Root of the Problem: Social Organization

[Guest guest]

We can go back and forth about what women do and what they should do.

It seems like a never-ending discussion.

 

There are at least four reasons why women now do not fit into the

picture of submissive domestic partner:

 

1. This may not be the nature of the particular woman in question, so

why not engage her according to her individual nature.

 

2. She may not have a male partner whom she can trust enough so that

she can assume this position of submissive domestic partner, so why

force her into something that is hellish for her. This does not help

her develop her Krsna consciousness, and certainly does not attract

other women to Krsna consciousness. It even repels many intelligent men

who do not want to be members of what appears to them to be a cultish

society.

 

3. Even if she has a husband whom she trusts, and even if she desires

to serve him as a submissive domestic partner, she cannot because she is

forced by the capitalist economy to go out and sell her labor in the

workforce.

 

4. As a child, if she had sensitive feelings of wanting to care for and

serve others, her sensitivities were quickly shot down by the fiercely

competitive society that we live in.

 

Conclusion: Stop blaming the women. It is tiresome.

 

Do we criticize the vaisyas for not protecting the cows. Submission of

women is not one of the two pillars of spiritual advancement, but

according to Srila Prabhupada's cow protection is one of the two pillars

of spiritual advancement.

 

And yet, nearly every Hare Krsna temple offers Krsna milk from

slaughtered cows. Surely the vaisyas are not protecting the cows.

 

But, we don't criticize the vaisyas for not protecting the cows. And

why is that? Because we know that it would not be fair to condemn them

for not fulfilling their duty. They don't protect the cows because (1)

There is no training for farmers (2) It is too expensive for them to get

land (3) Cow protection is just about impossible in a capitalist

economy.

 

What the vaisyas need in order to fulfill their duty properly, is a

social structure that is set up to help them serve Krsna in the best

possible way.

 

In the meantime, the vaisyas do the best they can. In the current

social structure, they make some money and give donations to the

temple. They may even give donations to some cow programs. But we

don't criticize them. We appreciate that they are trying to fulfill

their duties the very best they can under the current circumstances.

After all, where would we be without contributions from our vaisyas? We

wouldn't have much.

 

And yet, we should do much, much more to help them fulfill the vaisya's

duty of cow protection. Not that every vaisya must protect cows, but

the majority of them should -- according to what we understand from

Srila Prabhupada. This would certainly be better for society if they

did, and also, it would be much better for them, because the occupation

of cow protection is carefully designed so it will soften their hearts

and give them heightened sensitivity to spiritual matters.

 

So, our women now are doing their duty the very best they can under the

current circumstances. In many cases their own husbands are satisfied

and even pleased with their activities, but others, viewing from afar

condemn these women because they don't fit into some pre-concieved

"Vedic" mold. Why not stop criticizing them? Why not simply appreciate

their activities?

 

But still, just as with the vaisyas, we should do so much more to help

them. Again, that means re-structuring society. Prabhupada said that

the present social structure should be "thoughly overhauled." The

social structure should be redesigned in order to help women fulfill the

roles they are needed in. And for most women, this will bring them more

satisfaction also.

 

Not all farmers will care for cows, not all women will be housewives and

mothers. Varnasrama should be able to accommodate vaisyas who don't

take care of cows, and women who don't take care of children. The two

mottos of varnasrama are 1. Visnu aradhyate -- members of society must

be working to please Krsna, and 2. Sarve sukhino bhavantu -- everyone

should be happy in their duty. In that way we can find appropriate

duties for those who cannot be happy in a standard mold.

 

*****************************

 

I know that Madhava Gosh and others place a lot of importance on a grass

roots development of varnasrama. In some ways, that is very important.

Only if the devotees support this, and pray for it, as a fulfillment of

Prabhupada's vision, can it happen.

 

But, in another way, varnasrama has to be a top-down process. It's not

that we should expect those in the supporting positions of society to

fulfill their roles perfectly, when there is no proper structure of

protection over them.

 

Prabhupada started varnasrama by attempting to establish brahmanas

first. And to some degree, I think everyone will have to admit, he did

succeed. Now the second step is to establish properly trained ksatriyas

to actually carry out the practical duties of organizing society in such

a way that everyone will feel completely protected in developing his or

her particular devotional service.

 

So, I propose that we discuss what it takes to train a ksatriya --

according to the "curriculum" set forth by Srila Prabhupada. We don't

want ksatriyas because we have seen the Krsna consciousness movement

shrink because of too much heavy-handedness. But to be a ksatriya does

not mean that crushing people; it means building them up to serve Krsna

with joy and confidence. That's what proper training is for -- to

create a ksatriya like that.

 

So rather than going round and round discussing who is and is not doing

his or her duty, why not meditate for awhile on how we create a person

who help all of us do our duty better.

 

In a separate text, I have attached an outline of Srila Prabhupada's

curriculum for ksatriyas. I thought it would be good if we could use

that at a starting point -- possibly discussing one of subjects at a

time: religion (as opposed to spiritual life); politics; social order;

economics, etc., and analyzing why training in each subject will help

develop a sensitive and effective leader.

 

Without properly trained ksatriyas, there is never any hope of

developing a varnasrama society. Without ksatriyas all we can achieve

is endless criticism of each other.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi