Caste at Birth

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Caste at Birth

"Karma's a bitch!" Every time something goes wrong, my friend Alex uses the phrase to somehow justify the fact that it went wrong. For those that live in the United States and other Western countries, karma is an innocent word without much meaning. However, for Hindus in India, karma is a way of life as well as the caste system. Karma and caste determine who they marry, where they live, the job they can have and almost every other aspect of their lives. Karma and the caste system are very closely intertwined in defining who we are as a person and the amount of freedom in our lives.

Karma was established in the Hindu religion during the time of the Upanisads. The idea for Karma was developed as an explanation for the cycle of samsara and the connection between priests, ritual and gods. They used karma in conjunction with dharma to enforce the need of the people to pay the priests to do the rituals to the gods. By doing that the people earned good karma. By attaining good karma, the individual will be reborn as a "better" person. Karma is also used as an explanation of why there is suffering and injustice throughout our lives. Because karma is a result of actions in the present life and in past lives, it will either manifest in this life or the next. These are manifested in the caste system.

The caste system was developed during the Vedic Period. The Vedas dictated these levels of the social structure through which the priests informed the public of their place in society. Society is primarily divided into four groups- the Brahmans, or priests; the Kshatriyas, or soldiers; the vaisyas, who are merchants and farmers; and the sudras, who are the servants to the high caste members. The fifth group, who are considered to not be human are known as the Untouchables. The caste system is based on the idea that your prarabadha karma, the karma from your previous lives that you cannot change, determines your place in society when you are reborn. Those who have very good karma are reborn as upper caste and those with bad karma are reborn into the lower caste, or as untouchables.

The caste system and karma are interconnected and both are restrictions of personal freedom.

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