One of my friends, who recently told his dad that he loves a girl and wants to get married to her had to face his dad’s wrath. WHY?
Because she did not belong to his caste!!!
BAFFLING!!!!!!!!!
Oh and get this!! His dad is a senior manager in a major MNC, well educated with a couple of major degrees, earning thousands of dollars every month.. When my friend asked why was caste an issue his dad replied “now if you marry a girl from another caste how can I show my face in our community?”
BAFFLING AGAIN!!!!!!
Two things I want to say to that dad:
1) Your face is your arse anyways, so don’t bother showing it.
2) Where did your education go? What about your 6th standard lesson in Social studies which taught you Caste is a social evil?
The above episode had me thinking about the state of affairs in India and caste system on the whole. If you know about the caste system read this article as I want to share with you a means of fighting this evil. If you don’t know about it, please read this article as well this will keep you away from the evil system and help educate others.
THE CASTE SYSTEM
This is a social evil, born to divide human beings. The system which has come down from ages causing nothing but harm to human beings. How did this system begin? Why do people still follow it? How can one fight this? These are some of the questions which must be asked
India is a great land, a land filled with the most knowledgeable people who have attained complete enlightenment and there are also people who still believe in caste, rituals, ceremonies etc.
ORIGIN OF THE CASTE SYSTEM
The concept of caste is coming down from ages. Ancient India was blessed with many scholars and saints. Scholars who studied the world outside and the world inside (nature of the human mind). These scholars through meditation and concentration, understood their own minds and understood some basic realities of the laws of nature and the human psyche. In ancient India, this was the education which was taught from teacher to pupil and this tradition passed on for many years.
What the ancient saints discovered were that there were four types of people who existed in this world. This categorization was based on how human beings had different mindsets and how that would place them in the social order. The caste system was nothing but a categorization of the social order in society. Based on this understanding human beings were categorized ( Not divided ). Here are the four types of human beings
1) Brahmin: A brahmin is a learned man, who is well versed with the knowledge and wisdom of life. The people studied the ancient scriptures like the Vedas and then passed this knowledge on to the others. The brahmins engaged in attaining the highest spiritual knowledge.
2) Kshatriyas: A Kshatriya is someone who defends the land and the kingdom. These were people who took up soldier jobs in the olden days. These people were warriors who protected society.
3) Vaishyas: These were the business class. cattle raring, trading of goods and services etc. Trade and commerce were handled by this class mostly.
4) Shudras: Shudras are service providers. Plumbers, mechanics etc. These people mostly do the daily jobs of labor. The people in this category have to job of serving the above three categories.
This is the caste system, the categorization of human beings based on social order. Even in today’s society you can classify any human being participating in a social order into any one of these four classes.
HOW DID THIS BECOME EVIL
This concept of the caste system soon became distorted when the system was associated with birth and not the occupation of an individual. Now a brahmin’s son became a brahmin irrespective of his wisdom. A Vaishyas son became Vaishya even if he was wiser than anyone else in this world.
Adding to this, the differentiation was intensified when people started to create a space for themselves and began treating themselves to be much more privileged than the other classes. They did this to gain status in society and safeguard their place in society. The Brahmins declared full right to the Vedas (ancient scriptures supposed to contain divine knowledge) and ensured that only a brahmin would have access to them and not the others. They also considered the birth of a human being in the brahmin clan to be a noble one and that of a Shudra to be a low one.
Soon, the idea of deeds deciding the class of individuals was forgotten and birth deciding the class became a reality. This is how a simple explanation of the social order became evil. Now your job/occupation was decided by birth and not by your deeds. A shudra was not allowed to take up activities related to learning, or defending or commerce. Differentiation began and now society started to split.
EVIL PREVALENT IN INDIA TODAY
India today is still ailing from this disease, called the caste system. I must add that though not as bad as in the ancient days, India still suffers from this. Various people like Swami Vivekananda (cool dude, read about him), Mahatma Gandhi etc have fought it will all their might, the evil still fails to die down. Even today, marriages are arranged based on Caste, one can only get married to someone belonging to his own caste. One will vote for a candidate just because he belongs to his own caste. The most disturbing aspect of this is that its not just the uneducated people who participate in this stupidity. Its even the educated section of the crowd which is as culpable. Ex: My friends Dad
Think about this when your near or dear one has an emergency you look for the best doctor to treat them, you never look for a doctor from your caste. Well apply this every where in life. Differentiating a human being on caste is ridiculous.
Why feel different? Human being is human being. God doesn’t differentiate only humans do. Every human being simply is you. Born(doesn’t matter to whom ), will eventually die. How does caste matter in this cycle?
HOW DO WE FIGHT IT
I am not one of those who like to point the finger at the government to change things. Yes the government has a duty to bring in reforms, but its the equal duty of every individual to bring in the change.
Stop staying quiet when an elder in your family talks bullshit about getting married to someone belonging to your caste, because he feels his ego is at stake. Stop voting for someone just because he belongs to your caste. Vote based on eligibility. Take it heads on wherever you face it in your life.
Fight it!!! It may not be at a macro level, but at least at a family level (micro level) you should take up responsibility and ensure people get rid of this foolishness. Of course your dad or mom or your grandpa may not like it. But realize that you are standing up for a greater purpose, a killing of an evil which has ruined many lives. So be firm and don’t give in. When we change ourselves for good, you will become an example to others and they will also take inspiration to change for good.
Now once you firmly believe that this evil needs to be killed, have lots of sex and pass on your intelligent genes
Take a stand. I stand for killing this evil. Do you?
