By HG Karuna Dharini Dasi
Our material psychological and physical features are supposed to complement our sense of identity. Then in some cases they do not. To identify with the type of physical body we are born with is not always so straight forward. Hence there is so much confusion nowadays, for instance, about one’s gender role. We strictly define our self as a categorical male or female yet it is only another material layer upon the soul. No wonder that as adolescents, when the body is changing, trying to accept our new found sexuality is so bewildering.
Devotees of the Lord honor the variations between the sexes, keeping in mind that they originate from Krishna. These characteristics can lead to further the soul’s bondage to the body, or they can be utilized to practice a godly life. Each of us, in our own way, can give the best of what we have – our unique nature, intelligence, words and wealth – as a gift to the Lord. No matter the material gender, devotees offer the best of their personal tendencies and skills as a matter of pure spiritual instinct.
Social engineers intuit that there should be material equality for men and women, that it is a matter of human rights to “level the field”. They strive to create the same opportunity for employment, career, dress, athletics, etc., for the sexes. The assumption is that men and women are exactly the same as one another. However, if while organizing society we aspire for male and female to act with equivalent biology, personality, propensities, duties, etc., there may be confusion and less opportunity to utilize the human potential effectively.
The Effects of Creating Equality
It is not surprising that modern sociologists want to create a more equitable relationship between man and woman. These roles have become confused of now. If we look back on life just one hundred years ago, it was not so much an issue. Unlike now, the population was more situated in rural life, and the members of families contributed greatly to the welfare and survival of one another. With the advance of a more complex civilization the pillars of that system have weakened.
Women have become pried from the solid base of taking care of the home; man disconnected from his role as protector and provider. Only in the recent history have so many females become available for a variety of endeavors away from home. For want of substantial incomes both men and women spend the lion’s share of their time in factories and office buildings, commuting into cities for long engagement. Industrial society has taken people away from a quieter life for the chance to compete vigorously for basic needs; meanwhile it dangles the carrot of convenience and luxuries.
Traditional roles have lost respect. The contribution of the wife was often as the care giver, nurturer, nurse, housekeeper, as well as assistant and confidante of her husband and children, in laws and elders. The husband’s role was provider, protector, guide, leader and problem solver for members of the family. It has become increasingly more complex for him; his wife utilizes her energies outside of the home, moreover for him there is so much distance due to commutes and overtime.
Krishna designed a natural social system for facilitating the duties of male and female. He has given appropriate qualities and natures to them for a balanced sense of family life. Such families are the vehicle for souls imparted into this world. They are meant to be nurtured and protected so that they may have stability in full goodness to be able to take up spiritual practice. However when the fundamental pattern of relationship of man and woman, father and mother, is undermined, it does not take much for generation after generation to devolve to lose its culture to low, passionate and ignorant modes of living. Srila Prabhupada discussed this many times with his disciples.
In India still, because they are not so materially advanced, even the poorest man has got some certain fixed up place, his cottage, he has got his wife, he has got his child, and he works. He lives peacefully still, in the village, although he hasn’t got very gorgeous dress and motorcar. You’ll find still. About ten years ago, I was in Ahmedabad. I saw one poor man, he was a hand cart.
We call thela, in India. So in that cart there was sufficient load. So one side of the thela there was the wife, and the other side was the husband, and they had a little child, and that child was put up on the load. And they were pulling. That means the husband and wife, working as God has given them to work. So they’re working, taking care of the child. So after earning money, they’ll go home. They have got a little cottage, and the wife will cook, the husband will eat, and they’re peaceful. The wife cooks for the husband, and the husband eats, and the child is also taken care of. It is not killed.
But here, the advanced civilization, the mother is killing the child, abortion. You see? Still, it is called advancement. Mother’s duty is to take care of the child, motherly affection. Woman is meant for that. And now the problem is the mother doesn’t want children. You see? And to avoid children, they are killing. Regularly they are killing. So what is the use of this civilization?
–Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.16.23, lecture, Hawaii, 1974
Purusha and Prakrti
It is not surprising that gender neutrality is practiced by people in contemporary society. After all, liberation from gender designation may work better than trying to force an outdated, unsuccessful materialistic prototype for male and female. However, through the eyeglass of Vedic wisdom, we can perceive that the two sides of the issue equal zero. They do not address a much deeper need. If we just add the one, Krishna, in front of any number of zeroes, our math becomes correct. Lord Krishna’s ideal for us will shine forth as brilliant and sublime. Krishna gives all of our zeroes unlimited value.
The avatar of Krishna who descended to preach the present day bhakti cult is perfect for mitigating any type of gender confusion. He is unique; not strictly an incarnation of Krishna as is the case of avatars such as Rama, Kurma or Nrsingadeva. He is Krishna Himself, but in the mood of His own eternal consort Srimate Radharani. Sri-Sri Radha and Krishna are the prototype for all male and female personality, and the golden avatar Chaitanya is none other than the two of them combined. This unparalleled combination occurs only in Chaitanya, also known as Gauranga, who made His appearance five hundred years ago in India to preach the great chanting for deliverance, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Chaitanya Mahprabhu came to reveal to us our most internal pure identity, as minute separated expansions ofthefeminine nature, the prakrti. We are all prakrti in that we are by constitution meant to offer enjoyment to Lord Krishna, who is the purusha, the Supreme enjoyer. Though He is the Supreme Bhagavan, He appears in this dark age of Kali (the age of quarrel and disagreement). Though He is Keshava-Shyamasundara, handsome black complexioned Krishna with curling locks of blue tinted hair, He appears to us with the shaven head of a monk and saffron robes. He offers a most practical neutrality. His descending among common men is to preach knowledge and detachment from the suffering of any designation.
There are two things, prakrti and purusha. The purusha is the enjoyer, and prakrti is the enjoyed. Or, in other words, purusha is the predominator and prakrti is predominated. So we are prakrti. The Mayavada philosophy is that prakrti wants to become purusha. And that is not possible. Suppose a woman, if she dresses like a man, does it mean that she has become a man? No. Or a man dresses like a woman; does it mean that he has become woman? Simply by outward dress? No. Purusha, the only purusha is Krishna. Only Krishna is purusha. He’s the enjoyer. All others, they are servants.
-Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture, Vrindavana, 9-20-76
Respecting all Attributes of the Godhead
From a spiritual point of view to identify one’s self as male or female based on the physical features of the body is not very relevant. Every physical body is inhabited by a pure spiritual being, free of the puzzle of gender assignment, or any other temporary designation. Devotional service to Krishna stands firm on the foundation that Krishna teaches in Bhagavad-Gita; such pleasurable service is the eternal activity of the soul.
Krishna’s Supreme Personality is the complete and absolute manifestation of all types of personal attributes of the Godhead. This world and the souls within it are the reflection of that spiritual domain, complete with millions of material attributes, just as mere reflected light can only dance on the top of an ocean. When devotee men and women use their specific karmic profiles to offer service in sacrifice to the Lord, they achieve self-realization through the purification of the personal tendencies they were born with.
The average Krishna conscious family may not be perceived as being as illustrious as a family with notable material achievement and amenity. Yet such family life is unlimitedly more potent in providing its members with a true foundation for living in this world with inner satisfaction in a God-centered culture. To understand that we are all of us Krishna’s prakrti is the causal principle of bliss for any such culture. Males and females of such a foundation are the building blocks of a transcendent Krishna conscious society.