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Balasubramanian Sanjeevi's avatar

First, it is essential to understand the underlying thinking, structure, and foundational worldviews of Hindu Dharma. This foundation will readily validate everything you have said about Indian social structures and societal operating systems.

The fundamental hypothesis underlying all the Hindu/Sanathana/Dharmic approaches to life entails the following root assumptions or worldviews:

Man is the highest-evolved species in the universe of animate and inanimate things. He is unique in that he is endowed with a sense (sixth sense) that is absent in all other creatures. This subtle power means that when a man gets a stimulus, he can then apply his mind and respond to the stimulus as per his own wilful thought-through process, unlike other creatures who are wired to respond to any given stimulus without the application of a conscious thought in between stimulus and response.

Thanks to Bhagvan's intelligence or laws, the universe is kept in equilibrium. In the free flow of an evolving universe, this equilibrium is sustained. However, man, with his sixth sense and the power of willful action, can cause destability or disturb the equilibrium.

This power, with its innate potential to disturb equilibrium, is recognized, and the Scriptures prescribe how man should exercise his willful action. That prescription is Dharma.

Dharma comes from the dhatu (root) Dhru. It means to sustain. So man has to act Dharmically so that he causes the least destability to this integrated universe playing out through the laws of God.

What is a Dharmic action in a given situation where man is compelled to act, and how does man choose it as his willful response? For this, man has to enhance the powers of his faculties of body, mind, and intellect to get a universal integrated picture to decide how he responds to a particular situation in the best dharmic manner, causing the least long-term destability.

Man can enhance his faculties through Adhyatma and various prescribed sadhanas. These help men get a perceptive picture of the universe, and with the Dheerga-Dhrishti, he can decide or prescribe the Dharmic actions in any given situation.

This process of deciding what Dharma is and taking dharmic action after evolving through the sadhanas is called the trait of Brahmana. It created the social varna of a Brahmin who is competent to prescribe what is Dharma. Such evolved Brahmanas have compiled the various Dharma Shashtras, which men can use as a guide to remain on a dharmic path.

The beauty of following the sadhanas to achieve self-enhancement is that man soon realizes that he still has a stage to evolve. The man undoubtedly is the most evolved creature. But he remains a unit identity with his ego confined and limited by the faculties of body, mind, and intellect. When he performs the sadhanas, he realizes that the process of evolution is compelling him to transcend his identity as a unique unitary person to realms where his ego is not a limitation.

This process of spiritual growth is akin to how mass, when accelerated to speeds nearing that of light, loses its unique identity of physical mass and transforms into an identity-less energy. Similarly, an increase in his spiritual speed through sadhanas dissolves his ego, and his identity is transcended. This evolution is when one reaches the ultimate state of enlightenment, which is termed the realization when Jeevatma merges and identifies with Paramatma. Even though a person may achieve enlightenment even as he lives as an individual entity, he perceives the universe as the ocean rising beyond individual waves, which are just manifestations of the truth that is the ocean.

The above brings us to two distinct foundational facets of a man in the dharmic system.

Man has a Secular way of life in which he transacts as an individual in society. The secular way is the Vyavaharika domain of his life.

While living in the secular vyavaharika domain, he pursues spiritual growth -the Adhyatmika domain. In the Dharmic worldview applicable to India, Secular is used in contra-distinction to Spiritual - and not the crap the West defines and further crap which coloniality has perverted as secular in India.

Man's ability to pursue his Adhyatmika goal is compelling as it is a part of evolution dictated by nature (God's intelligent laws). Therefore, it is imperative that Dharma is established in society, as uninterrupted spiritual growth requires Dharma as a societal platform.

That brings us to the Kshatriya. While a Brahmin prescribes what Dharma is, a Kshatriya—another important social group endowed with this guna - ensures Dharma is established, even if it entails waging war with forces unleashing Adharma.

As Artha is a valid purushartha and is absolutely dharmic for society's well-being, it brings in the specific group of Vyshyas with this guna.

All the objectives of the above three groups require institutions and infrastructure to help the constant effort of upholding Dharma. This requires a large number of workers to help the successful running of institutions. This is the varna called the Shudras—ground-level workers who support the organization and the efforts of the groups leading the above three gunas.

The Dharmic worldview of man's life must dictate everything about social structure and economic, political, and religious activity—the understanding and adaptation of Dharma Shashtras, Nyaya Shashtras, and Artha Shashtras to present-day India.

Is this so?

We can find out by putting the Constitution and Hindu-Muslim(Abrahamic) religious issues through the litmus test of conformance to Dharma. To our dismay, we will find that these aspects of the Indian nation are extremely adharmic as they exist and further intensify Adharma as we move ahead.

For the present piece, let me stop here. I can write further articles addressing each dimension of increasing Adharma in the Indian context.

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