When most people are asked anything about the Hindu religion, generally they wil
ID: 107850 • Letter: W
Question
When most people are asked anything about the Hindu religion, generally they will be able to label “karma” and “yoga.” How does the caste system tie into karma? In other words, what is the relationship between karma, caste and reincarnation? How does the Christian notion of Social Justice (helping one’s neighbor) fit with the Hindu concept of caste and reincarnation? When most people are asked anything about the Hindu religion, generally they will be able to label “karma” and “yoga.” How does the caste system tie into karma? In other words, what is the relationship between karma, caste and reincarnation? How does the Christian notion of Social Justice (helping one’s neighbor) fit with the Hindu concept of caste and reincarnation? When most people are asked anything about the Hindu religion, generally they will be able to label “karma” and “yoga.” How does the caste system tie into karma? In other words, what is the relationship between karma, caste and reincarnation? How does the Christian notion of Social Justice (helping one’s neighbor) fit with the Hindu concept of caste and reincarnation?Explanation / Answer
Karma is a concept in Hinduism which explains causality through a system where beneficial effects are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful effects from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a soul's (Atman's) reincarnated lives forming a cycle of rebirth. The order of caste system is as follows:
-Brahmins. They are the priestly class, who are entitled to study the Vedas, perform rites and rituals for themselves and for others and obliged to observe the sacraments. They are the middle men between gods and men.
- Kshatriyas. They are the warrior class, who are commanded (by tradition) to protect the people, bestow gifts to the Brahmins, offer sacrifices to gods and ancestors, study the Vedas, dispense justice, and, according to Manusmriti, abstain themselves from sensual pleasures.
- Vaisyas: They are the merchant and peasant classes, who are expected to tend cattle, offer sacrifices, study the Vedas, trade, lend money and cultivate the land.
- Shudras: The are the labor class, whose only duty is to serve the other three castes. They were not required to observe any Vedic rituals or samskaras except a few. They were not allowed to study the Vedas or even hear the sacred chants.
- Chandalas: The lowest of the Shudras were called chandalas or the impure ones. They were treated as untouchables because of their gory religious practices, penchant for sacrifices, magical rites and unclean habits.
The caste rules were enforced strictly through the fear of political and religious authority. The success of the system depended upon the performance of duties prescribed for each caste. The rules varied from caste to caste. People of higher castes enjoyed privileges but were also expected to be good role models. The three upper castes enjoyed distinct advantages in society compared to the sudras whose job was to serve the three upper castes and live like fourth class citizens. People born in the three upper castes were given initiation into the study of the Vedas and treated as twice born, while sudras were not allowed to study or even hear the Vedas.
They were treated on par with animals and considered once borne. The Brahmins enjoyed the highest status and privileges followed by the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas and the sudras in the same order. The laws were discriminatory in matters of rewards and punishments. They prescribed lighter punishments for higher castes than the lower castes who had technically little recourse against the former in criminal cases. For the same offence committed, a lower caste person might attract physical torture, slavery or death penalty while a higher caste person might get away with a simple fine or chastisement or purification ceremony.
The lower caste persons were also not allowed to act as witnesses or sit in judgment against higher castes. Reincarnation: the philosophical basis of this belief is the consideration that if individual souls (jivas) are eternal. The spirit is independent of the body and the situation the spirit is in. Passage from the Gita: "Worn out garments are shed by the body; worn out bodies are shed by the dweller." At the subhuman level the passage is almost automatic up the chain of being. At the human level comes consciousness which implies freedom, responsibility, and effort. The consequences of your past decisions have determined your present state.
Law of Karma--the moral law of action and reaction. Law of Karma--the moral law of action and reaction. Your present thoughts, decisions, and actions determine your future states. ("Unsettled state" = "bad karma.") Karma can be altered through natural and moral decision and action. Every person gets what that person deserves--even though decisions are freely arrived at, there is no chance in the universe. Karma is the middle way between determinism and indeterminism. The assumption is that we will not change the world in any significant way the world is the training ground for Atman-Brahman. There is no randomness or accident in the universe. "There are no lost traces." Karma is not fate or strict causality. Imagine for a moment that there is no eternal hellfire, despite what the Bible says. God is Love. In His great Mercy, he gives another chance to souls who depart this life in an unsatisfactory spiritual condition.
They get to come back via reincarnation and try again, instead of roasting in hell for all eternity. But God uses reincarnation as a vehicle of justice and spiritual rehabilitation. Perhaps God in His love will reincarnate selfish, greedy, souls in a state of desperate poverty (e.g. a low caste). That is no act of hate or vengeance, though we may wrongly perceive it as such from our earthly vantage point. It's actually a divine act of unconditional love that forces the sinning soul to confront his spiritual weakness by stripping away from his life the sources of his temptation and sin. God seeks the salvation of all souls, for we are all His children. But as any parent knows, sometimes tough love is required for the sake of a child's soul. Unfortunately, some Hindus and other believers in reincarnation take the lazy way out.
They claim they don't need to lift a finger to help those afflicted by poverty and other social ills because they must endure suffering in this life to restore the bad karma they inherited from sins committed in previous lives. This is wrong, and this is where reincarnation believers should learn from Christian social justice. (For that matter, I'm not a fan of the caste system to begin with, as it's simply ancient cultural baggage in which higher castes used karma as a convenient "excuse" not to treat others with the human dignity and respect that everyone deserves, no matter what their "position" in this earthly life is.) Putting social justice into practice gives our suffering and needy neighbors hope. It restores their faith in humanity, and in God.
Unconditional love, compassion, kindness and mercy are all divine qualities. When our neighbors see divine qualities reflected through our words and actions, they "glimpse" the reflection of God in us. It's a powerful spiritual lesson that can inspire our depressed, hopeless, hedonistic, or spiritually lost neighbors to seek God and to love others just as they were shown love by others. The benefits of helping our neighbors are even greater than the meeting of their practical needs, for the help we give to others resonates at deeper spiritual levels too. Our own souls are touched too, for to love unconditionally is divine, and the more we exercise divine qualities, the more we become like unto God. Applying social justice is a vehicle through which souls attain towards the spiritual enlightenment of love. For God is Love.
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