Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 202, Understanding and acceptingthat there is spiritual hierarchy

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

please accept my obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

Some of you might have already read this text in some other conference.

Still I found it most inspiring as it helps us understand our role as

"women" and deeply appreciate Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

Your servant,

Shyamarani dasi.

 

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Shyamarani (dd) SDHS (Trbovlje - SI)

03-Jan-07 11:13 (12:13 +0100)

Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 202, Understanding and

accepting

that there is spiritual hierarchy

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Internet: "Inquiries Into the Absolute" <inquiries (AT) cox (DOT) net>

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"Inquiries Into the Absolute" <iskcondcr >

Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 202, Understanding and

accepting

that there is spiritual hierarchy

---------------------------

 

Digest 202: January 7th, 2007. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami

Maharaja

You are welcome to send in your questions to His Holiness Romapada Swami at

iskcondc with the word "Question" included in the subject line

 

Understanding and accepting that there is spiritual hierarchy

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

 

506) In the Srimad Bhagavatam - Third Canto, Chapter 15: Description of the

Kingdom of God - we find some verses and purports with language I find

problematic. For example, SB 3.15.17: "In the Vaikuntha planets the

inhabitants

fly in their airplanes, accompanied by their wives and consorts, and

eternally

sing of the character and activities of the Lord."

 

In these verses it seems that the archetype of spiritual identity is

characterized as inherently male ("The inhabitants" of the Vaikuntha

planets)

and the female form, even in spiritual perfection, is relegated to the role

of

sidekick ("accompanied by their wives and consorts"). The subject/object

framing of the male/female forms and the inherent implication of relative

status appears to contradict the assertions of absolute equality in a pure,

spiritual atmosphere amongst all beings, moving and non-moving, to be found

in

other verses (such as SB 3.15.16: "everything in the Vaikuntha planets is

spiritual and personal") and numerous purports.

 

However, Srila Prabhupada's wording in the purport to this verse seems to

reinforce this understanding and sets us up for an even greater implication

of

inequity in verse 20-- SB 3.15.17p: "The inhabitants of Vaikuntha give first

preference to the service of the Lord, not their own sense gratification.

Serving the Lord in transcendental love yields such transcendental pleasure

that, in comparison, sense gratification is counted as insignificant."

 

SB 3.15.20: "The inhabitants of Vaikuntha travel in their airplanes made of

lapis lazuli, emerald and gold. Although crowded by their consorts, who have

large hips and beautiful smiling faces, they cannot be stimulated to passion

by

their mirth and beautiful charms."

 

Between the purport to verse 17 and the text of verse 20 we find the

implication that even in this archetype of spiritual perfection the female

form

is relegated to a second-class position and is intended to function as a

"passion stimulator", a function the male-formed spiritual archetype is

presumably immune to.

Despite considerable time given to the concept of spiritual equality of all

Jivas in both verses and purports, the problem remains that an educated

person

may reasonably assert that a society's biases are revealed in its language

and

when the language of gender inequality is found in a religious scripture,

particularly one meant to be understood literally and even more particularly

when the literature is describing the ultimate spiritual archetype to be

aspired to by the faithful, then you have to expect a culture, a society, or

a

religious institution whose values are derived from such literature to

instill

in its members a sense of righteousness in the devaluing of the female form;

a

glaring imperfection that invalidates any claim that the literature itself

is

the word of God (since God would never countenance such inequity) as opposed

to

the word of a patriarchal power structure comprised of fallible human beings

-

men who contrive a misogynous theology to assuage their gynophobia and

justify

their social

domination.

 

I know the issue of institutionalized sexism is not new to ISKCON, but this

is

the first time I've noticed the implication of the language found in verses

directly referring to spiritual archetypes (no doubt the result of my

education

by a discerning cynic predisposed to feminist politics and testimony to 30

years of poor study habits that I'm trying to rectify). Do you have any

suggestions as to how I may properly understand the nature of the language

in

these verses for myself and for the sake of explaining it to others as

transcendental literature that informs a transcendental culture?

 

[*** End of question***]

 

Answer: You are to the point in stating that Srimad Bhagavatam is a

transcendental literature that is describing a transcendental culture.

Therefore, to understand it we have to be free from biases and

preconceptions

that come with our own material culture and upbringing. We can admit, to

begin

with, it is quite likely that we are imposing the biases of our conditioning

upon a transcendental literature, as opposed to presuming that the

literature

is reflecting the society's bias. If we are seeing through red glasses, the

world appears red! Thus it is quite possible that the perceived inequality

is

most likely springing from our own predisposition and sensitivity to this

subject as you acknowledge, and the connotations we provide to the language

based on our present social context. If we carefully reflect, we can

understand

that in reality the Bhagavatam is describing a totally different cultural

paradigm - we have to have some appreciation of this culture to understand

its

conception of equality.

There is certainly Absolute equality in Vaikuntha but not homogeneity; there

is

all variety and even hierarchy - we have discussed this in previous digests

in

different contexts. (see Digests 184, 194)

 

Let us try to just explore the theme of these verses in question from

another

perspective ... suppose that a similar idea was conveyed in the following

context: "the inhabitants of Vaikuntha were attended to by their 'servants',

and although they were given all sorts of comforts by these 'servants',

there

was no sense of exploitation and the residents found no pleasure in these

indulgences. They were simply absorbed in service to the Lord, indifferent

to

the attentions given by their servants." Were such statements to be made,

should it be taken to indicate that there are relative distinctions of

master

and servant and the position of servant is in some way inherently inferior?

Not

for those of us who understand the spiritual concept of servitorship. But

the

very mention of such a concept would be abhorred by someone who is

sensitized

by a proletariat idea of exploitation of working class and sympathetic to

the

cause of abolishing all distinctions between social classes. But those of us

familiar with Srila Pr

abhupada's teachings know well how he dismantled such ideologies of

classless

society as impractical and unnatural.

 

There is no claim of artificial equality in the spiritual world in some

sense

of utopian uniformity. The equality lies in the fact that everybody is

engaged

to their full capacity and full satisfaction in the service of the one

Supreme

Enjoyer, Lord Krishna - spiritual communism as Prabhupada would say. One in

a

subordinate position does not feel belittled or deprived in some way

compared

to a direct servitor of the Lord, nor does Krishna make such distinctions.

Rather, in Vaikuntha consciousness, one prays to be servant of the servant

of

the servant, many times removed - such a position is more cherished than

even

direct service to the Lord. For example, the manjaris in Vrindavana whose

service it is to assist the gopis do not feel inherently inferior in some

capacity nor deprived of Krishna's direct attention; rather they enjoy

greater

bliss in enhancing the service of the gopis. The gopis are very eager for

Radha

to meet Krishna, and Radharani in turn is eager to arrange the gopis'

meeting

with Krishna, an

d so on. (Cc. Madhya 8.207-214) Although by material yardstick a bumblebee

is

not considered highly attractive, in Vaikuntha the cuckoo birds admire the

song

of the bumblebee. (SB 3.15.18) Thus the real basis of no-discrimination lies

in

the fact that there is no envy or exploitation in the spiritual world, not

that

there are no hierarchies and categories. If a soul, by constitution, has

such a

disposition of assisting their male counterpart in service to Krishna, they

are

provided with a suitable female form - there is no denigration in this.

 

Material world is simply a perverted reflection of the spiritual world -

thus

the categories and hierarchies we find here also exist in the spiritual sky,

minus the inebriety found in this realm. The reflecting surface that

perverts

everything is the desire to enjoy and predominate. Here, those who have male

bodies want to enjoy and thus exploit the female form rather than perform

their

designated service of offering protection; likewise, those with female

bodies

also want to enjoy and thus rebel against their subordinate position. The

solution lies not in reversing the exploitation sequence by asserting

oneself

as equal and merging their respective roles, but in transforming the

consciousness of both parties from the mood of enjoyment to service. The

spiritual archetypes portrayed in the Bhagavatam - whether they are that of

a

male, female, bumblebee or lotus flower - highlights this perfection of the

mood of service.

 

Not to speak of the Vaikuntha planets, even within this world there are

illustrious examples of this paradigm in the Vedic culture. We do not find

that

powerful personalities such as Queen Kunti, Draupadi, Devahuti or Archi (the

consort of King Prithu) were contending for equal rights and opportunities!

Although in one sense they did enjoy equal footing with their respective

husbands, they happily, willingly and gracefully accepted their roles as a

dependent and subordinate, and as a fortress of support to their husbands.

Did

that diminish their qualifications or accomplishments in anyway or affect

the

Supreme Lord's disposition or dealings with them? Not in the least. These

ladies were fully content doing their specific services. Each of them also

faced uniquely difficult challenges in their roles as wives and queens,

which

they faced very competently. They were grateful for the protection offered

by

their respective husbands and by the society. In turn, their exalted

husbands

were equally grateful for their

extraordinary sacrifices and services. There was no sense of domination or

exploitation, nor was there an artificial attempt at sharing of each other's

roles. The husbands saw themselves as humble servants of the Lord playing

their

part as a husband in extending to their wives the protection of the Lord.

Thus

they perfectly complemented and enhanced each other's service to the Lord,

who

alone is the Supreme Master and Maintainer of everyone.

 

Quite contrary to giving room for minimizing womanhood, Vedic literatures

and

culture give tremendous emphasis and importance to respecting them as highly

valuable members of the society even in this world, and as members deserving

protection just as the brahmanas, cows, children and elderly deserve

protection. An observant reader would not fail to notice this deep respect

and

importance given to women in the pages of Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. We

find

powerful statesmen and world emperors such as Arjuna and Maharaja

Yudhisthira

giving considerable time and deliberation to the special interests of the

women

in society and the irreparable social consequences of neglecting their

needs.

If it should be considered that those performing the role of housekeeping,

raising and training God-conscious children, protecting family tradition and

offering much-needed support for the men constitute subordinate, unimportant

roles, such an outlook reflects inequality in fact, because we are

relegating

these most crucial se

rvices to a denigrated position. This is not the outlook of Bhagavatam, for

if

it were so there would not be such concern expressed for their welfare. By

Krishna's natural arrangement, the female body is equipped to fulfill these

roles which demand, in their own way, as much competency, resourcefulness

and

dedication as do the services traditionally assigned to men in a Vedic

society.

When the value of their roles is duly recognized and appreciated,

competition

for the latter's role or for the form of respect offered to them is rendered

meaningless and unnecessary.

We find this spirit also in Srila Prabhupada's personal example - although

he

spoke quite candidly and openly about the myths of women's liberation, in

all

of his dealings with the matajis (he trained us to see the women as mothers

deserving the highest respect!) he treated them with utmost dignity and

respect. It was unthinkable for him to neglect women as insignificant or

secondary, what to speak of minimizing or exploiting them. Actual protection

and dissemination of Vedic culture calls for imbibing this spirit.

 

Artificial attempts to create equality are bound to fail. In our attempts to

negate the disparities and injustices found in this world, we seek to

homogenize everything -- not much different from the impersonal school of

thought which aspires to "make everything zero" - but such a conception of

equality is unnatural even in the spiritual world. Our expectation to find

such

uniformity in the pages of Bhagavatam leaves us disappointed and amounts to

imposing our limited material conceptions on spiritual reality. Real

equality

lies in acknowledging that there are indeed differences in the natures and

capacity of different classes of living entities and facilitating optimal

engagement of everyone in their natural service to the Supreme.

 

I hope this helps to alleviate your discomfort on this subject!

 

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