25. Part 3 - The Descent

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For a system to run smoothly, it has to be continuously monitored. As we know, sustenance is much more difficult than inception. Within the Saraswati civilization, the Varna system was strictly and constantly monitored as there were possibilities of it getting diluted. Even then, here and there, incidences of some slip-ups were occurring. People were opting for Paradharma due to several reasons:

• Emotionally enforced by the parents into some profession by calling it ‘Family profession’.
• Temporary over-enthusiasm of the youngster. For e.g. a teenager sees a soldier in uniform and with all weapons. Instead of thinking whether it is his true like, he gets attracted by seeing the end result. He ignores all the qualities and preparation required to become a true soldier. He opts for it, only to suffer later.
• A youngster opting to continue the business of the parents thinking that it would be much easier to slip into an already grown enterprise rather than going after his own interest and building something freshly.
• Laziness – someone may see a Brahmana performing some rituals or sitting and preaching Adhyatma whole day and think that it is such an easy job. But he ignores all the mental purity that has been earned by the true Brahmana by following strictly regulated life. He looks only at the lesser physical activity involved and tries to opt for it. He fails to understand that a true Brahmana overcomes mental laziness which is more important than overcoming physical laziness.
• Cupid's prey! - A boy may opt for a profession in an effort to please and impress his girlfriend. He will get the girl alright, but he will lose something more!

Note - Please do not associate the word ‘Brahmana’ to today’s caste Brahmana! In today’s world very few are Brahmana by their profession. Engineers, Doctors cannot call themselves as Brahmana just because they were born in a particular family. Brahmana is he, who promotes positivity in the society through Adhyatma and does not accumulate wealth. His only focus is always Saraswati, not Lakshmi.

This way, there were wrong choices by some families, but the administrators were constantly trying to avoid these in their Kingdom. They saw to it that all professions received almost equal remuneration and there was no bias. A person who was intelligent by birth is not greater than others, because he didn’t do anything to become intelligent. Similarly a person who was physically strong by birth is not greater than others. The inherent talents were only gifts and hence, people were taught to live with humility rather than conceit. This way, all Swadharmas were equally great. Skill is a skill and all skills should be given equal importance.

It is worth noting that Samskrita has no word for ‘Rights’. It has only Responsibilities - Kartavya. The word Adhikara in Samskrita does not mean ‘Right’, it only means ‘Eligibility’. It is a surprising fact that such a rich language does not even have a word for ‘Right’! This means that they did not even think of the concept of ‘Right’. And their society worked well for thousands of years! All in their society were only busy performing their duties and fulfilling their responsibilities and there was no need for anybody to use the sentence ‘It is my right to get this’. Because one’s right is automatically another’s responsibility. And if all are fulfilling their responsibilities as per their Swadharma, there is no question of Right! Because everyone’s needs are automatically fulfilled! ‘It is my responsibility to do this’ is a positive sentence and ‘It is your right to get this service’ is a negative sentence. So, the word ‘Right’ didn’t even find a place in Samskrita. The Saraswati civilization worked solely on the concept of responsibility and it worked out wonderfully well. It is only the influence of outsiders that introduced the concept of ‘Right’ in India and ‘Hak’ became a part of Indian languages. Today even ‘Adhikara’ is thought of to be ‘Right’ in Indian languages whereas it actually means only ‘Eligibility’ in Samskrita. Probably now we can look at the verse ‘Karmanyevaadhikaaraste’ with this perspective.

So, along with identifying the Swadharma of teenagers, the Kings saw to it that there were no great differences in the remunerations of different professions. Kings were always guided by a Rajaguru - some realized Rishis, or at least a Brahmana who is on the path of realization. This way among the three entities – Saraswati, Durga and Lakshmi (Knowledge, Power and Wealth), Saraswati was the foundation for others. Knowledge was kept as the backdrop for all activities.

The system worked wonderfully well for thousands of years with little hiccups now and then. But the first major adulteration occurred when Durga took over and suppressed Saraswati by brute force. Some kings, deluded by the power of the throne, began ignoring the guidance of the Brahmana Rishis. They took the opinion that muscle power is superior to everything else. Kshatriyas rose and tried to overpower all others. When Kings were thus irrational, the whole system began trembling from the roots. Gurukula system lost the edge without proper monitoring. And all the feared negative consequences followed one by one.

It is then that Parashurama, the son of a Rishi, created a revolution by massacring thousands of evil Kshatriyas. He improvised to fight against the corrupt situation and went against the traditional Varna system by urging Brahmanas also to wield weapons. This approach, resolved the problem of Kshatriya supremacy for the time being and brought balance to the system. But in net effect, the focus of the society had already begun shifting from Knowledge to Power, from Saraswati to Durga. By the time of the Mahabharata, Kshatriya craze was widespread. All were obsessed only with power, knowledge of weaponry etc. Instead of ‘Atman’ and ‘Brahman’, only ‘Astra’ and ‘Brahmastra’ echoed everywhere. This is what we can notice very clearly when we read the epic Mahabharata.

This way when the focus slowly shifted away from Knowledge (Saraswati) towards Power, the river Saraswati also began drying up! Due to some geographical changes in the Himalayas, the flow of water got diverted or obstructed. And over the years, after Mahabharata war took place, people began migrating away from the banks of this once-mighty river which was now thinning out. The Mahabharata war put an end to the Kshatriya madness. But then it only gave rise to another madness - Money! Slowly Lakshmi began dominating the scene. And one day, river Sasraswati dried up completely along with the knowledge of the people. It has been now discovered through satellite images that a huge river is still flowing fathoms deep below the desert of Rajasthan. Knowledge is buried deep in us and we have become deserts on the outside! Self-Realization, which was once abundantly available like the river of knowledge, has now become an oasis or even a mirage in the desert of money and power! Lakshmi and Durga have forgotten their loving sister Saraswati.

24. Part 2 - स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रॆयः परधर्मो भयावहः

<< Previous - Part 1 - The Ascent

It was evident that spirituality and the ultimate questions such as ‘Who Am I’ will be more likely pursued by the people if they are first happy and content with respect to the basic needs of the material world – food, shelter, health and family. If these are not met fully, then time and effort of such people would only be spent on achieving these. So material contentment was noticed to be the essential step before someone would move into spirituality. It was necessary (Preyas) but not sufficient (Refer The Upturned Priorities).

In the early days of the civilization, before the Varna system was clearly defined, several problems were encountered and resolved. For e.g. when surveys were conducted by the administrators, they saw that some of the people, even after having sufficient money, were still greedy for more money. For some reason they were not content and were trying to pile up more and more money. So a question arose – how to make someone feel sufficient with respect to the material needs? After several discussions and surveys, psychiatrists submitted  a detailed report to the administrators. Their report, in brief was as follows:

Some people, for various reasons (such as enforced into father’s profession), had opted to work in a profession which was not the area of their expertise and talent. This had settled as a deep discontentment in their hearts. Although they had forgotten about it and buried it deep in them, without their knowledge it had grown into a big tree of hidden stress. Without knowing the actual reason for their own mental unrest, they were all trying to quench the restlessness with more money and other things. But when they got more money, obviously it wasn’t able to satisfy their hidden desire for job satisfaction. So when money was unable to satisfy them, they grew more restless. And they again tried to quench it with more money. So, more the money they had, the more restless they became. This had grown into a vicious vortex.

As a remedy, it was decided to regulate Varna system very strictly. Swadharma (Profession adopted as per inherent talent alone) was given the utmost importance. A dancer should only become a dancer, a person with sharp mathematical abilities should only become an engineer, a person with excellent fitness, courage and adventurous attitude should only become a soldier etc. No profession, on its own, was considered cheaper than others. It was considered cheap only if somebody was pursuing it out of compulsion of family, money etc. Following Paradharma (Profession adopted not as per inherent talents) was considered very disgraceful. Even Krishna says this in the Gita – it is better to follow Swadharma, even if there are mistakes, rather than following Paradharma meticulously and perfectly. It is better to die performing Swadharma rather than living in fear with Paradharma (Gita 3.35). Saraswati civilization promptly noticed that following Swadharma resolved and dissolved the vicious vortex of greed and all the negativity associated with it. When people did what they were born to do, when they did what they loved from their heart, money didn’t matter anymore. They were very content with whatever money they got. Because now they were more happy in seeing somebody’s need getting fulfilled because of their talent and expertise. They took more delight in seeing themselves filling a crucial place in the jigsaw of the society. That happiness beat all other material happiness.

Gurukulas were given the duty of identifying the potential of a child and helping him or her develop that particular talent. It became apparent to them that the whole world is working as a gigantic system, like a machine. And in a machine, there cannot be unnecessary parts. Each part fulfills a purpose. A small spring is as important as a big lever. The machine will fail even if that tiny spring fails. So, no part is superior to others, all are equally important for the machine to work. There are no optional parts in a machine. Similarly, they understood that each child potentially had something specific to offer to the society. Each person was meant to fulfill a purpose in the machine of the world. They understood the beauty of diversity of the creation. Creation consisted of both the needs of the people and the people who could fulfill those needs. So, the whole society complemented each other and lived as one family. The jigsaw of the society was matching so perfectly, that they wondered at the genius of the creator, if any!

This way, everyone was strictly monitored from childhood and promoted to ensue his or her inherent talents. Following Swadharma worked wonders. As everyone was loving what they were doing, the assigned duty of a person became so effortless to him/her that mind would be mostly free and relaxed even during the activity (in the current age we opt for Paradharma and we cannot relax even after our work!). For e.g. a born singer would not have to put special efforts to sing. Only a little training, a little effort would suffice. After that he only enjoys singing, and hardly suffers fatigue. Perhaps only when the tones are very difficult, he may have to put some effort to sing correctly. This way everyone was enjoying their assigned work which required only a minimum effort on their part. A actor would effortlessly act, a cook would effortlessly cook and so on. This ensured that stress (Aadhi – imbalance in the mental realm) was extricated from the roots. And consequently Vyadhi (imbalance in the physical realm) was also very rare.

When people were thus content materialistically – money, health, family and Swadharma – automatically their minds were drawn towards deeper questions and quests. Since they were rid of all the challenges of the world, their relaxed mind automatically asked “What Am I doing here?”, “What is the purpose of life” etc. The Brahmana sect would then guide them systematically, step by step, towards answering these questions and finding the ultimate reality. This was what Brahmanas were born to do – preach Adhyatma to the spiritually thirsty along with performing Yajnas and boosting positivity in the society. Or rather people who were born to do this were called Brahmanas. Only those who were, by birth, interested in Adhyatma, only those who, by birth, displayed inclination towards Self-Enquiry were called Brahmanas. The Brahmana sect lived on Dana alone. They were not supposed to demand anything nor complain if at all nothing was given. A Brahmana’s son need not be a Brahmana. A Kshatriya’s son need not be a Kshatriya. Same as how today an engineer’s son need not be an engineer. It solely depends on the interest of the child. Although the possibilities that a child will show similar interests as his/her parents is more, that was never the criteria for deciding his Varna and Swadharma.

King Bharata, as per Mahabharata, did not consider any of his sons to be eligible for the throne and he selected a young boy from a Gurukula to succeed him. Indians can be proud that our country is named after such a selfless great King who lived for Swadharma and put it into practice, even if it meant that his own sons were denied Kingship. And we should also be proud of his sons who accepted that it was not their Swadharma to rule a country.

And thus, Varna system and Swadharma were also made a part of the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. So, in summary, Karma Kanda basically had three aspects.

• Scientific rituals to promote harmony between man and nature
• Dana - Sacrifice to promote harmony between man and man
• Varna - Swadharma to promote harmony between man and his own Self

So, an important message of our scriptures is Swadharma. It would probably require a brave step from many of us to shift into our Swadharma, as most of us are caught in the web of money, loan etc. But if it is feasible, it is better to shift to a field of our interest. If not, well, we can keep a target and then shift after few years. We are already seeing this happening in our current generation to a certain extent which is a good sign. But sometimes, even if we are in our Swadharma, we may be overworking so as to get more money with the hope of getting peace with it. Well, with common sense, we can say that, overworked Swadharma for the sake of money, and not for the sake of satisfaction, would also become Paradharma. If it is extra load, our mind will not be set in the work, but will be working only for the sake of money. And that will be as good as an imposed work - which becomes Paradharma.

The second indirect message that we can grasp is that we should learn to see and appreciate the harmony of the system as a whole and treat all professions with equal respect. A small assignment – the next time you go in an Auto Rickshaw, even if the driver tries to cheat you, keep in mind that he is an integral part of the system. The cheating – quarrelling has gone into a vicious vortex. The driver will think “These people earn lakhs every month. Why can’t they give me 20 rupees more?” and you will think “These drivers are all rascals. They are after my money”. In the process both fail to notice the wonderful harmony of the system. Can we imagine a city without the service of the auto drivers available? Can the auto drivers imagine a city where nobody takes their service? Money is only a transaction entity. Why can’t we think “Auto drivers are so hard working and provide such convenient service to the society. They drive the whole day in dust and smoke of the city for people like us. I waste so much money on junk food and dress. Let him take a little extra, so what?”. Can we even imagine driving in the city whole day as a driver? Why can’t we thank a driver with love for helping us reach our home safely and conveniently, rather than cursing him and disturbing ourselves as well? What is more important? 50 Rupees? Or our peace? Instead of succumbing to the vicious vortex, we can try to break it. You just try once saying to the driver "Is it enough? Or do you want more", with affection, just as how you would ask your friend. And then see his reaction. Of course, there may be some really rude drivers, and let us ignore them. I am talking about a general scenario and majority will not be rude. We argue because we think that the saved 30-40 rupees will give us more peace and happiness. In fact, by saving 50 Rupees by shouting and quarrelling, we cause more harm to our mind and body! And then, the same we, will lavishly spend thousands in a mall for some unneeded item which will sometimes be kept unpacked in some corner of our house for years!

You may ask what this has to do with Self-Enquiry. Well, I started noticing that these small things in our daily activities disturb us very frequently, like a constant and unnecessary low voltage in the system. Self-Enquiry will initially happen only if there is peace and contentment in the mind. And when I got rid of such petty distractions, it greatly helped. So, I believe, it is better to lose money and be peaceful, rather than save 20 Rupees and be disturbed!