The phrase “Islamic Terrorism” is a well-known for the destruction in the present days. But there is no explanation to say that terrorism is related to Islam only. It is the people who become terrorists and throw dirt at their own religion. Unfortunately, the Hinduism also gets the scars such misconceptions. Religion means the shelter of people where they can open their mind from any prejudices. If it comes to strangle you, that is not the meaning of true religion.
Example of Other Religion
Before paying heed towards the Hinduism, let’s have a look on the Christianity. There you can found lots of denominations under one religion, for example, Protestant, Evangelical, Catholics, Orthodox, Eastern, and many more. But why such differences were created in human being? It is related to the history of the human civilization. In the uncivilized prehistoric world, there was no bigotry in the society. The more human started to become social and civilized, the shadow of caste system started to grab their mind in a larger way. Soon, it spread worldwide.
What is said in the Ancient Hindu Manuscripts?
When you analyze the Hinduism based on the history of past 500 hundred years, you’ll realize how the bad influence of caste system slowly extended its wings and has created inequity among people. But ancient history of the great Hinduism doesn’t support this fake reality. Take example of the shlokas of Vedas. There was no mention of caste difference there. Basically, in Vedas, ‘caste’ stands for ‘Jaati’ and ‘Varna’. According to Vedic studies, ‘Jaati’ stands for classification. In Nyyay Sutra, you’ll find the shloka: “Samaanaprasavaatmika Jatih”, which means people born from similar source.
The source of birth is divided into four categories in the age-old Hindu scriptures-
- Udbhijja- the plants and vegetables which born from the ground.
- Andaja- born out from eggs for instance birds, fish, and reptiles.
- Jarayuja or Pindaja- that means mammals who born out from animal bodies. Human beings are one of this kind.
- Ushmaj or Swedaja- produced by the temperature or the circumstances of surrounding. Flies, viruses and bacteria belong to this group.
If ‘Jaati’ states these groups, where is the place for any discrimination among human? Now, come to ‘Varna’. It deliberately denotes your occupation which you take according to your choice. ‘Jaati’ is a gift of God but you choose your ‘Varna’ by your ‘Karma’. In ancient Hinduism, the society was divided into four ‘Varnas’-
- Brahman
- Khastriya
- Vaishya and
- Shudra
Basically, human beings were born as Shudra. Upon completion of their education and taking up the occupation, they were grouped into the three other ‘Varna’s. As the completion of education was regarded as the second birth, these three ‘Varna’ was called ‘Dwija’ means born second time. If anyone couldn’t fulfill the course of education at that time, he remained Shudra but that was nothing demeaning like today and he was out caste from the society. How the occupations create differences in the society?
- Brahman- they used to related to education and teaching business. They wrote the manuscripts, became associated in politics as ministers.
- Khastriya- the king and his kinsman. Maintain internal and external politics of the state and engaged in war business.
- Vaishya- truly businessmen and agricultural people
- Shudra- worked as the support system of the above groups.
More Proofs against the Darkness of Caste System
If caste system was deeply rooted in the Hinduism, why Veda has quotes like, “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam”? This means: “whole earth is family”. You will also find lines like “Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu” which means “May all men live happily.” If a society is divided into pieces, is it possible to be happy?
- Take lines from the greatest Epic Mahabharata. It says: “Janmana jayate shudra, samskarad bhaved dvija veda-pathad bhaved bipro, brahma janatiti brahmanah”.This means, God is the only creator of every human being, so He can’t differentiate his children with caste system. It is the chance that a shudra got to be educated and become Brahman. The ‘samskar’ reffered here means purification. What is the process of purification? Education, learning and knowledge are the answers. Not by his birth or family.
- Take example from the Bhagavad Gita. On chapter 4, shloka 13 says: “Chaturvarnam maya shristim gunakarma vibhagashah Tasya kartarmapi mam vidya akartaram avayayam”. Lord Krishna described the fact to Arjun: He created the four ‘Varna’ system of the society. He did it on the basis of Karma. Though He is the creator, He is not capable of bringing any change to the system. So, it is clear that division was based on guna (aptitude) and karma (function). When human being of the Hinduism became so adamant that they started to overwrite God’s will?
So, there is no doubt that being a Brahman depends on anything related to a man’s birth. One has to earn the title. It is his worth which lifts him up to the upward level of humanity. It’s not a label or name that you are born with. A person, born to a non-Brahman family, can become a Brahman if he possessed all qualities and education.
Why was the Misconception Created?
Every society has someone who wants to rule on other’s mind. Be it Islam, Hinduism and Christian, you will find such people at every era who tried to capture the power to rule. And who doesn’t know divide and rule policy works best in order to form differences? It’s better to go reverse for the study of the caste system in Hinduism. As every incident holds a historical background, the formation of the false impression has its root too. A shloka in Yajurveda was completely taken in a negative way. The shloka says: Brahman is the mouth, Kshatriya is hand, Vaishya is thigh and Shudra is leg. Now, in later years this was changed completely as the heads of the society described it as Brahmans took birth from God’s mouth and rest from other place. Actually, the meaning of the shloka was, the whole society is a human body and stands on its strong legs. The shudras are the leg of the society and there is nothing degrading in mentioning that. Can you stand without a leg? But, did anyone yet think of the actual meaning?
There are plenty of added rationale that shaped the caste system in the Indian society-
- Attack of Aryans around 1500 B.C.E. Due to this the usual inhabitants were pushed to the interior areas and a class system take place in the country. The meaning of ‘Varna’ changed completely and it becomes the basis of commodities.
- Slowly the society became male dominated. They started to confine women in their class and relation between Varna came to a stop.
- Slowly the economic change came in front. Previously, the society was based on a conjugal system which says give to eat as you should. Gradually the Vaishyas became wealthy and this creates a sense of competition among the other groups- Brahman and Ksatriya. Soon, the division of upper and lower class came into the picture and the age-old construction started to fall down.
As a conclusion, it can only be said that if you want to show full respect towards the Hinduism, cut down the extra creepers which has made people blind enough to see the actual truth of the creed. The Hinduism was free from caste system from its origin. It is all the game of politics that people don’t wish to put a stop to these practices. The civilization is the only characteristic of a human soul, whatsoever he does than this, is just to acquire the power and practice it on the weaker ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment