Are all men created equal according to Hinduism? Is this predominant western belief in agreement with the Vedas?

Question

Are all men created equal according to Hinduism? Is this predominant western belief based on the Vedas?

This belief is fundamental to most modern Western countries, and it is the second sentence of the US Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

This belief has its origins from the Enlightenment Liberalism philosophy of Europe.

Liberalism—both as a political current and an intellectual tradition—is mostly a modern phenomenon that started in the 17th century

But is this also in agreement with the Vedas?

Answer 1

Are all men created equal according to Hinduism? Is this predominant western belief based on the Vedas?

No, this belief is non-Vedic.

This is in direct contrast to the hundreds of statements in Shruti and Smriti that say that men are not created equal due to karma and reincarnation, which western philosophy does not believe in.

Chhandogya Upanishad 5.10.7 - Those whose conduct has been good here will shortly get birth such as a Brahmana (brahmana yonim), a kshatriya, or a vaishya. But those whose conduct has been evil will be born in evil births shortly such as the birth of a dog (shva yonim), or as a pig, or a chandala.

Answer 2

The position that all humans are created equal does not apply for Hinduism since the jiva is considered to be eternal. The physical organism and the Atman of all Jiva are equal. However jivas are unequal because of difference in their karma.

Bhishma said, "Verily Righteousness is fraught with victory. Its effulgence is so great that it illumines the three worlds. A man of wisdom cannot catch old of a sinful person and forcibly cause him to become righteous. When seriously urged to act righteously, the sinful only act with hypocrisy, impelled by fear. They that are righteous among the Sudras never betake themselves to such hypocrisy under the plea that persons of Sudra order are not permitted to live according to any of the four prescribed modes. I shall tell thee particularly what the duties truly are of the four orders. So far as their bodies are concerned, the individuals belonging to all the four orders have the five primal elements for the constituent ingredients. Indeed, in this respect, they are all of the same substance. For all that, distinctions exist between them in respect of both practices relating to life or the world and the duties of righteousness. Notwithstanding these distinctions, sufficient liberty of action is left to them in consequence of which all individuals may attain to an equality of condition. .........All men are equal in respect of their physical organism. All of them, again, are possessed of souls that are equal in respect of their nature. When dissolution comes, all else dissolve away. What remains is the inceptive will to achieve Righteousness. That, indeed, reappears (in next life) of itself. When such is the result (that is, when the enjoyments and endurance of this life are due to acts of a past life), the inequality of a lot discernible among human beings can not be regarded in any way anomalous. "

Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva, Section CLXIV

However, notwithstanding inequality, jivas must be treated equally.

O Arjuna! In My view that Yogi is the best who, out of a sense of identity with others on account of the perception of the same Atman in all, feels their joy and suffering as his own.

Gita 6.32