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 Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:53 pm
So in my class about religion we've just started discussing Hinduism. And my professor keeps stressing the importance of the caste system in the religion. But I'd been taught from other people/media that it had pretty much dissolved, at least in the culture and politics and at least compared to what it used to be.
And now I'm very confused.
Can anyone explain to me how big of a role this plays in the religion? In the culture?
Also, there is a difference between the God Brahman and Brahma, is there not? Maybe I imagined that, but I could have sworn that I'd heard that before. Can anyone explain this to me also?
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Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 3:42 pm
My replies may be of little expertise, because I have only taken basic religious studies, but I didn't want to leave you with no reply. So here I am. ^^
Firstly, yes, there is a difference between Brahman and Brahma. In Hinduism, there is one, impersonal God called Brahman, which is an unknowable, all-encompassing reality. Humans cannot comprehend this God, so Hindus created many different manifestations, or "faces", of God, by which you could come to know the reality beyond the physical world (Brahman). One of there faces is called Brahma, who is known as the creator god. He is one of the main faces of God (Brahman), and is part of a trinity, involving a creator god (Brahma) a sustainer God (Vishnu) and a destroyer god (Shiva).
Secondly, yes, the caste system is very important when studying Hinduism.
The caste system had been heavily criticized, but it is not fully dissolved. In many rural areas, the system is still very rigid. It is also still part of politics, and it lingers in the mindset of the people. It still affects politics, employment, etc.
The caste system has to do with a Hindu concept called "karma". In life, a person can collect good or bad karma by either accepting their place in life and fulfilling their duties, or rejecting their duties and not being what they were destined by God to be. Now, your place in life is decided by the caste system. If your mother and father were, let's say, part of the labourer class, you were as well. It was perceived that the karma you had gained in your past lives had put you in that position, and that was were you deserved to be. If you accumulated good karma during your life, in your next life, you may move up in the caste hierarchy, and be born into a warrior family. Then, you can move up more by gaining more good karma. Bad karma will move you down.
The caste system is blatant discrimination. Inter-marriage and association between castes is either restricted or forbidden. People of the lowest caste on the hierarchy, often called "The Untouchables", are avoided and ostracized entirely. It restricts your possible job choices, your possible wages, and your possible friends and spouse, depending on what your caste is.
Hopefully you find this helpful. ^^
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Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 6:52 pm
I can't tell you about Brahma vs. Brahman (I never fully learned the hindu gods), but I know the caste system has not yet been fully dissolved.
Even if it were fully dissolved, it has endured in the religion and the culture as a primary class system for thousands of years. I don't think that such discrimination will be gone from India and hinduism for thousands of years after the caste system is "officially" dissolved (after all, even in America, racism endures in most cases today).
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