As a westerner, it is hard for me to make sense of the caste system in India. Swamiji, can you please explain?
Every organism requires four kinds of functions: (a) An intelligence system, (b) a defense system, (c) a circulatory system and (d) someone to bring nutrition and take refuse away. We have all this in our body and every body, every organism requires all four to maintain its existence. Sociey is also an organism: it grows and functions in the same way. These are four natures are inherent to all of existence. Although every being performs all four functions, in all societies, we see some individuals perform roles which have a preponderance of one function over the others. There was never a caste system in India where it was fixed by law that an individual had to necessarily perform one of the functions. There was no force or compulsion. Rather, in later times it became a tradition of convenience to follow the family profession, just as in the European Guilds. There is a famous story of Satyakaam and Gautam Rishi which illustrates the ancient ideal. Satyakaam knew only his mother (Jabali)
