Namaskaram to all.
If I may express my thought in ten points:
1. The overwhelming majority of Hindus are of Indian descent.
2. Jati and varna are significant realities for this majority.
3. Jati and varna are increasingly challenged in the present era.
4. Large numbers of Hindus now feel a crucial need to discuss jati and varna.
5. HDF can and should serve the Hindu community by providing a venue for thought-sharing on this crucial subject.
6. Western converts to Hinduism, though constituting only a minute fraction of the Hindu population, are nevertheless a significant presence on HDF.
7. Jati and varna may impact Westerners (a) if they marry Indian Hindus, (b) if they seek entrance to certain temples, (c) if they associate jati and varna with issues of social justice, (d) if they have a sociological interest in the caste system, and (e) if they are wondering how or whether to apply to themselves the system of four varnas described in some of the scriptures they choose to study.
8. For many Westerners jati and varna are irrelevant or else a nuisance factor that they tolerate for the sake of access to Deity worship, sacred philosophy, and/or the practice of yoga.
9. It is notorious that discussions centering on Caste eventuate in a flurry of acrimonious posts that are deleterious to the forum in which they are posted. By their sheer volume these acrimonious posts have the effect of burying other threads that are worthy of attention.
10. From all the above, I conclude that the issue of Caste deserves a dedicated forum.
Pranam.
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