Utopian Social System 5-16-08, BG 1.36.- 1.40
About the difficulties of establishing the four Varnas in our modern society.
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papam evasrayed asman
hatvaitan atatayinah
tasman narha vayam hantum
dhartarastran sa-bandhavan
sva-janam hi katham hatva
sukhinah syama madhava
Bg 1.36
TRANSLATION Bg 1.36 – 1.40
Sin will overcome us if we slay such aggressors. Therefore it is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhrtarastra and our friends. What should we gain, O Krsna, husband of the goddess of fortune, and how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?
O Janardana, although these men, their hearts overtaken by greed, see no fault in killing one's family or quarreling with friends, why should we, who can see the crime in destroying a family, engage in these acts of sin?
With the destruction of the dynasty, the eternal family tradition is vanquished, and thus the rest of the family becomes involved in irreligion.
When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Krsna, the women of the family become polluted, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vrsni, comes unwanted progeny.
Summary:
Arjuna here admits that people are aggressors. In a political situation one cannot put one’s relatives above the law as Arjuna does. When he speaks about destruction of the family he means a whole community. Families in a preindustrial world didn’t have welfare agencies. The leading families (e.g. in England 200 years ago) were expected to take care of the poor. So Arjuna is talking about a whole community which would loose their culture.
How to establish varnas in democracy? Cowprotection today is a luxery, not a wealth (which means godhana). Brahmanas are supposed to beg. How can they beg today (with insurances etc.)? It is not just a question of training people. Europe has a varna system before the industrial revolution based on an agrarian economy where life is much simpler.
In Vedic culture there were also periods of materialism. We have this picture that there was this utopian thing called Vedic culture, but this is the material world, there were all kinds of things going on.