Varnashrama – A Pillar of “Satsang” Activities

The term “Varnashrama” creates among common people and the so called pseudo-scientific minded people some sort of apathy and repulsive attitude out of ignorance, but actually it is related with the creative function of the universe together with the hereditary progression of the human being which leads to the continuance of any human society and also provides with the most scientific solution of unemployment to earn livelihood of each individual.

The function of “Varna” is to prevent the downward tendency of Nature and is not created by human being but the introduction of Ashrama Dharma was made by human being in order to make gradual upward development of the mankind grouped on the basis of Varna. The great sage Bharadwaja opined “Probrittirodhako Varnadharma nibritti poshokashaparo, ashrama dharma ityathra” which means that the system of Varna is necessary to prevent the natural downward trend of the instincts while the Ashrama system was created to attain the ultimate goal of the human being along the course of self-control. Anticipating the destruction of Varnashrama in near future, the great warrior Arjuna before the start of the devastating Kurukshetra war uttered to the Lord Shree Krishna in a fearful mind the essence of which was that as the result of this war, the prevailing social system would come to an end resulting in the destruction of Varnashrama which would ultimately lead to the admixture of blood producing thereby hybrid society having no pure characteristics of its own. The same was also propagated by Shree Shree Thakur Anukool Chandra in the maxim no. 14 in his works “Anushruti, part 1 i.e. chapter on Varnashrama”.

The entire universe or cosmos as it is also called is composed of the five elements viz. earth, water, spirit or energy, air and space. In the space are arranged the entire material world and living system composed of the other four elements. A study of the characteristics of the mankind, the best creation of the living world will reveal that every human society is practically composed of four types of people depending on the multiplicity of their characteristics. In the Shreemodvogobad Geeta, Lord Shree Krishna declared that the four Varnas leading to the production of people of four different types depending on their characteristics and activities were created by Himself although in the present era, it is practically impossible to get any of the four types of people in pure state because of admixture of blood due to random and unscientific inter caste marriage.

It will not be out of place here to mention that according to astrological principles, the Zodiac as such as defined in the Oriental Nirayana System signifies the God-directed path of gradual progression of the human being in general to attain the ultimate target of Godhood for every individual and in turn the upward development of the mankind as a whole. Therefore, the creation of the four Varnas on the basis of qualities and activities as enunciated by the Lord Shree Krishna is also sketched in astrological principles. At the top of the divisional chart is the Vipra Varna as signified by the three watery signs viz. Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces in the Zodiac. The natives belonging to these signs are engaged in academic, counseling, administrative work, as also in worshiping, writing of books, legal consultation etc. The field of their activities is mostly based on education related to memory and merits and finally progression of spiritual consciousness.

The three fiery signs Aries, Leo and Saggitarius signify the second category viz. Kshatriya belonging to the level of active energy and characterized by emotion, originality in thinking, talent, protection and maintenance of the social structure and lawful activities, administration, military activities etc. The three airy signs viz. Gemini, Libra and Aquarius signify activities in the intellectual level e.g. researches in different branches of science, arts, business, business administration, agriculture, industrial development, spiritual thinking etc. Persons born under the influence of such signs are classified as Vaishya. The three earthy signs viz. Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn signify persons belonging to Shudra category whose activities are mostly confined in the very material plane. It is very difficult for such persons to rise beyond this limit of thinking and their main work is to serve in some form or other the different fields of the society.

We know that in a human body, every organ has some particular job assigned to it by Nature the performance of which helps to protect, maintain and nourish the ruler of the body i.e. life which in turn ensures the existence and nourishment of the organ itself. If any social structure be compared with a human body, it will be revealed that to maintain a healthy society, it is necessary for individuals classified according to the four Varnas to perform their assigned jobs and in turn, each individual is provided with the requisites for existence and maintenance. In the human body, the job of the legs is in no way inferior to that of the brain and the harmonious and rhythmic activities of all the organs keep the individual healthy and linger the life. Similarly, in a society grouped into four categories on the basis of Varnashrama, no group is inferior to others and the harmonious combined activities of all the groups keep the society healthy and progressive. This has been clearly uttered by Shree Shree Thakur Anukool Chandra in the maxims no. 23, 44 and 45 of His works “Anushruti, part 1, Varnashrama”. Therein Shree Shree Thakur defined Varna on the basis of requisites of human being for existence and gradual elevation combined with hereditary influences and also defined the characteristics of the four Varnas. Together with these, Shree Shree Thakur firmly warned against the breakage of the Varna System and the awful results thereof for the society.

We shall now try to realize the direct influences of the Varnashrama System on the socio-economic structure of the society.

In the ongoing period, a social chaotic condition has been created as the result of which the young generation can not understand the exact way of successful manifestation of their characteristics and qualities and the guides as well as the leaders of the society are also in a mess as to find the same in an impersonal and humanic total view because the persons engaged in this job are mostly devoid of these qualities and are also not above personal interest. In many foreign countries, the aptitude of an individual is determined by some psychological tests on the basis of which the future activities of the individual are programmed so that their efficiency and time are not wasted. But in this respect, it may be definitely said that the Varnashrama System which was in vogue in the ancient Aryan society was the best and for this reason Shree Shree Thakur strongly stressed on the revival of the said pattern of the society on the basis of Varnashrama. The outcome of this system may be exemplified by the fact that a child born in a potter family can make a very good clay-model in a very causal manner while playing with some clay which would never be possible by some other boy otherwise very gifted but born in some other family. This is because the genetic characteristics transmitted to the child of potter family have been so inscribed in his blood that he need not exercise much effort for this. This is equally true for children born in other classes of the society. The same has been confirmed by Shree Shree Thakur in the maxim no. 13 in the chapter of Varnashrama in the first part of his works titled “Anushruti”.

In a Varnashrama based society, every individual is aware of the fact that in the caste oriented professional system, no body belonging to any other caste will not intrude to take a share and since the course of earning livelihood in the society is determined for every individual, there will be no need for random efforts for the same thereby leading to wastage of time and energy. Consequently, every individual will have a natural tendency to improve the Varna oriented professional course which will definitely bring the gradual development of the individual leading to overall improvement of the society collectively. Moreover, in such a society, there being no clash among the people of different Varnas in respect of profession, the system of unhealthy competition as prevailing in the modern society will cease to exist, rather there will be friendly and cordial cooperation and coordination among the people of different Varnas which will make the society combined in a friendly atmosphere. The result of this has been narrated by Shree Shree Thakur in his great and holy maxim “Satta Sachchidanandamoy/Asat Nirodhee Swatai etc. etc.”

So far is about the four Varnas. But in the ancient Aryan society, every individual life was divided into four stages viz. Brahmacharya, Garhasthya, Vanprashta and Sannyasa which signified the gradual progression of the individual from the material activities to spiritual development which leads to the ultimate goal of every individual soul to its origin i.e. the Supreme Soul. This required proper utilization of human labour according to the individual characteristics determined by the respective Varna. This was clearly enunciated by Shree Shree Thakur in the maxim nos. 10 and 14 in the chapter Varnashrama of the works titled “Anushruti, part 1”. The first phase i.e. Brahmacharya, according to the Vedic Hindus, was what one had to practice staying at the residence of the Guru to receive education, having undergone the sacrament of being invested with the holy sacrificial thread together with abstinence from sexual or other worldly pleasures and preparing to join an order of hermits. This started at the age of five and continued up to the age of sixteen. The next phase i.e. Garhasthya, started thereafter when the individual being married performed the duties to the parents, wife and issues as also to the neighbours and relatives in order to continue the life process under the Sun which is the Holy Desire of the Supreme Lord. This continued till the age of fifty when the individual handing over the responsibilities of the family to the offspring engaged the self in the greater field of life for the upliftment of the society as the whole by devotional activities remaining engaged still in the material world. And thereafter in the ripe age, the individual had to withdraw the self from all material activities in order to devote for spiritual thinking for the progress of the soul to the higher level which would become the asset of the self for starting a fresh course of life after physical death followed by reincarnation. Thus, these four Ashrams used to take every individual soul for gradual progression to the ultimate goal of reunion with the Supreme Soul according to his Holy Desire.               

It is, therefore, clearly revealed that in the present era, the limitations of views, lack of clear and unbiased senses combined with personal motivation of evil minded people leading the society have created apathy towards the development of Varnashrama based society which is equivalent to the manifestation of suicidal tendency. Therefore, to save the society and the mankind as a whole, there is no other alternate than to reintroduce the Varnashrama based society which is actually in harmony of the natural laws to continue the creation of the Supreme Lord. As such, in case where it may not be always possible due to different reasons prevailing in the present social structure to find the Varnashrama based profession, it is stressed that at least in the leisure period every individual should practice the Varnashrama based profession so that the genetic structure of the person determined by the Varna is not weakened because it was strongly warned by the Lord Shree Krishna in the Shreemodvogobad Geeta “Shreyam Swodharmmo Biguna Paradharmat Swonushthitat/Swodharmme Nidhanan Shreya Paradharmmo Bhayaboho” (Karma Yoga, Shloka 35) where the term “Dharma” has been used not to signify any religion, but meaning the personal characteristics and traits according to the genetic code received from the parents and earned through the activities in the previous incarnations.