I would say that all these questions are meaningless unless you wish to find a solution -- within Hinduism -- to remove casteism. Why would one wish to dwell on something which has turned out to be evil -- unless one wants to remove that.
Second, if the contention is that since caste system as practiced is evil -- then Hinduism itself must be evil .
Those who think that Hinduism is inherently evil --please do not hesitate to say it!!! Come forward we will certainly discuss it.
Do not hide behind evil caste system to take pot shots had Hindu faith.
Umesh
xourov pathok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
xourov pathok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
--- Rajib Das <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
>
> Here are a few questions. Hopefully you guys can
> answer:
>
many of the questions you ask can be encapsulated into
"why am i a hindu?" i leave those questions alone,
because those are personal questions which every man
has to answer for himself. i am merely adding my
comments to only the varna related parts.
here i would like to point out that a critical (that
is objective, not antagonistic) look at religions is
not equivalent to challenging either their value
systems or questioning anyone's personal religious
choices.
> 1. Is Varnashrama Dharma really the original name of
> Hinduism or is it Sanatana Dharma?
>
sanatana dharma is a later concept that incorporates
many other aspects of hinduism, including that of
varnashram dharma.
"sanatana dharma" never became a popular name for the
religion. though it is an older name, i would guess
that it became more widely used in the 19th century as
a result of the many hindu reformist movements in that
period.
> 2. Does Varnashrama Dharma refer specifically to and
> only to the 4 castes and the 4 ashramas - or does it
> posit on a bigger spiritual and philosophical
> canvas?
varnashram dharma sets down the duties for the 4
castes with, of course, some spiritual and
philosophical justifications. the gita is one example
but the best exposition is manusmriti.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu.htm
the dalits do not fall anywhere in the varna system.
whereas many ethnic groups were accepted into the
varna system, the dalits were very strongly kept away.
even though the buddha (whose religion posed the
greatest threat to hinduism at one time) was later
inducted into the pantheon of vishnu avatars, the
dalits were vehemently rejected.
the dalits today are as large as the muslim population
in india and are an important component in the
hindutva politics. the animosity against the
christians is essentially rooted in the battle over
the dalits and the tribals. this explains the new
interest in dumping the varna system from hinduism.
> 2. Varna finds its mention in the Rig Veda all
> right.
> But do the Vedas themselves specify that the Varnas
> are defined by birth? Or did it come much later with
> the likes of Manu? And if the Varna system were not
> to
> be defined by birth but by someone's desire, will
> and
> action, would it change anything in the way we
> percieve things about Hinduism?
it is very likely that the varna system has always
been hereditary, because the main function of the
system was to put an order in the myriad jatis that
were entering it. manusmriti (dated to 1st-2nd
century bc) tried to codify this order and give it a
rigidity. the gita, which came earlier, already
prescribed an evolved concept of the varna system as a
answer to some ills.
the varna system has become rigid, but it is not
absolute. but what must be borne in mind is that it
operates not on individuals but on jatis. it is
probably easier to find a community (as opposed to an
individual) changing varna. in more recent times when
shivaji wanted to declare himself a king, the local
brahmins refused to anoint him because of his "lowly
origins". shivaji then imported a brahman from
elsewhere who drew up an impressive lineage and
anointed him. so along with shivaji, his community as
well as his ancestors became kshatriyas. it is
possible to suspect that in such cases, if the
community does not display the characteristics of the
new varna over time it might relapse into the old
varna.
>
> 3. Does Hinduism (or if I may use the word Sanatana
> Dharma) specify clearly to the infallibility of the
> Vedas themselves in their entirety? Or is a Hindu
> allowed to reject certain tenets?
>
> 4. Does Hinduism (and do Hindus) leave the
> interpretation of the Vedas (or their religion
> itself)
> to be changed over time or by different scholars?
>
> 5. Is Varna the central tenet of Hinduism - more
> specifically, is it specified anywhere in the Vedas
> that a Hindu MUST believe in Varna? Even more
> specifically, exactly how many shlokas (or what
> percentage) of the Rig Veda mention Varna?
>
> 6. Since Islam has always had a bloody history right
> from the time of when the transition of leadership
> was
> to happen from the prophet to his disciples and
> since
> it has enough mention in the Koran of killing of
> kufrs, should it be called "Unsalaam" or something
> and
> should Muslims reject Islam in its entirety?
>
> 7. Should Christianity with its reference to
> slavery,
> keep continuing to celebrate slavery - after all it
> was ONE of the tenets expounded in the Bible and
> therefore you cannot ignore it and ipso facto, a
> Christian must reject the Bible in its entirety?
>
the case here is different. the claim is that the
varna system *is* the most defining aspect of hinduism
(sanatana dharma if you will). it defines who is a
hindu and who is not. you can get away with being an
athiest (a charvaka) as long as you belonged to the
varna system.
> 8. Should Atheism find its glory in every Godless
> communist despot (including Pol Pot) that lead the
> most wanton killings in modern times and the
> rationale
> they gave to those killings?
>
>
>
> Finally the last 2 questions:
>
> 9. Why is the option of plainly denying the
> existence
> of "all these aspects" the only other way? Did any
> one
> of us really grow up with our parents teaching us
> the
> gunas of the Varnashrama system? Or did we really
> look
> forward to the excitement of Durga Puja and other
> religious/social events? Has anyone denied my right
> to
> a Hindu religion when I married a Brahmin woman?
>
> More so, why would not a re-interpretation of the
> meaning of Varna (I assume no one has problems with
> Ashrama) be in the order of things? Or even the
> rejection of it?
>
> After all there were enough reformers within the
> Hindu
> fold (and even Buddha wasn't exactly outside the
> Hindu
> fold in his life, was he?) who had enough following
> through the times to change things.
>
> 10. And why should we forget what our forefathers
> did
> to our religion? Why should our kids not learn that
> there was for the longest time in history (and still
> is) such gross injustice within our religious and
> social order that things needed to change? And why
> would they not accept it as a part of the bad they
> inherit in as much as all the good they could?
>
> If such were the logic then the Christians and
> Muslims
> would have an even tougher time defending their
> religions to their children, wouldn't they?
>
>
> --- Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
>
> > >The other option is to gloss over and plainly
> deny
===Message truncated===
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Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
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