“Good and bad, which are part of the illusion created by Hari, cannot be removed without worshiping Hari. Keeping this in mind, worship Rama and renounce all desires.” (Dohavali, 127)

Download this episode (right click and save)

हरि माया कृत दोष गुन बिनु हरि भजन न जाहिं
भजिअ राम सब काम तजि अस बिचारि मन माहिं

hari māyā kṛta doṣa guna binu hari bhajana na jāhiṃ
bhajia rāma saba kāma taji asa bicāri mana māhiṃ

“How do you reconcile the statements from shastra that are demeaning to different groups of people? If you wanted to divide the groups into categories of offended, there are too many to count. The worshipers of the gods, for instance. I believe Shri Krishna uses the term alpa-medhasam. The literal translation is ‘less brain substance.’ In other words, people who worship the gods, who are the administrators of this material creation, are less intelligent.

“Of course, if there is one group whose objections are the loudest, it would be women. No disrespect intended. They are described in unflattering terms, throughout both the pages of sacred texts and the words of spiritual leaders who represent those texts. The prachara, the preaching, if you will, might involve putting men and women in their place. The acharya warns against a newly found movement known as women’s liberation, for instance. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada will say that women will never truly be independent in the manner that they hope, because of the way people interact in this world.

“That is just a small sampling. You have descriptions of different races and the ways they tend to behave. You have the practical implementation, as well. Certain people banned from entering the temple to worship the deity. Men and women on separate sides when attending a spiritual gathering. The different varnas, or occupations, and the comparison to different parts of the human body.

“What I am trying to say is that people do not want to live in the stone ages. They want to break free of oppression. The exact configuration of that oppression, whether real or imagined, makes no difference. No one wants to be demeaned because of the qualities they inherited at the time of birth. How does bhakti-yoga appeal to such people? How will others follow sanatana-dharma when they find words in shastra to be grossly offensive?”

Any time there is a movement involving liberation or independence, there must be a change of state. At least that is the desire. The group defines success based on the overall change in state. For instance, with the liberation of women, it is implied that the traditional role, for lack of a better term, is torture. It is kind of like living in a prison. The wife is stuck at home while the husband goes out and enjoys. The husband can pursue a career, can make a name for himself in society, and can create a high-net worth, all while the adult woman at home is reduced to something like a domestic helper.

The state of liberation, the supposed intention of the oppressed, is to at least allow the same opportunity. Equality. Break free of the bondage. No longer depend on the support of a husband. Take charge, work for a living, and have every facility available that goes along with a life of freedom.

The perspective of shastra is that every person is bound. Perpetually. Since the time of birth. Both the wife at home taking care of the children and the husband going out to work. Both the laborer in the field and the owner of that field. Both the CEO of the large multinational corporation and the employee suddenly forced to return to the office, after several years of working from home.

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः
मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति

mamaivāṃśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛtisthāni karṣati

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 15.7)

The living being in this world struggles from the time of birth. They are bound to the type of body accepted. That body is like a slice out of the great energy known as prakriti. Each piece has some combination, presence, or mixture involving the three modes: goodness, passion, and ignorance. These modes are known as gunas, and as soon as a person associates with gunas, they enjoy or suffer in a variety of ways.

पुरुषः प्रकृति-स्थो हि
भुङ्क्ते प्रकृति-जान् गुणान्
कारणं गुण-सङ्गो ऽस्य
सद्-असद्-योनि-जन्मसु

puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi
bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān
kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo ‘sya
sad-asad-yoni-janmasu

“The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 13.22)

The female is as much bound as the male. The different races may receive different levels of respect within society, but every person is bound. No one is actually free. The only possible release is to remove the illusion. Liberation is freedom from associating with the modes of nature. Liberation is seeing my true identity as spirit soul, separate and distinct from matter.

As Goswami Tulsidas describes, good and bad are part of the illusion. One side rises, while another side falls. One side is blessed, while another side is condemned. These are temporary designations. The positions shift like tiles moving on a gameboard. The angry woman today might be a man in the next life. The man insulting women today might take birth as a female in the next life. The two soldiers opposing one another in a war might expect a future birth in the country they despise, in the land of their enemy.

Only the Supreme Lord, who is known as Hari, can remove this illusion. It is His illusion, after all. Maya works for Hari. By worshiping Hari, I have the chance to eliminate the influence of maya. Since the acharyas try to help both men and women worship Hari, they are the true freedom fighters. The movement that aims to worship the Supreme Lord with all thoughts, words, and deeds, from morning until night, from childhood into old age, from the first breath to the last, is the only genuine liberation movement.

Those who devote their lives to distributing this movement to the world, to ensuring that as many people as possible can find bhakti-yoga, are truly saintly. From time to time, they pass along categorizations that may seem offensive, but the purpose is always to keep the peace.

मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य
ये ऽपि स्युः पाप-योनयः
स्त्रियो वैश्यास् तथा शूद्रास्
ते ऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम्

māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
ye ‘pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
te ‘pi yānti parāṁ gatim

“O son of Pritha, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth – women, vaishyas [merchants], as well as shudras [workers]— can approach the supreme destination.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.32)

There are alignments within society that bring an overall benefit, in allowing for the worship of Hari to take place with minimal conflict. That is the reason for the designations, for the rules applied within the formal setting of worship, but we see that bhakti-yoga is never limited to a single group. The saintly person writes books, delivers words of wisdom, and tries their best to distribute that knowledge to as many as possible, so that they may never be in illusion again.

In Closing:

Never in illusion again,
At time for birth when.

No more to await,
Since in liberated state.

Though previously bound,
In various institutions found.

But from bhakti-yoga now free,
Acharya sacrificing for me.

Categories: questions, the maya of hari

Tags: dailyprompt, independence, liberation, life, poem, poems, poetry, prabhupada, tulsidas