The goal of writing this series is not to paint a gloomy, hopeless picture and to make all feel guilty. Instead, the goal is to be objective and realistic about our history, and present and pave a smart way for future.

This is what needs to be done to save India and Hindus Let each of us strive for this at whatever level we can and soon the efforts would multiply into a transformation within a few years. Let us reject caste system totally in thoughts, words and actions.

Don’t repeat the history

Stop associating yourselves with our forefathers to defend their mistakes. This is also a form of caste system. Take collective responsibility for whatever happened. So-called birth based Brahmins and Kshatriyas are not the only ones to be blamed. So-called Dalits and Shudras are more to be blamed. Why did they allow these fake Brahmins and Kshatriyas to usurp power and create a nuisance for centuries?
Now let bygones be bygones. Stop calling yourself as belonging to any caste except humanity. Stop blaming any Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra for whatever happened in past or happens now. Our fight is against a mindset and not persons. Our success will depend on how strongly we refuse to even accept any person by his caste in the first place.

We must realize that it were few people who believed in caste system and made it flourish. To blame all birth-based Brahmins for deeds of few would be foolish. We must accept the truth that Swami Dayanand Saraswati who debunked caste system on basis of Vedas was also a Brahmin. The person who gave Ambedkar his name was also a Brahmin. Veer Savarkar who had an undiluted stand favoring total destruction of caste system was a Brahmin.

Instead of making an upper-caste vs lower-caste issue, we must realize it is an issue that impacts all sections of society and hence must be collectively destroyed.

Don’t defend caste in the name of culture and tradition
Stop the habit of defending every other thing in the name of culture and tradition.

Totally reject every scripture, every ritual, and every institution that thrives on the birth-based caste system. Let us say a full stop to it, be it a great temple or festival or a book we have been taught to love since early childhood for generations.

Agniveer did not find Vedas – the first texts – to contain any support for such ridiculous unverifiable conjectures. On contrary Vedas extol for pure meritocracy. Also, Vedas are free from adulterations to best of our knowledge. Hence, we consider Vedas as our foundation. All other texts are acceptable only to the extent they comply with Vedas. And if they advocate casteism, racism or gender bias, they are anything but scriptures. Let’s reject them outright, as well as those people, institutions and rituals that defend these.

This does not mean we reject our forefathers out rightly. Accept their good points; do keep track of deeds of your forefathers if you want to, but only as an inspiration and source of motivation. Refuse to enjoy delusion of your supremacy based on deeds of your forefathers. No one gives you the 1st Rank in University because your grandfather was a topper!

Don’t acknowledge any temple that refuses Dalit entry
Refuse to acknowledge any temple that refuses to accept a talented ‘so-called’ Dalit as a priest. Either grab its control and install meritocracy or let such temples of hatred be boycotted. That may be the greatest pilgrim center, but publicity does not make a villain into a hero.

Accept non-Hindus as Hindus

Coordinate with local temples controlled by logical minds to openly accept non-Hindus as Hindus with dignity. They may do a short ritual like a recitation of Gayatri Mantra and make one a Hindu. No need for any mention of any caste except that he is a human. Only adherence to certain basic lifestyle norms like food, charity, education, non-violence, worship of Supreme, equality of all human beings, etc. may suffice.

Organize Shuddhis

Events should be organized where these Shuddhis are done at larger scale. And those taking part should be made into Brahmins, who then are eligible to conduct religious rituals and be priests of temples.

In fact, special temples should be opened with Dalit and erstwhile non-Hindu priests. It has started in many areas but needs to be done more aggressively.

In so-called Dalit areas, rituals should be conducted that convert them into Brahmins, who then conduct rituals of Brahminization of other Dalits. What more, these people should be provided Surnames like Sharma, Tiwari, Tripathi, Chaturvedi, Dwivedi, Trivedi, etc. that they can legally use. This should happen in such wide scale that within few years, it becomes impossible to distinguish between a Brahmin of few years and a Brahmin of few generations. (There is no way to find Brahmins of more than a few generations in absence of credible DNA verification). Swami Dayanand used to distribute sacred thread widely to promote Vedic Dharma. We should also use this symbol to promote our mission.

What would be the challenge?

One challenge that would come is from reservation-based politics, which would coax so-called Dalits to continue being called Dalits and earn privileges at the cost of dignity. But if wider community support programs and avenues of entrepreneurship be explored, this factor would gradually die a natural death. In any case, within a couple of decades, the craze of secured government jobs is poised to die down among the enlightened class of society due to much more attractive entrepreneurial and global opportunities, thanks to the technological revolution.

Now due to politicization, people have started feeling proud to be called Dalits or Anarya! This is a very foolish reaction to events of history that defeats the very purpose. Dalit means one who is trampled. It’s an abuse and society should refuse to use this world for any caste. One who is economically or socially neglected is a Dalit regardless of his or her caste. Any villain is an Anarya. A daughter of a fisherman is a noble Brahmin if she is a scholar. She is a Chaturvedi if she has mastered four Vedas. Instead of nurturing clustering of people around terms like Dalit, Arya, Picchdi Jaati, Backward Caste, Scheduled Caste, we should refuse even to recognize such foolish divisions when entire humanity is one caste one race. Factional parties thriving on Bahujan, Dalit, Dravida appeasements are as great enemies of humanity as the fake Brahmins and Kshatriyas of yesteryears – both are nurturing the foolish caste system for their selfish reasons or sheer irrationality.

But now is the golden time to understand the fakeness of the hollow caste system and destroy its very foundations. Of course, challenges are there, but even the opportunity is historic.

Agniveer’s resolve

Agniveer is determined to make this its number one priority. We appeal to all to join us in this mission as we initiate a movement through the ground level implementation of above plans.

We know that this chapter may arouse some angry reactions from those who support the denial of Vedas based on birth or feel men are superior to women and other bogus concepts. But we do not care because we are with truth and know that caste system is against Vedas, against humanity, against logic, and against the nation.

Those who desire to debate us on this are most welcome! But before that, you must showcase your DNA reports so that we can reliably conclude that you are indeed from a genealogy of Brahmins since the inception of Vedas and not children of a cunning Chandal, who took a Brahmin guise some generations ago. After all, by your own admission, only authentic Brahmins have the right to debate on Vedas!

May the rule of merit prevail!

In this chapter, we will review the simple lessons on Caste System.

Lesson 1: Caste system is a bogus concept

The caste system is a bogus concept having no Vedic basis whatsoever. Not one single mantra has any justification for birth-based casteism.

Lesson 2: All humans have all four castes!

Every human has all four qualities – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra – within him and for the sake of simplicity, we can tag him with his predominant profession. However, this remains a gross approximation, which loses its relevance even more in the current era and social system. Yajurveda 32.16 specifically prays that MY Brahmin and MY Kshatriya qualities be worthwhile!

Lesson 3: There is no way to decide

There is no way to decide if so-called upper castes are actually upper and lower caste actually lower throughout last several thousand generations and more.

All this upper-caste and lower-caste fantasy stories are based on self-assessment and evidence of hardly a few generations. We also see that the present caste system provides an incentive for crooks to somehow attain false certificates of upper caste and fool rest of the population. Also, there is no incentive for any fake upper caste to actually admit that he or she belongs to a family of Chandals because that would deprive them of their special rights and status. In all probability, caste system would imply rule of the crooks and torture of the honest. It is more likely that the honest ones now known as lower castes are the real upper castes being duped by real low-castes! After all caste system basically means an incentive to cheat!

Traits may be inherited due to environment BUT….
We can just say that certain traits run predominantly in certain families due to the environment that a newborn receives. Many professions run through generations. There is nothing wrong in it. But that does not mean that son of a doctor becomes a doctor merely by taking birth. He has to grow up, give exam and qualify for MBBS to use the Dr. salutation. Same is true for every profession or Varna.

Further, this does not also mean that I cannot be a doctor simply because my father was a laborer. Thankfully, this is not the case. Or else the world would have been worse than Hell. After all, almost all legends who shaped the world through knowledge, inventions, discoveries and leadership were mutants who went completely against family traditions.

Lesson 4: Caste system ruined us

Ever since India started taking caste system seriously, we degraded from the lighthouse of the world to one of the largest debtors and beggars of the world. And the western world could progress so much despite so many lacunae because they allowed equal rights to dignity to all humans regardless of birth. At the height of caste-system, we saw ourselves being raped and butchered for centuries and finally partitioned in our own ancient homeland.

It is only in recent years after caste system has dwindled significantly, that we witness some respite. Whatever nuisance remains is because of caste-system refusing to go due to its politicization. And politicization thrives because we refuse to trash proactively all those rituals, texts, customs based on birth-based caste system.

Lesson 5: Negative contribution of casteist mind

If I ask you to provide any significant contribution of any casteist mind in last 1000 years, you would have to blame the utter lack of it all on crazy conspiracy theories. However, the fact is that apart from hollow superstitious philosophies and rituals, nothing useful was ever contributed by all the pundits of Varanasi and all holy shrines put together who had access to tremendous wealth and resources to do anything worthwhile. (Refer the wealth being discovered from Padmanabhan temple for example. I wonder if they would have utilized this wealth to unite people for fighting away the invaders and establishing meritocracy).

The so-called Mlecchas like Einstein, Newton, Faraday and hundreds of other path-breakers of West were more fertile minds than the ‘divinely’ inspired birth, knowledge and special gifts of Shri Hari on these birth-based pundits. The only difference was that in last 300 years, West rejected the junk of Biblical superstitions, increasingly accorded equal rights to all sections of societies. We can conclude that a non-casteist mind of a Mleccha (considered worse than even Shudras) is thousand times more brilliant than the most ‘divine’ casteist mind.

Those who claim that their upper-castes have ‘better’ talents should provide evidence on what great research their ‘better’ talents have produced in last 300 years to take their claims seriously?

Giving names of a few scientists like Raman or Chandrashekhar would be foolish. Because they achieved whatever they could achieve only when they adopted studies of the Mlecchas. Their knowledge came from Mlecchas, and Mlecchas alone acknowledged their outputs.

Instead, one should showcase examples from centers of casteist learnings – Kashi etc. – on what great breakthrough research they could bring from the classified knowledge they had owing to their superior birth? Apart from degrading a great scientific tradition to stories of cheap gimmicks and Dakshina, the contribution has been meager from these great ‘universities.’

And a non-casteist Mleccha warrior is more effective than a far more powerful and brave casteist Kshatriya. That is why despite being touted as having the bravest Rajputs, even the slaves of slaves enslaved us for centuries! (Refer the Slave dynasty!) We were marrying our daughters to psychopaths like Akbar despite the heroic valor! We had our Kashi Vishwanath taking recluse in a well despite the power of Vedic scholars and brave divinely gifted warriors! And Ghazni raping women in premises of Somnath Temple, thanks to our birth-based caste system that allowed only specific families to be trained in warfare and then remain Hindu only if they do not get touched by Mlecchas!

In addition, far less talented Englishmen could rule not only us but half of the globe simply because they rejected artificial discrimination within their own society!

But yes, India has been excellent producers of slaves and Shudras for ages. Barring few rebels, as a society, despite our tall claims of being Brahmin or Kshatriya or Vaishya, we have been licking the boots of our rulers; whosoever came to rule us. We feel pride in serving our Aakaas. Mughal armies were predominantly consisting of Rajput warriors and generals. When Haldi Ghati battle happened, they were Rajputs trying to defeat the brave Pratap! Most of the battles Shivaji fought were against so-called Rajputs and Marathas who were bootlicking the Sultanates!

Those who claim to be upper-castes and defend birth-based caste system in practice have not been better than Shudras or Slaves as per their deeds! No doubt, they had thus all the reasons to defend their fake upper-castes!

Lesson 6: Casteists caused decline of Hinduism

It was our blunder that we closed doors of entry of forced converts back to Hinduism and thus caused the slavery and eventual partition of India. Even today, Hinduism is the only religion that has no mechanism to accept people into it except by birth. Of course, if you pay some bucks at Varanasi these days, they do convert and marry you as per Hindu rituals so that you can take photographs. Even this started after the Arya Samaj Shuddi movement, which was met with stiff opposition by some fake Brahmins in last century and quarter. In our definition, such people were worse than Shudras.

Many so-called fake Brahmins (fake because they cannot produce DNA records of their Brahminism) would claim that non-Hindus are allowed to be taken back to Hinduism but only as Shudras and not Brahmins or Kshatriyas! What a stupidity based on selfish power politics! A Stephen Knapp, who has contributed more to the cause of Hinduism than all the pundits of Kashi put together, is still disallowed from entering Jagannath Temple because he was not a born Brahmin! He will have to do penance in this birth and take next birth as Brahmin to get this right!

Do we need any external enemies to destroy our destiny?

We have been practicing this stupidity for ages and still do not understand. I can go to a mosque and express my desire to be a Muslim. They will then make all arrangements and make me one quickly. Church will even pay me bucks to become a Christian. But if someone goes to a temple to embrace the culture of their forefathers, first the pujari will look at him as if he has heard a queer joke. Then he would call some pundit. Depending on the location of the temple, even his entry may be barred. For example, only Brahmins can enter into interiors of Kashi Vishwanath temple! Then he would be provided a list of penances so that he can become a Shudra. The penances, suggested by likes of revered Sadhu Maharaj have included eating cow dung for several days! Other sects like ISKCON may make things easier because they are among few sects who felt the importance of bringing our lost brothers back.

But then they would be called frauds by other sects. Still, they cannot enter a Kanchipuram or Vishwanath or Jagannath or Dwarka temple. They cannot marry a so-called high-caste Hindu. They cannot read and teach Vedas. Everyone would try to play safe and recommend that they only study Geeta and Bhagvat Puran etc.

Except Arya Samaj, no one would dare to make a Pandit teaching Vedas from a Maulana. And they are considered deviant since last 125 years. And now even Arya Samaj has become a kitty party ignoring its prime duty of destroying the caste system! They are busy conducting the marriage of eloped couples and earning Dakshina!

Would some Christian or Muslim be a fool to accept Hinduism at such cost to his or her dignity?

I am not blaming any individual but the mindset. The foolish caste system and the mindset that supports it is the greatest cause of all the problems of today. If we became slaves, it was because of this. If we were raped and butchered, it was because of this. If we are facing terrorism, it is because of this. And still, we refuse to jettison it proactively. We know it has no basis, no foundation, and no way to verify it, but still, we continue to feed the snake that has been killing our kins for centuries.

Lesson 7: Casteists caused the Partition of India

Many Indians know the partition and so-called hardline Muslim problem. But few know that Jinnah’s grandfather was a Hindu, who was forced to convert due to stupid reasons. Iqbal was from a family of Brahmins not even two generations ago! Our stupid caste system would make someone a Mleccha even if we ate with a ‘Mleccha’ and there was never a way back to home.
Later, when legends like Swami Dayanand and Shradhanand started Shuddhi movement and were supported by visionaries like Savarkar, the opportunistic agents of Dharma relented but allowed extremely impractical access to Hinduism as lower castes.

The entire Muslim or Christian population of subcontinent today is the only result of our own crime of caste-system that would make one outcast at flimsiest of reason. Instead of condemning other religions and their faith, we should ask ourselves: “What do we have to offer them to bring them back with dignity?” “What right we have to condemn them when we defend our own irrational fake scriptures that justify caste system and gender discrimination?”
Conclusion

Casteists should look at their own crimes first. Let us be honest with ourselves. Agniveer critically analyzes the history of Islam or Quran or Bible, it does so as a scientist and not with hatred. It focuses on concepts and not people. In the same vein, it also has the guts to say that it throws into the dustbin and puts fire to all those rubbish texts, which support in any manner disgraceful blots like casteism and gender discrimination. Agniveer does not care about how emotional we may be to such a text, ritual, or way of worship. It would still stand for getting rid of lices that suck our blood.

Till we can come up with this honesty, any debate on comparative religions would be a shameless veil on our own heinous crimes.

To Hell with Casteism.

And for so-called lower castes, there was never a mechanism to become upper-caste again. We said ‘To Hell with merit, ’ and Destiny said ‘To Hell with Hindus’!

Agniveer appeals to all to say ‘To Hell with those who say ‘To Hell with merit.”

…..to be continued at http://agniveer.com/5415/the-reality-of-caste-system-3/

This chapter specifically focuses on those mindsets that support birth-based caste discrimination. Our language and criticism should be understood only in light of this heinous practice and for their advocates and not any person, community or caste in general. We consider casteism as the worst form of terrorism and their perpetrators as the Dasyus. But rest of us – regardless of they being upper or lower caste as per fake manmade divisions – are one-family-one-race-one-caste for us. We request readers not to consider this chapter to be addressed to anyone with this Vedic mindset of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

Some facts about caste system that we all should know and think about:

Who is Brahmin?

The most ridiculous thing about birth-based caste system is that it is based on unverifiable words of mouth. There is no way to decipher if Brahmins of today are actually children of Brahmins of yesteryears. Regardless of whatsoever Gotra or Rishi name one may utter, there is no way to test the veracity of the claim.

So what if I say that Brahmins (birth-based) of today are actually worse than Shudras because they were born of Chandals around 1000 years ago? How can one refute the claim? If you cite that this Brahmin family is of Bharadwaj gotra, I would ask for DNA testing to verify the claim. In the absence of it, any claim to superior caste remains merely a tall empty claim. That is why original Manu Smriti (not the fake one popular today) clearly stated that one must not earn benefits by boasting about his or her lineage.

Who is Kshatriya?

Parshuram is alleged to have wiped off all Kshatriyas several times. Therefore, it is obvious that Kshatriyas of today are anything but Kshatriyas by birth!

If one tracks the genealogy of Rajputs, they are supposed to belong to one of the following lineages – Suryavanshi from Sun, Chandravanshi from Moon and Agnikula from the fire. Obviously, no one actually came from sun or moon on earth! Also, Agnikula is a recent origin. Legend says that Agnikula Rajputs sprang from fire when Parashuram wiped off entire Kshatriya or Rajput clan from earth. On many Rajput clans, there is still confusion on whether it is Suryavanshi, Chandravanshi or Agnikula.

Obviously, these recent legends – not to be found in any ancient texts – mean that various people who took up the profession of valor/ military became recognized as Rajputs from time to time.

Upper-castes may be Chandals

If some so-called upper castes can claim some other humans to be lower-case, even I can assert that these lower castes are the real Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas. And the upper-castes are actually children of Chandals who usurped power centuries ago and deleted historical records. The recorded history mixed with miraculous stories of the origin of certain castes and tribes would only support this assertion.

Now, if that sounds insulting, even calling any human being as lower-caste is equally offensive, if not more.

Who are Mlechhas among us?

From evident records of the history, one knows that Greeks, Huns, Sakas, Mongols, etc. have been assimilating in Indian society in positions of power. Many of them even had rules over certain parts of India for significant periods and today it is impossible to decipher who among us is a Greek, Hun or Mongol. This goes well with the Vedic concept of ‘one humanity one race’ but blows the very foundations of the birth-based caste system. Because for them, these Mlecchas are even worse than the four castes!

In search of technique for caste determination

Forget about caste-system being supported or denied by Vedas. Even that is secondary. We have already seen that Vedas in fact against the very notion of birth-based on gender-based discrimination.

What is more important is that there is no way for any of us to determine who among us are actually a high caste and a low caste by genealogy since the inception of Vedas. Apart from hollow self-proclaimed assertions, there is nothing more concrete to take anyone’s caste seriously!

If Vedas were to justify birth-based caste system, they should also have specified a reliable technique to decide someone’s caste. In the absence of that technique, the whole concept of birth-based caste system falls flat.

All one can say is that caste system may have been relevant during the inception of Vedas but has no meaning whatsoever today!

Our stand by the way (based purely on Vedas and logic), is that caste system was never relevant and in fact a distortion of Vedic ideology. And this has been the most expensive distortion for our society that snatched away our entire dignity, strength, and future!

What is in a name?

Please also note that the whole concept of using Name and Surname is hardly a few centuries old. You will not find mention of any ‘Ram Suryavanshi’ or ‘Krishna Yadav’ in ancient literature. Even today, a vast majority adopted a surname based on profession or village or city. South Indians typically use a combination of parental name, village name, etc. There are hardly any surnames today, which are carried on since the inception of Vedas.

The very fact that ancient society discouraged use of surnames implies that people were supposed to be respected for their talents and merits, and not for their birth-stamp. Neither people had to carry caste certificates nor was travel to far-off places discouraged as it happened in dark ages of Hinduism. There was no way for anyone to verify anyone’s caste. The talent of a person was his only caste! Of course, distortions did come up over a period of time out of selfish motives. We see that now Bollywood and Politics have also become birth-based. No wonder, similar factors prevailed to strengthen the irrational caste system. Nonetheless, the foundations and verification of castes have always remained utterly unreliable.

Even if someone asserts that ‘Sharma’ is an old surname for Brahmins, the evidence of people using the surname compulsorily in Ramayana or Mahabharata era is disputable. We can merely say that we assume someone to be a “Sharma Brahmin” because he or she uses such a surname. Alternatively, maybe his father and grandfather also used this surname. What if I adopt Sharma surname, and my son follows the suit. How would you tell whether I am actually a Chandal or Brahmin? You will have to only rely on my claim. Moreover, would I not be a fool to admit that actually I am from a generation of Chandals when being a Brahmin gives me so many exclusive rights and privileges?

The attacks of medieval ages

The thousand years of invasion by fanatic tribes of West and Central Asia witnessed virtually entire cities being raped. Women have been the prime targets throughout this darkest era of Indian history. When looters like Qasim, Ghori, Ghazni, Timur would invade, they would make sure that not even one home is spared whose females were not raped by their soldiers. Delhi itself had been ruined several times. The entire north and western India passage from Central Asia has been subject to this tyranny for centuries. May such tragedy may never befall on any society. But our forefathers have witnessed it. Now, what would be children of such victims be called except outcast as per the so-called caste system? But that has thankfully not been the case.

Our seers knew that women are a vulnerable target in adverse situations. They stipulated in Manu Smriti that a woman, how so much fallen, could become noble if the husband is noble. But the husband should ensure that he never falls down.

It was this dictum that motivated men to protect the dignity of their womenfolk and God forbid if something adverse happen, they would still accept the women and start life afresh. Widow would remarry, and rape victims would rehabilitate. Had this not been the case, after a few attacks by invaders, we would already have become a society dominated by outcast!

Of course, in the later period, fake glamorization of woman’s dignity started happening that left only death, torture or prostitution as options available for a widow or rape victim. This foolishness only made us even more impotent.

Some birth-based upper-castes may justify that this indeed had been the case that a rape victim became an outcast. If that be so, we would only say that this is a limit of perversion.

The reality is that caste system, by design, and practicality, was never a Hindu concept. It emerged out of class or profession based community living and aggravated under 1400 years of Jihadi attack that forced several communities to do menial jobs, and restricted free and safe travel due to constant fear of murder and rapes.

Caste System has nothing Hindu about it. It is a social order that emerged due to challenges our ancestors faced.

Yes, pride of ancestors is a noble concept. One must be proud of the ancestors and their contributions that make us what we are today. This pride is Pitra Rin. But the way ahead for this pride must be to draw bigger lines of great work, and not ridiculing anyone on his ancestry.

….to be continued at http://agniveer.com/the-reality-of-caste-system-2/
This post is also available in Hindi here http://agniveer.com/the-reality-of-caste-system-hi/

“Vedas are the foundation of birth-based caste discrimination. It is in Vedas – the oldest scriptures of Hindus – the seeds of caste system were laid. And since then, exploitation of certain sections of the population became a mainstay of Hinduism. Later the condition aggravated even further. But because the foundation of the birth based caste system was in Vedas, and Vedas are ultimate unquestionable authority for Hindus, there was no way for the root of caste-system to be eliminated from the society.”

The above-stated belief system seems to be the predominant opinion regarding the origin of caste system infecting a wide diaspora of so-called ‘intellectual’ mindsets.

Who would benefit from Caste system?

Intellectuals from other religions use this as main excuse to hate Hinduism. Those involved in conversion from Hinduism and justifying the conversions done by them or their ancestors would find a convenient justification in blaming it on ‘Vedic’ birth-based caste system. It is a winning proposition for them thus.

Self-proclaimed Brahmins and upper caste

Casteist self-proclaimed Brahmins and so-called Upper-castes use Vedas as the tool to defend their ‘divine’ special rights regardless of their actual deeds. For them, of course, nothing could be more lucrative than an order from Vedas to continue giving an MBBS degree to all future generations of a doctor regardless of whether they actually could even spell ‘medicine’!

Dalit leaders

Many Dalit leaders have used this to explain discrimination in society and further their own political agenda. Who would like to destroy the entire vote-bank by destroying the very foundation of caste-system in totality? Ambedkar was different. He was a genuine seeker of social equality and Dalit upliftment. Ambedkar admitted that the only means for him to interpret Vedas were works of western Indologists since his own knowledge was grossly inadequate. In areas like Aryan Invasion Theory he vehemently criticized the western view! Sadly many modern Dalit leaders misinterpret Ambedkar for their narrow agendas.

Political leaders

Even someone like Mohandas Gandhi, on whose name Anna Hazare led the ‘Gandhian’ movement against corruption that made history, was bugged by this syndrome. Despite his other apparently mature views, with regards to the birth-based caste system, Mohandas Gandhi held firm belief that it was divine and essence of Hinduism. Instead, refusing to accept the very foundation of the caste system, he chose to legitimize it further by giving a special name to certain people – Harijan. What could be a greater insult to them than giving them a tag in the same manner as Arab looters would put chains over their slaves aka Non-Arab Muslims and call them ‘Mawali’? And now they say that ‘Mawali’ actually has a noble meaning! Refer Gandhi & Racism for references.

In fact, the reason ‘Harijan’ seemed to be the right word for so-called Shudras is that as per foolish neo-Hindu casteist views, Hari Bhakti was the ONLY spiritual option for Shudras as they were disallowed access to any Vedic literature! By calling them ‘Harijans,’ one can serve vote bank of bigoted ‘upper castes,’ neutral intellectuals and even ‘lower-castes.’ And indeed, the trick worked if we were to assess the popularity of this word with a demeaning intent.

We do not deny Gandhi’s contribution to society and nation. We admire his charisma. But for sure there are thousands of more unbiased non-dogmatic minds born in this nation who have contributed as much if not more. Despite all that Mohandas Gandhi is claimed to have done for the nation, we can no way admire someone who supported apartheid – the worst of the crimes – so vocally. Our firm belief is that the over-hype and imposition of Gandhi on India at a cost of the utter negligence of so many other role models that this oldest civilization of world has produced is driven by reasons that are different from an unbiased analysis of personalities and their concrete contributions. We need not elaborate on views of his protege Nehru whose ‘Discovery of India’ clearly proves his intent and wisdom. But all that is not the focus of this chapter. The crux is that even so-called reformer politicians could not rise over the myth of Vedic caste system for various non-intellectual reasons.

(None other Swami Dayanand had the guts to proclaim in clear terms, with evidence and reason, that no one is born Brahmin. A duffer born to a so-called Brahmin is worse than a Shudra, and a scholar born in a family of even a so-called Chandal is a Brahmin. Those who call certain people ‘Shudra’ on basis of birth are actually duffers and worse than Shudras themselves.)

Western Indologists

Western Indologists, of course, found a golden opportunity in the so-called Vedic caste system to dissuade Hindus from their foundations. They knew that most Indian intellectuals simply parrot what their white-Aakaas (Lords) utter, and that is what exactly is happening even till today. They had to do nothing great when foolish Hindus were still clinging to termite hill of casteism as their foundation despite all the slavery and downfall it had brought to them over last thousand years and even more. All British had to do was to propagate the garbage works on Vedas by their paid Indologists in lingua franca – English – and make it the predominant view on Vedas worldwide. After all, a false marketed smartly becomes a truth! Even a toilet cleaner advertised well becomes the drink of success!

We see that there were vested interests of all – the loser, the victor, the lawyer, the judge, and the neutral observer of drama – in ensuring that caste-system and the blame of its foundation in Vedas be continued and furthered.

But Agniveer cannot tolerate it

From time to time, few great men raised voices against this stupid caste system. Agniveer hails them as role models. But even they could not go to the root and question the very foundation of this hoax – ‘that Vedas sanction birth-based caste system.’ Their efforts only led to dissuasion of masses away from their own foundation – Vedas – and helped the enemy forces even more.

If someone calls your mother an indecent lady, you do not expel your mother. You instead explore the truth of the allegation, defend your mother if there is no such evidence and reject her only when there is conclusive evidence to contrary.

But those who can reject their mother at the very first hearsay are simply acting insane. What other adjectives can be used for them is left to readers. However, the crux is that Vedas are a mother for entire humanity – the first source of knowledge and wisdom and direction like mother’s milk. Those who neglect the mother or abuse her without any logical basis are bound to perish!

The humanity is facing troubles today because it neglected the mother. And we, the natives of this subcontinent, suffer even more ignominy and ironies and tragedies and problems because we were closest to the mother in recent history and yet chose to neglect her, or even malign her. We truly deserved greater punishments, and we rightly received them!

However, there are no surprises that we as foolish Hindus act so insane. After all, we derive our inspiration from fake and bogus stories from dubious texts that glamorize Sita’s exile by Rama and Harishchandra selling his wife! Even God can help only those who desire to help themselves!

And that is exactly why legends like Swami Dayanand and their progeny like Agniveer stand so strongly in defense of Vedas. Even if all other children of the mother choose to harm her or neglect her out of intent or foolishness, that does not grant each of us an automatic divine approval to neglect her and act even more foolish. The Law of Karma never spares anyone.

Note that the above is not an emotional hyperbole. Because such views, if understood without depth, may lead to blinded fanaticism. Someone may call Quran or Bible his mother and become defensive; other may consider Somalian piracy as its mother and become aggressive and so on. This would lead only to fanaticism.

On the contrary, the above is a well-analyzed viewpoint emanating because of a reasoning process. And we are very clear that if Vedas indeed are a source of anything illogical, we shall reject even the Vedas in the same manner as one amputates his own limb if having gangrene.

However, still one popular issue remains to be explained to complete the puzzle. This issue is about one particular verse of Vedas appearing in Purush Sukta that is considered the mother of the birth-based caste system. Purush Sukta is perhaps the ONLY alleged reference to the caste system in Vedas. All others allegations are too weak to be taken seriously even by detractors of Vedas. However, this one, though equally flimsy, surprisingly became a super hit just like many stupid Bollywood movies!

It does merit some special attention.

What is Purush Sukta?

Purush Sukta is a hymn of 16 mantras from Vedas that appears in all four Vedas with slight variations. More PhDs have perhaps happened on Purush Sukta than on any other intellectual aspect of Vedas. The 11th mantra of the Sukta is the one that carries the blame of birth-based caste system.

To explain the mantra and conduct their PhDs, scholars have used a variety of approaches.

• Some simply translated it literally.
• Some used their grammar prowess to justify caste system.
• Others (primarily those inspired by Arya Samaj) use the same prowess to reject it.
• Many other conclude that Purush Sukta is a later addition to Vedas because it is found in the last Mandala of Rigveda. In fact, they claim that the entire last Mandala of Rigveda is a later addition simply because they suspect so! Perhaps the ghost of Shah Jahan lives in Red Fort because I suspect so!

(It’s a different matter that they cannot explain why no version of Vedas without this 10th Mandala exists or how Purush Sukta is then found in other Vedas as well, not necessarily at end?)

(Sometimes we do feel that lack of scientific education has spoiled the entire world. Most people are leading opinions in areas like history, literature, and media, are those who were more scared of science and mathematics than ghosts were. Be it a Romila Thapar, or Wendy Doniger, or Max Muller or anyone else you may name. Destiny did not give them the opportunity to master the scientific process of thinking and analytical faculty.

We are of firm opinion that we need thoroughly scientific and analytical brains in these fields if we are to save our education system. An aptitude and reasoning test should be MUST.)

About Casteism in Purush Sukta

Coming back to the Purush Sukta, there is Mantra number 11 who is the culprit.

Mantra literally says:

“Brahmin was his mouth. Kshatriyas were created from his arms. Vaishyas came from thighs and Shudras were born from his feet.”

Shudras are lowly people born from his feet and Brahmins are greatest ones born from his mouth. Hence, the mantra is alleged to insult Shudras and glorify Brahmins. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are somewhere in between.

As we said earlier, you can find a plethora of literature that critically analyzes this mantra and provides a wide amount of perspectives. Many explain in greater detail how this mantra led to modern day caste system through a chain of events and thought process.

Others try to prove that the mantra is interpolation because no other mantra in Vedas can be used to justify caste-system. As we observed earlier, we are always too eager to drive out the mother so as not to offend any allegation-maker!

More sincere defenders of Vedas attempt to provide alternative meanings of the various words used in the mantra to justify why it does not talk of birth-based casteism. They showcase evidence from other literature on the alternative usages of these words and attempt to defend the allegations.

To my mind, even this is a fruitless exercise beyond a point, because Vedas are much more to do with analysis and introspection and very less to do with grammar and etymology. After all, language was derived from Vedas and not vice-versa.

(Swami Dayanand laid great emphasis on analytical reasoning. In his proposed educational curriculum, only first few years of educations, when the intellectual faculty is limited, were dedicated to mugging up the basics. And rest of it was primarily focused on developing the analytical and introspective faculty. Unfortunately, modern Vedic scholars – including from Arya Samaj (the sect of his followers) spent years in only grammar and neglect science and maths completely. Their analytical reasoning is hopelessly limited, and they are unable to derive new insights and research from Vedas. Like other Arts subject, research in these fields primarily implies inconsequential literature survey (Which may soon become obsolete due to advent of search engine technology and digitization!))

Analysis of the casteist mantra of Purush Sukta

Coming back to the main line of discussion let us now analyze it deeper but a bit logically. Let us reproduce the meaning again for readability and make some points for those who see caste-based discrimination in this beautiful mantra:

Brahmin was his mouth. Kshatriyas were created from his arms. Vaishyas came from thighs and Shudras were born from his feet.

• How does the mantra imply that Brahmins are superior, and Shudras are inferior? In fact, if the literal meaning of the mantra is true, then Brahmins are the most disgusting and Shudras much purer because vomit and sputum come from the mouth. After urine and stool, they are the most detestable outputs of the human body.

If a cherry falls on feet, you can still pick it up and eat it after washing. In fact, most of the grains we eat may have touched ground or feet in some way or other. But if it gets into someone’s mouth and mixes with his saliva or sputum, you will not eat it for sure even after washing!

• How can something be born from feet, thighs, mouth or arms? Even for a human being, the organs for reproduction are different. It is thus obvious that the mantra actually means something else. Foolish people take allegories literally.

By this logic, if a son is ‘Aankhon ka tara’ or Gem of the Eyes of his mother, it would imply that he resides in the form of a star within an eye of his mother! Perhaps we would send to asylum who take such similes literally.

• The same modern ‘orthodox’ Hindu ideology also believes in the rebirth of the soul. In fact, the very foundation of Vedic religion and all its offshoots is a belief in the rebirth of a soul that is unborn and undying. The questions are:

• How could ‘unborn’ soul be born from something? And if it is true, then rest of the Vedas and Vedic literature is false.

• What happens after we die? Now it is an established belief that one can change from Brahmin to Shudra etc. in next birth depending upon Karmas or actions. In fact, this is the lollypop that bigoted ‘Upper Castes’ offer to so-called Shudras – serve us for this birth and then become Brahmin in next birth.

If migration of caste is possible in next birth, we would like to understand the mechanism. Is it that after death, the soul goes back to Purusha’s feet or mouth or arm or thighs, transfer via the blood circulation system to next organ and take birth again?

• And what about animals and insects and birds? From where are they born and how do they change into Brahmin? Does it not all sound stupid if literal translation were to be taken seriously?

• And in any case, the Vedic Supreme Lord is always formless and omnipresent. How can He have a face, arms, and legs in first place? Yajurveda 40.8 states so in unambiguous terms.

• Further, even if we assume Supreme Lord to have shape and be able to reproduce from His various organs except the one that is used in humans for this purpose, how does that imply birth-based caste system? How can one conclude from this mantra that Brahmins will take birth in a family of Brahmins alone and Shudras in a family of Shudras? As per literal meaning of the mantra, Brahmins, Vaishyas, Kshatriyas and Shudras should take birth ‘directly’ from the body of Supreme. If we take this literal meaning of mantra as truth, then someone takes birth from the womb of a mortal woman and NOT directly from God Himself can be none of the four Varnas. They are someone else!

• What more, the mantra is in past tense. At best one can conclude that Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras were born from various organs of a queerly formed Purusha at the inception of creation. But none of them survive till today. The Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras of today are born hardly a few decades ago. But as per literal meaning of mantra, the birth has already happened. It does not say that God continues to run a factory for future production.
Further, none of the modern human beings actually came from anywhere except mother’s womb. None of these modern claimants of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra are genuine claimants of any caste. They all are fake claimants.
• Had someone taken birth from some woman’s mouth, we could have still have pretended to act superstitious and assert that “Since the mother is Supreme God, the newborn is a Brahmin.” But still, the condition of birth from the mouth, hands, legs or thighs ALONE constitutes a valid birth to qualify to be called either of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra. Rest of us, normal mortal humans beings, who originate from the womb of our mothers and not from hands, legs, or mouth, are perhaps aliens from outer universe controlled by some other God as per literal meaning of the verse!

• Since all births on planet earth happen ONLY from mothers, if we are to exist (which we all do!) then all women who give birth should be God themselves as per the mantra. And all men should be something other than either of four Varnas. We have no objection to people respecting all women as God. But at the same time, all men should be anything but humans since they did not come from the mouth, arms or legs of any woman.

Very clearly, the mantra makes no sense if one were to take it literally.

What is a pity that such a level of nonsense held sway over us for centuries, made us harassed paupers, and yet we refuse to get rid of the nonsense!

Intuitive and obvious meaning of the mantra

However, if the mantra is analyzed in the context of rest of the mantras and more intelligently, then definitely there is a whole branch of knowledge about the creation can be researched from the Sukta.

Readers can review the Chapter on Creation (Srishtividyavishay) in Introduction of Vedas (Rigvedadibhashyabhumika) by Swami Dayanand for a more logical and detailed contextual analysis.

However, an intuitive understanding of the mantra is very simple even for a layman if we are willing to remove the glasses of prejudice and mindset. It exactly means what all translators have stated:

Brahmin was his mouth. Kshatriya was created from his arms. Vaishyas came from thighs and Shudras were born from his feet.

The only issue is that Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra do not refer to any souls or humans.

They refer to Varnas or properties that can be chosen.

And ‘He’ refers to not only the Supreme Lord as a whole but any self-sustaining ecosystem – be it society, organization, individual or universe. After all, everything is inspired by the Supreme Lord!

The mantra means that any self-sustaining ecosystem necessarily consists of four Varnas or properties or qualities or components – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. Brahmin means intellect and knowledge. Kshatriya means strength and valor. Vaishya means management, balance, and stability. Shudra means rest of the qualities including ignorance.

A smart system would utilize the four components in most optimized manner.

A successful society would have intellectuals or Brahmins as head, Warriors or Kshatriyas as protecting hands, Vaishyas or business managers as stability providers or bone marrow producers (femur or thigh bone is the strongest bone of body) and rest of population would be utilized to provide support and basic infrastructure for the society.

A successful company would also organize itself accordingly.

The Supreme also creates the universe in a manner that these four components are balanced.

As human beings, even we have all these four within us. But as they are Varnas (choice) we have the option to increase or decrease their magnitude in various aspects of our lives. Note that there is, however, no binary choice of either having or rejecting a property. All the four must exist, only their proportions may vary.

Our brain represents the Brahmin, which should be nurtured to the extent possible. We should have strong arms to protect ourselves. We should have a very healthy body and good blood circulation to ensure our longevity. Also, we should have powerful feet to be dynamic.

There is no human who does not have any of these components or properties within him. And there is no meaningful activity that can be performed in the absence of all these four. After all, we are a complete being and not parts.

Even when we are studying Vedas, We use the
• Brahmin to understand the essence of Vedas
• Kshatriya to ensure we can study peacefully and not be disturbed by every other mosquito or nuisance.
• Vaishya to manage the procurement of Vedic text and lamp.
• Shudra to actually sit down, switch on the lamp and perform all manual tasks necessary to complete the study successfully.

If even one of the Varnas is ignored, the task may not be successfully and sustainably completed.

Buddhism focused only on Brahmin (intellect) and hence perished in Afghanistan to attacks from West Asian looters. Wahabis got exclusively into warfare and made the world a dangerous place. Hindus became too much of managers/Vaishyas or Jugaadbaaz and lost their strength and dignity. Islamic countries like Pakistan made Shudras out of its population by neglecting education and training, and now it is nearing a failed state due to the dominance of barbarians.

In society, we, for the sake of simplicity, call a person Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra based on his predominant profession. However, this is only a simplistic approximation. In reality, each of us has a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra within us or else we would not be able to survive even for a while.

You can clearly see that with this very logical interpretation, the entire Varna system as well as the mantra becomes so comprehensible and easy to understand. Of course, with further introspection and analysis including the study of language, we can derive even deeper meanings from this vastly intellectual mantra from one of the most wonderful Suktas of Vedas.

Summary
The broad essence is obvious and intuitive if observed without any baggage of post-dated bias and preconceived notions.

• That the particular mantra is not to be taken literally but as symbolism.

• That Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra represent four properties that pervade all human beings. These four properties are Varnas or choices.

• That means that we have a choice to increase or decrease their magnitude in various aspects of our lives.

• That the four organs of body – head/face/mouth, arms, thighs, and legs – represent the qualities of the four Varnas. If we consider the broader meaning of Uru used for Vaishya, it implies the entire central system – digestive system to thighs. In fact, in Atharvaveda version of the mantra, the word Madhya meaning center is used instead of Uru to clarify this better.

• Any ecosystem that provides appropriate roles & responsibilities to these four properties or people representing these properties is bound to be successful – be it an individual or society. Those who try to use feet for head or vice versa are bound to perish.

And that is what exactly happened through birth-based caste system. Even the dumbest witted were made ‘heads’ or ‘face’ of society merely because they were born in certain families that claimed to be Brahmins. The weaklings were warriors because of the family tag. And the most brilliant were forced to be in servile positions simply because they were born in some other set of families. As a result, we invited our own destruction!

However, we clearly see that by any stretch of the sane imagination, one can no way interpret the Purush Sukta mantra to have any meaning even remotely associated with the birth-based caste system. Vedas stand for complete meritocracy and equal opportunities for all human beings.

All these PhDs who are trying to prove or disprove casteism in Purush Sukta mantra 11 are completely irrelevant. They only reemphasize the need for quality aptitude training and examination of those who indulge in such researches. And speak volumes about intellectual capabilities with regards to analysis and logic of those so-called scholars who conducted such research in past.

We have also analyzed in other parts of this book, that the entire hoax of Vedas having to do anything with racism or casteism or discrimination in the name of gender or birth is a figment of the imagination of selected few. It is true that for quite a significant period in history, such perverted ideology held sway over the sub-continent causing utter loss to world and country. However, events do not justify themselves merely by their happenings. Just because something stupid happened in the era of Ashoka or even Ramayan and Mahabharat does not make that justifiable.

(There is a misplaced notion that ancient India was Vedic and now we are non-Vedic. There is a misplaced notion that Western world is anti-Vedic and we are more Vedic. All these notions emanate from shallow thinking. Vedas represent the best practices manual and fundamental laws of nature and living. There was never a time when all best practices of Vedas implemented with 100% perfection, and there was never a time when a society completely rejected Vedas. All this varies from time to time in different aspects of life. We benefit when we adopt Vedic wisdom in certain aspects of our lives and face miseries when we refuse to do so in some other aspects. We are far more Vedic in certain aspects compared to Ramayan and Mahabharat era. In certain aspects, we lag behind. Similarly, the Western world is far more Vedic in certain aspects of life like respect for all humans, while we are ahead in some other aspects like family values. This is a multivariate highly non-linear and dynamic function. But Vedas provide us way to attempt to maximize the value of the function at any given point in time.)

Citing examples from history or present era to claim something to be Vedic or anti-Vedic is as foolish as rejecting Vedas. We do not reject the concept of a circle in Mathematics simply because a perfect circle cannot be drawn in reality!

All we need to do is to seek opportunities for improvements in the true spirit of Vedas. That is what ideals are meant for.

Now, this caste system has been an anti-Vedic nuisance troubling us for ages. It has been a prime cause of all other troubles we faced and continued to face since last thousands of years. However, today is the most golden opportunity to destroy its very roots and become deserving of greater bliss.

The modern era social patterns make it totally outdated to classify a person simplistically into any one of the four Varnas. It is the time we adopt a more evolved model – where each human has all the four Varnas whose proportion vary in different aspects of life at different times in different situations.

And the foundation, as well as inspiration for it, should rightly come from our roots – the Vedas themselves. Let us together destroy the myth of caste system in Vedas and take it further to destroy all traces of birth-based caste system from our society as guided by Purush Sukta.

Conclusion

We conclude with our interpretation of Purush Sukta mantra 11 in nation’s perspective, as elaborated above:

May only the intellectuals be allowed to become face and heads of our nation.

May only the strong, powerful and possessors of noble character be the strong hands that protect and bring us glory through efforts.

May the smart, trained managers guide our entire processes and ensure a vibrant, healthy effective control mechanism. And may we utilize the rest of us to provide foundation and service to keep the system dynamic and powerful.

May we never allow non-intellectual minds to become heads, weaklings to become hands, untrained incompetents to manage the central control system and waste our talented resources in doing less productive activities.

Let us never allow mismatch of talents and job role on frivolous reasons like birth, family, favoritism, or corruption.

Let no profession – material or spiritual – become fiefdoms of selected few on the basis of any artificial barrier like caste or gender. And if there be any such existing barriers, let us destroy them completely to embrace the Purush Sukta!

The caste system is the father of all corruption.

Let us work for its total annihilation of it, in theory, and in practice.

There is no other way!