It's rare to find that old social system of children following the vocation or career of their parents, particularly in the west. It exists but is no longer the norm or expectation. Today a young person follows their personal interests, less so the requests of their parents, when choosing a career or course of study.
In India it might still exist much more overtly today as the caste system. According to the Indian social culture, if your parents are born into a certain caste, then you are born into that same caste and that's final.
There are four classic castes and many sub-castes. Then there's also the outcaste, below the primary castes. This division of society into four vocations is ancient and dates back to the original Sanskrit texts from thousands of years ago, according to some scholars.
However, the way it is practiced today, according to Sanskrit scholars who specialize in Transcendence and the real conclusion of the Vedas, is wrong and has lost the spirit of the instruction on the four castes.
In the actual Sanskrit text of Bhagavad Gita, quoted here below, the four castes are mentioned by their Sanskrit name, "varna". The four varnas, are
1 Brahmana - priest, intellectual, scholar, academic
2 Kshatriya - soldier, politician, government administrator
3 Vaishya - banking, mercantile, business, agriculture, cow protection
4 Sudra - laborer, artist, musician, actor, blue collar factory worker
Indians are boxed into one or other caste, based on birth. And there they sit for life, often limited in marriage options to partners of same or lower status. It's a burden imposed by the parents.
Yet nowhere in the Sanskrit text quoted below regarding Varna, or Jati as it's also known, does it refer to a person's birth. In other words you are not a particular caste or Varna based on your parents, and birth (janma), but rather based on your qualities (guna) and your actions (karma).
The bottom line is that it's merit based, but birth based. If you have the qualification or qualities, and if you act in a certain way by nature, then that is your designated Varna or caste.
For example, can the child of a high court judge immediately sit on the bench because his father is a judge? Obviously not. Can a daughter of a surgeon operate on a dying individual because their mother is a surgeon? Obviously not.
Often the children display none of the qualities needed to be considered one or the other caste. And sometimes children are born who display clear skills and qualities that exemplify a caste quite different from their parents. Today everything is more mixed or diluted.
If your parents were brahmama but you act like a fool, then at best you are a "dwija-bandhu" or friend of the twice born. In no universe, is it morally acceptable to label a person based purely upon birth, and not on qualification.
Here in South Africa, my homeland, we would call that racism. It tells me that modern India is home to some of the most racist society in the world today. It's a tragic decline of a once great civilization. Blind and bewildered by bogus priests and uneducated parents.
Meritocracy is the deciding factor and the most obvious, as well as the most moral, approach to life. Progress comes from a merit based culture. Decline occurs in a racist and prejudiced culture. That's why India is the epitome of social decay in the east. It is declining fast as it chases after the plastic and shallow allure of western material facility. All at the expense of is real treasure - the Vedic culture or system of "daivi varnashrama".
I have seen this social decline myself on my brief travels through India, a year in total. And I hear of it from friends who left the west to live in India over a decade ago and are still there today.
Secularism has ruined India. Foreign invading cultures have ruined India. It has been destroyed from the inside and has lost its way morally. Weak and selfish politicians have sold out India and her moral high ground. The west went down that path centuries ago, and it's tragic to see India follow them now.
Fortunately the ancient Wisdom of the Sanskrit texts is still present, yet it needs to be properly understood. The caste system by birth is not quite an accurate translation of the original Sanskrit spirit of the message.
Common sense and practical case study will concur that merit dictates your status in a caste or profession, not birth. That's why monarchy was abandoned. The kings became corrupt. Similarly the priests who promote caste by birth are also corrupt. It furthers their interest as Brahmanas to label their offspring as top dogs in the caste system.
Therefore, in our modern times when fools can be kings and clowns can be priests, it is the masses of people who are most exploited and suffer greatly due to deliberate misinformation and the abuse by a few who are in power.
Bhagavad Gita ch4:13
cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ
guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ
tasya kartāram api māṁ
viddhy akartāram avyayam
SYNONYMS
cātur-varṇyam—the four divisions of human society; mayā—by Me; sṛṣṭam—created; guṇa—quality; karma—work; vibhāgaśaḥ—in terms of division; tasya—of that; kartāram—the father; api—although; mām—Me; viddhi—you may know; akartāram—as the non-doer; avyayam—being unchangeable
TRANSLATION
According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.
PURPORT
The Lord is the creator of everything. Everything is born of Him, everything is sustained by Him, and everything, after annihilation, rests in Him. He is therefore the creator of the four divisions of the social order, beginning with the intelligent class of men, technically called brāhmaṇas due to their being situated in the mode of goodness. Next is the administrative class, technically called the kṣatriyas due to their being situated in the mode of passion. The mercantile men, called the vaiśyas, are situated in the mixed modes of passion and ignorance, and the śūdras, or laborer class, are situated in the ignorant mode of material nature. In spite of His creating the four divisions of human society, Lord Kṛṣṇa does not belong to any of these divisions, because He is not one of the conditioned souls, a section of whom form human society. Human society is similar to any other animal society, but to elevate men from the animal status, the abovementioned divisions are created by the Lord for the systematic development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The tendency of a particular man toward work is determined by the modes of material nature which he has acquired. Such symptoms of life, according to different modes of material nature, are described in the Eighteenth Chapter of this book. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, is above even the brāhmaṇas, because a brāhmaṇa by quality is supposed to know about Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth. Most of them approach the impersonal Brahman manifestation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but only a man who transcends the limited knowledge of a brāhmaṇa and reaches the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, becomes a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness—or, in other words, a Vaiṣṇava. Kṛṣṇa consciousness includes knowledge of all different plenary expansions of Kṛṣṇa, namely Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, etc. However, as Kṛṣṇa is transcendental to this system of the four divisions of human society, a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is also transcendental to all divisions of human society, whether we consider the divisions of community, nation or species.
Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A C Bhaktivedanta, original MacMillan 1972 edition, freely available at prabhupadabooks.com.
Image: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ai-generated-scribe-writing-history-9010145/
Edited and published from my mobile device onto the Hive blockchain for those who seek transcendental vision beyond bodily designation.
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