Varnasrama

By Karuna Dasa

Dear devotees Pamho, all glories to Srila Prabhupada

I’ve been studying some basic sociology and would like to share some more thoughts about varnasrama.

Sociology defines society as the progressive building up of a series of groups generally defined as:

Pairs or informal partnerships leading to groupings or larger informal partnerships leading to formal institutions who then establish communities and finally we have the combined communities forming what is known as a society.

All this groups large or small have attached to them a certain degree of power, privilege, prestige and of course duties within their own spheres of action and of course within the final resultant society.

Now we denominate ISKCON as a society and we can see that gradually what is happening is that first Srila Prabhupada started an informal partnership with his American disciples leading to a grouping, then he formally institutionalized these groupings, and eventually communities began to be formed. The stage we are in now is somewhere amidst the intertwining of these communities in order to form a functional and exemplary society.

Here is where understanding varnasrama becomes important. If we analise the typical vedic society we can identify three basic types of communities:

1- Productive Communities (generally rural) congregating vaisyas, these even though vaisnava communities will naturally, even because of practicality, tend to value profit above other things, they are generally led by a more qualified vaisya, a counsel of vaisyas, or in the lack of this a qualified brahmana. Vaisya vaisnava communities will naturally establish and maintain temples for worship of Lord Krsna and thus usually have a set of Brahmins alongside with them. In general these brahmanas would tend to be less philosophical and more dedicated to pancaratrika vidhi. Eg: Nanda Maharaj??s community.

2- Administrative Centers congregating mostly ksatryas (military and statesmen) and would tend to value power, courage, strength, etc. above other things. They are led by the main ksatrya who is counseled by qualified Brahmins. They establish larger worship centers and the brahmins here tend to act more as teachers of different kinds of military and political arts. Eg : Dvaraka, Mathura etc.

3- Ashrams (sometimes set far apart from the other two types of communities but not necessarily, especially if we consider gurukulas) and highly valuing and teaching vaisnava profound philosophy and some subtle material arts and subjects. Hypothetically they need no leader as most of the members are advanced Brahmins who already know what need and needs not to be done. However they tend to gravitate around the personality or personalities considered most learned and spiritually advanced. As the sannyasis would generally be traveling around the three types of communities to further enlighten them, most members of the ashram communities would probably be brahmacaris and vanaprasthas, but again not really absolutely so. Eg: Isvara Puri’s ashram.

Sudras who serve the society as a whole simply coexist with all three types of communities according to their abilities and inner desires and do not have a specific community of their own generally only reaching the grouping stage.

From the Bhaktirasamrta sindhu we learn that one should not only look for association with devotees but with devotees in tune with our own moods.

So when we understand this it might became easier to situate oneself, identify and isolate the communities (it seems we mostly lack administrative centers to satisfy the ksatryas nature, but with the growth of the rural communities and the eventual trade of products among them, and the understanding of the natural order of things, small towns will flourish to facilitate centralized markets).

Then it’s pick your choice, join a community, serve, be happy and go back to Godhead.

Hope this might be thought provoking

Your servant Karuna Dasa