Joao Barros-Pereira
The Hindu caste system smells as sweet as a skunk. For millennia no one has been able to escape it. It has clouded our minds and hearts making it very difficult for Indians to have a genuine respect and compassion for our fellow Indians. Now, this is not Hindu culture bashing. Exploitation has been in society since the creation of time.
It started with God when he told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge. He did not want them to be free.
They rebelled and ate the apple. From then on, they developed awareness of themselves and of right and wrong. They no longer had the false innocence of an ignorant child.
All through my school years I focused on this problem, and wondered: What kind of apple was it? Was it a white, red or green apple? Anyway, it was the world’s first revolution! Ever since then, we have been on our own.
Exploitation has several faces. Even though Eve convinced Adam to eat the fruit, she has been a slave of men ever since. Men have exploited women in every society (as men and women have exploited children) all through history in every country of the world. And, it goes on to this day.
Woman - the giver of life - to both men and women, cannot enter certain temples in India even today. They are denied entry because they are women. They cannot become Popes either. God continues to be male-oriented, and a time for a sex change operation is long overdue.
In India, pervasive flavours of caste has imbued the air and soul of every religious sect.
Buddhism was against caste from the beginning and so it failed as a religion in India although it flowered and bloomed in countries beyond India. Today, it is a small group.
It should be noted that although Buddha was against the caste system, it took him a long time before he accepted a woman as his disciple.
In spite of there being no caste system in Christianity, in India Christians have not ben able to get beyond it.
A lot of Christians in India wear their caste on their sleeves, they are proud of it. That it goes against the tenets of Christianity does not bother them at all.
In some churches, there is discrimination and a lot of caste politics in the Church in India which is to be expected as it is also a politico-socio-economic organization. No breaking news, this.
What is special about the caste system is the cleverness of the theory. If you are poor today it is because you have done something wrong in the past. Can you disprove it in a court of law or a science lab?
Anyway, whatever evidence can be collected to the contrary will be grudgingly accepted, if at all.
The disease has been with us a long time, we no longer see it as a disease - it is a part of our culture!
Countries which have had revolutions in the past cannot be sold this exploitative karmic theory.
The discrimination based on skin color by comparison is a crude version of discrimination and exploitation, and cannot be compared to the brilliant and subtle theories of the Brahmin priests of yore.
That it is obviously intended to exploit the masses is another matter.
Unfortunately, it is the worst form of exploitation, as it is most difficult to eradicate and is with us after 2500 years. Sadly, it makes it difficult for an Indian to feel the pain of another who is suffering.
Now, this is the Hindu cross which Hindus have to carry every day.
And, not only Hindus but
everybody. It is a part of our way of thinking and culture from which there is no escape.
Thankfully, the Boers of southern Africa did not try to come up with an otherworldly theory, only apartheid. With time their attitude started to look ape-like and was universally condemned.
Among the Southerners of the USA, some extremists tried to quote the Bible to justify their possession of slaves but finally started to resemble the devil more than anyone else.
Since then the USA has had one black president, Barack Obama. Serious students of history know there have been two, and Barack Obama is the second. Bill Clinton was the first.
While a few American billionaires give away a lot of their money to help poor people in Africa and all over the world, I don’t see super-rich Indians doing it.
When wealthy Indians give money away it is usually to temples, churches, mosques. There is a difference, isn’t there?
Anyway, with the level of corruption in temples, churches, and other religious organizational around the world maybe it is proof we are all the same.
