WHEN THE COMMONER TURNS REFORMER

WHEN THE COMMONER TURNS REFORMER

Everybody is baying for the blood of the brahman and the abolition of the varnashrama system -- which is wrongly called the caste system -- but hardly one in a thousand such critics and armchair reformers, with little commitment to the nation beyond making superficial remarks about the depth of a social institution that has evolved out of human necessity and held the Hindus together against the thousand year cultural onslaught of the invading Muslims, understand the significance of the varnashrama dharma. This is what Swami Vivekananda has to say about it.

Foreword written by Sugata Bose

[ "Karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom. If we can bring ourselves down by our Karma, surely it is in our power to raise ourselves by it. The masses, besides, have not brought themselves down altogether by their own Karma. So we should give them better environments to work in. I do not propose any levelling of castes. Caste is a very good thing. Caste is the plan we want to follow. What caste really is, not one in a million understands. There is no country in the world without caste. In India, from caste we reach to the point where there is no caste. Caste is based throughout on that principle. The plan in India is to make everybody a Brahmin, the Brahmin being the ideal of humanity. If you read the history of India you will find that attempts have always been made to raise the lower classes. Many are the classes that have been raised. Many more will follow till the whole will become Brahmin. That is the plan. We have only to raise them without bringing down anybody. And this has mostly to be done by the Brahmins themselves, because it is the duty of every aristocracy to dig its own grave; and the sooner it does so, the better for all. No time should be lost. Indian caste is better than the caste which prevails in Europe or America. I do not say it is absolutely good. Where would you be if there were no caste? Where would be your learning and other things, if there were no caste? There would be nothing left for the Europeans to study if caste had never existed! The Mohammedans would have smashed everything to pieces. Where do you find the Indian society standing still? It is always on the move. Sometimes, as in the times of foreign invasions, the movement has been slow, at other times quicker. This is what I say to my countrymen. I do not condemn them. I look into their past. I find that under the circumstances no nation could do more glorious work. I tell them that they have done well. I only ask them to do better."

"What are your views, Swamiji, in regard to the relation of caste to rituals?"

"Caste is continually changing, rituals are continually changing, so are forms. It is the substance, the principle, that does not change. It is in the Vedas that we have to study our religion. With the exception of the Vedas every book must change. The authority of the Vedas is for all time to come; the authority of every one of our other books is for the time being. For instance; one Smriti is powerful for one age, another for another age. Great prophets are always coming and pointing the way to work. Some prophets worked for the lower classes, others like Madhva gave to women the right to study the Vedas. Caste should not go; but should only be readjusted occasionally. Within the old structure is to be found life enough for the building of two hundred thousand new ones. It is sheer nonsense to desire the abolition of caste. The new method is — evolution of the old."

https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_5/interviews/the_abroad_and_the_problems_at_home.htm?fbclid=IwAR0hCJDvKfzKYXZ9hWxaJiXro5fu9pLveleaihlHg-kDuqm5uC5a63hUOYE ]

N.B. In my foreword I have chosen to spell Brahmin as brahman as it in terms of pronunciation ought to be. The small letter 'b' has been used to distinguish it from 'Brahman' or the Self. [Sugata Bose]