Posted on 05/08/2013 2:45:41 PM PDT by Jandy on Genesis
The evils of the caste system are regularly expounded in contemporary writings. In The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl Popper argued that Plato’s ideal state, with it three-tier structure, is totalitarian. Yet, as others have noted, Plato's ideal represents an improvement upon the rigid caste structure that characterized ancient societies. Plato suggested that some particularly gifted individuals should be trained to work outside of their caste. This was a radical idea for his time (B.C. 428-347).
The egalitarian nature of American society makes castes anathema. We react strongly to perceived or real limitations of our freedom of choice. On this matter we find agreement among such disparate groups as feminists, the National Rifle Association, gay activists, and libertarians.
Rarely do we consider the benefits of the caste system. It lent stability to ancient societies. People knew their place in society and were proud of the work done by their caste. Caste identity provided a strong sense of duty. The Bhagavad Gita states, "By devotion to one's particular duty, everyone can attain perfection... By fulfilling the obligations he is born with, a person never comes to grief." (BG 18:44-48) This idea is found in Judaism also. Baba Batra wrote, "All appointments are from Heaven, even that of a janitor." (Talmud, Baba Batra 91b)
Members formed stable marriages with partners within their caste and received support from their kinsmen. The caste also lent job security similar to that provided by Medieval guilds and modern trade unions.
(Excerpt) Read more at jandyongenesis.blogspot.com ...
Since we were already meaning caste cultures and women would be a part of a caste already, I assumed your comment was about something in non-caste America.
Even high caste women were/are seen as having a lowly station in life due to crimes in past lives. Thus ill treatment is supposedly perfectly justified.
I assume that means no, you didn’t mean America.
Well few Americans believe in reincarnation or that women are naturally of a lower station than men, so no, I did not.
Casteism at its worst did not even kill a tiny miniscule fraction of the people killed by Inquisition, crusade, pogrom,holocaust,slavery,racism, apartheid ,colonialism, communism, nazism, fascism.....all of them gift of White people.
Individualism and liberty came much later at a very heavy price.
you think white people invented slavery?
Never said “invented”. They did it nevertheless.
“Casteism at its worst did not even kill a tiny miniscule fraction of the people killed by Inquisition, crusade, pogrom,holocaust,...”
Hindu Genocide in Goa Inquisition
http://www.oocities.org/hindoo_humanist/goa1.html
I have read that the Arabs were probably the first slave-holders. Then there’s this:
Using the Bible to justify slavery. Slavery in the Bible and early Christianity.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_slav1.htm
I will read this tomorrow.
Caste, or varna in Sanskrit, was already in existence 5000 years ago when Bhagavad Gita was spoken. It was also understood as described in the Puranas to be actually based on quality and characteristics or abilities and not on birth, although usually people born in a specific varna or caste would stay in it, but there were many exceptions. There is very little understanding of the actual varna/caste system and its benefits.
“Caste” is a foreign word to India — it is not found in Sanskrit. “Caste” is often confused with “varna” which is really the “color of the mind”, signifying inclination, natural tendency or propensity.
Racism slavery and religious wars were hardly the exclusive province of white people. Playing the race card doesn’t speak well of the strength of your argument.
Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan weren't white men, but they certainly slaughtered a lot of people.
Try reading some history my FRiend.
A caste system is alive and well in America. We have the Washington bureaucratic structure, those we elect who stay there and grow corrupted and we whom they consider their servants. It parallels the seaboards who believe themselves culturally enlightened and superior on one hand and “flyover country” on the other.
Right here we are having a conflict between the GOP Elite, who believe they are better fit to rule than we rabble, and grass-roots conservatives who are striving to cleanse our body politic of their (eventually) fatal disease.
Actually Attila the Hun was a Caucasian. The Huns are close cousins of the Goths and Scythians from present day Eastern Europe and Russia.
Now you tell me who didn’t read her history?
As for playing the race card, why don't we go back to your original comment....
“Individualism, liberty and self advancement are not good and true BECAUSE they were advocated and advanced by the west and (gasp! ) white people.”
Now in my comment ......is it the part about White people that you didn't like or do you just not like facts in general?
Civil rights did come after holocaust, communism, nazism, and fascism in terms of chronology.
However I was making the point that enlightenment ideals of individualism came in general to the Western world much later and after very heavy price.
I was sort of trying to say that above... People use the word “caste” when they are actually referring to what was originally “varna”, but of coures much misused and misunderstood in India today.
Are you knowledgeable in the science of Jyotish?
“According to the Encyclopedia of European Peoples, “the Huns, especially those who migrated to the west, may have been a combination of central Asian Turkic, Mongolic, and Ugric stocks.” See ‘Attila’, in Wikipedia.
No, they were not close cousins of the Goths and Scythians. The Huns migrated from the east, which is one of the reasons tribes in northern Europe were displaced and moving through Gaul and down into Iberia during the late Roman Empire period.
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