Take a look at the creatures living upon our earth. Of how many different kinds are they! All fall into two categories – herbivorous and carnivorous, gentle and cruel. Squirrel, deer, cow and such others are gentle, while the tiger, lion, cobra, etc. are cruel. The degrees of gentleness and cruelty also vary, forming the huge assortment that reveals the amazing fullness of creation and the Creator.
Each species continues to be what it is. None is expected to think, choose and change its ways and means. All of them together constitute the balance and harmony to preserve and sustain creation.
Four-fold classification of human life-style
However, when it comes to humanity, the entire picture changes drastically. Humans have their individuality, endowed with choice and will. Every individual wants to assert himself, with his ways and means, no matter whether others like these or not. With such individuality centrally at work, what would be the plight of the whole of humanity? Will it not be one of chaos, confusion and confrontation? Is not humanity vulnerable to its own disposition? How, then, to render human life harmonious? What is the way to set things right?
It is in answer to this, that the complex Nature has built into the humans a kind of mutuality and complementariness, which neither the individual nor the society at large can interfere with. Like the division by sex, this inner categorization according to the traits and qualities provided by Nature, also reigns sovereign. That is how the human society is able to live – individuals serving the overall cause of the society, and the society serving and supporting the cause of the individuals. Krishna describes how these inborn, inner tendencies express themselves and how they can be discerned.
Right since birth, this individual inner categorization is at work. In order to help our understanding, these broad categories, divided according to personal characteristics, are named as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra. Highlighting the relevance to their already existing tendency and activity, Krishna classifies them:
The activities of brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras are well divided on the basis of their nature and birth.
Societal integration - not division
The various tendencies and characteristics of man fall broadly into four groups. On analysis, you will find that such a categorization is necessary to ensure stability of collective existence.
For the human society to be good, great and resourceful, there must be thinkers, speakers and writers. All of them deal with knowledge – an expression and pursuit of intelligence. As they are drawn to gain knowledge and employ it in various walks of life, many of them are ardently given to research.
The subjects of research vary widely. They cover various needs and aspects of individual as well as societal life. In fact, every substance – big or small – on earth and surrounding it, calls for detailed research and evaluation.
A nation has to protect itself, calling for sufficient defence forces, equipped with weapons to deter or destroy the enemies. By the same token, they must have the readiness to get killed too. This destructional trait is something that mind should accept and appreciate. Unless the spirit of chivalry and the resultant joy in excelling in martial measures are there, defence services cannot be organized. It is not just a physical readiness, but a mental and emotional attunement that works here. How does one have it? It has to be instilled in him by Nature right from the start. In other words, it is verily inherited.
Another line of activity is agriculture – growing food grains, vegetables and allied items. Some minds should definitely relish and prefer this. Rearing cows and other animals useful or relevant to our life in one way or another should also be pursued with fondness and vigour. There are people who love animals more than humans. This kind of variety of interest and fondness to pursue various professions to ensure the overall welfare of the world, is a handiwork of mind and the tendencies it engenders.
And there must also be another set of people to support these functions. Altogether, they make four distinct categories. How can a society have such different groups? How will they function and how to ensure their harmony and cohesiveness?
The subject and process is too important and complex that it cannot be left to anybody’s thought, design and plan. Deft Nature, whose display is this earth and its denizens, nay the entire universe, will itself have to accomplish the required variety of potential, propensities and aptitude. That is what Nature has done, is doing.
Just as the variety of plants, animals, birds and the like, Nature preserves a beautiful variety in humanity too. Krishna, like other scriptural thinkers, is but referring to this Nature-born variety, as a matter of enlightenment. It only shows how our spirituality and philosophy have their close links with the realities of creation and preservation.
Characteristics of brāhmaṇas
Brāhmaṇas denote the religious and wisdom-oriented people. Kṣatriyas are those imbued with valour, heroism and administrative skill to check and balance individual and social behaviour. Vaiśyas and śūdras – the other two categories – are more mundane and self-centred in their ways. Krishna describes in detail the mental constitutions of these four, identifying each with specific kind of external activities and relevance.
Mental discipline, sensory control, austerity, purity, forbearance, straight-forwardness, knowledge, realization of such knowledge, and unflinching faith in tradition – these constitute the nature and activities of a brāhmaṇa.
Śamaḥ is mental discipline. It verily results from purity of the mind, characterized by desirelessness. Desire is what drives one to selfish activities and sensual enjoyment. A brāhmaṇa does not like to indulge in such desireful propensities. His attention will be to keep the mind free of the hold of desires and thereby derive delight and fulfillment from his own inmost Self. This tendency is ingrained in him. He thinks, speaks and acts accordingly.
Damaḥ signifies sensory discipline and control, in the absence of which, śamaḥ will not have the desired effect of enrichment. It is senses that interact with the objects of the world, forging imprints in the mind, giving rise to desire and greed. Krishna is emphasizing that brāhmaṇas should examine themselves to ascertain whether the required measure of desirelessness and sensory control is in them. If not, they should mend matters and bring sufficient correction and refinement. Pronouncements of this nature are always a revelation on the one hand and a compulsion on the other, for improvement and sublimation.
Śoucam means internal and external purity. A brāhmaṇa has to be pure in habits and practices. He must keep his body clean by taking bath and wearing clean clothes. He has to keep his residence clean, by sweeping, wiping, etc. regularly. He must equally keep his mind clean by removing stealth, false ego and other negative tendencies.
Kṣānti means forbearance and forgivingness. Both these are qualities of the mind and heart. In tune with his life of calmness, patience and inner attunement, the brāhmaṇa has to endure and tolerate the stark anomalies and vagaries of the world, much more stoically than others, by recognizing that everything has a place in the vast world.
The society is always a wide mixture of multiple traits and tendencies. Variety and incongruities contribute to the grandeur of the world. This means a brāhmaṇa has to embody an abundant measure of receptivity and assimilation. The respect a brāhmaṇa commands in society is for this personal quality of endurance and enlightenment, not for any external treasure he may possess.
For anyone, life in this world will imply a variety of vicissitudes, adversities and confrontations. The brāhmaṇa, being a part of the society, will also naturally be subjected to this fate. He should display his readiness and strength to accept these without agitation, assimilate them with enrichment, and in the process bring about a correction or improvement around. Between the inner and outer glories, the brāhmaṇa must know that the inner are far superior and un-decaying.
Ārjava denotes straightforwardness, a rare behavioural and interactional quality. It consists in abandoning stealth, concealment or distortion. In his thoughts, words and deeds alike, ārjava must guide the brāhmaṇa. In fact, human greatness is in smoothly aligning one’s outer expression with inner personality.
The brāhmaṇa must always speak whatever is factual – about him or others. To do so is to avoid undue tensions, concoctions and unjust defences. Ārjava is greatly extolled in spiritual pursuit and parlance. To be straightforward needs no special preparation. However, not to be so, calls for much scheming and planning, all of which will only agitate and destabilize the mind.
Brāhmaṇa’s life is given to the pursuit of wisdom, in its fullness. Thus, he is initiated into literacy in his early childhood. From then on, his life is devoted to gaining wisdom to enrich himself and disseminating it for the benefit of the society.
The wisdom he acquires cannot be merely objective. It has to be comprehensive, and therefore include the “Subject” part as well. Subject wisdom, the wisdom of the Soul, is more important. Thus, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and allied Texts become supremely important for the brāhmaṇa. It is brāhmaṇas, who have primarily learnt and preserved our great spiritual treasure, through their austere and dedicated life, although the wisdom treasure as such has always been equally available to others!
Āstikya is the last quality Krishna lists. This refers to the unflinching faith the brāhmaṇa has in śāstras, in God and all allied matters. Faith is a quality of the heart, while reason of the intelligence. To understand everything in terms of rationality will take time. It may prove laborious, time-consuming. What rationality may take decades to reach and master, faith accomplishes expeditiously. Unswerving faith in the supreme Reality, Nature and the Soul, empowers the brāhmaṇa to face any hardship, trial and test.
All these qualities, Krishna says, are natural to the brāhmaṇa. In other words, only those given to or possessing these qualities are brāhmaṇas.
Any society will and must have some people of this kind. Their percentage will not be high; need not be, either. They are like the head in the body. Unless some such knowledge-oriented individuals are there, the society will lose its inner balance and cohesion, and will not be able to march forward with confidence and hope.
A brāhmaṇa by birth may or may not always have the qualities described by Krishna. But the qualities are what always matter. One born elsewhere, if found to possess these qualities, becomes a brāhmaṇa. Conversely, one born as a brāhmaṇa, if found lacking these qualities, will have to be deemed as otherwise. Whether people follow this dictum or not, the truth remains intact. These enunciations are, however, meant for everyone to examine himself and act accordingly.
Characteristics of kṣatriyas
Now, we come to the next group of tendencies, which are of extreme importance in ensuring the welfare and strength of any society. Kṣatriya represents these powerful social tendencies.
दानमीश्वरभावश्च क्षात्रं कर्म स्वभावजम् ।।
Valour, splendour, determination, skill, not running away from the battle, charity, lordship – these form the nature and activities of a kṣatriya.
Valour is the prime quality of a kṣatriya. Called śauryam, this is a mental enrichment. Majority of people are fearful and timid. However, there are those imbued with sufficient inner strength and courage as well. The kṣatriya is one such. He also has brilliance and majesty in his looks, thoughts and feelings. So too he has firmness in his stand and purpose. He is brave and will not fear and recede from any challenge or risk. In battle, he should not retreat. He will be liberal in giving. He must have a note of lordship, inner majesty and affluence. All these make one a kṣatriya.
While the brāhmaṇa, though knowledgeable, is gentle in his ways, kṣatriya is not. He is assertive, aggressive and commanding by nature. The valorous kṣatriya is a fitting complement to the gentle brāhmaṇa. To discipline the multi-pronged human society, keeping it orderly and cohesive, the kṣatriya qualities are indispensable. Kṣatriya traits enable one to sit on the throne and rule the people with resolve, to make the kingdom strong and resourceful.
Kṣatriya has a lofty attitude like that of god, in receiving and giving. His wont will always be to help the subjects to live and move freely, encouraging each to make his best contribution to the country’s welfare and progress. He should not hoard. He should be charitable to the needy.
In our country, emperors and kings used to perform yāgas, like the rājasūya-yāga. During the sacrifice, the emperor would donate generously till treasury became empty. In fact, this used to be a way of deploying the royal resources for the benefit of the people. This kind of royal dāna used to be the safeguard for the king from being unduly opulent.
Characteristics of vaiṣyas & śūdras
Krishna describes the next two categories quite briefly:
परिचर्यात्मकं कर्म शूद्रस्यापि स्वभावजम् ।।
Agriculture, animal husbandry and trade – these form the nature and activities of a vaiśya. Service to others forms the nature and activities of a śūdra.
Life needs food for survival and nourishment, and Nature provides these. Human beings use their ingenuity to grow grains and vegetables to suit their tastes and needs. Thus, agriculture involving a variety of tasks relevant to the seasons and other climatic conditions, becomes an important wing of activity in human society.
While agriculture involves cultivation of crops and harvesting, its produce will have to be collected and taken to the market places, located sometimes very far away, so that the consumers can avail of them. This comes under trade and commerce, calling for investment, storage, distribution and other measures. These constitute a subject by itself. Krishna lists both agriculture and trade under one group called vaiśya.
There is still another category, called śūdra. Krishna describes it as oriented to work for others. Śūdras are primarily people with bodily strength who can be employed for physical activities. They do not have the capacity or aptitude for work involving thinking, planning, investing or management. Their attunement is to work and serve the society following others’ orders and wishes. They are not intellectuals. Physical strength and sensory life are their mainstay. Their percentage in the society will always be more.
Unless we have all these four groups, the needs and welfare of the society cannot be fulfilled. The division in the tendencies and activities in humanity, as a result of which people form themselves into four categories, is designed by Nature itself.
These are days when human intelligence has established its place in every walk of life. Science and technology have taken over every field of activity. Knowledge-workers, with technological skills, are rendering a large number of physical workers redundant, creating an imbalance in the society.
Can we design our population, in number and qualities alike, so as to make it a viable composite, to fulfil rightly the need of the society? If not, what would be the remedy?
Nature alone is at the back of this fourfold division. If Nature’s divisions were interfered with by man’s ingenuity and skills, where would the society drift? The question is how to ensure a feasible proportion in the four categories.
As long as human ingenuity indiscreetly tampers with Nature’s arrangement, will it not result in grave disharmony? There must be constant effort to discern what Nature has provided and intends. By that alone, a proper fulfilling role can be played by the human to vindicate himself and enrich the world!
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(From Essential Concepts in Bhagavad Gita - Volume 6)