constitution. Such was Ambedkar's hatred of Hinduism that he declared, "I was born but will not die a Hindu." He encouraged thousands of lower caste people to convert to Buddhism in India. Unlike Ambedkar, I am not going to change my religion. I will struggle within this religion and continue advocating for the justice of the untouchables and die for it.
In Chapter 4, Verse 13 of Hinduism's greatest treatise The Bhagvad Geeta, Lord Krishna says, "The fourfold caste has been created by me according to the differentiation of guna and karma". Lord Krishna is therefore the creator of four divisions of the social order, beginning with the intelligent class of men, the Brahmins, predominated by sattva guna and they are assigned the task (karma) of meditation.
According to Geeta, Lord Krishna does not belong to any of these divisions of labor because He is not a conditioned soul. Human society consists of conditioned souls and they are like any other animal but human beings can elevate themselves from animal status to true human nature because they are more rational than animal. The English word, "Human Being" itself says that we are not yet human; we are in the process of being human.
I have read different commentaries on Geeta and I like best the commentary of Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON society. According to him, Lord Krishna has created the division of labor for systematic development of Krishna consciousness. Lord Krishna emphasizes guna (aptitude or modes of instinct), pre-installed in all beings and karma (function), not on caste by birth. The varna in which we belong is independent of sex, birth or breeding. A varna is determined by temperament and vocation, not by birth or heredity.
Geeta does not speak about caste discrimination and it does not privilege anyone on the basis of birth. By birth every individual is a Shudra and they can elevate themselves to the Brahminic quality predominated by sattwa guna to have the Krishna consciousness. Few cunning Brahmins twisted this meaning of Lord Krishna. The fourfold order is designed for human evolution but Lord Krishna's verse has been misused by social criminals to justify the perverted form of caste system.
"Varna" or caste refers to different shades of color but not in the context of the color of a person's skin. But Hindus discriminate foreigners on the basis of color and disallow them from entering Hindu temples, while they do not keep Hindus from entering churches and mosques. How can elite Brahmins say that Whites discriminate against Blacks in Europe and America when they themselves are engaged in discrimination?
Lord Krishna encourages people to change their miserable life through different yogas like Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, Gyana yoga and Raja yoga while Brahmins discourage people from attempting to change their life situation. They misinterpret Holy Scriptures for controlling and maintaining social inequality through religion. They promote and try to uphold existing religious practice, socio-economic and political inequality. They say that untouchables must suffer due to their past Karma, creating hopeless situation for untouchables.
According to Swami Bibekananda, "We are day and night calling out to them not to touch us! Don't touch us! The religion has entered in the cooking pot. Is there any compassion or kindliness of heart in the country? Only a class of don't touchism! Kick such custom out! Don't touchism is form of mental disease". How long should social injustices remain in place? The present social reality is different than Lord Krishna's times.
Sometimes, I have the urge to undertake a bloody revolution to terminate the evil caste system. There are few elite untouchable groups who struggle for their rights but they are silently farming dollars in the name of untouchables and the downtrodden and doing nothing substantive. Others are divided into many political parties for their personal rather than common interests. If the state and political parties wish, the caste system will disappear within a short time span.
We are living in the 21st century characterized by development, justice and democracy but we also continue to practice the caste system without shame and civil society, human rights organizations and international community are doing nothing about it. The state has signed many national and international treaties against discrimination of any kind but the inhuman practice of untouchability is still rife in Nepal.
I am doing my best to sensitize the state and people against this criminal act. I am a spiritual person and physical fight is not a solution for me, though such thought comes in my mind when the situation becomes intolerable as I have suffered a lot. Fighting will divide us, weaken us, and degrade us; the solution is not bringing down the upper caste by cutting their legs but by raising the lower caste up to the level of the higher caste with positive discrimination. There should be no privilege for anyone and equal chance for all. Let us walk together to eliminate this evil practice and love each other to create prosperous and progressive Nepal.
The author is a martial artist, meditation practitioner and sociologist
girithejorba@gmail.com
