. . an incomparably intellectual and
superior work . . . replete with noble values, it is filled with a
feeling of perfection, with a saying of yea to life, and a triumphant
sense of well-being in regard to itself and to life; the sun shines
upon the whole book."
{FN41-9} "Inclusion in one of these four castes originally depended
not on a man's birth but on his natural capacities as demonstrated
by the goal in life he elected to achieve," an article in EAST-WEST
for January, 1935, tells us. "This goal could be (1) KAMA, desire,
activity of the life of the senses (SUDRA stage), (2) ARTHA, gain,
fulfilling but controlling the desires (VAISYA stage), (3) DHARMA,
self-discipline, the life of responsibility and right action
(KSHATRIYA stage), (4) MOKSHA, liberation, the life of spirituality
and religious teaching (BRAHMIN stage). These four castes render
service to humanity by (1) body, (2) mind, (3) will power, (4)
Spirit.
"These four stages have their correspondence in the eternal GUNAS
or qualities of nature, TAMAS, RAJAS, and SATTVA: obstruction,
activity, and expansion; or, mass, energy, and intelligence. The four
natural castes are marked by the GUNAS as (1) TAMAS (ignorance), (2)
TAMAS-RAJAS (mixture of ignorance and activity), (3) RAJAS-SATTVA
(mixture of right activity and enlightenment), (4) SATTVA
(enlightenment). Thus has nature marked every man with his caste,
by the predominance in himself of one, or the mixture of two, of the
GUNAS.
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