Our actual experience is that every man, animal, bird and beast—indeed, every living entity—is engaged in rendering service. Even though one's body or one's superficial religion may change, every living entity is always engaged in the service of someone. Therefore, the mentality of service is called the eternal occupational duty. This eternal occupational duty can be organized through the institution of varnashrama, in which there are four varnas (brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra) and four ashramas (brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa). [Srila Prabhupada - S.B.7.11.2 – purp.]
In human society, there are so many different variety of people with different consciousness. Whole society can be divided into two categories,
1. Who believe and follow the laws of nature and laws of God.
2. Who do not believe and do not care to follow (even if they believe in some cases) nature and God’s laws
Now those who do not believe and/or do not care to follow the laws of nature and laws of God, we will not discuss in this portion of article. But we will mainly deal with people who do believe that nature works under certain laws, which are created and enforced by God.
In this category there are mainly two classes of men,
Those who seek liberation are further divided in two categories,
But all of these categories namely seekers of worldly enjoyment and seekers of liberation (in both categories) are advised to follow the system of there occupational duties born of their nature. This nature is the inborn inclinations of each individual and accordingly there are prescribed duties in Vedas for such individuals.
The society is divided into four social and four spiritual divisions. This in simple words means there are four social divisions for the administration of society and four spiritual divisions for uplifting one's consciousness to come to the platform of Krsna (God) Consciousness. In case of either of this missing the society is chaotic and eventually leads the human society to degradation to animal platform.
To prevent the human society from degradation, both the social and spiritual divisions are important and they are as follows :
Social divisions (for administration purpose):
Spiritual divisions (for spiritual progress):
Social Divisions :
In social divisions, the Brahmanas are considered the head of society and they are the one who guide the Kshatriyas in matter of ruling as per the scriptural injunctions (laws of God). Kshatriyas in turn set the laws for the society to follow and not just make the laws but enforce the laws and in case of people who disregard those laws correct them by punishing them. Vaishyas do the agriculture, banking and most important cow protection. The scripture (like Bhagavad-Gita) in this regard is very clear. It doesn't say cattle raising for the purpose of killing and eating them. It esp. says cow protection and not even animal protection. Because cows play important role in Daivi Varnashram society. And Shudras they simply assist the three classes in the menial services (worker class).
Spiritual Divisions :
In spiritual divisions of Varnashram society, the individuals are trained to ultimately work for spiritual emancipation. Esp. the 1st three classes namely Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are trained from childhood (age of 5) to strictly follow the principles of celibacy (Brahmacharya) and simply try to study nicely and understand the goal of life. In Varnashram society, there was no certificate system of education for getting a job. Education is not for job or filling belly but to learn the values and also the goal of human life. Therefore the education under the guidance of saintly brhamanas is the training for all the higher classes of people. Celibacy is emphasized as the association of opposite sex makes a person week in study (as this was not the job oriented studies for gaining only certificate) and understanding the goal of human life. This life of training is called Brahmacharya.
The trained Brahmacharis after finishing their education (like graduation) may decide to get married and thus enter the Grhastha (household) life or they may opt to go for the fourth stage of life namely Sannyasa (the renounced life). Generally the students are advised to get married at the age of 25 and remain in Grhastha life for another 25 years - begetting children and raising them as first class citizens trained in spiritual life. After remaining in household life and fulfilling obligations of Grhastha life, he is advised to retire from family responsibilities and take to the third stage of spiritual life - Vanaprasth life (retired). In this stage one is suppose to visit holy places along with his wife and try to develop detachment from worldly relationships as well as possessions and try to develop more and more attachment for Krsna (God) by understanding our relation with him. And when one sufficiently develops detachment from wife and other relations, they take to the life of Sannyas - and officially disconnect oneself from worldly relationships and dedicate the life for service to Krishna.
According to Vedic text this order of life namely Sannyasa is forbidden in this age of Kali as people are most polluted and can't develop sufficient detachment from opposite sex even till the end of their life. But His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada and also the other Acharyas in the line of Brahma-Madhava-Gaudiya Parampara accepted the order of Sannyas only for the purpose of preaching and teaching the people in general about the importance of becoming Krsna Consciousness.
Srila Prabhupada expressed great desire in his final days to revive this Varnashram (or more precisely Daivi Varnashram) aspect in society. Let there be social and spiritual divisions of society for efficient management and spiritual advancement for everyone. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur says in Bhaktyaloka, "A devotee can practice, advance and serve most efficiently in Krsna Consciousness in the realm of Varnashram division of society." This is a powerful statement. This means to efficiently practice Krsna Consciousness we have to have Varnashram. To efficiently advance in Krsna Consciosuness we have to have Varnashram and to efficiently serve this is essential. That doesn't mean that Krsna Consciousness can't be practices in absence of Varnashram. But it is just efficient way to practice Krsna Consciousness. This will be clear through other articles. Hare Krishna!