Page < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 >

Conclusion: 

Francois Gautier,
French journalist, asks Hindus pertinent questions regarding the Caste system: 

"Does the caste system need to be transformed, to recapture its old meaning and once more incarnate a spiritual hierarchy of beings? Or has it to be recast in a different mould, taking into account the parameters of modern Indian society? Or else, will it finally disappear altogether from India, because it has become totally irrelevant today ? He cautions that, Hindus should not allow it to be exploited shamelessly against them, as it has been in the last two centuries, by missionaries, "secular" historians, Muslims, and by pre and post-independence Indian politicians -each for their own purpose. 

The PRESENT Caste system is a dark blot on Hinduism.  It goes against the principles and lofty philosophy of Hinduism which considers each soul as potentially divine and eternal. Hindu philosophy insists on attitude of tolerance. Universal brotherhood is the chief message of Hindu religious tradition.  The goal is to manifest this divinity within. It is simply remarkable that in a country of diversities, people belonging to different castes and creed cut across all barriers to converge for the great festival of Kumbh mela.

Caste ceased to be determined by spiritual qualifications and thus lost most of its meaning. As reader, Karthik Venkatesh of Chennai, rightly points out: " There is a lot to be said for the caste system - that is what has kept together as a nation for more than 5000 years. But there are many ugly faces to it and those are the things we need to understand and repudiate with all our might while keeping the positive things intact."

According to Prof. C. D. Darlington: "Caste has created and maintained an infinite capacity for toleration and assimilation. " Caste made it possible for the Persians, Greeks, Sythians, Huns, Malays, Christians, Jews and Parsees to be slowly fitted into Hindu society and made it, with the least conflict, into the most diverse community of races in the world. 
" It is this marvelous diversity of man in India which has made that country both a museum and a laboratory for the study of man. For this reason the most profound lessons in the study of society have come from India. "

Caste system is inhuman in its current form and its exploitative aspects must be abolished. Institutions and practices that lead to the disintegration of society require to be scrapped, however venerable their antiquity may be. Whatever might have been the historical basis for the development of the caste system, it has degraded the great ideal of the ancient Upanishads which affirm that an individual as such is a spark of the spirit, a ray of the Divine. Current caste system is  something which no Hindu should be proud of. The sooner we get rid of it the better. Clearly, we have failed to eradicate the caste system which has been used against Hinduism by Christian missionaries. 

Varsha Bhosle writes: 

"Age after age, the "upper castes" have kept strata of human beings in a condition where they have no choice but to clean others' excreta, burn corpses, tend morgues, haul away and skin dead animals... Foul, dirty, stinking jobs from Hell that nobody else wants. THAT is the only reason why caste exists today."

(source: Hinduism's corpse - By Varsha Bhosle - rediff.com).

Social up gradation by the way of conversion is not the answer. The caste system does not get eliminated but gets incorporated into Christianity. Christianity does not help to unify the society but instead, divides the Dalits into Christian Dalits and Non-Christian Dalits! The missionaries are not interested in genuine reforms, otherwise, they would have helped to eliminate the caste system only and not eliminate and denigrate the Hindu religion, its unique culture and value system, they want to see India fall apart.  

In spite of the fact that, Independent India's most stubborn foe, Winston Churchill, who once called India "a geographical expression", with no more political coherence than the equator, there is still a unity across the country.  In the words of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, " In spite of the divisions, there is an inner cohesion among the Hindu society from the Himalayas to the Cape Comorin.
"To quote Mac Kher, of guest columnist at Rediff.com:  " Hindus should treat this as a wakeup call for action. Reform of Hinduism should be accelerated to remove caste-based inequalities and foster brotherhood and respect for all. The proselytizing Church must be made to realize that its schizophrenic attitude of talking tolerance while behaving like a predator does not wash anymore."

David Frawley
, Vedic scholar and author of several books, has pointed out the motive behind the missionaries in India. " In India Christians claim that by eradicating the caste system they are helping people and raising them up socially. They could do this easier by helping reform Hindu society rather than by trying to destroy or change the religion. Clearly they are using, if not promoting caste-differences as a conversion strategy. Christian cultures still have their class and other social inequalities, particularly in Central and South America, but Christians don't see that the religion has to be changed in order to get rid of these." India, has officially banned untouchability after its independence in 1950." If Veda Vyasa, Valmiki, Kabir, Sur Dasa, Tukaram Thiruvalluvar,
Ram Dasa and others can be adored through out India, then given proper education and proper healthy surroundings, we can get rid of the abuse of caste system. 

Page < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 >


 

 

 

 

h o m e

t h e    c a s t e    s y s t e m

c o n t e n t s

Copyright © 2006 - All Rights Reserved.

Guest Book

Updated - October 28, 2008