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Varnashrama As a Means to Freedom by Niscala dasi Posted December 9, 2009 ISKCON's four regulative principles (avoiding meat-eating, all sex except for procreation in marriage, gambling and intoxication) are sometimes referred to as "the four principles of freedom". If they really are the principles of freedom, then they should foster honesty. One can only be free in honesty- for deception is entangling. As the poem goes: Oh! what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive! Maya is literally 'illusion", a synonym for "deception". So, since honesty is essential, both to freedom, and to self-realization, it follows that to the extent that one can honestly follow the four regulative principles, to that extent they are beneficial and liberating. But what of the contingency plan? Freedom through Honesty If one cannot follow, then the prescription given by Srila Prabhupada is varnashrama. Not that one cannot be a devotee, as the only qualification for becoming a devotee is the desire to be one! In Srila Prabhupada's conversations about varnashrama (see below), he was stressing it as a means to discourage devotees from accepting principles that they could not follow, and as a means to make bhakti easy for everyone to follow. So why are we excluding people, or why are people going away, because they can no longer follow the four regulative principles? Let them follow a less austere version that will keep the society in peace and prosperity... Keeping in mind the goal of varnashrama, the spiritual and material well-being of the society, the regulative principles for the varnas may vary according to time, place and circumstance. For example, in Vedic times, when the safety of the society required a physically powerful leader, ksatriyas were even allowed to eat meat, to get the excess of protein required to become human juggernauts in battle. This is not necessary in these times, when it is not archery and the wielding of swords, but the plethora of advanced weaponry (and the winning of hearts and minds), that generally determines the outcome of a battle. Thus, it does not compromise our safety to have our ksatriyas be vegetarians, and giving up meat is not hard for devotees to follow, in our experience. Most stay vegetarians voluntarily, even after "blooping" or losing interest in Krishna consciousness, because it has immense benefits, for one's health, the environment, and one's friends, the animals. It is indeed a principle of elevation in these times-- when there is so much advanced technology, that physical strength has become virtually redundant. Similarly we find there to be no need to compromise the principles of "no intoxication" or "no gambling", as these indulgences undermine the well-being of any society, including our own, and in a setting of varnashrama, which is rural, there is no facility of intoxication and gambling anyway. There is however, always the (glances of) the opposite sex! Herein lies the need for the contingency plan given by Srila Prabhupada, the need to adjust so as to make bhakti "easy" for everyone, to make it so that we can reach out and call everyone a member of our all-embracing society. Alternatively, we can continue to be as we are- a small sect of fanatical rule-followers...that will certainly ensure our stagnation...or decline... Compassion and Empathy The goals of varnashrama are the spiritual and material well-being of all. The spiritual well-being requires we develop honesty, taking care to avoid both deception of self and others. Specifically, it means not pretending to be more advanced than we are- for that is a common synthesis of two anarthas- duplicity- kutinati, and the desire for honor -pratistha. Our material, emotional well-being requires that we develop compassion and empathy. Combining these twin goals, if one cannot be celibate except for procreation- then at least one should be true to one's spouse. So much unbearable pain and heartbreak is caused by having sexual affairs outside marriage. This is appropriately called "cheating" or deception, because rather than facing the problems in the marriage honestly and with integrity and respect for one's partner, one looks for an escape. Love And in marriage, one should strive against seeing the spouse as a sense object- to treat him/her neither for sexual, nor egotistic, domination. If one cannot see him/her as Krishna's own beloved, at least make him/her one's own beloved- let attachment not degrade into exploitation, but be a training ground for expressing loving feelings. One should try to see oneself as an instrument for Krishna's love to flow through ,for such an attitude will keep one humble, and devotional, at the same time. Additional Principles of Freedom Varnashrama is about honesty. It is also about love- treating each other with the utmost respect that every servant of Krishna deserves. Also compassion- not being harsh or judgmental about other's weaknesses- or even one's own. It is about being forgiving. And patient. That is what I saw in Prabhupada's conversations about varnashrama, and so I have tried to stress it in my book (Varnashrama- the Eight-Petalled Lotus). Others have interpreted varnashrama to mean simply self-sufficiency or cow protection-(it has become synonymous with the same, in some circles)- but that is only a part of it. It is an important part, but not all... Varnashrama, in essence, is about freedom- from exploitation, and from deception. Thus, it is the freedom to be oneself- not some ideal- and the freedom of being respected for that- that special freedom that is indistinguishable from love- the freedom that comes from being appreciated- regardless of one's shortcomings. That is love that is unconditional, ahaituki, the kind of love we must eventually develop for the Lord, and that we must train ourselves in, beginning with those parts and parcels of the Lord whom we call our husbands, wives, children, friends and workers... For more discussion, or more about the book, please write to me at: niscala_dasi @yahoo.com.au Prabhupada's Instructions on Varnashrama Prabhupada: Therefore varnashrama-dharma is required. Simply show-bottle will not do. So the varnashram-dharma should be introduced all over the world, and... Satsvarupa: Introduced starting with ISKCON community?? Prabhupada: Yes. Yes. brahmana, kshatriyas. There must be regular education. Hari-sauri: But in our community, if the..., being as we're training up as Vaishnavas [devotees of the Supreme Lord Vishnu, or Krishna]... Prabhupada: Yes. Hari-sauri: ...then how will we be able to make divisions in our society? Prabhupada: Vaishnava is not so easy. The varnashram-dharma should be established to become a Vaishnava. It is not so easy to become Vaishnava. Hari-sauri: No, it's not a cheap thing. Prabhupada: Yes. Therefore this should be made. Vaishnava, to become Vaishnava, is not so easy. If Vaishnava, to become Vaishnava is so easy, why so many fall down? It is not easy. The sannyasa is for the highest qualified brahmana. And simply by dressing like a Vaishnava, that is... fall down. Hari-sauri: So the varnashram system is like for the kanishthas, kanishtha- adhikari [neophytes]. Prabhupada: Kanishtha? Hari-sauri: When one is only on the platform of neophyte. Prabhupada: Yes. Yes. Kanishtha-adhikari, yes. Hari-sauri: Varnashram system is beneficial. Prabhupada: At least ideal must be there. That we are doing. Hari-sauri: This will more or less revolutionize the way we're running our centers. If we introduce it, it will more or less revolutionize the way we're running our centers. Prabhupada: Why? Why revolution? Hari-sauri: Because right now our only emphasis is just to simply produce brahmanas . Prabhupada: So why you are taking "we"? Why not others? This is kanishtha-adhikari. You are thinking of "we." That is kanishtha-adhikari. It is not that "we." Na tad-bhakteshu chanyeshu. [SB 11.2.47] You have to think for others also. ******* Satsvarupa: In our ISKCON, one becomes a brahmana after a year. It's not very hard. Everyone becomes a brahmana. Prabhupada: That is due to chanting. That lifts very easily. Hari-sauri: Where will we introduce the varnashram system, then? Prabhupada: In our society, amongst our members. Hari-sauri: But then if everybody's being raised to the brahminical platform... Prabhupada: Not everybody. Why you are misunderstanding? Varnashram, not everybody brahmana. Hari-sauri: No, but in our society practically everyone is being raised to that platform. So then one might ask what is... Prabhupada: That is... Everybody is being raised, but they're falling down. Hari-sauri: So then we should make it more difficult to get... Prabhupada: Yes. Hari-sauri: ...brahminical initiation. After four or five years. Prabhupada: Not necessary. You remain as a kshatriya. You'll be ... Hari-sauri: No need for even any brahmana initiation, then... Prabhupada: No, no. Hari-sauri: ...unless one is... Prabhupada: No, brahmana must be there. Why do you, say, generalize? Hari-sauri: Unless one is particularly... Prabhupada: Yes. Hari-sauri: ...inclined. Prabhupada: Not that a shudra man is by force become a brahmana. You cannot improve. That is not possible. But even if he remains a shudra and does accordingly, he will get the same position as devotee. Sva-karmana tam abhyarchya sam... [From Bg. 18.46: "{By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading} a man can attain perfection through performing his own work."] He'll get the perfection. At the present moment the idea is: if one remains a shudra, then he cannot get perfection. No. Even a shudra can get perfection provided he does the work of a shudra perfectly. Hari-sauri: For Krishna. Prabhupada: Therefore why a shudra artificially should be a brahmana? Let them, let him remain a shudra, and if he follows strictly the rules and regulation of shudra, he'll also be as good as a brahmana. The same example: Just like head is as important as my leg. It is not that because it is leg, it is less important than my head. And if you ask the head, "Do the work of a leg," it is impossible. And if you ask the leg to work as a brain, that is impossible. Let him remain brain, let him remain leg, and do your duty and you become perfect. Satsvarupa: Today you've been saying that the Vaishnava is the highest, above the brahmana. But then we've also understood that everyone in ISKCON is a Vaishnava. Prabhupada: Yes. Vaishnava everyone, even if he's not brahmana: jivera 'svarupa' haya-krishnera 'nitya-dasa' [Cc.Madhya 20.108]: "It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Krishna"] But you have to gradually bring him to that pure consciousness that "I am servant of Krishna." Here the bodily conception is going on-"I am American," "I am Indian," "I am this," "I am that." Satsvarupa: If in our society we say, "Srila Prabhupada wants some to be shudra..." Prabhupada: No, no, no. I don't want. I want everyone to become Vaishnava. But because he's a shudra, it is not possible to bring him immediately to the platform of brahmana, or Vaishnava. Therefore falling down. Therefore system must be. But even if he remains a shudra, he's a Vaishnava. Hari-sauri: So we'd have to completely revise the whole system that we have now.
Prabhupada: No. Whatever we have, that is all right. But we see by experience that they're falling down. There must be systematic. Why falling down? Because he was not fit for the position, therefore he has fallen. Better remain in his position and become perfect. Why artificially bring them? There is no need."
We are a group of Prabhupada centered devotees, who are starting a self-sufficient, varna-asrama comunity, in Belize. Our mission is to provide a model community based on Srila Prabhupada's instructions on varna-asrama, cow protection, simple living and high thinking and unity and diversity. The main focus will be farming and we are hoping that through our success we can help others start communities everywhere in the world. This community will have an Ayurvedic Healing center, a Vedic Wisdom library, a Ksatriya Training Center, a Center for Sustainable Agriculture, a Center for Development of alternative energies and technologies that support and encourage simple living, and high thinking. We have found a piece of property in Belize that we would like to purchase to start this community, however at this time we do not have sufficient Lakshmi to continue in our mission. Therefore we are appealing to the larger devotee community to help us make this part of Srila Prabhupada's mission a reality. Our reasons for choosing Belize as the country in which to start this project are very simple. First off we wanted to do this project in a climate conducive to simple living therefore we chose a tropical climate and Belize is also relatively undeveloped and does not have an extremely expensive cost of living. It is also easy to immigrate to and for us it is not too awfully far away. We are asking everyone who believes this to be important to please help us continue our mission. You can make donations through Paypal of any amount from $1 to $100,000. Everything is appreciated.
Please visit thesolutioncommunity.blogspot.com to donate or for more information email rl_dasi@yahoo.com.
The basis of the division of service in varnasrama is that which powers the individual - his/her psycho-physical make up. Thus it separates spiritual from material power, and productive from physical power. The latter separation is necessary for good business management, for it is obviously a waste of talent for an architect to be laying bricks, and an over-expectation for a brick-layer to be trying to design buildings. What is not so clear (the resolution of which is more pertinent to us) is why the ksatriya and the brahmana class must separate. Surely a spiritually minded ksatriya could do both? Why does Krsna recommend they separate? The answer could not be more simple when we examine the meaning of varnasrama and the basis for its class separation- psycho-physical tendencies. With this in mind, to say "could not a brahmana manage?" is exactly like saying "could not a architect lay bricks?" He could, but why would he want to? It is not in his nature... Similarly, it is not in the nature of a true brahmana to manage. He is repulsed and repelled by material power- its trappings, its use of legislative force over persuasion, its focus on smooth and problem-free management as opposed to essential principles of ethics and spirituality. Our Problem of Paradox But the paradox of ISKCON is that it is- or should be- a spiritual society. At least it has spiritual aspirations, and consequently, its members tend to regard those whom they consider to be brahmanas more seriously and reverently than those who are obviously ksatriyas. Thus, while it is a fact that a true brahmana will never be willing to take up the reins of management as it is not in his nature, it is indeed in the power hungry nature of a ksatriya to covet *all* the reins of power, thus rising to the top of the perceived heirarchy. An example of this that is extant in our society is when the legislative power passes a resolution or law that its power is spiritual. This is a dead-set proof of fraud, as the very notion of defining class by passing resolutions about it, defies the authority of the Supreme Brahman who declares that the separation is based on qualities and work only, which excludes governmental decree. Thus a brahmana who is an obedient servant of the Supreme Brahman, would find it impossible and outrageously hypocritical to ever enact such a pantomime of disgraceful proportions so as to make a laughing stock of that which he regards most highly- the orders of the Supreme Brahman. If out of pure necessity only a brahmana takes up management, he would never pass a resolution about his power still being spiritual, for he is uninterested in power per se. He would only take up the burden of management as a temporary solution to a lack of qualified ksatriyas- such as Srila Prabhupada did in the early days of Iskcon. No one can argue that Srila Prabhupada was reluctant to manage, he made it explicitly clear, but in ISKCON our managers are making sure that re-elections never happen, so they never have to give it up!
The two greatest threats to them are varnasrama and re-elections, for both
are challenges to their security and accountability, yet uncomfortably both
are the explicit directions of the founder-acarya (whom they nevertheless
hope to place "in the center", again not by action but by decree!) They know
that either will force them to step down, as they would have to face their
failure to respond appropriately to crises such as child abuse, cow abuse as
well as the neglect of the instructions of Srila Prabhupada and the
misrepresentation of the philosophy as outlined above. Yet re-elections and
varnasrama are both necessary for our long-term survival which necessitates
that the spiritual concerns of all members be heard and acted upon, so as to
have the kind of faith in one's leadership that make it a joy to serve.
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Do We Transcend Varnashrama? by Niscala dasi Posted October 26, 2009 Interesting things have happened to me since presenting my book Varnashrama, the Eight-petalled Lotus. I entered a varnashrama discussion forum, a group of devotees obviously very keen on introducing varnashrama within our movement. However, only a portion of Srila Prabhupada's instructions on the matter was being presented — specifically the portion in which he stressed that even within a varnashrama structure, we are all Vaishnavas, and that we are only playing the part of sudras, vaisyas and so on to set a precedent for general society to follow. After all, since we are Vaishnavas, we are transcendental to varnashrama. In another conversation, however, Srila Prabhupada offers a very different viewpoint, citing a Caitanya-Caritamrta verse: "It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Krishna" (C.C., Madhya 20.108). Prabhupada declared that he wanted everyone to become a Vaishnava, but that one must overcome the bodily conception to gradually develop such a pure consciousness: "For one who's a shudra, it is not possible to come immediately to the platform of brahmana or Vaishnava." Varnashram-dharma, he said, should be established to become a Vaishnava, but it is not easy to become a Vaishnava, he cautioned: "If to become a Vaishnava is so easy, why do so many fall down? If we just dress like a Vaishnava, that is falldown." Here we see Srila Prabhupada giving his reasons for wanting varnashrama within ISKCON: that we are falling down from brahminical principles. He also states that following such principles is not actually necessary, as one can be a Vaishnava from any position and become perfect: "In varnashram, not everybody is a brahmana. Why should a shudra artificially be a brahmana? Let him remain a shudra, and if he follows strictly the rules and regulation for a shudra, he'll also be as good as a brahmana." The only forbidden thing is falsity. It isn't required to maintain 'showbottle' standards; indeed, it is ludicrous. It is much more important to be true to ourselves. Herein he resolves the original controversy that prompted this article. In the forum, there was the one-sided viewpoint that we do not need varnashrama for ourselves per se, as Vaishnavas are transcendental — so therefore Srila Prabhupada only wanted us to pretend to engage in it, to give an example for others. In fact, however, we do need to follow it, for our own integrity's sake, because following artificially a higher standard than we are capable of will never lead us to perfection: "It's not that a shudra by force becomes a brahmana. You cannot improve him; that is not possible. But even if he remains a shudra and does accordingly, he will get the same position as a devotee." He resolves the apparent contradiction by explaining that in our movement everyone is essentially a Vaishnava, even if on the material platform one happens to be a certain varna. It is said that to view a Vaishnava in terms of his caste or varna is offensive. Whether following up to the standard of the brahmanas or not, he is a Vaishnava and is due all respect, and to view or treat him as anything less is offensive. Citing a Bhagavad-gita verse, Prabhupada pointed out that high standards or not, a Vaishnava has only one aim in life: to realize his connection with the Supreme Lord, to establish that connection and, ultimately, to serve in that capacity: "By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, one can attain perfection through performing his own work" (Bg. 18.46). All this must be taken into account if we are to avoid the anarthas of pretense (kutinati), the ambition to achieve a position of power over others (pratistha), and the tendency to exploit and disrespect workers (bhutesu baddha-vairasya). If we adopt the attitude that brahmanas are superior to sudras, then we have the caste system, the very antithesis of our philosophy. Srila Prabhupada, however, points out: "The leg is not less important than the head. If you ask the head to do the work of a leg, it is impossible, and if you ask the leg to work as a brain, it is impossible. Let one remain the brain, let another remain the leg. Do your duty and you become perfect." If we simply label people artificially, then we have depersonalization. Varnashrama, like most brilliant creations, can be used to harm or to benefit. The history of India gives us ample instances of the harm. Let us now show the world the immense benefit that is only possible by uniting it with our philosophy: "As the blazing fire of death, I cause great fear to whoever makes the least discrimination between living entities because of a differential outlook. Therefore, through charitable gifts and attention, as well as through friendly behaviour and by viewing all to be alike, one should propitiate Me, who abides in all creatures as their very Self." (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.29.26-27)
I'd like to thank April for her thought-provoking questions. April is spring-time in many countries (though autumn in mine), a time when many dormant bulbs within the ground come to life with wonderful effects. Questions are just like the effects of the season on the bulbs of doubt and unclarity of vision. We only need to appreciate them as so, to get the effect of their full blossoming. April asked about how to discover one's dharma, or nature. She also asked how to know whether what one chooses to do will be pleasing to Krsna. In one respect, dharma is the Lord Himself, for the Lord and the ability in wo/men are non-different, as He states in the gita. Thus to recognize one's abilities is, in one sense, to discover the Lord. It is pleasing to the Lord, if one remembers this- that if one is creatively inclined, that it is the Lord flowing through one's hands as one is painting, writing, etc. If one is intellectually inclined, it is the Lord flowing through one's mind as one is thinking. And if one is interpersonally inclined, it is the Lord flowing through one's heart as one is loving. One never works alone, and the only task is to find the talents that the Lord has given in seed form and recognize Him in that. The only thing that displeases Krsna is forgetfulness of Him. However in ISKCON it can be hard to find one's nature, as everyone else is telling you what you should do, moment to moent. They do not believe that Krsna can be pleased, and surrender can be perfect and complete, when one simply does what one is talented or inclined to do, and remember Him in that endeavour.
In his later pastimes, Srila Prabhupada strongly recommended introducing
varnasrama to ISKCON, but this has not yet happened, possibly because our
leaders fear it would lead to anarchy if they allowed everyone to follow
their own nature instead of being bossed around. I believe it would lead to
a situation of great spontaneity and joy, and the leaders would be seen in
their role of servants facilitating that joy. There would certainly be less
criticism and resentment of them, and thus everyone would benefit.
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