India’s Caste System: Spiritual Corruption Second To None
I can't think of a greater example of spiritual corruption in the world today than India's caste system, or even in world history, and to think it is only a thousand years old. The caste system is a social construct and so completely independent of God and all things spiritual, but it has so totally usurped the Hindu belief system that the religion and the social construct are inseparable. The caste system destroyed India, broke its spine, brought it down to its knees, and made it perfect for colonization, first by the Mughals, then by the British. For 70 years after independence India stood still, with the economic growth rate barely managing to match the population growth rate. The caste system is to blame more than anything else.
To understand the caste system you have to understand hereditary monarchy. A monarchy is about an earthly throne, the caste system seeks to monopolize nothing less than God. A monarchy is one family, the caste system is 10% of India's population claiming the monopoly on God.
This is not a question of are all religions valid, or which religion is better. Even if all the world's religions are equally valid, and Hinduism is as good as any other religion, the caste system is still spiritual corruption of the most obnoxious kind.
The priests of the Indian caste system, through threat of physical violence even to this day, subjugate the Dalits (the untouchables, the Harijans) to racism of the most pervert kind. Dalits are not allowed to enter temples. The other castes are also kept away from the Hindu holy books. And the Brahmins recite them at ritual ceremonies half the time not even knowing what they are saying.
They don't allow others to access the books. They don't much read it themselves. And so the religion gets reduced to idol worship for the masses; idol worship to the gods, and gifting the same corrupt Brahmins.
India's quest for liberation has not even begun. India is not liberated as long as the caste system still stands. The world is poor because India is poor. India is dragging the whole world down.
And there is the political issue of democracy. Democracy is about human rights. Human rights are to do with free speech and religious freedom. These are clear cut political issues. Without these the country is not a democracy. The caste system has prevented democracy from flowering.
So what is an Indian to do? What should a Dalit do? Ending hereditary priesthood would be nice, but strictly on practical terms, mass conversions to a new religion is the Dalit community's best option.
Hereditary Brahminism is a firewall that stands between God and people. As long as the caste system is intact in India it is a country that lacks the fundamental human right to religious freedom. Not religious freedom as in Muslims and Christians also have a right to practice their faith, but religious freedom as in all Hindus have a right to direct access to God Himself.
The corrupt priests Jesus railed against, there are a hundred million of those in India.
Otherwise the Hindu belief system is spiritually rich. It has many elements that speak to The Truth, although it has some fundamental elements missing. That you have a soul is not the same as saying your soul is unique in the history and future of time. The concept of forgiveness is pretty fundamental.
Indians should take one good look at their abject poverty and uproot the caste system. But the caste system and the organized religion of Hinduism are so intertwined, mass conversions might be the more practical route, especially for Dalits.
God is pretty fundamental. You have to get God right, and then good things start happening, good things like peace and prosperity.
