Take any law for instance, does it apply uniformly to all and at all times ? No. Every law has a caveat or a provision or an exemption. For example driving over the speed of 100 Kmph is considered an offence but not for the ambulance. Thus it is becomes necessary to understand that to make laws cannot be made applicable in uniformity to the entire population at all times.
Any society or state is a set of individuals living together and they agree to the common benefit of all (the society) that they woudl follow certain rules / regulations which would make life easier to the entire group i.e driving on the left meant that you could drive your car without fear of someone coming straight at you. Every law that makes life easier for the society at large means a personal sacrifice of freedom ( for those who likes to ride on the right hand side).
To frame a law, two separate factors has to be considered the society at large (macro) and the personal freedom (micro) of choice. The balance of micro and macro factor has to be balanced such a way that there is less disruption at both levels for the law to survive. If we were to analyze any country as to how to laws are framed and policies are made then it is ideal to classify the masses into the four levels at the macro stage
MACRO FACTORS
1. The Producers -Farmers - policies relating to agriculture and separate taxation and subsidy schemes
2. The Distributors - Business men - taxation policies of business are different from that of agriculture and different treatment with respect to schemes and incentives.
3. The Protectors -Military - the policies relating to army, navy, air-force and bureaucrats are different from that of ordinary men (a soldier shooting another human at the border is rewarded whereas a common man doing so is put behind bars)
4. The Scholars - academician & scientist and learned scholars - The scientist / learned scholars are completely supported by government and all their needs taken care of i.e all their material needs are taken care so that they focus on their research and innovations for the betterment of the entire population.
MICRO FACTORS
Now coming to the micro level, the stages of an individual can be classified into
1. Education - Till 20 years - The student life- where one learns the basics of all disciplines so that he seamlessly fits into the society at the end of the course and finds his calling.
2. The middle age ( 21-50) - where one gets married and has kids, the stage where one focuses his energy on specializing what he has learnt and for the betterment of his family
3. The retired life -(51-80) - Where one is relieved off his duties and passed the baton the next generation and starts to leads a stress free life.
4. The dependent (81 plus) - the period of self realization.
The above classification would hold good at most point of time and for most societies.I am reminded of GB Shaw's quote from "Why law is indispensable "where shall we find a land where the thinking and moralizing can be done without division of labor?" When someone is a non confirmst to the laws of land it is ideal that he is taken out of the system rather than changing the society at large and that s the reason why hermits who had attained self realization went to the forest to live the life they wanted without disturbing the order of the society for the less privileged beings
When the world is still struggling to find a perfect method to classify the society for the purpose of law i cannot stop admiring the wisdom and prudence of my ancestors who some 10,000 years ago framed a law system to govern the society which in time was mis-interpreted and mis-construed to be based on birth and being labelled as regressive.
Varnasharma Dharma
Varna comes from the root word "vri" which means choice and asharma means shelter or a resting place and in the context of vedas it means a stage of human life. Varna - Macro factors that encompasses the society and Asharma the factors that govern the individual laws.
Varnas
1. the Brahmins: priests, scholars and teachers
2. the Kshatriyas: rulers, warriors and administrators.
3. the Vaishyas: artisans and merchants.
4. the Shudras: agriculturalist and workers.
Ashrama
1. Bramacharya - The student life - basic knowledge.
2. Grihastha - The middle age - worldly knowledge.
3. Vanaprastha - the retired life - higher knowledge.
4. Sanyasa - the hermit life - self knowledge.
There are separate rules put forward for each phase of human life and each varnas. The shudras were considered the working class who provided the food security to the society and Vaishyas were the traders who ensured distribution of shudra produced products. To ensure that the strong does not exploit the weak the society nominated a group of strong individuals who are called the Kshatriyas ( the ruling class - bureaucrats). The society cannot be stagnant and needs to progress and needs research and development in agriculture, business and management and the class of people who were engaged in such activities were called Brahmins. (Brahmnan = Bramam + anavugiravan - the one who searches for the end ) The other name for brahmin is "andhanan" - (Andham + anavugiravan = the one searching for the end). Therefore it was a profession by choice and not by birth.
The meaning of Varnas had been mis quoted in our history books which was influenced by the Macualay and the modern historians. The Varna was based on one's choice of occupation and ashrama was based on his age. There was a conversation a few days ago where someone pointed out how dignity of labour is upheld in the developed countries but not in here. But unfortunately they have not understood that our ancestors were the first to upheld dignity of labour.
Next the question that arises how can a system that treats a section of a society as untouchables to be best example of society and this is the most common mis understanding of the varna system. Shudhras are the producers / agriculturalist/ workers and they are the basis of the society.
Yajur Veda 26:2 The way I gave this knowledge of Vedas for benefit of all humans, similarly you all also propagate the same for benefit of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Shudras, Vaishyas, Women and even most downtrodden. The scholars and the wealthy people should ensure that they not deviate from this message of mine.
YajurVeda 20:17
Whatever crime we have committed against my village, forest or committee; whatever crime we have committed through our organs, whatever crime we have committed against Shudras and Vaishyas, whatever crime we have done in matters of Dharma, kindly forgive us relieve us from the tendency of the same.
Atharvaved 19.32.8:
O Lord! May I be loved by everyone – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Shudra or Vaishya. May I be admired by everyone.
If you would notice that shudras are merely a classification of society which does physical labour and in the verses of vedas it is to be noted that Shudras comes before Vaishyas. Therefore there is no basis to consider shudras as lower in the classification. May be the dignity of labour was founded here before moving to the developed nation.
