Varnashrama-dharma
The original varnashrama is the division of society into four varnas, four ashramas and four stages of dharma.
Varnashrama Dharma is the combination of the Four Varnams, Four Ashrams and Four Dharmas.
The Four Varnas:
Brahmanas:
Gurus, Sanyasis, Vedic Practitioners, Athma Pandits, Astrologers, Vedic Pandits, Priests, Professors, Teachers, Intellectuals and professionals who practice their profession with proficiency and ethics provided they adhere to purity in thoughts and actions, observe total ahimsa, and do the practice of dhyana and vegetarianism.
Kshatriyas:
Police, Army, Politicians, Law makers and Law administrators who practice their works with devotion to the mankind.
Vaishyas:
Farmers, Merchants, and business people and the self employed who indulge in agriculture, farming, manufacturing and trading.
Shudras:
Those who are employed and gets remuneration based on calendar whether daily or weekly or monthly from an employer. Those who rely upon manual labour for their livelihood are also shudras.
The Four Ashramas:
The First Ashrama: “Brahmacharya” or the Student Stage
The Second Ashrama: “Grihastha” or the Householder Stage
The Third Ashrama: “Vanaprastha” or the Hermit Stage
The Fourth Ashrama: “Sannyasa” or the Wandering Ascetic Stage
The Four Dharmas:
Artha: Wealth
Kama: Desire
Dharma: Righteousness, Duty
Moksha: Liberation
Sastras (God given) have not defined or advocated caste system. Only the Sampratayas (Man made) have made the caste system based upon the Karmas and works engaged by the people of the society.
One’s varna is determined by one’s character, qualities, training, and work. The focus is for spiritual advancement and for spiritual harmony for each member of society.
In Bhagavad-gita [4.13] there is the statement catur-varnyam maya srishtam: this system was created by Vishnu [God]. So since varnashrama is a creation of the Supreme, it cannot be changed. It is prevalent everywhere. It is like the sun. The sun is a creation of the Supreme. The sunshine is everywhere. Similarly, this varnashrama system is prevalent everywhere in some form or another.Take, for example, the brah-manas, the most intelligent class of men.
Brah-manas are the brains of the society. The kshatriyas are the administrative class; then the vaishyas are the productive and trading class, and the shudras are the suport class for the other three varnas.
These four classes of human are prevalent everywhere under different names. Because it is created by the original creator, so it is prevalent everywhere, varnashrama-dharma.
The great sage Parashara tells us how human society can attain the Lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, who is full in all opulences:
varnashramacaravata
purushena parah puman
vishnur aradhyate pantha
nanyat tat-tosha-karanam
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu, is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varna and ashrama. There is no other way to attain the Lord.” (Vishnu Purana 3.8.9)
Parashara Muni is referring to the original varnashrama system. Its essential feature is the deliberate organization of society so that the members of each class perform activities that help members of other classes in their spiritual advancement.
In varnashrama everyone can serve the Lord, whatever his level of spiritual advancement, by following the principles Krishna sets forth in the Bhagavad-gita.
In the third chapter, Krishna offers a description of work according to the principles of karma- yoga for those at the beginning level of spiritual advancement.
As Krishna further explains in the twelfth chapter, those most captivated by material enjoyment and least able to follow regulations can make spiritual advancement by working for Him, offering Him the fruits of their labor, or at least renouncing the fruits of their labor for some charitable cause.
Krishna emphasizes dutiful working according to one’s nature, with detachment from the fruits of labor. Workers in varnashrama can gain further advancement because they work in the association of devotees and serve them.
Furthermore, everyone—brah-mana, kshatriya, vaishya, or shudra—is eligible to advance to the topmost spiritual platform by offering not just the fruits of activity but the very activity itself to the Lord in full Krishna consciousness.
In the eighteenth chapter (verses 45-46), Krishna tells Arjuna, “By following his qualities of work, every man can become perfect. Now please hear from Me how this can be done. By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is allpervading, a man can attain perfection through performing his own work.”
At this level, work is no longer counted as karma-yoga. Instead, it is considered bhakti-yoga, the highest stage of devotional service.
Krishna informs Arjuna that if he acts on the platform of bhakti-yoga, he can “abandon all varieties of religion.” He has simply to perform his occupational duty as an offering of love to Krishna. He need not worry about all the injunctions contained in the “flowery words of the Vedas,” which concerned him in the opening pages of the Gita.
The Lord is in bliss state because He sees all His children advancing towards Him, each according to his highest capacity at the moment.
When engaged in pure devotional service by doing their work as bhakti-yoga, they are no longer on the material platform; they are in spiritual ecstasy.
In the Ninth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam (9.10.51), commenting on the varnashrama structure in Lord Ramacandra’s ideal kingdom, Srila Prabhupada writes: “Among the four yugas [ages]—Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali—Kali-yuga is the worst, but if the process of varnashrama-dharma is introduced, even in this age of Kali, the situation of Satya- yuga can be invoked.
Not by birth.
Prabhupada emphasizes that varna designations should be determined by character, training, and work, not by birth. He cites the injunctions of such sages as Narada Muni to back up his position. Srila Prabhupada indicates that rather than society’s using birth as the criteria, a devotee’s teachers and guru can help determine the varna best suited for his specific nature and guide him to appropriate training for that varna.
The dharma conveyed in the Vedas is based on two points – varna and ashrama – together called varnashrama dharma.
In the Bhagvad-gita also, Bhagavan refers to varna and ashram. Varna lists four types of people.
The four categories mentioned – brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra – are based on the qualities (gunas) of an individual.
Every jiva is a combination and permutation of these gunas. All of us are divided into four groups and should perform actions based on the ashram and the gunas we have.
The four ashramas are – brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sannyas. Each lifeis divided into four stages, of which the final stage is of sannyas, when one renounces everything and reaches the state of enlightenment.
The very purpose of the Vedas is to take us to Brahman. The knowledge of Brahman is given in four stages to the four types of people we find.
Dharma depends on and is decided by the varna and ashrama of the person. If followed sincerely, it leads us to purity of the mind (chittashuddhi) and we gain the four qualifications of – discrimination (viveka), dispassion (vairagya), control over mind and sense organs (shamdamadi shat sampatti) and the desire for freedom(mumukshutwam). With the gain of these four we are qualified to follow the path of Brahman.
When it comes to following the path of Brahman there is no division of varna (brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya, shudra) or ashram (brahmacharya, grahastha, vanaprastha, sannyasi). All can follow the path of Brahman.
Only purity of mind is required to gain this knowledge. Other qualifications are required to perform action. The world is full of different types of people and so naturally everyone does not do the same thing. Even if there is freedom to do anything, each one will do only what they are capable of doing.
One of the reasons for chaos in society is that unqualified people are given the job. It is called anadhikar cheshta. Regardless of whether they are qualified – an actor’s son becomes an actor; a politician’s son, a politician, a brahmin’s son become a brahmin.
Varna is a scientific analysis of the body, mind and intellect, based on gender and stage in life. What one is fit to do and can do without break.
The scriptures talk about nitya karma and naimittik karma. Nitya karmas are actions which have to be performed every day. The physical body does not prevent us from doing these, though often the scriptures prescribe different actions for men and women.
Naimittik karma are occasional karmas. Kamya karmas are desire oriented activities. Nishiddha karma are forbidden activities. Prayashchit karma are activities undertaken to negate sinful activities.
Understanding varna and ashrama is important order to determine the type of activities we can perform. Actions prescribed for brahmacharis, grihasthis and vanaprasthis are all distinct.
A vanprasthi is not qualified to untake the actions of brahmacharis, because the body does not support it and the mind is different.
Brahmacharis should not be given the jobs of a grahasthi or vanaprasthi and vice versa.
These divisions are very scientific but people misunderstand their very basis and create confusion by not following them.
Unfortunately we have not understood our own scriptures properly and are swayed by the interpretations of foreigners.
The division of varna and ashrama is only for karma, not for Brahman. With the qualifications of viveka, vairagya, shamdamadi shat sampatti and mumukshutvam we are fit to walk the path of Brahman.
We may be fit for Brahman though not for karma, but to qualify for Brahman, we have to pass through karma.
The four ashramas are brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa. In the first stage of brahmacharya, the child receives samskaras, meant to purify the mind.
After the Upanayan ceremony the child was supposed to study the Vedas with the teacher for 12 years and learn to lead a dharmic, righteous, proper life.
After completing his education the youth would marry and follow the path of grihasthashrama, implementing the path of dharma learnt in the brhamacharyashram.
The responsibilities of grihasthashrama are completed with the marriage of his children. Baby-sitting the grandchildren is not a responsibility. Till this stage he does not know about Brahman.
Then the man enters the stage of vanaprastha, where he is duty bound to study (shravana and mananam) Brahmavidya – the later portion of the Vedas. Listening to and contemplating on the scriptures is prescribed for the vanaprasthashram.
Shravana of the dharma portion of the Vedas is done in the brahmacharyashram. It is practiced in grihasthashram.
The study of the Brahman portion or the Upanishads is for vanaprasthashram. The practice of niddhidhyasana should be followed in sannyasashrama, the final stage of this balanced and harmonious system.
Meditation needs to be done alone. It is path of the alone to the Alone. One has to renounce the body and understand that, ‘I am not the body’. This is the state of Enlightenment, with which comes the knowledge – ‘I am that pure Self not this body. I am different from the body.’ This is sannyasashrama. It has got nothing to do with the traditional ochre robes worn by the sannyasi. The main directive of sannyasa is to drop the identification with body, mind and intellect and with full conviction gain abidance in Brahman.
Human society all over the world is divided into four castes and four orders of life. The four castes are the intelligent caste, the martial caste, the productive caste, and the laborer caste. These castes are classified in terms of one’s work and qualification and not by birth.
Then again there are four orders of life, namely the student life, the householder’s life, the retired life, and the devotional life.
In the best interest of human society there must be such divisions of life; otherwise no social institution can grow in a healthy state.
This institutional function of human society is known as the system of varnashrama-dharma, which is quite natural for the civilized life.
The varnashrama institution is constructed to enable one to realize the Absolute Truth. It is not for artificial domination of one division over another. No Varna is Superior; No Varna is inferior.
When the aim of life, a i.e., realization of the Absolute Truth, is missed by too much attachment for indriya-priti, or sense gratification, as already discussed hereinbefore, the institution of the varnashrama is utilized by selfish men to pose an artificial predominance over the weaker section.
Herein the statement of Bhagavatam is that the highest aim of life or the highest perfection of the institution of the varnashrama-dharma is to cooperate jointly for the attainment of the Supreme Lord.
This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (4.13).—Srimad- Bhagavatam 1.2.13, Purport
The Bhagavad Gita describe the professions, duties and qualities of members of different varnas.
There is no entity on earth, or again in heaven among the Devas, that is devoid of these three Gunas, born of Prakriti.
Of Brâhmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, as also of Sudras, O scorcher of foes, the duties are distributed according to the Gunas born of their own nature.
The control of the mind and the senses, austerity, purity, forbearance, and also uprightness, knowledge, realisation, belief in a hereafter– these are the duties of the Brâhmanas (their own) nature.
Prowess, boldness, fortitude, dexterity, and also not flying from battle, generosity and sovereignty are the duties of the Kshatriyas, (their own) nature.
Agriculture, cattle-rearing, manufacturing and trade are the duties of the Vaishyas, (their own) nature.
Support system action consisting of service is the duty of the Sudras, (their own) nature.
Hinduism teaches that individuals best realise their potential by taking into account such natural arrangements, and that society should be structured and organised accordingly.
Each varna and ashram has its own specified dharma. What may be desirable for one section of society may be degrading for another. For example, absolute non-violence, which includes refraining from animal sacrifice, is essential for the priestly class but considered wholly unworthy of a kshatriya (warrior).
Underlying all these apparent differences is the common goal of advancing in spiritual life based on sanatana-dharma.
Without the spiritual equality and sense of service inherent in sanatanadharma, varnashrama-dharma tends to degrade into the rigid and exploitative caste system.
Key Points
1 Varnashrama-dharma – duties performed according to the system of four varnas (social divisions) and four ashrams (stages in life).
2 Focus is on responsibilities (which naturally fulfil the rights of others).
Four varnas:
Brahmanas:
Gurus, Sanyasis, Vedic Practitioners, Athma Pandits, Astrologers, Vedic Pandits, Priests, Mathematicians, Scientists Professors, Teachers, Intellectuals and professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Architects, Chartered Accountants who practice their profession with proficiency and ethics provided they adhere to purity in thoughts and actions, observe total ahimsa, and do the practice of dhyana and vegetarianism.
Kshatriyas:
Police, Army, Politicians, Law makers and Law administrators who practice their works with devotion to the mankind.
Vaishyas:
Farmers, Merchants, and business people and the self employed who indulge in agriculture, farming, manufacturing and trading.
Shudras:
Those who are employed and gets remuneration based on calendar whether daily or weekly or monthly from an employer. Those who rely upon manual labour for their livelihood are also shudras.
Social functions are determined according to this analogy. For example, the brahmanas are the eyes a spiritual vision for the society and teach people accordingly. Kshatriya’s main duty is to protect society. The Vaishya’s main duty is material nourishment, and the Shudra supports all other sections of society.
Mahatma Gandhi, the most famous opponent of caste abuse, actually believed in the original principles of varnashrama-dharma.
The system of four varnas (with subdivisions) was based on mutual respect, support and service to the upliftment of Society.
These divisions are very scientific but people misunderstand their very basis and create confusion by not following them. Unfortunately we have not understood our own scriptures properly and are swayed by the interpretations of foreigners.
The division of varna and ashrama is only for karma, not for the Souls. With the qualifications of viveka, vairagya, shamdamadi shat sampatti and mumukshutvam every one is fit to attain the God by performing their duties with devotion without attachment to the fruits. Everyone have to pass through karma.
Om Tat Sat!