In its spiritual sense, CASTE is the “law” or dharma governing a particular category of men in accord with their qualifications. It is in this sense, and only in this sense, that the Bhagavad-Gita says: “Better for each one is his own law of action, even if imperfect, than the law of another, even well applied. It is better to perish in one’s own law; it is perilous to follow the law of another” (III, 35). And similarly the Manava-Dharma Shastra says: “It is better to carry out one’s own proper functions in a defective manner than to fulfill perfectly those of another; for he who lives accomplishing the duties of another CASTE forthwith loses his own” (X, 97). (GTUFS: LSelf, The Meaning of Caste)
Caste is the center of gravity of the individual soul. (GTUFS: LSelf, The Meaning of Caste)
Caste / Race: Caste takes precedence over race because spirit has priority over form; race is a form while CASTE is a spirit. (GTUFS: LSelf, The Meaning of Race)
Castes (fundamental tendencies of mankind): There is first of all the intellective, speculative, contemplative, sacerdotal type, which tends towards wisdom or holiness; holiness referring more particularly to contemplation, and wisdom to discernment. Next there is the warlike and royal type, which tends towards glory and heroism; even in spirituality – since holiness is for everyone – this type will readily be active, combative and heroic, hence the ideal of the “heroicalness of virtue.” The third type is the respectable “average” man: he is essentially industrious, balanced, persevering; his center is love for work that is useful and well done, and carried out with God in mind; he aspires neither to transcendence nor to glory – although he desires to be both pious and respectable – but like the sacerdotal type, he loves peace and is not interested in adventures; a tendency which predisposes him to a contemplativeness conformable with his occupations. Lastly there is the type that has no ideal other than that of pleasure in the more or less coarse sense of the word; this is concupiscent man who, not knowing how to master himself, has to be mastered by others, so that his great virtue will be submission and fidelity. (Corresponding respectively in the Hindu hierarchy to the brahmana, the kshatriya, the vaishya and shudra. Ed.) (GTUFS: HaveCenter, To Have a Center)
Castes (natural): What the Hindus term “color” (varna), namely CASTE. What is involved are the four fundamental tendencies of mankind, and their corresponding aptitudes; tendencies and aptitudes of an essentially unequal value, as is shown precisely by the Hindu system of CASTEs, or as is shown by analogous systems in other civilizations, that of ancient Egypt for example, or that of the Far East. Nor should it be overlooked that the social hierarchy in Europe – the nobility, the clergy and the bourgeoisie or third estate – unquestionably constituted CASTEs, the nobility in particular; executioners, acrobats, prostitutes and others were considered pariahs, rightly or wrongly as the case may be. But it is not of institutionalised – hence necessarily approximative – CASTEs that we wish to speak here, but of natural CASTEs, those based on the intrinsic nature of individuals; the institutional CASTEs are merely their legal applications, and in fact they are more often symbolical rather than effective as regards the real potentialities of persons, above all in later times; nonetheless they have a certain practical and psychological justification, otherwise they would not exist traditionally. (GTUFS: HaveCenter, Survey of Integral Anthropology)