A talk delivered on 13 November 2013 at Suhotra Sadana, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
By Abhaya Mudra Dasi
Though observing austerities connected with the vow of celibacy is the best way of trying to overcome sex desire, without proper spiritual understanding harsh practices alone do not free the fettered soul from identification with the gross material body. There is a higher form of freedom from sex desire that has nothing to do with merely limiting sensual appetite. This higher taste is developed through an understanding of the eternal nature and function of the soul.
Krishna is Unlimited
The unborn and undying living entity has the peculiar feature of partial equality—at least in quality, though not quantity—with the unlimited Supreme Lord Who in His original form is Shri Krishna. And even though Krishna is the supreme male and He is the husband and maintainer of all living beings still—by His own sweet will alone—His gender is not limited. When the need arose for Him to manifest in a female form, the Lord appeared as Mohini Murti in order to bewilder the demons and snatch the nectar of immortality from their hands. And in that way, the Supreme Purusha demonstrated that He is also the supreme beauty. In that lovely form the Lord severed the head of the demon Rahu with His Sudarshan Chakra and thereby established a new universal plan whereby Rahu eclipses the Sun and the Moon and thus inflicts terror into the hearts of all conditioned living entities. In this way the Lord forces the inhabitants of this universe to self-inquire, “Is suffering necessary this world?” Reading the description of the Supreme Lord as Mohini (from SB 8.9.18), one may become astonished that this is actually the Supreme Purusha in His form as the most attractive woman: “Her attractive nose and cheeks and Her ears, adorned with golden earrings, made Her face very beautiful. As She moved, Her sari’s border on Her breasts moved slightly aside. When the demigods and demons saw these beautiful features of Mohini-murti, who was glancing at them and slightly smiling, they were all completely enchanted.”
Painting by Anjana das
In still yet another pastime described by the Gaudiya poets Shri Chandan and Jnana das, the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna in His Vrindavana-lila dressed as a girl in order to easily approach the distraught Shrimati Radharani. For Her part Radharani—as the eternal counterpart of Shri Krishna and the personification of His female energy—also appears in a male form. In the pastimes of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shrimati Radharani Herself appeared as Shri Gadadhara Pandit. Although, the Supreme Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited the mood of Shrimati Radharani, She was also personally present in a male personality in order to participate in the sankirtan movement. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared under a grand full Moon that had just emerged from an eclipse. In this way His sankirtan movement has suddenly arrived bright and effulgent to launch a very visible resurgence in the eternal dharma and the yagna for the yuga. Shri Gadadhar Pandit, however, appeared on the amavashya day, when the Moon is invisible, and thus his role in the sankirtan movement remains mostly hidden.
The Soul is Beyond Material Gender
Since the individual soul is part and parcel of Shri Krishna, the soul also has ability to adopt male or female bodies. This can easily be understood by several examples found in the shastras—or even from the everyday life. In Shrimad Bhagavatam (SB 4.28) we learn that King Puranjana became reborn as a woman due to attachment for his wife. As described in Mahabharata, Amba was re-born as the warrior Shikhandi due to her mind dwelling on Bhishma. She wanted to take revenge upon him since he had refused to marry her due to his lifelong vow of brahmacharya.
While describing the dynasty of Manu, Shukadeva Goswami tells Maharaja Parikshit, (SB 9.1.25-6) “There in the north, at the bottom of Mount Meru, is a forest known as Sukumara where Lord Shiva always enjoys with Uma. Sudyumna entered that forest. O King Parilshit, as soon as Sudyumna, who was expert in subduing enemies, entered the forest, he saw himself transformed into a female and his horse transformed into a mare.” It seems that at the yagna for obtaining a son, Sage Vashishta had become distracted by Vaivaswata Manu’s wife who wanted a son. As a result, a daughter named Ila was born to him who was transformed into the hero Sudyumna by the ascetic power of Vashishta Muni. However, when Sudyumna entered the forest at the foot of Mount Meru wherein Lord Shiva sports with Parvati, he and his horse were transformed into females. Shrila Prabhupada notes in the chapter summary that “Shukadeva Goswami described how Sudyumna, being transformed into a woman, accepted Budha, the son of the moon, as her husband and had a son named Pururava.”
Even today there are many who feel that they were either a male or a female in their past lives, some of whom wish to return to what they used to be. Through some scientific inventions of hormonal treatment, modern medical science easily converts a woman into a man or a man into a woman. For example, the pole-vaulting champion Yvonne Buschbaum from Germany transformed herself into a man and is now called Balian Buschbaum. Then there is the case of Barry Kenneth Cossey, who through “gender re-assignment” actually became a woman. H/she went on to become a “James Bond girl” and celebrated cover model before he was subject to a sensational exposé by a British tabloid. Some have even undergone this transformation at an early age. One such case is that of a German boy who now has become the teen female singing sensation Kim Petras. Recently the sex change by jailed whistleblower US Army Private Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning has captured much public attention. Although such transformations prove that the nature of the soul is neither material male nor material female, hormonal sex changes are very dangerous and such procedures should never be undertaken by the wise.
Demonic gender re-assignment without the natural sanction of the laws of karma requires constant artificial maintenance of the preferred sexual category. It will also certainly lead to any number of health and psychological complications. Consider that such artificially altered women or men are sexually non-reproductive; they can never give birth to or cause the birth of another human being. Thus, such alterations are unhealthy and dangerous because the loss of the ability to procreate is a symptom of physical malady. Although these artificial gender changes should be regarded as works of Kali, they remain viable examples of the genderless nature of the soul.
In Easy Journey to Other Planets (1960 Delhi edition), His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada notes, “The mind is a nucleus of the material body. The gradual evolutionary process of the material body depends more or less on the psychological changes of the mind. The change of bodily construction of a worm into a butterfly and in the modern advancement of medical science to convert a man’s body into a woman’s or vice versa … all these depend more or less on the psychological change of the mind.”
Even amongst devotees of Krishna, service is rendered through the facilities provided by the material body. One who regards himself or herself as having the qualities of both the male and the female may find social integration difficult. The more a devotee advances in devotional service the more the energies of male and female blend. The two main nadis of the kundalini, namely ida and pingala, unite in the highest chakra called sahasrara and a liberated soul at the time of death exits the body from there. Because of their apparent “genderless-ness,” advanced devotees of Shri Krishna who have transcended sexual urges are not generally found in social situations wherein socially-accepted gender roles are exaggerated. At times advanced devotees seem to behave like children or even as mad persons, perhaps because such behavior is considered genderless.
Overcoming Bodily Limitations
Spiritually-evolved bhaktas are recognized by their symptoms. There are transcendentalists who are very long-lived still dwelling upon Earth. Counted amongst these chiranjivas are Sages Nara and Narayana, Shrila Vyasadeva, Hanumanji and even Ashvattama the son of Dronacharya. Shriman Nanda Kumar das Prabhu, once a personal servant of His Divine Grace Shrila Prabhupada, has given the following testimony which he witnessed firsthand: “At the Kumbha Mela in 1971 a few enthusiastic devotees were preaching heavily to some sadhus about how they should give up what they were doing and surrender to Shrila Prabhupada. His Divine Grace heard about it and called them in. He kindly thanked them for their faith in him and in this process, but he told them the purpose for coming to the Kumbha Mela was to have the association of saintly personalities. He then He said, ‘You should be very respectful toward everyone you meet. There are people here who are thousands of years old and you can’t tell who they are.’”
An inherited vice common to all materialistic males appears to be their desire to lord it over the material nature—which includes dominating females. And there is an inherited vice in the nature of women as well. They are jealous of one another and it is due to this flaw in their character they do not allow other women to become recognized or important. In Bhagavad-gita (Bg 10.34) Shri Krishna states: kirtih shirr vak cha narinam smritir medha dhrith kshamah. In this way Krishna identifies the qualities of women that represent Him, “Among women I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.”
In this verse, the Lord directly says that the quality of fame belongs to women. So we are left to wonder why there are so few women of renown in the world even when there are great artists, writers, scientists and philosophers amongst them. Few are aware of their work and often they are given no credit for their innovations. The mystery lies in the fact that although women are the ones who allow fame as seen in this verse—yet due to their envy of one another they suppress their own glory.
The transcendentalist who has overcome the inebriety associated with either womanhood or manhood is far removed from these problems. A spiritual woman gives credit to other women while the spiritual man is caring and respectful to all creatures regardless of their gender. A spiritual person sees part of himself or herself in others since Shri Krishna dwells in all hearts in the form of Paramatma. Souls who are advanced in spiritual realization easily recognize how a living entity in a female body can be a male and vice versa. A spiritual person recognizes the qualities of Shri Krishna—even if such excellences are found in only minute amounts—as this distinction is manifested in every living entity. While those who are deluded may judge even an elevated soul on the basis of his or her gender, the faithful bhakta respects the devotional excellence in each one of his Godbrothers and –sisters.
Turning away from neophyte association, advanced souls prefer to associate only with kindred souls who reflect similarly elevated qualities. A spiritual man who has developed his feminine side may find it difficult to express his gentle emotions in a society wherein men are expected to pose as macho or even unfeeling. A spiritual woman may find herself pushed into a conventional female role or even abused on the account of that role, which could be especially painful. Yet an advanced soul, even if residing in a female body, will transcend the impositions of social molds and live a life of detachment and renunciation through Krishna consciousness.
Substituting Spiritual Desires for Material impulses
Because a greater society’s goal is to integrate citizens from all walks of life, the predictable end result is a bloated middle class. The same principle may apply even to a society founded upon spiritual goals wherein it is the duty of advanced devotees to uplift those who are struggling in the center. The vision of the mahabhagavata is described by Shrila Prabhupada in the Krishna Book chapter entitled “Return of the Six Dead Sons of Devaki by Lord Krishna:”
“Lord Krishna intended for Vasudeva to see everything in the vision of a mahabhagavata, a first-class devotee. A first-class devotee sees that all living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and that the Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart. In fact, every living entity has spiritual identity, but in contact with material existence he becomes influenced by the material modes of nature. He becomes covered by the concept of bodily life, forgetting that his spirit soul is of the same quality as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One mistakenly considers one individual to be different from another simply because of their material bodily coverings. Because of differences between bodies, the spirit soul appears before us differently.”
Any man can become a woman and any a woman can become a man. Although some soul can be trapped inside what appears to be an unfavorable body, this does not mean this person should be treated as though he is that body. Beyond the mere sex functions that chain the living entity to the material world, every soul can execute the same functions in the service of Shri Krishna and become free from material designations even while performing his or her daily activities. Shri Krishna has offered His personal example of respecting everyone as seen from His entering the city of Dwaraka: “Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, approached them and offered due honor and respect to each and every one of the friends, relatives, citizens and all others who came to receive and welcome Him. The Almighty Lord greeted everyone present by bowing His head, exchanging greetings, embracing, shaking hands, looking and smiling, giving assurances and awarding benedictions, even to the lowest in rank.” (SB 1.11.21-22)
The understanding that the energies of male of female unite in each person despite one’s physical gender helps in the attempt to transcend material sex desire. A realized soul does not need to approach the opposite sex for sense satisfaction since both genders already intertwine in such a person. This kind of material sexless-ness does not mean that the advanced spirit soul does not have a spiritual identity—which is not based on karma but on the strength of attachment to Shri Krishna. For example, those stationed in shanta rasa have less attachment and those on madhurya rasa have the greatest attachment. Yet, we see that the devotees of Shri Krishna are not attached to some particular body since they may appear either as male or female to serve Shri Krishna. This holds true even as shown in the pastimes of Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that the eternal living entity is female in its eternal constitutional position.
Krishna Pleases His Devotees
The Supreme Lord Shri Krishna freely manifests Himself in whatever form He desires. Although His Damodara form is considered the best, His devotees adore the Supreme Lord in whatever form He appears. As seen in Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita (Adi Lila 17 286-293), when Shri Krishna appeared in His form of Lord Narayana before the gopis, they were not interested because they were attracted only to the three-curved, flute-playing form of Shyamasundara. Yet when Shri Krishna appeared in this same Narayana form before Shrimati Radharani, Her love for Him was so great that Krishna’s two arms melted away and He could not maintain His form as Narayana any longer.
Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can manifest Himself in many different forms. Devotees must recognize and respect that every soul is His part and parcel. This cannot achieved by those who are envious and desire to lord it over the energies of the Supreme Lord. This achievement is only possible for the fortunate ones who by the grace of the pure devotee have love, attachment and trust in Shri Krishna. As told in the Krishna Book chapter entitled “Prayers by the Personified Vedas:”
“The personified Vedas presented the example that those who are seeking after gold do not reject gold earrings, gold bangles or anything else made of gold simply because they are shaped differently from the original gold. All living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and are qualitatively one, but they are now differently shaped in 8,400,000 species of life, just like many different ornaments which have been manufactured from the same source of gold. As one who is interested in gold accepts all the differently shaped gold ornaments, so a Vaishnava, knowing well that all living entities are of the same quality as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, accepts all living entities as eternal servants of God. As a Vaishnava, then, one has ample opportunity to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by reclaiming these conditioned, misled living entities, training them in Krishna consciousness and leading them back to home, back to Godhead. The fact is that the minds of the living entities are now agitated by the three material qualities, and the living entities are therefore transmigrating, as if in dreams, from one body to another. When their consciousness is changed into Krishna consciousness, however, they immediately fix Krishna within their hearts, and thus their path for liberation becomes clear.”