About four thousand years ago in Hindu society, some social thinkers realized that progress of individual and society is not possible until people are made aware of the basic facts of life, till they are informed about their duties. Is not done and until no motivation is provided to them to fulfill their obligations. In order to keep the social life organized, all this was considered necessary. Such a philosophy of life was kept before the people and a social plan was made which kept the social life organized.
I gave yoga To achieve this purpose, Indian society. Organized on two major grounds, the first being the philosophical foundation and the second organizational foundation. Under the philosophical foundation, importance was given to those principles, which refined the life of a person and made him aware of his goals and duties. Organizational underpinnings are social schemes through which the lives of the individual and the group are divided into various units in such a way that the full advantage of their abilities and functionality is achieved. Now we will briefly mention these two bases here.
Philosophical Foundations: Fundamental Features
Ideological basis: basic pcharacteristics
Among the philosophical underpinnings, there are four bases, which helped to keep the social life organized and make the person aware of his duties on foot. These grounds are as follows:
(1) Dharma is a prominent place in Hindu social life. The entire life of Hindus revolves around religion. A Hindu performs many religious activities in his life from getting up in the morning to sleeping at night, from birth to death. Among the Hindus, four Purusharthas i.e. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are considered. Thus, the fulfillment of religion is the paramount duty of man. Religion has been considered as a pity and duty in all Hindus. Many forms of religion are also found here, such as General Religion, Special Religion, Raj Dharma, Mitra Dharma, Kul Dharma, Gurudharma, Yuga Dharma, Apadharma, etc. Religion has played an important role in the control of the individual and society.
(2) Purushartha -PurusharthaSiddhanta explains the four main goals of a person’s life. These four goals are Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. These are considered four efforts, which a person tries to achieve in his life. Here religion means moral duties and
It is derived from following rules so that both the individual and society can develop. Religion inspires self-control, contentment, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, non-violence and duty-keeping, etc. Meaning does not refer only to wealth or property, but to all the means by which we meet our material needs. Here the meaning or money is not considered practicable but means. Artha has been given importance as an effort to perform its various religious duties. Work does not only mean sexual satisfaction, but also the enjoyment of life from the cultural point of view. The importance of work as an effort is important in the sense that it provides for the fulfillment of the zoological needs of human beings, to be born out of parental debt through childbirth, and to maintain the continuity of society. After achieving the first three efforts, the person tries to attain the fourth effort. The meaning of salvation is derived from the state of complete satisfaction. This E person attains the greatness of Bahamanand and the ultimate joy and is released from the bonds of life and death. The doctrine of Purushartha has given a unique Yoga to a person while leading an uncontrolled life, achieving all four goals and achieving perfection in his life and upgrading the life of society.
(3) Karma and Rebirth -The importance of Karma theory is found as a basis of Indian society. Here the person was not preached to be disenchanted with the world: instead, while in the world, the emphasis is to keep doing deeds or to carry out obligations without wishing for fruit. This principle develops a sense of moral responsibility in a person, makes him sense of duty. The notion of rebirth was emphasized in order to keep the person conscious of his ‘karma’ and to act in a sense of obligation. Whatever the person is today. Whether rich or poor, happy or sad, occupying a high position or a low post, everything is the result of the deeds done in his previous birth. Sadakas make a person’s future life good and bad with evil. This principle provides a unique motivation to a person to perform the duties related to his family, varna and ashram.
(4) Loans and Yajna (Rinas and Yajna) -There are five types of loans considered on the person in Hindu living system – Dev – loan, Rishi – loan Pit – loan, guest – loan and past loan. Whatever development a person has, whatever he has developed, he is indebted to others for what he has received. He is indebted to gods, sages, parents, guests and birds and animals. Therefore, by fulfilling his obligation towards them, he can get rid of five types of debts. For this, arrangements for five Mahayagya have been done. At the same time, these yagyas were also enacted to curb individualism and mold life into the ideal of renunciation. These yagyas teach the person to fulfill his obligation towards all beings. Yajna here implies obligation to others – subsistence. The fulfillment of duties is called Yajna.
(5) Sanskar is the process of purification. In the Indian social system, the physical, mental and moral sophistication of a person is considered necessary to make a person a social animal, to make full development of his personality and to make his natural tendencies socially usable. The method of refinement or decorum has been referred to as sacrament here. The process of refining life goes on for life. Although the number of sacraments here is quite high, only 14 are considered major rites. The purpose of these rites is to make a person aware of his social duties at a particular position and age.
Organizational Foundations: Fundamental Features
Organizational bases: basic characteristics
In order to organize Indian society in accordance with the above philosophical grounds, some such social systems were created here which are important in terms of giving yoga in the all round development of both the individual and the society. These are known as the organizational bases of Indian society. These grounds are as follows:
(1) Varna – System Varna system is the cornerstone of Indian social organization. Here the society was divided into four varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras) based on the qualities and nature of the individual rather than the economic basis. The rights, responsibilities and occupations of each varna were different from each other. It was necessary for every person to perform duties in accordance with his varna-dharma. Under the Varna-system, the status of Brahmin Varna was the highest, but in the beginning of this system, due to not being based on birth but based on quality and nature, it was possible to change the person’s varna. A person could be a member of a higher or lower character by his behavior. There are also examples where people changed their qualities and nature and got membership from one character to another. Although some features of the Open System are found in the alphabetic system, characterization in terms of behavior was not as easy as is commonly understood. From the point of view of proper arrangement of various functions in the society, varna system had special importance as the basis of Indian society.
(2) Ashram – System: The purpose of the varna-system was to keep the life of the society and the purpose of the ashram-system to keep the life of the person balanced and organized. Ashram – Through the system, the importance of both enjoyment and sacrifice in one’s life has been acknowledged. Under this system, assuming a person’s income as 100 years, he divided it into four parts of 25-25 years, assuming it . Each of which has been called an Ashram. – Bahacharya Ashram, (ii) Grihastha Ashram, from a communal and intellectual point of view (iii) Vanaprastha Ashram, and (iv) Sannyas Ashram. After spending the first 25 years of his life at the Brahmacharya Ashram, a person developed a personality, always in himself. Used to develop, physical, mental and boutique strengthened themselves. He then entered the Gahstha Ashram of the marriage ceremony, where he consumed the dignity and work of the dignity of religion, earning money and fulfilling his work desires. There, he would perform his PanchaMahayagya daily and perform his duty towards other members of society and even animals and birds. On attaining the age of 50, he would enter the Vanaprastha Ashram. He would work for the welfare of the entire society by going out of the family limits. He would spread the knowledge and transfer the cultural traditions of the society from one generation to the next and add to the creation of qualified persons and put himself into spiritual thinking. On attaining the age of 75 years, he would break away from the world and enter the sannyas ashram and try to attain the final effort – salvation. Thus, through the ashram-system, a person would move towards achieving four Purusharthas – Dharma, Artha Kama and Moksha in his lifetime.
(3) Caste-System: Caste-system has been important as an important basis of Indian social organization. Indian society is divided into thousands of such ethnic and sub-ethnic groups, whose basis of membership is birth, not the qualities and nature of the person. In Indian society, birth took the place of virtue and nature as the basis of stratification over time. The result was that the varna-system changed into a caste-system. Castes increased in every varna and the membership of caste became completely based on birth. Although change of varna was still possible, it was often impossible to leave membership of one caste and reach another caste. Gradually, the feeling of high and low among different castes of the same varna started to flourish. While the upper castes have many privileges, the lower castes have suffered from certain disabilities. Under the caste system, every caste adopted the policy of endogamy. Each caste has also had its own caste panchayats, which have been punishing those who do not follow the rules related to caste. This system represents an example of a closed class system. Presently, the nature and body of caste-system has undergone many changes due to various reasons. Despite these, the caste-system continues to affect the lives of most Indians in many ways even today.
4) Joint family has been of special importance as a traditional basis of Indian society. Max Müller considered the ‘family’ of India as the ‘Adi-tradition’, which has been receiving Indians as a social heritage for centuries. Since ancient times, the unit of Indian society has actually been a joint family and not an individual. The joint family represents the ideal elements of Indian culture and the beautiful ideal of group welfare. A joint family is a group of people who usually live together in the same house, eat food made in the same kitchen, consume all the family’s income together, all are joint owners of the property. And all participate in general worship or religious rituals. It usually has blood relatives of three to four generations, although there are some members who are not blood related. There is a ‘Karta’ of the joint family who is followed by all other members. The joint family especially tries to follow caste rules and work in accordance with traditional ideals. It is clear from the above discussion that there have been some traditional basis of Indian society which contributed to the development of co-ordinating tendencies in the society. These grounds helped in the progress of the individual as well as in the development of the society. The above things related to the Indian social system encouraged the person to lead a coordinated life, helping him to think and understand that he does not live only for himself, his only purpose is not bread, cloth and house. He knows that there is something beyond this life, he believes in the principle of immortality, karmism and rebirth of the soul, emphasizes the belief of PanchaMahayajas and tries to achieve goals in accordance with the principle of Purushartha.