How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Coldness?" [Mara] asked, extending his arms. "I can break a giant with these hands, Yama. What are you but a banished carrion god? Your frown may claim the aged and the infirm. Your eyes may chill dumb animals and those of the lower classes of men. I stand as high above you as a star above the ocean's bottom." (1.355)
It's telling that the first member of the gods—of the upper class—that we meet in the novel believes he's above and beyond death. Yama soon proves just how wrong he is.
Quote #2
"There is no room for evil in their minds, despite the fact that they suffer it constantly. The slave upon the rack who knows that he will be born again—perhaps as a fat merchant—if he suffers willingly—his outlook is not the same as that of a man with but one life to live." (1.435)
Social injustices are not only commonplace in this society, but accepted. The idea is that if you suffer the social ill quietly, you'll be rewarded later. Of course, rewards never come, or when they do, they are in paltry amount compared to the suffering.
Quote #3
"I can tell you something of them," replied the captain, "since you should not go unwarned. The body merchants are now the Masters of Karma. Their individual names are now kept secret, after the manner of the gods, so that they seem as impersonal as the Great Wheel, which they claim to represent." (2.94)
Whether it's capitalism, communism, or the Great Wheel itself, those who benefit from the inequalities of a system always claim it's not their doing. It's the system's—a thing that is above and beyond man's ability to fix. But any system can be fixed given enough know how or creative license.