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RE:Gita and Varnashrama

From the Bhakti List Archives

Tatachar • October 30, 1995 


Mr. Krishna Prasad said:
>>>the essence of "chaturvarnyam maya srishtam" 
>>- is that as per the words, it is clearly indicated
>> that "beings belonging to 4 castes were created 
>>>by me according to gunas and karma" 
>>>- ie. varnas are both birth based and nature based. 
 >>>This is the clear traditional view of all the acharyas -
>>>shankaracharya, Sri Ramanujacharya and Madhvacharya. <<<<

I don't see how one can equate Guna and Karma
 to mean Birth and Nature. 
Actually it means Nature  and work.
 For example the guna of gold is non reactivity
(stability), malleability and ductility. 
These gunas make it suitable for being used 
to make jewellery and that is how gold 
works (it's Karma is jewelery). These Gunas of
gold were determined at it's birth(formation)
irrespective of what individual parent elements 
that were  involved in it's formation.

Likewise Guna of coal is ability to 
produce heat (calorific value/BTU) and Karma is
it's use in runnning a steam engine. The 
other forms of carbon (diamond, graphite,
fulleranes) have different gunas and serve 
different karmas.
In other words Guna predisposes one 
to particular type of Karma(s). 

The varna of an individual is
determined AT birth(conception) and not
BY birth. Unless the parents are 
homozugous, it is impossible to
recreate a progeny of identical
varnya. However, by carefully controlling the 
contributing parents, it is possible to
increase the probability of
reproducing  the Varna of the parents
in the child. This woud be similar to 
controlled breeding done with animals
(pets, thoroughbred horses, homozygous
mouse etc) after numerous
inbreedings (back crossings). In a human
situation, this is nearly impossible.

Clearly, there is no indication in this verse 
(Chaturvarnyam maya srishtam.........)
of anything to do with the Varna being 
determined by birth (ie., by parents).
Gita matches with the scientific view
but not our Purvacharyas interpretation
of this verse as stated by Mr. Krishna  Prasad.
K. Sreekrishna.