Swami Vivekananda was a representative of Neo-Vedanta Philosophy.

He effectively fused Nationalism and Religion for the upliftment of poor people and to rescue them from oppression by the rich. He endorsed the sciences, leading to Tata creating the Indian Institute of science. He was a force for the propogation of Hinduism in the western Hemisphere.

He was against Untouchability, but wasn’t against the caste system. For him the caste system was one where an individual is not born into a caste but is assigned a caste based on his gunas (actions).

So someone with a lower caste parentage could work upto a higher caste and a Brahmin child could grow up to fall through the ranks of caste.

His views were that - Caste was an early social system. But its complexity led to its failure and abuse.

The teaching of Swami Vivekanada are quite complex. The complexity is evident in the way the students of #JNU treated an uninaugrated statue of Swami Vivekananda.

The thing about JNU students is that they are quite daft. They do not understand the concept of abstract thought let alone Neo-Vedanta Philosophy.

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.

It is high time we renamed the college #VeerSavarkarUniversity

#Leftwing #rightwing #fasciCommunist #india #kashmir #ayodhya

@Full_marx If it is based on actions then who would be the authority as to who is or is not in a particular caste?

@freemo The golden question.

Who gets to decide who has worked enough to be a Brahmin and who should be demoted.

The authority to enforce this system was in three places.

1. The kings court
2. The high priests who would induct new Brahmins or demote existing ones
3. The social constitution - “Manusmriti”-V1.0

All three were liable to corruption. But not together, and that was the checks and balance. But during the time of regime changes this document would get vulnerable to the greed of Brahmins.

During the reign of Hindu King Chandra Gupta this system is said to have worked so well that India was known as the Golden sparrow.(other factors contributed too)

But when gupta died, it is said that Brahmins modified the document to fix their place in the caste system permanently. The guna operating principle was abandoned. Welcome Manusmriti V2.0

It was a fork altogether!!

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If only they had AI at that time to Dictate caste based on deeds alone. A persons social status depending directly on what he has done for the betterment of society. I believe we would have rid humanity of all problems by now.

The system was never supposed to be exclusive, it was inclusive and freely allowed vertical movement.

I just can’t ever help feeling that the caste system from Manusmriti V1.0 as a social system was way ahead of its time.

It feels to me like a radical experiment in social sciences that went wrong due to the corruption of a few scientists.

Was it necessary to conduct this experiment? I don’t know.

Then is it necessary to conduct any experiment?

@Full_marx Then when someone was born do they all start out in the lower caste and have to go through the same hardships to rise? Would the children of the members of the highest caste give birth automatically to children of the lower caste?

@freemo No children born to Brahmins would be brahmins as the Manusmriti assumed that under the parentage of Brahmin Parents their kids would gain sufficient knowledge and pick a school of philosophy to study further.

But irrespective of that , the kids had to prove their affiliation to a school of though before they reached an age where they could break celibacy.

Now here is the best part.

In any settlement, or human habitation.

It was the responsibility of Brahmins(Who were given huge houses with huge courtyards) to attempt administration of philosophical knowledge to children born to lower castes.

If a trader caste decides to teach his child trading, he was free to pull his child out from under the mentorship of a brahmin.

Similarly, a warrior caste would learn the art of defence under a sage. It was uncommon for warriors to renounce warfare as it threatened state security.

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But aren't you curious about untouchability?

@Full_marx And yes id be curious about untouchables and the system as a whole for sure, so happy you shared.

@freemo @Full_marx
Caste discrimination affects more than 260 millions in India.
I, myself could be categorized as an 'Untouchable' based on my caste. But since I grew up in a metropolitan city and my parents are well educated, I never faced any discrimination. Hence I consider myself a privileged untouchable. But once I leave the cities and venture into towns/villages, Caste discrimination incident surges. We are not allowed inside temples, or enter a street, or love/ marry someone who doesn't belong to our caste or drink water from the same well, etc. People literally get killed for doing any of this.
But as @Full_marx mentioned, caste system is a remnant of the past. Current caste discrimination has nothing to do with religion (Hinduism), you could easily see a pattern. It's about power, ego and illiteracy.
( Although few powerful lower caste groups/parties use this as a means to gain power & sympathy )

I mean, we are all humans right?
As a millennial I don't want to read Manusmriti to understand caste system. I can see what is happening around me & judge the system often exploited mercilessly by powerful groups hiding being the mask of religion.

@Karthikdeva

How is that discrimination enforced? If you travel to some small town and try to enter a temple, and they say you cant for being "untouchable" how do they know you are untouchable in the first place?

@Full_marx

@freemo he meant, when he goes back to his village/town where his parents grew up, people still discriminate.
In villages, there's less anonymity. People know each other personally and almost every thing about the fellow residents

@Karthikdeva @Full_marx

@_lunawinters

Interesting. But how did they learn what the persons caste is when they first moved there, even if it was three generations back or something.

It seems like one of those things that would be easy to circumvent by just never telling people in the first place.

@Karthikdeva @Full_marx