Modern Castes for Modern Hindus.

[Guest guest]

The Hindu society may be broadly classified into four groups (not varnas here):

1. Orthodox and Spiritual

2. Semi/Non-orthodox and Spiritual

3. Semi/Orthodox and Non-Spiritual

4. Non-orthodox and Non-Spiritual

 

The ideal Hindu is in category 1. Such a person believes in and pursues the religious/spiritual path. On top of this, the person maintains the Hindu trademark in their daily lives, and believes that the cultural and traditional infrastructures of Hinduism must be upheld. The bad elements of orthodoxy (such as potential bigotry, etc) are absent in such a person as the foundation of their orthodoxy is the spiritual base of Hinduism, which they recognize to be universal. This category is very important, for here we would find people who are fully committed to the religious ideal of God realization and want to ensure that every aspect of their lives is in consonance with that ambition.

 

Most of the modern spiritual aspirants are also non-orthodox and hence would belong to category 2. They live a public life which would avoid the branding of being religious (or Hindu), but in their private lives try to pursue the spiritual path. This business of compartmentalization that they must go through in modern life possibly keeps them in a tug of war and prevents them from truly committing to the religious path.

 

Before going into the next two categories, let me make a distinction in orthodoxy. There is General orthodoxy and Varna-based orthodoxy. An example of general orthodoxy is a Hindu women wearing the Sari or a Vaishnavite putting on a sacred mark on the forehead. An example of Varna-based orthodoxy is a Brahmana wearing the sacred thread.

 

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It is very important for modern Hindus to struggle to reestablish themselves in at least the general orthodox elements of Hinduism. We must not make excuses in this regard. Category 2 people must take up the religion full-hand and establish their public lives in general Hindu-orthodoxy. This is the “sacrifice” that will give them the understanding, and then alone will their words have comprehensive meaning; and till then such vehement talk against the caste system does more harm than good. The varna-based orthodoxy, inspite of its faults in the hands of unspiritual people, maintains the Hindu orthodox infrastructure, and we cannot afford to lose it. Category 2 people (esp. those in modern cities and foreign countries) should realize this fact if they recognize how difficult they find to move back to general orthodoxy.

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Category 3 contains people who are not committed to the religious pursuit but either due to upbringing or social circumstances maintain a certain degree of orthodoxy. Their orthodoxy might shine out with a religious highlight on special occasions such as marriages or communal gatherings but will reduce to the basic degree quickly thereafter. When caste-based, it may also be sustained with notions of high/low and end up bringing bad opinions on the varna dharma.

 

Category 4 is the stronghold of typical modern Hindu youths that I tend to meet. They have abandoned Hinduism both outside and inside but hold at least (in some cases, not) to the name. A Brahmin belonging here is as much a non-Hindu (in life) as he/she is a non-Brahmin. So it does not serve our purpose to point out such people when we judge the religion.

 

There are definitely overlaps between these groups, and the important thing is that a person may shift from one category to another. We want that most Hindus are inclined to spirituality.