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THE BUDDHA AND HIS PREDECESSORS
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- The rest of Kapila’s teachings he just bypassed as being irrelevant for his purpose.
§ 3. The Bramhanas
Next to the Vedas are the religious books known as the Bramhanas. Both were held as sacred books. Indeed the Bramhanas are a part of the Vedas. The two went together and were called by a common name Sruti.
There were four theses on which the Bramhanic Philosophy rested.
The first thesis was that the Vedas are not only sacred but that they are infallible and they are not to be questioned.
The second thesis of the Bramhanic Philosophy was that salvation of the soul—that is escape from transmigration—can be had only by the due performance of Vedic sacrifices and observances of religious rites and ceremonies and the offering of gifts to Brahmins.
The Brahmins had not only a theory of an ideal religion as contained in the Vedas but they also had a theory for an ideal society.
The pattern of this ideal society they named Chaturvarna. It is imbedded in the Vedas and as the Vedas are infallible and as their authority cannot be questioned so also Chaturvarna as a pattern of society was binding and unquestionable.
This pattern of society was based upon certain rules.
The first rule was that society should be divided into four classes: (1) Brahmins; (2) Kshatriyas; (3) Vaishyas; and (4) Shudras.
The second rule was that there cannot be social equality among these four classes. They must be bound together by the rule of graded inequality.
The Brahmins to be at the top, the Kshatriyas to be kept below the Brahmins but above the Vaishyas, the Vaishyas to be below the Kshatriyas but above the Shudras and the Shudras to be the lowest of all.
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