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The evil of Caste System || Acharya Prashant (2023)
Bharat
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1 year ago
Caste System
Ego
Vedanta
Consciousness
Self-knowledge
Vajrasuchi Upanishad
Social Construct
Purity of Blood
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that the caste system is a bogus concept that should be relegated to history and museums. He argues that birth is not a valid criterion for deciding a person's vocation or wisdom, as being born into a specific family does not guarantee specific traits. He describes caste as an expression of the ego's tendency to divide and create boundaries, a phenomenon present in all religions because the ego is universal. He suggests that caste only disappears when people stop being interested in it and assess individuals based on their actual character. He dismisses the idea of purity of blood as a sham, especially evident during medical emergencies like blood transfusions. Citing the Vajrasuchi Upanishad, he clarifies that caste is neither in the body nor in the soul but is a mental construct. He emphasizes that true status is determined by the state of one's consciousness and the choices they make, rather than birth. To drop caste, one needs self-knowledge to understand why the mind clings to such divisions. He concludes that deep spirituality, particularly Vedanta, has no place for caste because it teaches that one is not the body, and he encourages distinguishing between core spiritual philosophy and social constructs.