Did the Caste System Work well?

[mahandulai]

People who did a certain line of work, all spent their time together, and married one another, in communities, not really associating with anyone other cast, especially those below. Did this system work, like mechanics help each other, and did it keep the balance?

[MrDoaba]

Varna and Jaat (otherwise spelled as Jati) are two different things. Yes they overlap but are not explicitly the same thing.

 

[dallysingh101]

4 hours ago, mahandulai said:

People who did a certain line of work, all spent their time together, and married one another, in communities, not really associating with anyone other cast, especially those below. Did this system work, like mechanics help each other, and did it keep the balance?

Well, what do you think of this? Give us your own opinion before you expect others to give theirs. Come on.  Don't be afraid to ask.....but but be afraid to learn either.  Be careful of preconceptions. 

[Big_Tera]

5 hours ago, mahandulai said:

People who did a certain line of work, all spent their time together, and married one another, in communities, not really associating with anyone other cast, especially those below. Did this system work, like mechanics help each other, and did it keep the balance?

The caste system is a load of inaccurate bollox made up by a$$holess with nothing better to do.  Theres no truth about it. Ie you are not lower or higher. No one can say who is higher or lower. We are all equal. 

Also many castes were considered so insignificant and small they were not officially recognised on the caste spectrum according to the Hindu system. Hence these castes are in no mans land. These include jaats or juts that were considered  little above the untouchables by the mainstream hindu elite and hence did not bother to give them any official status or ranking. 

 

[Guest AjeetSinghPunjabi]

I heard Gyaani Maskeen ji say once that Guru Gobind Singh ji maharaj collapsed all 4 varnas into one , his Khalsa.

Because when a Sikh is doing paath , he's like a brahmin . When hes using his kirpan to defend innocents he's like Kshatriya , when he sits in his shop to earn , he's like Vaish, and when he does sewa in jodaghar and washing and dusting in gurdwara he's like Shudra.

On the flip side one might argue and this is my observation too that even Amritdhari Singhs tend to learn either towards beer ras (kshatriya) or adhyatamik ras (brahman) . How often we come across a Singh who's valiant as a soldier and also as knowledgeable and spiritual fit like a sant . As such one might argue the compartmentalization of roles for a person is good . But the problem is Varna in hindu (as is understood by hindu masses) is birth-bases whereas vedas say it is by one's nature and one's karam. Some people are inclined to spiritual pursuits , some to army , some to business and some to service. And there was no shame in vedic times as such . Later on the smritis etc totally spoiled everything

[mahandulai]

6 hours ago, AjeetSinghPunjabi said:

I heard Gyaani Maskeen ji say once that Guru Gobind Singh ji maharaj collapsed all 4 varnas into one , his Khalsa.

Because when a Sikh is doing paath , he's like a brahmin . When hes using his kirpan to defend innocents he's like Kshatriya , when he sits in his shop to earn , he's like Vaish, and when he does sewa in jodaghar and washing and dusting in gurdwara he's like Shudra.

On the flip side one might argue and this is my observation too that even Amritdhari Singhs tend to learn either towards beer ras (kshatriya) or adhyatamik ras (brahman) . How often we come across a Singh who's valiant as a soldier and also as knowledgeable and spiritual fit like a sant . As such one might argue the compartmentalization of roles for a person is good . But the problem is Varna in hindu (as is understood by hindu masses) is birth-bases whereas vedas say it is by one's nature and one's karam. Some people are inclined to spiritual pursuits , some to army , some to business and some to service. And there was no shame in vedic times as such . Later on the smritis etc totally spoiled everything

wow, !

[mahandulai]

Just now, mahandulai said:

wow, !

do you think compartmentalisation of the person is good? reductionism I think it is called - where you break down the person into smaller fragments. However we are not fully sure of how all the parts interact, just like genes.

[MrDoaba]

9 hours ago, AjeetSinghPunjabi said:

I heard Gyaani Maskeen ji say once that Guru Gobind Singh ji maharaj collapsed all 4 varnas into one , his Khalsa.

Because when a Sikh is doing paath , he's like a brahmin . When hes using his kirpan to defend innocents he's like Kshatriya , when he sits in his shop to earn , he's like Vaish, and when he does sewa in jodaghar and washing and dusting in gurdwara he's like Shudra.

Excellent post. Just to add to the above Guru Sahib also rolled the four stages of human life as per the Vedic Ashram System into one.

The four stages being:

Brahmachara (student, bachelor, celibate), Grist (householder), Vanprasth (forest dweller, transitional stage, adviser, retirement), Sanyas (renunciate).

I read this quite a while back and cannot find the exact quote right now so I would be grateful if anybody could provide it.

 

Gurbar Akaal!

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, MrDoaba said:

Excellent post. Just to add to the above Guru Sahib also rolled the four stages of human life as per the Vedic Ashram System into one.

 

I wonder what were they thinking when they divided life into 4 stages chronologically ! 

they kept the meditation and bhagti age the last one and THIS BELIEF persists even today among the indians in general and has crept its way into sikhi. When parents say "this is not the age to amrit " to their young kids or peers laugh at youth who is into sadhna when infact he should be gyrating his hips with women at the bar lol.

Even the most started of sikhs has tossed the argument "how do you know you will survive till old age" when you say "we will do it later" . 

funny how the ancient indians didn't notice it .