IV: 13

[Krishna Jaya]

Chapter 4, Verse 13



"I founded the four-fold caste system

With the Gunas appropriate to each.

Although I did this,

Know that I am eternally inactive."



Sri Aurobindo:



"Krishna is not addressing the four-fold order in the narrow sense in
which it is commonly understood, nor is it to be regarded as an eternal and
universal social order. The four-fold order of society is in actuality the
concrete form of a spiritual truth which is itself independent of the form. The
truth rests on the principle of right action as a harmoniously ordered
expression of the nature of individual beings through whom the action is
accomplished. That nature, when intuitively integrated, maps paths in life
according to inborn qualities and self-expressive functioning."



Sri Eknath Easwaran:



"Applying the Gunas to human evolution, the Gita says that the least
evolved are the apathetic [Tamas Guna predominant] who hardly act at all.
Higher are those who act, though selfishly [Rajas Guna predominant]. Higher
still are those who act selflessly [Sattva Guna predominant]. The highest are
those who have experienced the indivisible unity of all life, who have felt the
higher power in the universe at work within everything, and who have made that
realization steady [called Turiya in Sanskrit, 'the fourth state,' which is
really no independent state at all, but rather the unbroken awareness of the
substratum or divine foundation of pure consciousness upon which all of
manifestation arises and into which it subsides].



This spiritual evolution is the original basis of what is called the caste
system in India. In ancient times, a person could move from one caste to
another depending upon personal merit. Over time, the system became rigid, so
that a person's caste was determined by birth and not by merit. Today the
system is dying out in the cruel form it gradually acquired over the centuries.



Every country has its own caste system wherever there is exploitation or
discrimination, whether because of nationality, class, religion, property,
race, color, education or gender. Everywhere there are caste systems as long as
we do not treat all those around us with love and respect, knowing the the Lord
is present in everyone."



[Krishna as the personification of the Supreme Purusha or Atman does nothing,
while the Para Prakriti, the original, creative energy and power of all the
worlds and universes carry out his will. At the same time, Krishna never stops
working. This is a paradox which is resolved when it is understood, not just
with the mind but in the heart as well, that the Supreme Purusha is one with
the Para Prakriti, and simultaneously more. This truth has to be felt.]