Indian Philosophy and Religion
A Launch-pad to India's Spiritual Treasure

Indian Social Structure

0. Introduction

The Indian social structure is closely linked to the traditional beliefs of the Indians. Much of the old stuctures have lost their relevance today. Still, keeping in mind that the structure held its relevance for a few thousand years, till a few decades back, it is worth studying. However different the modern Indian society might look, it is based on the old systems.

To have a deep understanding of the social structure, it is necessary to understand some basic Indian philosophy. What I try to present here is what is agreed upon by almost all the systems of philosophy in India. Then we come to the actual social struture of the past. The breakdown of the old structures and the means by which India is recovering are slightly touched upon.

1. Immortality of the soul

The soul is immortal. It is the experiencer of the events in life. The body, the senses, the mind and the intellect are its instruments. The joys and sorrows which it experiences in the world are due to its misunderstanding that it depends on the world and its own instruments for joy. It is deluded that it is mortal, though it is immortal. By 'person', we mean the soul. He leads his life in this world by using his instruments of knowledge, cognition, decision and action.

2. Carry-over of experiences

Just as a person grows from childhood to youth to old-age to death, he continues to grow - from death, to birth and the cycle continues. Every action (which is always accompanied by experience) of the soul creates two things: a potential for result (Karma), a sub-conscious taste (Samskara). Samskara is also called Vasana. The karma decides the environment which the soul will face in future and the samskara gives a background from which the soul will tend to react to the environment. Independent of these two is the free-will, decides the exact way in which the soul reacts. This in turn generates fresh karmas and samskaras.

Thus, according to the Indian view, there is no place for a destiny independent of free-will. What a person faces in life is entirely due to the manner he had exercised his free-will in the past, and the manner he exercises his free-will now decides his future.

3. Aim of human life

The ultimate aim of human life is to realise the freedom of the soul. The soul is deluded that it is bound. Just as any other form of delusion, the soul is not in a position to recognise that it is bound. And, just as any other form of delusion, the soul becomes free the moment it recognises the delusion. By going through joys and sorrows in the world, the soul recognises the fleeting nature of phenonmenal existence and searches for something permanent.To get this initiative, the soul needs an extent of maturity, which can be gained only by performing actions and facing their fruits. The duty of the society is to keep open the avenues for the soul to action and fruits, and thus help in the development of the soul.

4. Opportunity to develop

The environment which a soul faces is so designed by nature, that it can reap the fruits of some of its accumulated karma. The environment includes the place, family, etc where the soul is born.

5. Graded goals

Moksha as the sole goal of life cannot be appreciated by everyone. This is due to the very nature of the delusion, which covers itself. So, intermediate goals are defined. The Indian system defines four goals of human life, including the 'ultimate' goal.
  1. Dharma: righteousness
  2. Artha: wealth, power and fame
  3. Kama: fulfilment of desires
  4. Moksha: freedom (as mentioned earlier)
The order is vital. The ground line is Dharma. The final goal is Moksha. A person is to gain Artha by exerting himself in righteous ways. He can use the so gained Artha to fulfil his desires within the circle of righteousness. These lead to the initiative in him to the quest for Moksha, which he strives and attains.

6. Handling differences - the four castes

Every soul is different from an other in five ways:
  1. Janma (birth)
  2. Shakti (strength)
  3. Buddhi (intellect)
  4. Karma (fruits to be reaped)
  5. Samskara (mental tendencies)
The social structure has to provide appropriate opportunities to the souls, inspite of the differences.

As we saw before, the environment is decided by nature depending on the karma and samskara of the soul. The Indian social structure is a work-back. The society is sectioned into four divisions or castes. The duties are fixed for each caste, so that the souls with a particular type of karma and samskara naturally take birth into the caste which bests suits its dynamics of development. The four castes are described below. The 'Aim' is what the person aspires for. The 'Purpose' is what the society expects from the person.
 

  1. Brahmana:
  2. Kshatriya:
  3. Vaishya:
  4. Sudra:
The following are expected from everyone, irrespective of the caste.
By this organisation of the society, the individual aspirations and social expectations are fulfilled in a natural way. In this scheme of things, different castes aim at different things. So, there is no place for conflicts or competition between castes. Within the same caste, there is competition, which is healthy and helps in development of the society.

7. Focussing on the ultimate goal - the four stages

By catering to personal interests and to social commitments in this manner, a person develops naturally according to his own dynamics. As a guideline to this, four stages of life (ashramas) are defined. These are common to all castes.
 
  1. Brahmacharya: This is the learning phase. The person lives as a student in the teacher's house. The teacher, as mentioned before, is a Brahmana. He learns various arts, sciences, philosophy and religion. The teacher is materially supported by the society and not by the pupils.
  2. Grhasta: This is the phase where he serves actively in the society, as expected by his caste. He acquires the necessary skills needed for his trade from the other practitioners of his trade. Then, he practises and develops the trade. This is the stage which caters to the material needs of all the other stages.
  3. Vanaprasta: This is the phase where he serves as the link between the past and the coming generation of people. In this stage, he does not contribute to the society in terms of products or regular services. He transfers the professional knowledge and experience gained to the coming generation.
  4. Sannyasa: In this stage, the person is free from all other duties, except the pursuit of spiritual wisdom. This pursuit is not exclusive to this stage, but this stage is exclusive for this pursuit. The rest of the society supports him with the bare necessities of life.
The caste distinctions apply only to the Grhasta and Vanaprasta stages. This is because, the aim of the person in the other two stages is the same for all castes. Persons of any caste, who fulfil some stringent requirements, can skip the Grhasta and Vanaprasta stages and take to Sannyasa after Brahmacharya, in the exclusive pursuit of spiritual attainment.

8. Entry into the social structure - Upanayana

When a person is born, he is taken care of by his parents. The day he enters into the first Ashrama - the Brahmacharya marks his acceptence into the general stream of the society. This is the ceremony of Upanayana. This marks the social and spiritual birth of the person. It is indicated to the person that his aim is to attain Moksha through service to the society. He is given a thread, which he wears. This is cut when he enters the Sannyasa Ashrama, whenafter the society does not expect any returns from the person, or when he attains Moksha, whichever occurs earlier.

9. Breakdown of the caste system

When the soul is not given proper orientation towards the final goal, it assumes Kama as the goal. Also, the soul starts yearning for means other than its natural course of development. As the result, the same soul strives after knowledge, power and wealth. This results in the greying of the demarcation between the castes. Thus, the person cannot be fixed to a particular caste. Though a person is born as a Brahmana, he may pursue after wealth. A Vaisya-born may pursue after power. This causes confusion in the society and caste loses its relevance, as we see it now. With the breakdown of the caste system, the society faces the danger of losing its scientific, technical and spiritual heritage. This has been made up to a large extent by the establishment of modern universities and religious institutions. But, the absence of their close inter-relation creates unbalanced development in the individuals, which is a big hinderance to the development of the Indian society.

10. Breakdown of the ashrama system

The stage of a Grhasta is as important to the society, as is the stage of Sannyasa. The restriction towards a person entering into Sannyasa straight from Brahmacharya has to be very stringent. The failure of this during the late Buddhist period has resulted in a national decay, out of which India is still recovering. The absence of stringency to Sannyasa leads to half-baked sannyasins, which leads to their downfall, which uproots the faith of the rest of the society in Sannyasins, which strip the genuine Sannyasins from their source of bare necessities for life. As a measure of recovery from this decay, India has adopted the founding of Sannyasin institutions. It has been a good success, and as the result the whole of India is recovering.

11. Modern forms of initiation and vanaprasta

With the course of time, the ceremony of Upanayana lost its spiritual importance. Then it lost its social importance also. The traditional ceremony of Upanayana is conducted by a few Indians only, mostly just as a ritual. The spiritual initiation has been revitalised by a few spiritual institutions. They give initiation to anyone who wants to follow the spiritual path. The vanaprasta system is replaced by a concept called Karma Sannyasa, which is given by some institutions.

12. Conclusion

Thus, the age old systems of India are giving way to new developments. The Indian society faced one phase of dark ages around the 6th century and another during the 19th century. Now, it is on a forward march with a modern approach based on its experience accumulated over a few thousand years.

Most of the information presented is what I have gathered though discussions with authorities in this area. I hope it helps you to think on these lines.

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Last updated: Sun Oct 08th 2000

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