5 Bonus Life Lessons From The Law Code Of Manu

A good thing about not being a conservative lies in having a wider range of possibilities and references available. Over the years, the same red pill I got by reading someone like Kevin MacDonald led me to explore what, as a teenager, I would have probably rejected as hippie or new-agey: Hinduism.

Beyond the strange imagery and snake oil open-your-chakras sellers that often pop in mind when we think about it, this spiritual form is considered a reference by first-rate critics of modernity. The Hindu concept of dharma may be a way to restore some balance in a West that lost all sense of a general equilibrium, and, as I could confess, roots that trace much beyond the official history of both Christianity and modern secularism seem to hold something we lost the sight of long ago.

It is with this state of mind that I started reading a venerable legal code, the Law of Manu. It attracted me because it entails detailed answers to the timeless question of how society should be organized or regulated—remember that the lack of regulation of female choices, even coupled with an excess of regulation of men’s action, caused the oligopoly of some high-value guys over most decent value women and the disgruntling of deserving but despised millenials—with no qualms for this or that group’s feelings.

Initially, I found there some interesting material about women and relations between the sexes. Then, enough “else” content stroke me as still relevant enough for gleaning valuable lessons from it. Some of this “else” was published last week, and here is the rest.

1. A normal society has castes

Not to beat around the bush: a highly interesting and, from a modern point of view, potentially alienating feature of the Hindu society is that it has castes. Today, we mostly think of castes as a primitive and stiffer equivalent of social classes, with pampered royalty looming over meritorious but lower-caste trapped individuals. This is, actually, a caricature of castes.

Whereas social classes are mostly measured by one’s capital—even being an establishment Leftist implies “cultural” and relational capital—no matter what or who one “really” is, castes in the original sense are primarily inner and vocational, and only secondarily social. Some Westerners, seeing that contemporary India has thousands of sub-castes, often conclude that the whole system is an elaborate construction, not thinking that this diversity may come from repeated interbreeding between principles that were much purer at the beginning.

But, it might be said, what if someone whose vocation is to deal with letters spawns in a family of illiterate craftsmen, or if someone with a natural sense of business opportunities was born in a family of soldiers? More often than not, castes follow the lines of heredity, but this is so because the same produces the same, so that spontaneous aims and proclivities meet with an appropriate environment. Problem appear when castes mix up, or when higher castes lose the sight of their own reasons to be, show hubris, split up… and degenerate or crumble.

Just as men and women are different, so are, say, a Brahmin—priest, chief performer of rites, in charge of the sacred knowledge—and a Vaishya—merchant, free farmer and craftsman. Each have different affinities, capacities, responsibilities, and their roles are not to be equated. If the idea that “a parasite turning a prayer wheel”, as a hardcore secularist once said on TV, ought to be considered beyond a guy who makes millions, seems repulsive, consider that societies that dutifully followed the law of castes, without letting them interbreed or degenerate too easily, lasted for thousands of years, while our “equalitarian” and “progressive” modern ones have always been in crisis.

2. Better be third caste than a dumbed-down beta

It seems like, over the centuries, most European Brahmins (I am talking here of the inner caste rather than the social one) disappeared, which might be the result of priestly celibacy. The typically Western action-oriented mindset likely stems from a prevalence of people from the two intermediary castes, Kshatriya—warrior, administrator, royalty—and Vaishya. Likewise, it seems a safe bet to consider that Return of Kings is mostly read by individuals belonging to intermediary castes, as Brahmins are negligible in quantity, and the Shudra or fourth caste, have neither the strive for autonomy or dignity nor the patience to meditate the red pill for years.

So, to confront the elephant in the room: let’s say you have no inclination for military career and glory and rather recognize yourself as a member of the third caste—le tiers état. It may feel revolting to think about handling the power to two other castes beneath and think you cannot join them, as one could not change one’s inner caste without turning into another person. Does it?

A Vaishya shall acquaint himself with the relative values of gems, pearls, coral, metals, threads, perfumes, and condiments. He should be knowledgeable about sowing seeds, the good and bad qualities of farmland, all the various ways of weighting and measuring, the desirable and undesirable properties of goods, the good and bad aspect of regions, the probable profit and loss of merchandise, and how best to raise farm animals. He should be well informed about the wages to be paid to servants, the different languages of people, the manner of storing goods, and the procedures of buying and selling. (9.329-33)

Add to this being a pater familias and this lets ample room for growing, personal improvement, knowing the market and trade like your pocket, and being worthy of respect. I would say it seems much better than being a cubicle monkey who rents his flat and attempts to please an overweight Anglobitch for both sex and salary.

Today, most members of the third caste are being exploited by a handful of them who take advantage of cheap labour and market volatility. Definitely, most of those who belong here would be better off in a fair caste system, even reasoning from pure personal interest.

Also, I have noticed repeatedly that individuals who seem to inwardly belong to the Vaishya caste may deny the two upper ones, but are quite touchy if threatened to be reduced to the state of the fourth caste—the Shudra. A true Vaishya hates the idea of being turned into a prole, wholly dependent from a meager paycheck or State assistance, and robbed from the ability—should I say birthright?—to self-determination, which can happen when fourth caste apologists like Bolshevists want to destroy private property and deny their upper neighbours, but would not in a traditional world.

Even serfs or shudra, the fourth caste, had it better than now

3. Self-mastery matters for everyone

Entertainment culture, self-complacency, addiction, propaganda and other factors accustom us to lose personal control. The blue pill is exactly that: having our behavior controlled by rules we are not aware of, believing in what the media tells us, and being complacent enough to develop addictions and get into debt.

Being red-pilled is about regaining awareness, not only of a hidden reality, but also of what intervenes between reality and us to curb our outlook and behavior—and about determining ourselves anew. Being able to life on half your wage, free of debt, and to take rejections from girls or insults from Leftists without getting affected are demonstrations of self-mastery.

The Law Code of Manu expects everyone, including the fourth caste, to develop self-mastery, to the point of “clearing” one’s mind of negative thoughts and emotions at particular moments. Several sections are devoted to commanding one’s mind, body and speech, and the Code acknowledges who reaches complete self-mastery as deserving bliss and the highest salvation.

This makes much sense. If everyone strives minimally to develop virtues and be polite, society as a whole becomes much more harmonious than if everyone thinks of muh rights and muh opportunities. Also, if the first castes are expected to be almost exemplary, the other ones do not benefit from a culture of victimhood or “I’m underprivileged so I can do this and that as I want”, and this is especially important to prevent abuses.

Abstention from injuring, truthfulness, refraining from anger, purification, and mastering the organs—this, Manu has declared, is the gist of the Law for the four classes. (10.63)

4. Independence is for some, not for all

Vaishya individuals resent an adverse economy where Big Corp tries to reduce them to low-wage workers, and men resent being turned into chumps or clowns who depend from a girl’s caprice for a bang. The modern pretense to make everyone potentially independent, or with an equal right to independence, turned natural-born independents into dependents and natural-born dependents into alleged independents.

In case of adversity, women can work (see for example 7.125) in specific employments and Shudra can live from craftsmanship (10.99-100). Otherwise, in easier or more regular times, one should live according to his own dharma—thus accepting to dependency which goes with said dharma. Note that higher castes do not automatically imply more independence at all levels: Brahmins have a right to beg for food and shelter, which was not despised, but are forbidden from lending money on interest (10.117) or from selling some kinds of food, whereas the Vaishya can without prejudice. In general, “it is far better to carry out one’s own Law imperfectly than that of someone else perfectly” (10.97).

After all, much of the modern social chaos can be explained by a failure to do so: wealthy Vaishya pretending to political power fund the worst Leftist initiatives, Shudra enjoying a bit of authority turn into petty power-tripping chiefs, “emancipated” women show hungry of beta orbiters and management power. The degeneracy or hubris of late upper caste individuals is no excuse for handling their responsibilities to individuals of a lower caste.

5. Democracy and mandatory school system are crap

Common sense may lie in numbers, but knowledge on the highest sense does not, and analogically, convention is to be found on the social marketplace, but the Law is not:

[T]housands of men who fail to follow the observances, who are unacquainted with the Veda [Scriptures], and who merely use their caste to earn a living, come together, and do not constitute a legal assembly. Fools enveloped by Darkness [cannot] declare something as the Law when they are ignorant of it… (12.114-5)

The classic Athens, so often quoted as a model of democracy, was ran by a confederation of masculine, experienced free men, who shared a collective identity and sense of self-determination that can hardly be find in millions of media-addicted, diversion-seeking contemporary voters. Athenians also recognized the difference between Law—dikē, akin to Hindu dharma—and the legal or conventional.

Note that this one is not a justification for absolute power or greedy, pompous managerialism hidden under a veneer of “progress” or “management sciences”: the Law Code specifically warns against grabbing positions one is not qualified to assume or forgetting one’s vocation.

Also, the modern mandatory school policy that forces any child into a take-it-all System is groundless: a teacher “must never impart instruction to anyone who has not requested it or who has requested it in an improper way.” (2.110) Children or apprentices ought to value and want for what they have to learn, not getting their heads filled up, and perhaps some would not be worst off if they remained far from written texts.

Conclusion

Among the prolific Hindu literature, the law treatises are perhaps the most accessible due to their practical orientation. Earlier than most others, more focused than these on the essential, the Law Code of Manu is quite readable although precise. It provides a good way to perceive what a traditional, cosmos-wise—if I can say so—and still highly civilized society looks like.

Furthermore, if you take a glance at the twentieth century Indian “nationalist” literature, you may be surprised to see a total lack of references to the castes system, as if nationalism and the “rights of Indian people” had been but a pretext to deny the landmarks of a time immemorial.

Perhaps the way out of Leftism must pass at one moment by the severe figure of the ascetic.

Read Next: 5 Essential Life Lessons From The Hindu Law Code Of Manu

32 thoughts on “5 Bonus Life Lessons From The Law Code Of Manu”

  1. “A good thing about not being a conservative lies in having a wider range of possibilities and references available.”
    I don’t understand this premise.

    1. My reading is that “Conservatism” tends to carry a connotation, like “leftist”, of a closed system of ideas. I can understand that – most of the conservatives I know hold to certain standard ideas almost as rigidly as leftists, though at least some of the conservatives can justify their beliefs.
      By rejecting the label of conservative, I assume he’s doing as I once did and rejecting the dogma until such time as he finds justification for it.
      But I could just be generous about this.

  2. I prefer meritocracy where you dont owe shit to somebody like a fucking serf because the person above you was just born there

    1. I think we could use a step in the direction of castes, but no further. We should, rightly, differentiate people by their abilities and skills.
      A skilled philosopher and teacher is more valuable than a barista with a philosophy degree. The two are not the same class. A skilled engineer is more valuable than a skilled tradesman (though both are of much higher class than the unskilled). A skilled politician is less valuable than all of the above (^_^).
      Classes by birthright are, to my thinking, bullshit. There are no middle-class kids, only the offspring of middle-class parents; it is up to the kids to earn their classes as they age.

      1. Agree. Though I would add that there must be mobility if people improve themselves, say later in life. Otherwise everyone who learned game later in life would be pigeonholed into the “beta” class while the “naturals” would be on top. Truth is that some people learn quicker than others, while others do not improve until much later in life. Someone can also fall from high graces as well. If a skilled politician renounced his/her ways and strove to improve, then I wouldn’t mind it too much. They would have to be serious and not just feigning it. So yeah, class mobility is key.

    2. And all that really requires is following the Constitution as written. Instituting a caste system would be incredible societal upheaval.

    3. If you look at victorian britian it had an iron clad caste system also by birth and they conquerored the whole world with it in place….. it does lead to gradual decay though and after some generations the sons tended to become stupid and lazy…. although there are plenty of examples of lords losing titles and wealth – and since this was a terrible fate…. to be socially outcast…. they generally worked very hard to maintain their status not just via BS but via achievement.

    4. The writer doesn’t understand that the “upper castes” that he’s shilling for are the rich, white SJW cucks and cunts who try to shut us down everywhere.
      If you cannot lose status/caste, you’re not playing with any skin in the game. And when you have no skin in the game, inevitably you’ll end up an incompetent, out-of-touch pontificating SJW douche. Three generations of wealth rule.
      You must be able to gain or lose status by your talent and efforts.

      1. Mass rapes, overpopulation, inbreeding, poverty, constant wars with neighbours, shitting on the streets, sounds like paradise.

    5. High caste people have duties too: brahmins, for example, must learn by heart the whole veda (there are videos on youtube which are mind blowing showing high caste children learning all the accents of the verses). Can you imagine nowadays cucks politicians learning, for example, whole Dante’s work in order to be in politics? They also have to follow a certain kind of vegetarian diet and to assolve the rituals, which in old hinduism where extremely precise. (For example, pronouncing a long A instead of a short one would be a tragedy. Doing it wrong would have mean losing power.) If they do not do so, even a shudra can avoid to recognize them. Not to mention the fact that other brahmins could use this as a political weapon. Kshatriya may have privileges too, but when war explodes they have to go and die if it helps saving low cast people’s life. Obviously, this system is not perfect and can lead to problems, but problems would be the exception. While, in nowadays system, problems and injustice are the norm. Sorry for my bad english. Good luck to all the rok readers.

  3. This is the 4th article in a row where the only topics have been ‘History’ or ‘Religion’. Return of Kings is a LOT different from it’s 2012-2013 foundation period of Poosy Hunting that’s for sure.

    1. Roosh decides what articles get published.
      I tried getting one in about whether or not theism is redpill or bluepill, and he said no.

    2. There is a place for game but it should come with the understanding that it’s just a modern substitute for family in a declining society.

  4. Really nice article. I wrote a book in Swedish in 2010 called Reflections of a Vaishya. It is my lifework, don’t know when it will be finished. Totally agree that a lot of Vaishyas are linked to ROK.
    I also like the connection to Hellenic/Greek political philosophy, as we of course love! The god Hermes is the equivalent and representation. From Wikipedia:
    “Hermes (/ˈhɜːrmiːz/; Greek: Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, and the second youngest of the Olympian gods (Dionysus being the youngest).
    Hermes is considered a god of transitions and boundaries. He is described as quick and cunning, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine. He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods; an intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. He has been viewed as the protector and patron of herdsmen, thieves oratory and wit, literature and poetry, athletics and sports, invention and trade, roads, boundaries and travelers.”
    My father is an entrepreneur. And I myself am athletic, a traveler, reads a lot, work hard and earn pretty good money, and trick multiple girls into bed. Think that many here have similar inner and outer inclinations and tendencies.

  5. A good thing about not being a conservative lies in having a wider range of possibilities and references available. Over the years, the same red pill I got by reading someone like Kevin MacDonald led me to explore what, as a teenager, I would have probably rejected as hippie or new-agey: Hinduism.

    I am a Christian, but I have no problem with those who honestly seek truth (or the Truth), reality, and want to improve their lives.
    I will gladly share a foxhole with the above.

  6. Natural Selection or Meritocracy, that is men rise by merit through their own actions has served America best and that is the system we need to restore, too many people are being born to power and those who appear to be coming up from the ranks do so by sucking up to the establishment, castes merely lock things in place with idiot nobles kept on the throne and smart peasants kept laboring in the fields.

  7. This article is all well and good, but what about the law code of nanu nanu???

    1. “You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”-Robin Williams

  8. The hypergamy chart shows the current HB9-10 women not pairing.
    http://www.returnofkings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/hypergamy.jpg
    Are the 9-10s lavishing themselves on Epstein’s yaht or globtrotting with rich playboys? If they stay off their breeding years until it’s too late, that results in an ongoing ‘shaving’ effect off the top tier of genestock. As per the chart, the HB10 men are diffusing their traits with 3s (unbelievably) all the way up through the 8.9-9.0 but not the top tier 9+.
    BUT WHAT ABOUT THE 9+ females? Where did they go? Are they not breeding anymore!
    Here’s what will happen if the 9-10 women aren’t bred. The overall top barscale will keep falling. Women worldwide will become raunchier, beastlier and less beautiful if WE DON’T BREED THE TIPPY TOP for nothing more than the sake of expediting her development of all palpable eggs. If the top women keep being capped and not bred, the bar will go lower and lower until short fat rough Samoan women with the characteristic oily ruddy complexions will be considered desirable. The top must be bred with impunity and divine purpose and I mean it – – (abuwalalalala) [speaking in tongues] – Hail the patriarchy!
    So I searched ‘hb10’ to find a pic and see if any of the superfine women of the world were breeding at all. To my surprise, the top result in searching ‘hb10’ was ‘House Bill 10, Georgia General Assembly’ – assault weapons bill. ((we’d better keep an eye on that one))
    So then instead I just googled ‘most beautiful women’. Just what I wanted. It turned up mostly models. It seems unlikely they’ll breed this year or next. At their peak of hotness:
    Russian model Ekaterina Fetirina:
    https://wallscover.com/images/ekaterina-fetisova-wallpaper-10.jpg
    German actress Candice Swanepoel:
    http://files.gossip.it/protagonisti/candice_swanepoel_swim_2013/images/candice_swanepoel_per_la_copertina_di_swim_2013_di_victorias_secret_4a43.jpg
    And this poor lass. It’s doubtful she’ll ever find the time to breed.
    http://trendsbeautybar.com/wp-content/uploads/taylor-swift.jpg
    The opportunity passing her is so giant. I hear the eerie low pitched sound of wind blowing through the cables of the Golden Gate bridge when I look at her. It’s a low vibe that registers in your balls is best I can describe. It’s the sound of her telemeres wailing before they groan and become silent within the next 8-10 years.
    This is why game is so important. Industrious prodigies and even regular Joes with IQs and matching egos could have gamed any one of these broads in their teen years before they sold their souls to their respective sterile industries. If you’re red pill and desire to pass on your bloodline, then keep the game sharp and keep the radar out for the young budding 9-10s because they will ALL be snatched up quickly and very likely by forces and individuals that really do not have much concern for the future of the west. Bless the west. It’s TURKEY SHOOT season on 9-10s. It is too bittersweet to see them modeling and being vacuumed up by jew pornographers. May western men domesticate them and keep them stuffed like breeding turkeys. Amen.
    (babawinngaboooyaaah) [more tongues]
    Hail!

    1. I’d say they froze their eggs and will have one trophy child in their 40’s.

      1. I’m not so sure you can cheat the clock like that. I heard of cases where frozen eggs/sperm suddenly underwent some kind of bizzarre accelarated aging when incubated in test animals. Besides it feels realer and better to do it the way ala naturale. God made it where you have to plug her over and over and over and over when she’s wet and for many many afternoons and evenings when she’s in heat to finally nail one of her eggs. One time would be no fun. If it were like Spock where you only bang once, sex would be like the sound on an arcade game where you get killed on the first round and the game chimes “bloo bloo bloooob”, and the light blinks “game over” “game over”. What a ripoff. Your dick is a dog that needs walked and played frisbee with daily. Imposing a ‘one bang’ or ‘no bang’ rule for procreation would be like your anticipated 5th birthday party as a kid getting rained out suddenly by a thunderstorm and the pinata gets drenched and falls like soggy road kill. What a short lived expectation ending in disappointment. It’s so great when your woman is in heat and is completely un-bitchey, when she’s all buttery and pliable and she squeals like a piggy and tenses every time you pound away. Fertility clinics are for people who don’t like to just simply fuck for some odd bizzarre reason I guess.

  9. In regards to the looks/personality chart, I am “boring and ugly”, certainly near or at the bottom of the chart, yet females lower than 7 are invisible to me. And females over 30 as well.

    1. “..yet females lower than 7 are invisible to me. And females over 30 as well.”
      Do you have any degree of success with such? Or you just saying you only notice them?

      1. I have no “success” whatsoever.
        Never did and never will.
        Which is why I have been paying to get what I want since I was 20.
        I do not consider that to be success in any way.
        But I cannot bang ugly girls, fat pigs, or old bags, which is what I would get if not paying for it.

  10. Reading Seneca and Code of Manu were two life changing reads for me. Reading anything from Ancient India will serve the spirit of a contemporary man well.

  11. I read the book (Patrick Olivelle translation) for the first time 8 years ago. What struck me as most relevant, not the caste system, but the “purpose” that each individual was granted in life by the powers that be. “Purpose” and lack of here in the Modern West is what is slowly killing us. Insanity, addictions, worthlessness are all bi-products of purposelessness.

  12. Before 1955 that hypergamy chart would be reverse of what it is in 2015

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