varnashrama theory- is recommendation of varna recommended?

[niscala dasi]

Is Recommendation of Varna, Recommended?


Presently, we have in ISKCON, the system of awarding the ashrama of
sannyasa on the basis of recommendation; and also the positions of
brahmana- our GBC men- and ksatriya- our temple presidents- are
awarded on the same basis, recommendation. Yet is it working?…we see
so many problems, GBC becoming involved with politics, temple
presidents not fully concerned with the welfare of their subordinates,
and sannyasis falling down to illicit sex, subtly and grossly.

Srila Prabhupada advises us that the system of recommendation is a
failure:

Prabhupada: Yes. He is shudra, clerk.
He can... As a shudra, he can get the perfection. Why he should
artificially become a brahmana and sannyasi and fall down? This has to
be checked.

Hari-sauri: So that depends upon our men who are giving
recommendations.

Prabhupada: So that recommendation is not good. Bible is giving so
many recommendation. He's also not following them. [laughs]

Hari-sauri: Following them. So how will we implement? Right now we
have... Every temple president can...

Prabhupada: That is supposed. Where there is no tree, a castor seed
tree is very big tree. That is going on.

Satsvarupa: If there's no tree?

Prabhupada: You know castor seed tree, a plant? It does not grow
[here]?

Satsvarupa: Small.

Prabhupada: Small. So there is no banyan tree. It is taken—"Oh, it is
very big."

Hari-sauri: I don't follow the analogy.

Satsvarupa: In the complete absence of trees, then a small tree is
considered big.

Hari-sauri: Oh. [laughs] Well, say, like here in Mayapura now we have
a situation...

Prabhupada: No, no. Why? Why one should stress to become big tree?
Here it is clearly said even if you are small tree, you can get
perfection. So we should take that.

Hari-sauri: So in Mayapura here now we have that situation, that so
many...

Prabhupada: Everywhere, wherever, Mayapura or anywhere. Question is
that here it is clearly said, sve sve karmany abhiratah. Brahmana has
his duty, kshatriya has his duty, vaishya has his duty, shudra has his
duty. And if he performs his duty nicely, then he also becomes
perfect. So why artificially he should be called a brahmana? Let them
do, according to shastra, the work of shudra, or vaishya. He'll get
the perfect. Perfection is not checked. But why artificially he should
be made a brahmana or he should be made a sannyasi and fall down and
become a ludicrous? That is the point. Better let him live in his
position and become perfect. That's good. That looks very nice. And
that is. That is possible. Varnashrama charavata purushena parah puman
vishnur aradhyate [Cc. Madhya 8.58]. [From Parashara Muni in Vishnu
Purana (3.8.9): "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu, is
worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system
of varna and ashrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Lord."]
Vishnu, Lord Vishnu, can be worshiped if you perfectly follow the
rules and regulation of four varnas and four ashramas. Here it is also
said, sve sve karmani. You work as a perfect brahmana or a perfect
kshatriya, perfect shudra; you get perfection. The perfection is
available in your natural life. Why should artificially you become
unnatural and fall down and become ludicrous? Perfection is not
checked.

Satsvarupa: But in most of our temples, the duties are either Deity
worship, brahmana...

Prabhupada: Brahmanas are available. Why you are bothering about this?
Brahmanas are also available, shudras are also available. Why shudra
should be artificially become a brahmana?

*end of quote*

Here we see the basis of varnashrama is not the recommendations of
temple presidents and so on, but on the practice of castor trees
staying small trees and attaining perfection- in other words, on
people finding their own qualities- such as a castor tree finding that
it can produce castor beans- and not worrying about whether they are
in a big position or not, such as the castor tree not being concerned
about being small. This is the natural way to avoid the hankering for
pratistha, fame as a big shot.
How varnashrama is a means to avoid pratistha is explained in
Bhaktyaloka by Bhaktivinode Thakura. First he explains the uniquely
destructive nature of this particular anartha:

“The prayasa (over-endeavor) for attaining pratistha, or fame, is the
lowest of all kinds of prayasa. Although it is the lowest, for many it
is unavoidable. That also should be given up by the simple process of
devotional service. Therefore, Sanatana Goswami has stated in the
concluding verse of Hari-bhakti-vilasa:

sarva tyage pyaheyayahsarvanartha bhuvas ca tekuryuh
pratisthavisthayayatnam asparsane varam

‘Even if one can give up all material desires, the desire for fame is
very difficult to give up. This desire for fame, which is compared to
stool, is the root cause of all anarthas. Therefore, one should
carefully avoid touching this stool-like desire for fame.’

This instruction is extremely serious. The devotee should follow this
exclusive duty with special care.”

So stresses Bhaktivinode. After stressing that “pratistha is the root
cause of all anarthas”, he then describes the method by which the
devotee can “follow this exclusive duty with special care”:

“A practicing devotee should pass his life with a natural occupation
which is favorable to devotional service, and he should chant and
remember the holy names with knowledge of his relationship with the
Lord…Making varnashrama favorable to devotional service, the
householder should pass his life engaged in devotional service, free
from prayasa.”

Varnashrama is thus one’s “natural occupational duty”, made favorable
to devotional service, through avoiding pratistha. , Thus varna and
ashrama should never be awarded, both from the point of view that
varnashrama is natural, and from the point of view that it should be
free from any ambition, prayasa. All service to the Lord- should be
devoid of ambition “ahaituky apratihata”. One does not have to change
one’s position, one simply has to find whether one is a castor tree,
or an orange tree or whatever, and produce fruits from that position,
and offer them to the Lord, from one’s heart.

Varnashrama is thus a means to avoid the anarthas that Lord Chaitanya
describes:
“Nisiddhacara, kutinati, jiva-himsa, labha, puja, pratisthadi yata
upasakha- gana
Some unnecessary creepers that grow along with the bhakti creeper are
the creepers of behavior unacceptable for those trying to attain
perfection, animal killing, mundane profiteering, mundane adoration
and mundane importance” (Caitanya caritamrita, Madhya 19.159)

By acting according to one’s nature, one avoids duplicity and
diplomacy, and one’s enthusiasm is not tainted by the ambition to
acquire a prestigious position, pratistha. There is natural enthusiasm
for the work that one is best suited to, but it is an enthusiasm that
comes from vision- seeing oneself as an instrument for the energies of
the Lord, Who is the ability in man, to flow through. As a prism
breaks up white light into many brilliant colors that are all of the
nature of light, so the One Lord manifests His energies differently,
according to the recipient’s angle of vision on the prism of
existence. All that is needed for the rainbow of harmonious action, is
for the prism to be transparent, with no dust of personal motivation
covering it.