Ambedkar-Philosophy of Hinduism

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AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM AND CONTEMPORARY CRITIQUES PROF. M. M. NINAN caste into another. Otherwise, how did Viswamitra become a Brahmana and Parashurama a Kshatriya? The means of European civilization is the sword; of the Aryans, the division into different varnas. This system of division into varnas is the stepping-stone to civilization, making one rise higher and higher in proportion to one's learning and culture. In Europe, it is everywhere victory to the strong and death to the weak. In the land of Bharata (India), every social rule is for the protection of the weak. Such is our ideal of caste, as meant for raising all humanity slowly and gently towards the realization of the great ideal of spiritual man, who is non-resisting, calm, steady, worshipful, pure and meditative. In that ideal there is God. " We believe in Indian caste as one of the greatest social institutions that the Lord gave to man. We also believe that through the unavoidable defects, foreign persecutions, and above all, the monumental ignorance and pride of many Brahmanas who do not deserve the name, have thwarted in many ways, the legitimate fructification of this glorious Indian institution, it has already worked wonders for the land of Bharata and it destined to lead Indian humanity to its goal. Caste should not go; but should be readjusted occasionally. Within the old structure is to be life enough for the building of two hundred thousand new ones. It is sheer nonsense to desire the abolition of caste. It is in the nature of society to form itself into groups; and what will go will be these privileges! Caste is a natural order. I can perform one duty in social life, and you another; you can govern a country, and I can mend a pair of old shoes, but that is no reason why you are greater than I, for can you mend my shoes? Can I govern the country? I am clever in mending shoes, you are clever in reading Vedas, that is no reason why you should trample on my head; why if one commits murder should he be praised and if another steals an apple why should he be hanged? This will have to go. Caste is good. That is only natural way of solving life. Men must form themselves into groups, and you cannot get rid of that. Wherever you go there will be caste. But that does not mean that there should be these privileges. They should be knocked on the head. If you teach Vedanta to the fisherman, he will say, "I am as good a man as you, I am a fisherman, you are a philosopher, but I have the same God in me, as you have in you." And that is what we want, no privilege for anyone, equal chances for all; let everyone be taught that the Divine is within, and everyone will work out his own salvation. The days of exclusive privileges and exclusive claims are gone, gone for ever from the soil of India. (source: Swami Vivekananda On India and Her Problems and The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Kolkata,1985, Vol V, pp 215). quoted from http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Caste_System.htm 137
AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM AND CONTEMPORARY CRITIQUES PROF. M. M. NINAN IV NIRMUKTA Examining the excuses of Swami Vivekananda http://nirmukta.net/Thread-On-Vivekananda-s-defense-of-caste On Vivekananda's defense of caste 08-06-2012 06:34 AM Vivekananda's views on caste are instructive in that they sum up the views of today's defenders of the caste system. Even among people who don't defend the caste system, you will find rich echoes of thoughts that Vivekananda puts forth. What is the point of this post? To show that Vivekananda was a casteist? If by being casteist, it means that one is willfully justifying an inhuman practice, then no. Vivekananda is not a casteist in that sense. I don't think he had any malicious intent and means well when he defends the caste system. The point of this post is to show that even though his defense is well meaning, it isn't of any good. So what does Vivekananda say? He readily accepts that the caste system has become corrupt. He stresses that caste is not by birth, but is based on qualities. Not only that, one exhibits qualities of all varnas in their life. The beauty of the caste system is that it leads to a stable non-violent system and the end goal is achieving good for all. To drive home this point, he says that a brahmana is a brahmana only when they share their knowledge and strive towards making everyone else a brahamana. On the face, it is a convincing defense. If such a system is put in place, how could it go wrong? Firstly there is a problem in the assumption underlying “ If such a system is put in place...”. Since dawn of civilizations, many have given solutions to all of human-kind's problems. None of them worked. That is the evidence we have with us. The reason why they didn't work is they assumed an utopia, a world which has a very low probability of existing. 138
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Scheduled castes (SC) AMBEDKAR'S PH
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Caste and economics AMBEDKAR'S PHIL
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Prof. Madathilparampil Mammen Ninan
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Apostle Paul Architect and Builder
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