Let me be clear right at the beginning.

I am not talking about the caste system.

What I am going to talk about is the Varna-vyavastha as mental states.

Skanda purana says-

जन्मना जायते शूद्रः संस्कारात् द्विज उच्यते

Everybody is born a Shudra.

It is through refinement that someone becomes a Vaishya, Kshatriya or Brahmana.

Samskara means refining.

Samskara has three parts- removal of what is undesirable, adding of what is desirable, and completing what is incomplete.

Anger is bad, overcoming anger is samskara.

Patience is good, developing patience is samskara.

Developing a skill to its perfection is a samskara.

Samskara can be at the physical, mental, or spiritual level.

Maintaining personal hygiene is physical samskara.

Character building is mental samskara.

The 16 samskaras such as upanayana, they are spiritual samskaras.

Any child when born is a Shudra.

What is the definition of Shudra?

The root is शुच शोके

शोचतीति शूद्रः

Someone who gets sad.

Someone who gets depressed.

Someone who always thinks about his problems, troubles.

Someone who keeps on complaining, lamenting.

Someone whose focus is on the negatives in life.

Like Arjuna at the beginning of the battle.

He was seeing only problems.

He was depressed.

He was in Vishada.

Arjuna was a Shudra at that time.

From the brave warrior that he was, he fell into depression.

Why am I doing all these?

I don't want kingdom, I don't want power and position.

He forgot that as a Kshatriya it was his duty to ensure that justice prevails, order prevails.

He took it personally- my uncles, my cousins.

Why did Lord Rama order to cut Shurpanakha's ears and nose?

That is exactly the punishment prescribed for what she did.

सजाता उत्तमो दण्ड, अनुलोम्ये तु मध्यमः प्रतिलोम्यो वधः पुंसो नार्याः कर्णादि कर्त्तनम्।

Shurpanakha was Brahmin, the Lord was Kshatriya.

A Brahmin woman marrying a Kshatriya man is called Prtiloma Vivaha.

Which was illegal as per the rule book prevailing then.

Whatever is behind it, a law is a law.

The ruler's duty is to enforce law.

In pratiloma vivaha the prescribed punishment is death for the man and cutting of ears and nose for the woman.

Unless the ruler metes out punishment, he is failing in his duty as the ruler.

Fear of punishment is a major factor in maintaining order in the society.

People love to flout laws, rules.

If they do it less, it is because of fear of punishment.

Sri Ramji did exactly what the rule book said.

Rather out of kindness, if he had let Shurpanakha go, then he would have failed as a ruler, as a Kshatriya.

So Sri Ramji's mind is a refined mind.

Rather than succumbing to the emotion called kindness, he stood up to his duty.

He used intelligence rather than the mind.

Don't think that Sri Ramji did not have kindness.

But he weighed.

He weighed intelligence against mind.

If I become emotional and let her go, then so many will do like her.

As a ruler, what should I do ?

And Sri Ramji was the appointed ruler of Dandakaranya then.

Dasharatha had specifically said.

Bharata will be the ruler of Ayodhya and you will be the ruler of Dandakaranya.

How did the Lord refine himself to this state?

Through systematic learning and also unfailing practise of what he learned.

That is to rise above emotions and use intelligence.

Compared to this Arjuna was in depression.

He had put down his weapons.

He had gone into the state of Shudra.

He was lamenting, he was being emotional.

That was when Gita happened.

Lord Krishna restored him back to the status of Kshatriya.

The Lord pointed out that emotions have no place here.

It is your duty as a Kshatriaya to fight.

Injustice has been done.

Somebody's property has been snatched.

And as a ruler it is your duty to get it back.

You are the victim does not give you the liberty of letting it go.

You may be magnanimous.

Doesn't matter.

If you don't enforce law, order, justice then the kingdom will suffer in the long run.

It will be anarchy.

We are all capable of these mental states.

We saw otherwise very bold people becoming hypochondriacs during covid pandemic.

Just like what happened to Arjuna.

So what exactly is the chaturvarnya.

A child who is just capable of emotions unless you refine him through education and imparting wisdom, he will remain a Shudra throughout his life just following primal instincts and emotions.

Like how you see some isolated forest tribes.

They are also Homo sapiens.

But their behaviour, just the mind.

Hunger, thirst, sexual urge, fear, dominance, just mind stuff.

This is Shudratva.

Not the caste.

Does not matter what family you are born into.

If emotins are ruling your life, then you remain a Shudra through the life.

The next varna- Vaishya, wealth making.

You learn to set goals for your life.

You bring in discipline, you differentiate between gains and losses, short term and long term.

Work systematically, purely selfish.

But compared to the state of the Shudra, this is getting more refined.

In the next state Kshatriya, you rise above totally selfish interests.

While you still maintain ego,personal enjoyments.

You working in the interest of the society as a whole.

Your interests are not just personal.

You are the protector of the society.

Even willing to sacrifice your life doing that.

Much much more refined.

And in the mental state of the Brahmin, there is zero ego, zero personal interests.

Thinking and working in everybody's interest.

For welfare of the whole universe.

Relinquishing all personal enjoyments, all comforts.

Which comes through constant refining.

But everyone is susceptible of falling into the lower levels.

Rising up can happen only through effort.

Hard work.

But falling is very easy.

Just play to the tune of your emotions, you are gone.