Posted on: 14 Feb 2022
[Shri Anil asked: Question on caste system: Padanamaskaram Swami. Swami is there any gradation in various professions (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra) as per the deeds performed during the prescribed duties? If a Sudra does not work who will do his work? Similarly, if Vaishya does not work who will do his work? Thus, can we say that all those professions are good only? And people doing any profession cannot be said to be good or bad in general terms unless we examine their qualities. Am I right?
My point is that qualities cannot be linked to a profession. At the same time since Brahmins are preaching Spiritual knowledge, can we say that the probability of them acquiring good qualities in their profession is higher compared to other professions? And since a Sudra is not preaching divine knowledge and doing some activities for his livelihood which does not mean that he is doing a bad deed. So, also the case of Vaishya. Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras also can listen to the knowledge preached by a Brahmin and acquire good qualities even while doing their prescribed duties as per their profession.
Yadu ceased to be a Kshatriya due to the curse and he turns to the profession of looking after cattle. Thus, that new caste cannot be said as a bad caste since it is just another profession like the profession of ruling the kingdom, unless and until Yadu himself was doing bad deeds (Say: 5% Sattvam, 10% Rajas, 85% profession). Did his qualities degrade by doing that profession? Swami, please clarify whether the qualities of Yadu got degraded from the qualities he had before the curse from his father by doing the profession of looking after the cattle?
My point is why to link profession (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra) with qualities a person possesses? All professions are dignified in their own way. Profession need not be brought in. Only qualities need to be seen to decide a person as good or bad. In this way there are only 2 castes, caste of good people and caste of bad people without any mention of any caste (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra) in which they are born. Am I correct in my thinking? Please clarify. At Your Divine Lotus Feet –anil]
Swami replied: - A profession has no link with qualities. All professions are equally dignified and there is no good profession or bad profession. But a profession may be considered to be higher than another profession. For example, ruling a kingdom is generally considered to be a higher profession than ruling the cattle in field. I am not supporting this psychology, but, such psychology exists in the society. A king is very much respected by the public and a cowherd is not so much respected as the king. Here the question of good and bad does not exist. A king may be a bad ruler whereas a cowherd may be a very good person with good qualities. Kamsa was the worst king whereas Krishna was a good cowherd. Of course, I respect a good cowherd and I do not respect a bad king. But, the general psychology of the public is reverse. Even the bad king is given full honor whereas even a good cowherd is not given such honor. Based on this general psychology, Yadu thought that losing the administration of kingdom is losing something higher and gaining the administration of cattle is a downfall. Of course, such an attitude is strictly wrong because good or bad is not at all linked with the profession.
A Brahmana is respected by the entire society because he is preaching spiritual knowledge to the public. He may be preaching wrong spiritual knowledge, but, in general, such a point is not considered. The general impression is that a Brahmana will always preach good spiritual knowledge only. A Vaishya may be doing good business based on perfect justice. But the public thinks that business means only cheating the public and earning unjust profits.
I am not supporting this public psychology, but I am only saying that the general public psychology is on such imperfect logic only. It is perfectly correct to say that there are two castes only, which are based on good and bad qualities only, and such castes are called as good and bad. But, while speaking about such a caste system, you have to say that such a caste system is based on good and bad qualities only and not based on the professions. You can’t generalize such dual caste system based on professions because the caste system based on professions is a four-fold system. When we speak about the caste system based on professions, we shall not speak about good or bad. When you speak about the caste system based on good and bad qualities, you shall not speak about professions. In the word “Guṇa Karma”, the word Guṇa or quality means the professional quality related to a profession and here the word Guṇa does not mean good or bad quality. The word Guṇa has two senses: - 1) The sense of good and bad quality and 2) The sense of professional quality that is related to a specific profession. Unless you distinguish these two senses of the word Guṇa, confusion will arise while talking about concepts of this topic.