Hinduism: The Caste System, Reincarnation, and Karma

I. The Caste System--(groups assigned by birth not personality). The Hindu conception of the social order is that people are different, and different people will fit well into different aspects of society.  Social order or social class according to varna forms the framework of moral duties according to personal characteristics of individuals (not necessarily birth).

A. Historically the caste system dates back to the Aryan invasion of India around 2,000 BC.

B. Society is divided into four main groups (with a fifth, "the untouchables," outside of the caste system).


Passage from the Rig Veda:
(The world was formed from Purusa whose body is described as follows.)
"The brahmin was his mouth, his two arms became the rajanya (kshatriyas), his thighs are what the vaisya are, and from his feet the shudra was made."

 1. Brahmin: the seers, the reflective ones, the priests.


a. The intellectual and spiritual leaders.

b. In our society, they would correspond to the philosophers, religious leaders, and teachers.
2. Kshatriyas--(pronounced something like "kshot ree yahs") the born administrators (formerly nobles, rajahs, and warriors).


a. The protectors of society.

b. In our society, the politicians, police, and the military.
3. Vaisyas: (pronounced something like "vy sy us") the producers, the craftsmen, artisans, farmers.


a. The skillful producers of material things.

b. In our society, the merchants.
4. Shudras--(pronounced something like "shoo drrahs") the unskilled laborers or laboring class.


a. The followers or the maintenance people.

b. The so-called menial workers or hard laborers.
C. Advantages to the Caste system. The heritability of intelligence and factors of personality raise some interesting philosophical questions.


1. What we would like people to be is not usually what they are. Many persons would be more comfortable in their own social class.

2. Unless unequals are separated into different classes, many persons would be "born losers."

3. Egalitarianism is the belief that privileges are proportional to the responsibilities and a denial of the tyranny of the majority.

II. Reincarnation: the philosophical basis of this belief is the consideration that if individual souls (jivas) are eternal, where did they come from?

A. The spriit is independent of the body and the situation the spirit is in.
Passage from the Gita:
"Worn out garments are shed by the body; worn out bodies are shed by the dweller."

1. At the subhuman level the passage is almost automatic up the chain of being.

2. At the human level comes consciousness which implies freedom, responsibility, and effort.

3. The consequences of your past decisions have determined your present state.
B. Law of Karma--the moral law of action and reaction.


1. The present condition of your soul (confusion or serenity) is a product of your past decisions. You have made yourself what you are.

2. Your present thoughts, decisions, and actions determine your future states. ("Unsettled state" = "bad karma.")  Karma can be altered through natural and moral decision and action.

3. Every person gets what that person deserves--even though decisions are freely arrived at, there is no chance in the universe. Karma is the middle way between determinism and indeterminism.

4. The assumption is that we will not change the world in any significant way--the world is the training ground for Atman-Brahman.

5. There is no randomness or accident in the universe. "There are no lost traces."  Karma is not fate or strict causality.

http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/caste.html

Hinduism: The Four Stages of Life

Abstract: Life is a developmental path upward through four stages (ashramas) for some Hindus.
I.  The Four Stages of Life--as has been noted before, if there is one abiding perspective on Hinduism, it is that people are different.  How should you live?  If you are a male in an upper three varna, then it depends upon what stage of life you are living.  (Not all persons go through all stages).
A. The Student Stage--(twelve year rite of initiation 8,12 to 18,24 years old for male, high caste Hindus).

1. Student lives in the home of his teacher and study the Vedas.

 2. Student serves the teacher, shows respect, and learns the texts. The rite is a kind of apprenticeship where habits, skill, and practical knowledge are emphasized.

B. The Householder Stage--(begins with marriage as the completion of the formal studies).

1. The rules for marriage are set forth in the Laws of Manu. Attention is turned toward the world: family, career, and community.

2. Note the relation to the game of life, the path of desire, where success is a means to self-esteem.

3. If physical activity is the only importance in life, all experience after youth is wasted, and what would lie ahead would be unfortunate. However, obviously, there is more to life than dharma.

C. The Forest Retirement Stage--(begins after the arrival of the first grandchild; the grandfather can withdraw from social obligations).

1. Compare the different import to the question, "What do you want to be?" when the question is addressed to a 16 year-old and to a 50 year-old person.

2. This stage involves coming to terms with who we are. There is time to read, think, and consider the significance of life without the interruption of duty.

D. The Forest Dweller or Ascetic Stage--(begins by leaving home and carrying out a spiritual existence in the country).

1. The man and his wife together (if she wants to go) move to the forest to begin in earnest the path of self-discovery.

2. Most men defer the Forest Dweller Stage to another future life.

 3. The forest dweller works out a philosophy of sannyasin--one who neither hates nor loves anything. A sannyasin is completely independent and is beyond dharma (the structure of moral and social obligations) and so in a sense is "beyond good and evil."

a.  There are no social pretensions--things simply are what they are (cf., Vasudeva in Hesse's Siddhartha).

b.  Once detachment, mental and economic independence, is achieved, the sannyasin can return to the town or city.

c.  This stage of life is a necessary condition for the attainment of salvation; once achieved that soul will never individually return to this world.
http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/stages.html

Hinduism: The Ends of Life

Abstract: We can seek what we want; all paths can be legitimately pursued.
I.  The Purpose of Life:  the four legitimate ends of life.

In this life you can seek what you want. In order to achieve meaning and significance, there are four basic ways.

It is important to realize that all persons need go through all stages, and they will be left alone if they pursue and enjoy any one of the following paths.

A. The Path of Desire--the twin goals are pleasure and success; nothing is gained by repressing these desires--in fact we might be worse if at some point we do not seek desire.


1. Pleasure: if you want it, go after it; the beauty and delight is there.


a. Of course, you have to balance short-term and long-term pleasures.

b. You will soon find that lasting pleasures are preferable.

c. There might be some sacrifices. E.g., the basic precepts of morality (cf. Siddhartha, "Samsara.")

d. The hedonism in Hinduism is sometimes viewed as shocking in terms of Western ethics.

Problem with the stage or goal of the path of pleasure: pleasure is enervating and too narrow and trivial to satisfy your total nature. The literature is full of advice from individuals who lament the transience of pleasure, glamour, and wasted youth.

2. Worldly Success: the path entails the triple aspects of wealth, power, and fame (all equally worthy goals).


a. The drives for these goods are almost second-nature to us.

b. They make many other things possible: raising a family, civic duties, dignity, and self-respect.

Problems with the state of worldly success:


a. Wealth, fame, and power are precarious--they are not distributive properties. They tend to be exclusive; not everyone can have them. (How can everyone be famous?)

b. Success can never be satisfied--for we compare ourselves to others.


(1) We can never get enough when worldly success becomes our style of life. The rich never retire.

(2) Poverty is measured by the increase of one's greed. The wise person has nothing he cannot carry in his hands. If you have something of worth, you must look out for it.

c. There remains a lack with worldly success. Surely there is more to life than this--subjective qualities seem to be lost.

d. We have molded the world to our will; dogmatism results. Life is short; "you can't take it with you."

e. Even the child will move on; unless we move on we are locked into the daily round (samsara). Even so, worldly success is a necessary stage in our development.

B. The Path of Renunciation,--has a negative ring to our ears (e.g., ascetic), but is not meant to do so. An athlete in training employs discipline toward a greater good. Hence, "renunciation" can be thought of as "hope" instead of "disillusionment" since the name "renunciation" is used in reference to what has gone before, i.e., the path of desire.


Not everyone will pursue this path in this life (cf. reincarnation).  What makes the path of renunciation persuasive is that those who pursue it after the successes of the path of desire and people who want more from life.

1. Duty: the third great aim in the Hindu outlook (dharma).


a. There are specific duties appropriate to our age, disposition, social status, community, and peer group.

b. Faithful performance brings praise and self-respect and joy for a time.

c. We have the sense of worth of being a valuable, reliable, productive person. Our existence seems to be justified by our doing the right thing.

Problems with the stage of duty:


a. We become a cog in a machine; we have the feeling of being used, taken advantage of.

b. We lose ourselves in the daily round. (Cf., Hesse's Siddhartha, 106D.) Consider factory children working 12 to 14 hour shifts six days a week. What is the feeling of having done a good job?

c. Is this all there is?  I.e., what is the replacement value of a human being?  What other possibilities are there?

2. Liberation: seeking freedom from life's limitations. What are the things we really want, we deeply want?


a. The real desires of people are for liberation.


(1) Being--we don't want to die; we want life.

(2) Awareness--existence is not enough; curiosity and knowledge is more important.

(3) Joy--the feeling of well-being

b. More precisely, we want infinite being, infinite knowledge, and infinite joy. What is this concept in Western terms?

c. The Hindu word for this state of being is moksa (pronounced something like "mok shah," sometimes spelled moksha)) or liberation. Moksa is the complete release from the countless limitations and restrictions which impinge upon our existence.

III. The heart of Hinduism: what you want most, you can have. Not only can you have them, in a sense, they are already yours. (Remember Siddhartha's advice to Govinda, "Perhaps you seek too much.")

A. Is a person just a body? a personality? Hinduism says something more--an indestructible infinite center of being that never dies and is without limits.

B. The infinite center of every life is the hidden self. The Atman who is no less than Brahman, the Godhead. You are all three: body, personality, Atman-Brahman.

C. But suppose you say you don't feel particularly infinite today--where is this? It is buried and it is the task of the following lectures to show how it can be uncovered. 

 http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/purpose.html