Can the untouchables achieve moksa in Hinduism?

Answer 1

yes- they will have perform good dharama(duties) even if they are lower than the Caste System.

UNTOUCHABLES AND MOKSHA

An untouchable is a Shudra who doesn't accept the Varna system.

THE VARNAS

The Varnas are four grades of efficiency and not four occupations as popularly believed. The gap between the positive (achievement) attitude and negative (satisfaction) attitude differentiates the four Varnas.

1. Brahmana Varna - for ideal conditions. Positive and negative attitudes are merged.

2. Kshatriya Varna - for normal conditions. The two attitudes are separated.

3. Vaishya Vana - for tolerable conditions. There is just the positive attitude

4. Shudra Varna - for chaotic conditions. There are no attitudes.

It is for this reason that Karma is the least in Brahmana Varna and highest in Shudra Varna. Greater the Karma lesser would be the efficiency.

Thus, Varnas act as four rungs of the Hindu social ladder. There is no exploitation involved here. Varna is not man made.

To attain Moksha all of our activities must be involuntary/ automatic. Therefore, an untouchable / Shudra can't directly attain Moksha because all his action would be manual/ Voluntary.

MOKSHA

Moksha, as a belief, means liberation of soul from unending cycles of reincarnation.

As a fact, Moksha means absolute freedom in the society.To have this much freedom we must have a thorough knowledge of the supreme Hindu god Brahman.

BRAHMAN

Brahman is a three dimensional god. The three dimensions are,

1. Vertical / Imagination - reality / The dimension of gods

2. Horizontal / Left to right / Separation - merger of activities/ the dimension of Varnas.

3. Horizontal / Back to front / Time - Transient - Eternal

Thus, without mastering the Varnas it wouldn't be possible to gain mastery over gods and time.

Thus,

1. An untouchable can't attain Moksha without accepting the Varna system.

2. If he accepts the Varna system he won't be considered as an untouchable.