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Varnashrama Dharma: A Logical View
Varnashrama Dharma: A Logical View
With the rise of individual ideologies, there has been a noisy protest
against varnashrama dharma, with the argument against it running as
follows: "The concept of the division of varnas as practiced now is
erroneous. Any attempt to protect it is not correct. It is wrong to say that
people born in the respective castes naturally belong to that particular
varna and it is also wrong to prescribe unique functions and a unique way
of life for each varna on the basis of birth. This is because the supposed
characteristics that are the distinguishing marks of different varnas are
really not unique to the members of that particular varna only. The so-
called unique qualities – gunas – of a particular varna are not exclusive
but found in the members of the other varnas also".
How far is this contention correct? It is evident that all the three gunas,
sattva, rajas and tamas, are found in every individual. Each individual
sometimes acts in a sattvika manner while at other times he may act in
rajasic or tamasic manner, which means that the manifestation of a
particular guna depends on circumstances and its presence cannot be
detected if it is not manifest. Further, the very same guna gets
manifested in different persons differently. Tamas may render a person
lazy and keep him without activity. But it may send another person to
sleep and may induce somebody else to get drunk. A person may be
angry under the effect of rajas while one may just frown, another person
may thrash and another may even kill. When sattvaguna is predominant
one may embrace a child with love while some other may begin to study a
holy book and yet another go into deep meditation.
Who can then determine the gunas of individuals? And for what purpose
and how? These are the questions that confront us. Who can decide it if
not God Himself? That which is not to be done by any human can be done
by God alone. This can be taken as the definition of God. None else can
create either the world or the living beings. It is only the omniscient and
omnipotent God who can create them. I am the one who indulges in
karma as prompted by my crazy will and who must perforce enjoy its
fruits. On the other hand, the Almighty God is free from the performance
of any karma or the enjoyment of its fruits, but is the perennial witness to
my gunas and the karmas I indulge in under their influence. Thus it is
only He, who is immanent in all beings, who can decide the individual’s
characteristic guna.
If one asks what is the need for deciding the individual’s gunas – it is this:
I am caught inextricably in the maze of these gunas and the karmas that
they induce me to perform. I must transcend these gunas to attain
absolute peace. It is only He who can lift me out of this morass and bless
me with salvation - the state which transcends these gunas and leads me
to absolute bliss. I have to agree to attain this state of moksha, I have to
perform appropriate karma, prescribed by Him, to become deserving of
attaining moksha. The karma that I have to perform should depend on
my inherent gunas and should have the ability to regulate these gunas.
But I am ignorant of both: what those gunas are and how I can transcend
them through karma. It is Almighty God who alone can determine this.
How does God determine my gunas? He Himself has declared this. Gunas
and karmas have a non-exclusive relationship and are mutually
dependent. Each one is affecting the other perpetually. That is why gunas
are extremely complicated. God, who is always witness to my gunas and
karmas at the time of my death, determines my gunas in the next birth,
making me take birth in an appropriate family. When I am born in that
family, the appropriate karma is prescribed by Him for me. If I follow
that, I can evolve to a higher plane. If I discard it, it leads to my
regression. The declaration "Chaturvarnyam maya srishtam guna karma
vibhagashah" (Gita 4.13) clearly enunciates how gunas originate: They
have their source in individual swabhava. It implies that they are the
product of the individual’s samskaras acquired in his past lives, and
karma is what is prescribed for the present life.
Ashrama Dharma