The caste system is absolutely bad. Why do you have it? Can you say even one word in favour of it?

Well, I must take exception to your comment and tell you that in this world there is nothing absolutely bad. The caste system has served and even now continues to serve a certain purpose. In spite of all its degenerations, it has been a system that has united the different parts of society. If we try to see it as a system uniting people instead of dividing them, we will better understand the value that it has had for thousands of years. Society was conceived as a great family. Each group worked to make it function harmoniously. In a family, one brother may be a spiritual teacher, another an executive, a third a merchant and the fourth a farmer. Each one helps the family in his own way at the time of need. It is their combined knowledge and harmonious co-operation which create a real unity in their family life. So was it originally with the caste system. Each group had responsibilities and duties. Each group worked for the good of the whole. The important thing is how this system was utilised. In its ideal form the caste system has much truth and value, but the wrong attitudes which have entered into it through human ignorance require that the present system be supplanted with something more suited to a modern and advanced society.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Yoga and the spiritual life. The journey of India's Soul., Tower Publications, Inc., New York, 1971
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ysl