When Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was leaving the planet, he famously said that he was leaving with half of his work unfinished, because he was not able to establish varnashrama. Similarly, when Srila Prabhupada was leaving, he said he only completed 50% of his mission — the other half being the establishment of varnashrama, which he tried but didn’t have time to complete.
Both Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Prabhupada were able to successfully teach the path of Nivritti-marga, or the direct path of renunciation in full surrender, which is the shortest and ultimate path for obtaining love for Godhead. Prabhupada spoke about it extensively in his books, and that’s what most devotees were trying to practice in the early days of our movement.
The difficulty is that this is a very difficult path, usually feasible only under the direct guidance of a pure devotee. Therefore, while it was possible when Srila Prabhupada was present, it became harder after he left. Still, Srila Prabhupada said to keep following what he taught without change, which in my understanding means he wanted a core of devotees to continue following the direct path of Nivritti-marga, being thus an example for others.
This is however not a path that will be possible for everyone, especially when we speak about devotees in family life. Therefore, he left for his disciples and spiritual descendants the mission of also figuring out and implementing the process of Pravrtti-marga, the path of regulated life, and gradual elevation according to the Varnasrama system. Although an indirect path, this is the path that most of us can follow, and thus be gradually elevated to the path of Nivritti-marga. Just like it’s not possible to reach a high platform without the help of a ladder, it’s very difficult for anyone on a materialistic platform to directly ascend to a platform of full renunciation without first passing through the path of pious and regulated life.
The implementation of this path is of fundamental importance for the continuation of our movement, since without this path very few will be able to attain the level of qualification necessary for practicing the direct path. That’s why both Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura put such a great emphasis on the cultivation of Varnasrama-dharma. Without this secondary option, most will end up failing in their spiritual attempts. Only when both paths are available our movement will be able to spread in a sustainable way.
It’s thus not about discussing which path is better. Both paths are good in the sense they support different individuals. Ideally, both must be available simultaneously.
Often we imagine Varnasrama as some inflexible system of rules or some form of caste system where everyone has to be labeled either as a Brahmana or Ksatriya or as a Vaishya or Sudra. However, the basis of Varnashrama is simply people living pious lives, working according to their natures, and being trained to perform their duties. In other words, the basic conception of Varnasrama is a set of social and spiritual tools that allow us to build prosperous spiritual communities and live in a spiritually conducive way. Anyone who is not living a life of complete renunciation can benefit from it.
Varnasrama is thus not just a hobby, but a set of spiritual technologies that is essential for the establishment of our movement, allowing it to progress from just a confederation of temples to a real alternative to the materialistic lifestyle, with prosperous communities where people can live happily and be properly engaged. It is the cultural fabric that can allow our spiritual communities to flourish.
Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-Gita that out of many thousands of people, one may endeavor for perfection. When we offer people only the option of leading a renounced life, we can reach these rare birds, who have great potential but are quite rare. Other people will be largely not interested or may try but not be able to follow it. However, when we offer people a formula for living a pious and happy life, being prosperous in their lives and relationships, but at the same time progressing in the spiritual path, our audience suddenly becomes much larger.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura mentions that all organized societies have a certain resemblance to Varnasrama since without it no society can work. Srila Prabhupada mentions how even the USSR had people acting as intellectuals, merchants, and so on, despite the attempts of the communists to make everyone a menial worker. In fact, we will find that the natural division explained in the Varnasrama system can be found even in aboriginal societies. In every case, someone is teaching and offering spiritual and moral guidance, someone fighting, someone producing food, and someone is working. The question is that different societies display only parts of the Varnasrama system, applied more or less accidentally. Our goal in our spiritual society would be to better understand the real system and to apply it in a functional way.
Currently, we are still on the level of most societies, randomly applying some aspects of the Varnasrama system in a more or less accidental way, and just like most societies we have all kinds of problems in our communities.
It’s very difficult to understand all the intricacies of the Varnasrama system since there are currently no examples of societies applying it fully. There is no place where one can go and learn about it seeing a functional example of a group where it’s being applied. All we have are instructions from our previous acaryas and a few descriptions and examples from the scriptures that are frequently misunderstood.
How to get there? My realization is that the first step is to gradually elevate ourselves to the mode of goodness, following the instructions Krsna gives in the Bhagavad-Gita. As long as we are in passion and ignorance it’s not possible to properly understand the scriptures, just like someone using red or blue lenses will never be able to properly see colors. We can observe this phenomenon in all kinds of religions: Muslims in passion and ignorance want to make Jihad, and Christians inquisition. Similarly, devotees influenced by passion and ignorance often try to implement adulterated and restrictive models of Varnasrama. Only in goodness can we start understanding and being able to implement it properly.