Bhagavadgita -Radhakrishnan 132

The Bhagavadgita -S. Radhakrishnan

CHAPTER 4 The Way of Knowledge 12 kanksantah karmanpram yajanta iha devatah Hsipram hi manure Joke siddhir bhavati karmaja (12) Those who desire the fruition of their works on earth offer sacrifices to the gods (the various forms of the one Godhead) for the fruition of works in this world of men is very quick. The Desireless Nature of God's Work 13. cdturvarnyatm maya srstam gunakarmavibahagasah taste kartãram api mast viddhy akartdram avyayam (13) The fourfold order was created by Me according to the divisions of quality and work. Though I am its creator, know Me to be incapable of action or change. caturvarnyam the fourfold order. The emphasis is on g a (aptitude) and karma (function) and not jati (birth). The varna or the order to which we belong is independent of sex, birth or breeding. A class determined by temperament and vocation is not a caste determined by birth and heredity. According to the MOB., the whole world was originally of one class but later it became divided into four divisions on account of the specific duties. Even the distinction between caste and outcast is artificial and unspiritual. An ancient verse points out that the Brahmin and the outcaste are blood brothers. In the M.B., Yudhisthira says that it is difficult to find out the caste of persons on account of the mixture of castes. Men beget offspring in all sorts of women. So conduct is the only determining feature of caste according to sages. The fourfold order is designed for human evolution. There is nothing absolute about the caste system which has changed its character in the process of history Today it cannot be regarded as anything more than an insistence on a variety of ways in which the social purpose can be carried out. Functional groupings will never be out of date and as for marriages they will happen among those who belong to more or less the same stage of cultural development. The present morbid condition of India broken into castes and subcastes is opposed to the unity taught by the Gita, which stands for an organic as against an atomistic conception of society. akartaram. non-doer. As the Supreme is unattached, He is said to be a non-doer. Works do not affect His changeless being, though He is the unseen background of all works. Action without Attachment does not lead to Bondage 14. na math karmani limpanti na me karmaphale sprha iti mam yo 'bhijãnati karmabhir na sa badhyate (14) Works do not defile Me; nor do I have yearning for their fruit. He who knows Me thus is not bound by works.