Caste System: The Final Word || Acharya Prashant, with SPA Delhi (2023)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant?  Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...    Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?  Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...    Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...   ~~~~~   Video Information: 22.02.23, SPA College (Online), Greater Noida   Context:  ~ Where did caste system originate?  ~ What is Acharya Prashant's stand on caste?  ~ Is caste system bogus?  ~ Why does caste system exist in India?  ~ How to resolve caste-based discrimination?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Good evening, sir. I'm Krishna and I'm a student of town planning and I'd like to ask about

00:08casteism. So there's an age old debate about caste in India where some people say that

00:14it is an embodiment of systematic exploitation while others say it is just a division of

00:18labor that got corrupted with time. So you've spoken previously about true meaning of caste

00:24based upon Upanishads. So what are your views right now about the Indian caste system?

00:33Does not depend what criteria you use to divide man from man. It is bogus. Full stop. Even

00:43if you need to have division of labor, why does that have to be from birth? How is birth

00:52a criteria to decide who will pursue what kind of vocation? How is it guaranteed that

01:02someone born to an ironsmith would be great with metals or that someone born to a family

01:13of priests would indeed be a wise person? So all that is quite bogus. Doesn't matter

01:26how you want to interpret it or justify it. Just leave it to the history and museums now.

01:34It's outlived its utility if ever there was any. I really don't think there ever was any

01:43utility. It's just an expression. The caste system is just an expression of the tendency

01:50of the ego to divide because the ego is a limited thing and all limits mean boundaries.

01:56The ego therefore cannot live without boundaries. It needs to find some way, one way after the

02:03other to divide one person from the other. The criteria could be anything. Gender is

02:11a criteria, obviously money is a criteria, economic status, color of the skin, ethnicity

02:18and race and creed. You name it and it becomes a dividing line. And that is also the reason,

02:32you don't find this kind of casteism only in Hinduism. Most people, because they are not

02:43very acquainted with how the society is working, do not know that even in Muslims there is a

02:51rigorous caste system. So it's there everywhere. Look at the divisions in Christianity. Obviously

03:02there you don't have untouchability and stuff. But look at the divisions and look at the violence.

03:06Look at how that thing exists even in the streams that emerged with a view to purge Hinduism of its

03:20corruption. Think of Sikhism. Think of Buddhism. What do you think? You don't have caste distinctions

03:29there? Then you do not know how the societies are operating. So yes, obviously no point denying

03:40that it's the most rampant in Hinduism to the point that it in fact became a distinctive feature of

03:50Hinduism. Nobody wants to deny that. When I give the example of how caste operates or how divisions

03:57operate in other religions, it's just to exemplify that the ego loves to divide irrespective of where

04:07the egoistic mind is stationed. The mind could be stationed in Saudi Arabia or in Europe or in

04:12Russia or in China or in Sri Lanka. It's going to divide on some possible criteria. So I don't know

04:23why we still have a debate over caste. That's what is quite astounding. Caste should have been

04:32relegated to the museums and the history books by now. It should have become a non-issue. What's

04:42interesting is who are the people who still keep it alive as an issue and what do they want? So

04:50it's a relic. No place. You should not even know somebody's caste. That's what. That's how caste

05:01disappears. As long as you are interested in somebody's caste, what's your caste by the way?

05:06If I am interested, then I am casteist. Caste goes when you do not even know the other's caste. And

05:19that's how the society must be. You meet someone, that person is standing in front of you. Assess

05:25him. The person could be good, bad, virtuous, ill, evil, whatever. The person is right there in

05:37front of you. Why do you need to know his caste? The person is sufficient. Is he not? If he is

05:46sick, you want to help him or would you ask for his caste? And if he is arrogant, you want to

05:56show him his place. You don't want to inquire into his caste. Getting it? Yes, yes. I understand.

06:08Closer to your age, there is a beautiful girl and she is beautiful and she appears intelligent

06:18also. In many ways, she is someone you want to approach and you approach her. And the first

06:26thing you ask is, what's your caste? How do you sound? Who are you? What kind of beastly question

06:35is this? So, it's a non-issue. It's a non-issue and those who are still keeping this issue burning,

06:48they should be brought to justice. What's the point? What's the point? Why are you still

06:56interested in raising this again and again? Why this bogey? You will never have a complete

07:08absence of duffers, you see. Even, I suppose, after 100 years from today, you will continue

07:14to have people who believe in things like purity of blood. They will say, we have this kind of blood,

07:22falana blood and therefore, we cannot marry into some other caste or something. The blood

07:28will become impure. Covid came to teach them what blood really is or a road accident. The best

07:38teacher, when you require immediate blood transfusion, you inquire into the caste of the

07:45blood donor, you will die and then you, in fact, do not because you know in your own heart that

07:53all this is just sham and your son is dying and you say, please, please, please, let me be positive.

07:59You do not say, I want only Brahmin or Kayasth or Rajput be positive. You don't do that or do

08:08you do that? Then all these notions of superiority and purity of blood, they just vanish.

08:13The thing is, we all are people of mixed blood now. Think of your own lineage. Somebody in your

08:26line must have had a blood transfusion at some point in time, either your father or

08:31grandfather or somebody. So, you have mixed blood. So, have I. Everybody has mixed blood. So,

08:38caste is gone anyway. Finished. Even if you go to the scriptures, they are very clear,

08:48very clear. Jayate Shudra. The one who takes birth is Shudra. The meaning is very clear. The body is

08:59Shudra. So, there is no difference at the time of birth. Only the beast is born and then depending

09:12on how you navigate through life, the kind of choices you make, the status of your consciousness

09:19is determined. How can caste be something that comes by birth? And you have already said that

09:29I have spoken on it. Yes, an entire Upanishad is devoted to this. Vajrasuchika Upanishad. The

09:35student is asking the Rishi, what is caste and the Rishi in the way of the Upanishads. The Rishis

09:44were very fun-loving people. They loved to kind of toy with the disciples. They said,

09:50please tell me. Does the body have caste? Does the blood have caste? Does the bone have caste?

09:57What has caste? And the disciple is intrigued. No, no, no. All these things cannot have caste

10:04because these are just panchbhut. How can that have caste? This is just soil. How can soil have

10:10caste? Fine. So, does the pure self, Atma have caste? This is Upanishad. This is Vedanta. Does

10:20the Atma have caste? The Rishis and the disciple is again, Atma is not even born, sir. How can it

10:27have caste? The Atma has no name, no form, no shape, no upadhi, no upma. How can it have caste?

10:34No attributes. How can it have caste? Rishi says, don't you understand then what is caste?

10:42Caste is an imagination of the mind. Caste is neither in the body nor in the self. It is just

10:49in the mind. It's an imagination of the mind. It's a mental construct. It's a man-made thing.

10:55It's a man-made thing that I doubt ever had any utility and even if it had some dubious utility

11:03at some point, it has long outlived its utility. Drop it. Drop it right now. Full stop. But to drop

11:12it, you'll need to have self-knowledge. You'll need to understand why you held on to it in the

11:19first place. To drop something, you must first of all know why you were clinching at it for so long.

11:28Caste didn't come to us. We kept clutching at caste, didn't we? So, why did we do that? You

11:39have to realize. You have to go into yourself. You have to understand how the mind functions.

11:42You have to understand the ways of the ego and then you will know how things like caste survive.

11:48The more you understand the nature of the mind, the more spontaneously stupidities like caste

11:55will drop and what's more, not only will you drop caste, you will drop several other stupidities as

12:03well. I'll tell you the man who believes in caste is also the man who believes in thousand other

12:08stupidities because they belong to the same family. For example, it is very difficult to be

12:16casteist and not ritualistic. The man who will be casteist will most probably be ritualistic as well.

12:24So, these stupidities go together. For example, it's very difficult to be casteist and not superstitious.

12:32The man who will be casteist will also be superstitious. It's very difficult to be casteist

12:37and not violent. The casteist man will be violent as well. So, when you drop caste, you find all

12:43these other things are dropping as well and they'll be dropped only when the center that

12:47holds them together is dropped. That center is called ignorance of the self. When the inner

12:54ignorance is dropped, then all these stupidities, they all are together in one basket and they go together in one basket.

13:02Is it making sense? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Is it because of your caste that this thing is making sense?

13:19No, sir. Did I speak to your caste? No, sir. It is because of my study. I am a town planner. So,

13:27sociology becomes one of the most important things to study. So, this comes really. So, when you were

13:34studying me, that is when you were listening to my words, were you listening to my caste? No, sir.

13:40Okay, good. So, that's who both of us are. Yes. Consciousness, attentiveness. That's what Vedanta

13:47teaches us. Both is our nature. In caste etc, the rishis don't even bother to speak too much on them.

13:57Once in a while, they speak on these things just to denounce them, repudiate them, negate them.

14:06So, don't think that caste comes from spiritual philosophy either. No. Caste is a social construct.

14:18Deep spirituality has nothing to do with caste. It does not have anything to do with even your body.

14:26You go to Vedanta, you are told you are not even the body. If you are not even the body,

14:29how can you have a caste? So, that's another thing. Those who are victims of caste oppression,

14:37they start hating all the scriptures and I keep telling them, don't throw the baby out with the

14:42bath water. Yes, I understand. There are certain books that promoted the caste culture, but those

14:50books are not at all central to religion and they are not at all to be counted as spiritual.

15:01So, keep those books apart. Go to the real books. Go to the real spiritual philosophy

15:09and that's the reason why I love Vedanta so much. Vedanta has no space for all this nonsense.

15:20Anything left to ask? No, sir. Thank you, sir.

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