"I Do Not Know Exactly..."

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna! All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!

 

In response to Mahesh's negative posting against same-sex unions, it

should be noted that Srila Prabhupada's initial reactions were made

decades ago and were completely typical for anyone of his time and

generation.

 

It's quite unfair to present Srila Prabhupada as an expert on

homosexuality and "third-sexed" people when he himself admitted to a

lack of knowledge on this subject (See "I Do Not Know Exactly..."

Srila Prabhupada's Statements on Homosexuality). Srila Prabhupada

grew up in a society where same-sex behavior was commonly

misunderstood, never discussed, and harshly punished under British

and Indian law by life imprisonment. He would not be expected to

know much about the subject, and many of his statements have since

been clearly proven wrong such as "in animal society there is no

homosex,in India there are no lesbians," etc.

 

Anyone familiar with Prabhupada's tapes, conversations, and morning

walks will know that there were often language and cultural

differences between him and his western disciples that sometimes

fostered misunderstandings requiring further clarification and

discussion. Srila Prabhupada was only vaguely familiar with the

third-sex of India, so what to speak of their western counterparts.

He could easily have taken western homosexuals to be ordinary males,

which would explain his condemning statements.

 

It would be nice to sit down with Srila Prabhupada and discuss these

issues fairly and rationally, but unfortunately he is no longer

physically available to us for personal guidance and attention. This

job is now up to the present and future qualified leaders, gurus,

sadhus, etc. In any case, our preaching must be dynamic, effective

and according to time and circumstances. It is not fair to

Prabhupada himself if we misuse his statements when they are no

longer appropriate. We should not imprison ourselves nor our

preaching to the past.

 

The bottom line is that committed same-sex unions or marriages are a

significant improvement over unbridled promiscuity and should

therefore be encouraged for the benefit of all.

 

 

In the service of my beloved gurudeva Srila Prabhupada,

 

-Amara dasa

 

GALVA-108

http://www.geocities.com/galva108

 

 

Related links:

 

"'I Do Not Know Exactly...' Srila Prabhupada's Statements on

Homosexuality"

http://www.nine9.ukshells.co.uk/cgi-bin/galva-idx.pl?node=galva-sp-

know

 

"Please Stop Misusing Quotes From Srila Prabhupada To Discriminate

Against Minorities!"

http://www.nine9.ukshells.co.uk/cgi-bin/galva-idx.pl?node=galva-quotes