Four Duty-Based Divisions in sanātana dharma

In the previous article we learnt about the four stages or āśrama dharma, of a 100-year human life span, as proposed by sanātana dharma. The first stage being brahmacarya which was roughly a 25-year phase that was spent in educating oneself at a gurukula; the next stage, gṛhastha āśrama, was that of a householder when one would raise a family; the third was vānaprastha wherein one would give up the duties of the householder and live in a hermitage serving the society and the guru, and finally the last stage was sannyāsa which was the ultimate preparation to exit the world, by renunciation and dispassion, while strictly practicing spiritual austerities. Thus, sanātana dharma gave a four-step approach to live one’s life in such a way that after discharging the individual, family, societal and spiritual duties, one would attain Self-Realisation and thus be freed from the cycle of birth and death. At the same time it allows the flexibility for one to directly take sannyāsa if one is inclined to do so. Isn’t this the most practical and logical approach to life and living that can ever be?

In today’s article, let’s learn about another very logical and practical approach to living in the society as proposed by sanātana dharma. This topic may sound a bit sensitive in today’s times where the understanding of sanātana dharma and its most sacred principles are at best nescient in most people. And perhaps that is why it is even more necessary to understand this idea in the greater spiritual light of sanātana dharma. Just like the four stages of life that would enable one to lead life righteously while at the same time progress spiritually, sanātana dharma also proposed four ways of living a life; largely depending on one’s inclinations and dispositions. These four ways of life are called as varṇāśrama dharmas – meaning duties assigned to the different categories, which basically meant that people could follow four different paths in life based on their interests, qualities, and natural tendencies. The whole society was thus classified into fours varṇas or categories – brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra.

brāhmaṇas were the intellectual class or the scholars upon whom befell the responsibility to learn and teach the vedas and other knowledge systems, thus preserving and propagating various kinds of knowledge, from spiritual to material. kṣatriyas were responsible for protecting and preserving the people through military might as well as political acumen. The third category was that of vaiśyas, who were the traders and businessmen with the responsibility to distribute resources evenly and fairly amongst all members of the society, and the fourth group was that of śūdras, the artisans and workers, who shouldered the responsibility to provide services to all the other members of the society.

There are many theories debating the origin of this classification of the society. Here, we would rather learn about the divine origins of this system which goes all the way back to the very genesis of the entire creation as described in the puruṣasūkta of the ṛgveda (book 10, hymn 90). These set of verses imagine the whole creation as having originated from the earliest divine being called the ‘puruṣa’. Many wrongly interpret this as ‘the supreme man’, thus inadvertently assign a male gender. Let me clarify that

the word puruṣa is a combination of two words ‘pura’ and ‘śī’. pura in Sanskrit means a place or a mansion and śī means resting. Therefore, the true meaning of ‘puruṣa’ is the residence of the supreme God, whom we now know as brahman. The first symbolic being was thus called ‘puruṣa’ as described in the puruṣasūkta.

So, what does puruṣasūkta say about the organisation of the society in four groups? The hymn describes the brāhmaṇas as those who originated from the face or head of the supreme one, symbolising intellectual capabilities. The kṣatriyas were born from the shoulders, thus indicating strength and valour typical of the warriors and administrators. The vaiśyas, or the business class emanated from the middle region comprising of the stomach and thighs, symbolising the production and equitable distribution of societal resources, just as the stomach digests and distributes the nutritional essence of food to every part of the body; and finally the śūdras sprung from the feet, symbolising the efforts they infused to keep the society moving just as feet help the whole body to move. Let’s delve a bit deeper into this symbolic idea of the body of the supreme ‘puruṣa’ and that of the four categories of people in the society. Like the head which thinks, learns and assimilates information and knowledge, intellectuals function in the same way. Like the strong arms that protect the entire body and fetch things, warriors and the rulers follow suit. Like the stomach which receives all the food eaten through the mouth using the hands, yet only digests and distributes it to the entire body thus nourishing every limb, so do businessmen who keep material and money moving across the society. And finally, just as the feet work the hardest to carry the whole body and enable all other actions to effectuate, in the same way, the hardworking class provide essential services to the entire society. Each limb has its own role to play for the well-being of the entire body and a human body does not distinguish one part from the other as superior or inferior; so also sanātana dharma, which believes in the divinity of all existence and does not indoctrinate discrimination between different classes of people.