Four types of people

One of the darkest blots on Hinduism is the caste system. This system has been thoroughly misused and has been a cause of lot of suffering during the long history of Hinduism.

But if one looks at the roots of this caste system – or the so called system of Varnas, one finds sound reasoning and well intended practical approach that could lead the society further.

I have explained these aspects in greater detail in my book “Ancient Wisdom – Modern Viewpoints”, chapter “Manu’s world of unequals”.

The basic idea behind this division of society into 4 categories or Varnas of people is as follows.

"The four categories of people or the four Varnas are based on Guna and Karma”.

Guna is an ancient Indian concept of inherent tendencies in any individual. There are basically 3 Gunas – Satwa, Rajas, and Tamas.

“The Satwa motivates a person to seek knowledge.

The Rajas makes one physically very active – action oriented.

Tamas makes a person dull headed and inactive.”

Accordingly, some people are predominantly Satwa driven. They strive to acquire more knowledge and also teach others whatever knowledge they have gained.

People who are predominantly driven by Rajas but also motivated by Satwa are normally very active and at the same time have some flair for knowledge. They love knowledge, but their first preference is action.

There is a third category of people who have no interest in acquiring knowledge. They always keep themselves busy acquiring worldly riches and comforts all for their own sake. These people are driven by a mixture of Rajas and Tamas. Rajas makes them active, while the Tamas makes them disinterested in knowledge and myopic in vision.

The last category of people are predominantly Tamas driven. They are dull witted and lethargic. They have no interest in knowledge, nor do they act on their own. They act only when forced by someone else. They have no discretion of their own.

Based on the inherent qualities a person has, a person indulges in appropriate acts – Karma

• one pursues a quest for knowledge,
• one keeps himself active while cherishing loftier goals,
• one keeps active for his own selfish interests, and
• one ends up being a slave to others!

So the division is based on both Guna and Karma.

Now the fundamental question is whether these qualities get inherited by a person from his parents and also are passed on to his progeny? It seems likely. That is where the division gets associated with the birth of the person. And that is the main drawback of this line of thinking.

But one should be aware that ancient Indians who talked of a Guna/Karma based division of society which is also linked to birth of an individual, did not forbid movement of individuals across the divisions in special cases. One could lose the Varna in which he is born if he does not live in a certain way, or move to a different Varna based on the Guna he develops later in his life.

So these divisions were not as rigid as they are often projected. It is a sad turn of Indian society which made it rigid and resulted in a draconian system tarnishing the otherwise glorious traditions of ancient India.

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Based on verse 4.13,14.5, 14.6, 14.7, and 14.8 of Bhagavad Geetha, one of the most quoted and widely translated of the ancient Indian scriptures, believed to have been composed by Vyasa as part of the great Indian Epic Mahabharata, 5000 years ago. The interpretation of the verses and audio recital are by Dr.King (Copyright © 2018 Dr. King)