Talk:Varṇa Dharma for Universal Well-being:Character and Vocation by Birth

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

It is jāti-dharma that goes to make the inner guṇa (inner quality or nature) of an individual. So Śrī Kṛṣṇa's dictum in the Gītā that the catur-varṇa division is in accord with the guṇas and the idea that the caste is based on birth are one and the same. There is no conflict between the two. You cannot find fault with Śrī Kṛṣṇa for his practice being at variance with his precept.

Pārāśurāma and Droṇācārya were Brāhmaṇas but they were Kṣatriyas by nature. On the other hand, Viśvāmitra, a valorous Kṣatriya king known for his violent and passionate temperament, became a Brāhmaṇa ṛṣi. Cases like this are extremely rare, and are exceptions to the rule of jāti-dharma. On the whole we see that the Lord functions on the basis that, whatever be the outward qualities of individuals, their inner quality is in keeping with their hereditary vocations.

How can birth be the basis of the quality on which one's occupation is based? Before a man's individual character develops, he grows in a certain environment, the environment evolved through the vocation practiced in his family from generation to generation. He adopts this vocation and receives training in it from his people. It is in this manner that his guṇa is formed, and it is in keeping with his work.

Everybody must have the conviction that he is benefited by the occupation to which he is born. When people in the past had this attitude, they were free from greed and feelings of rivalry. Besides, though they were divided on the basis of their vocations, there was harmony among them. Children born in such a set-up naturally develop a liking and aptitude for the family vocation.

So what is practiced according to birth came to be the same as that practiced according to guṇa. Whatever the view of reformers today, in the old days an individual's ability to do a job was in accord with his guṇa; and in the dharma obtained in the past, a man practiced his calling according to his guṇa. Now it has become topsy-turvy.

What is the view of the psychologists on this question?

According to psychologists, heredity and environment play a crucial part in determining a man's character, abilities, and attitudes. In the past, all vocations were handed down from grandfather to father and from father to son. Besides, each group practising a particular occupation or trade lived in a separate area in the village. The Brāhmaṇas, for instance, lived in the agrahāra and, similarly, each of the other jāti-s had its own quarter. So the environment also helped each section to develop its special skills and character. These two factors — heredity and environment — were greatly instrumental in shaping a person's guṇa and vocation.

Instead of speaking about the subject myself, I will cite the views of Gandhiji, who is much respected by the reformists: "The Gītā does talk of varṇa being according to guṇa and karma, but guṇa and karma are inherited by birth." So the fact that Kṛṣṇa Paramātman's practice is not at variance with his doctrine is confirmed by Gandhiji. Modernists should not twist and distort the Vedas and sāstras and the pronouncements of Kṛṣṇa Paramātman to suit their own contentions.

Kṛṣṇa is usually imperative in his utterances. "I speak, you listen," such is his manner. But when he speaks of people and their duties, he does not impose himself saying "I speak thus," but instead he points to what is laid down in the sāstras to be the authority. During Kṛṣṇa's own time, the various castes were divided according to birth: we learn this, without any room for doubt, from the Mahābhārata, the Bhagavata, and the Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

I mention this because some research scholars today are likely to put forward the view that caste based on birth evolved after the time of Kṛṣṇa. The epic and the Purāṇas mentioned above declare categorically that during the age of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Paramātman the sāstras dealing with varṇāśrama were the authority for dharma. It was at such a time, when an individual's vocation was determined by birth, that the Lord declared in clear terms:

Yah sāstra-vidhima utsṛjya

vartate kāma-kārataḥ Na

sa siddhim avāpnōti na

sukham na param gatiṁ

Tasmāc-chāstraṁ

pramāṇaṁ te

kārya-kārya-vyavasthitau

Jñātvā

sāstra-vidhānōktam

karma kartum iha 'rhasi

— *Bhagavadgītā*, 16.23–24

Whoso forsakes the injunctions of the sāstras and lives according to his own desires does not obtain liberation, finds no happiness, nor attains the highest goal. (The sāstras determine your work, what is right and what is wrong. You must know the way shown by the sāstras and pursue the work—vocation—according to them.)

Śrī Kṛṣṇa establishes that an individual owes his caste to his birth. There should not be the slightest doubt about it.