QnA with Sri Sri
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Q: It pains me a lot to ask this question to you. How can we eliminate the problem of casteism from our society?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just look back in history at all the things that used to happen in the name of caste in our country and compare it with the situation that you see today. You will realize that the evils and problems that arose due to casteism have greatly reduced since those days.
In earlier days, they would keep different tumblers and glasses in hotels for people from different castes. In fact, in those days people from different castes would not sit and share a meal together in a hotel. There used to be a lot of friction and hostility between people because of caste. If you see the hotels, cinema theatres, hospitals, etc., today, where is the discrimination due to caste anymore? Yes, during marriages the issue of caste is still given importance today, but people are overcoming this gradually with more and more inter-caste marriages happening all over our country.
Secondly, we can eliminate this problem by imparting right education to our younger generation.
See, if someone wishes to adhere to and maintain the norms of his own caste, then it is alright. There is nothing wrong in doing that. But it is wrong to think of some caste as superior and some as inferior. No caste is superior or inferior to another.
Now you might say that, in the Vedas it is said that the Shudras arose from the feet of the Divine Lord. Are the feet useless and of no importance? If you think that your feet are of no use at all, then you will not be able to walk around. Society is kept in motion by the labour class and hard workers. Shudra means those who toil and work hard. How will society run if there are no people who work hard? That is what is said in the Veda – that the society is run and kept in motion by the Shudras who arose from the feet of the Viraat Purusha (Cosmic Being). This is what is meant by the Veda but we have wrongly understood and interpreted it. We think of them as menial and useless, which is not the case at all.
When any guest comes to your house, do you worship their feet or their head? (Referring to a traditional Indian custom of welcoming a guest by washing his feet) When some elderly or respected person comes to your house, do you honour them by washing their feet or their head? It is called as Paad-puja and it is the best form of worship. There is nothing greater than the Paad-puja and the way we honour a guest by doing that. We must once again start doing the Paad-puja.
But here, I do not mean the Paad-puja for any particular person. Rather it should be for the labour class of our society. It is the labour class that helps the society run smoothly. So they too should be honoured and worshipped. This is what is meant by the verse from the Vedas. We should honour and respect those whom we think belong to the lower castes or lower strata of our society.
You know, in the Rudrabhishekam (a set of verses chanted during the worship of Lord Shiva), in one of the verses, God is said to be untouchable and belonging to the lowest rung of society! Does that mean that God becomes lowly and useless? No, it is not so at all. This is a misunderstanding here.
There have been so many wise sages and enlightened masters in the past who belonged to the lower strata of society. Very few of them were actually Brahmans (the class of society responsible for preservation and promotion of knowledge, as per the Vedic system of society). If you see the list or refer to the Rig Veda, you will be surprised to find that 17 of these wise sages were Rishikas (female sages). Many Rishis and Maharishis belong to the class of Dalits in our country today. They have written such great scriptures. Even the greatly revered Avatars like Lord Rama and Lord Krishna did not belong to the class of Brahmans. In fact, if you analyse, you will find that Lord Krishna belonged to the OBC class (Other Backward Castes). You need to explain this to people. Once people understand this, casteism will come to an end.

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