“Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna, of such beautiful and auspicious names – remembering those four sons of King Dasharatha and worshiping them fulfills all the desires of the mind.” (Dohavali, 121)

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राम भरत लचिमन ललित सत्रु समन सुभ नाम
सुमिरत दसरथ सुवन सब पूजहिं सब मन काम

rāma bharata lacimana lalita satru samana subha nāma
sumirata dasaratha suvana saba pūjahiṃ saba mana kāma

“Listen, I hate to bring these issues to you. I have avoided them as long as I could, but it is getting to be too much, now. At first, I thought the people had gone crazy. Typical of the establishment, whose track record has shown a sharp decline from even when I was involved. The problem is, more and more people are being influenced by that establishment. They are entering areas of influence. They are making important decisions that impact the rest of us.

“The issue of which I speak is privilege. The institution I mention is academia. This wasn’t a thing when I was attending university. When we read Shakespeare, for instance, it was to actually study the content. We were not concerned with his race, his ethnicity, his social status, where he lived, or how he was exerting influence over others. But these are now the topics of doctoral dissertations. I kid you not. There is this thing called ‘intersectionality.’ Have you heard of it? At first, I thought people were referring to math. Something about graphs and coordinates.

“Nope, this has everything to do with race and ethnicity. It is almost like a point system. The more groups or categories you belong to simultaneously, the more oppressed you are. The others have exerted privilege over you, you see. The whites. The males. The colonialists. I am not really sure who all of the oppressors are. I spent my entire childhood trying to avoid distinctions, to view people equally. Now, that is thrown out the window. Unless we look at someone and judge them immediately based on appearance, we are doing something wrong. We are the oppressor, apparently. The person on the other side is the victim. Any complaints we lodge are viewed as microaggressions.

“What is your take on this? This invocation of privilege was not around when I was growing up. I can barely wrap my head around it, but the concept is everywhere. We can try to make jokes, but that seems to only get us into more trouble. Are we not supposed to judge people based on their character? If someone is struggling, if they face discrimination, should we not set the better example by avoiding discrimination in our own behavior?”

If the complaint is that the world is unfair, then that should have been acknowledged a long time ago. Look at the history of the world. There is one constant: war. Conflict. Disagreement. One side assembling an army to overtake another. One nation invading another nation, breaching the boundaries of a border, for various reasons. Perhaps to gain control over precious minerals. Spices and tea might even be at play. One religion thinking they have to dominate the world. One race considering itself superior, taking members of another race captive.

What to speak of the human population, the concept of privilege is embedded into every aspect of a material existence. The Vedic tradition described privilege in a single set of Sanskrit words thousands of years ago, kindly passed forward in Bhagavata Purana, which is also known as Shrimad Bhagavatam. This is not a discovery. Rather, it is revealing what is fixed throughout the time continuum.

अहस्तानि सहस्तानाम्
अपदानि चतुष्-पदाम्
फल्गूनि तत्र महतां
जीवो जीवस्य जीवनम्

ahastāni sahastānām
apadāni catuṣ-padām
phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ
jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

“Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.13.47)

One group dominates another. Just spend five minutes watching one of those nature channels, with their documentaries focused on life in the jungle. The lion asserts the greatest privilege. The bird asserts its privilege in the ability to fly. It picks up the worm, early in the morning. The worm in this sense is preyed upon. They are helpless. They cannot move as deftly as the bird.

Should the more rational human being lament the situation? Should they spend hours and hours crying over something that cannot be changed? Should they go around tossing invectives towards this person and that, without considering the matter further? If a person actually feels guilty over their privilege, there is a simple solution. Give up what you have. Today. Right now. Immediately. That job you think you only received because you belong to a privileged group? Resign. Ask someone else to take the position. Insist that someone in the “oppressed” group rise in stature. If the aim is to only cry about the problem, to ask others to be impacted by a newly introduced system of discrimination, to the exclusion of merit, then perhaps the sentiment is not genuine. Maybe complaining about privilege but doing nothing about it at the personal level is a way to make yourself look kind and generous in front of others. A false front to draw attention to your supposed virtue.

The aim of the human birth is to recognize the disparities in a material existence and use that as impetus for getting out. That is to say, rather than focus on vishesha, which is distinction, contemplate Brahman, which is the Absolute Truth. Realize that both the oppressor and the oppressed are spirit at the core. Understand that the oppressor might one day become the oppressed, either in this lifetime or the next. The oppressed might one day be on the other side. The two-legged animal might one day become a human. This is called transmigration of the soul.

श्रोत्रं चक्षुः स्पर्शनं च
रसनं घ्राणम् एव च
अधिष्ठाय मनश् चायं
विषयान् उपसेवते

śrotraṁ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṁ ca
rasanaṁ ghrāṇam eva ca
adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaṁ
viṣayān upasevate

“The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, tongue, and nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 15.9)

The human birth is for ending transmigration. Finish the cycle. To that end there is dharma. Follow dharma. This is the natural way. Since that dharma has no beginning and no end, it is called sanatana. Real religion is therefore sanatana-dharma. In taking up this call to action, you will find genuine renunciation. We have the historical example of the prince named Bharata. He experienced a privilege that he did not want. It came upon him through no work of his own. It was bestowed upon him by his mother, Queen Kaikeyi, who unfortunately suffered through envy for a brief period of time. That envy was enough to disrupt everything in the kingdom of Ayodhya.

Bharata was now set to be the next king, in violation of protocol. Bharata insisted that the eldest brother, Rama, take the throne. Rama refused, as the order came from the highest authority figure. The father of the two brothers, King Dasharatha, vowed to grant Kaikeyi two wishes. The two brothers were unfortunately caught in the crosshairs of those wishes. Bharata eventually settled upon a compromise. He would take the throne, but only in renunciation. While living in a small hut, Rama would be symbolically represented on the throne by His sandals. In this way, Bharata refused a privilege he felt he did not deserve.

In Closing:

For proper example to see,
Of guilt in privilege to be.

Example of Bharata take,
How sandals a king to make.

Because that throne refusing,
Even if of father’s choosing.

Rama the rightful heir,
Represented in cottage there.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, food chain, hare krishna, life, poem, poems, poetry, privilege