What is the Vedic perspective of homosexuality?
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Question from Keshav Prabhu. What is the Vedic perspective of homosexuality? Is it birth or due to changing culture? In India, the concept of homosexuality was not known, at least to older people. But now we see media and human rights activists hiring the agenda of homosexual marriage and it is becoming a common part of society now.
If the homosexual people are not listened, will it not affect them psychologically? How can this abnormality be minimized? Do they deserve the right of entering temples? Will not the association of these people affect the people in general in their way of thinking? And leave wrong impressions on temples? Should separate temples of society be made for them to practice Krishna Consciousness? Answer, this is a delicate and complex sociological issue and wherever scriptural principles are to be applied in formulating social policies, things have to be done very thoughtfully and sensitively. And in a sense, there will not be any universal mandates or there will not be unanimity on how things can be applied to specific changing social situations. With respect to social situations, Shri Prabhupada himself would demonstrate flexibility.
Sometimes he said that devotees can wear normal clothes, normal civil clothes while going out for distribution. Other times he said they should wear Hruthi Kurta. This is an example of in a changing cultural context, a scriptural principle can be applied differently even by an Acharya.
I want to speak of others. So first and foremost, everybody deserves respect. Whatever be their sexual orientation, whatever be their conditioning, whatever be their external bodily situation.
We as devotees who understand that we are not the body, we are the soul. We need to be able to see people first and foremost as souls, as parts of Krishna. And thereafter everything else.
So if Shri Prabhupada had not had this vision of seeing everyone as potential soul, as souls with the potential for devotion for Krishna, then he would not have been able to even stay in America, in the Boweries and in the Hippie land, where from the orthodox cultural puritanical point of view, people were extremely degraded in a very public and distasteful way. Especially distasteful for the sensibilities of somebody who had been a pure Vaishnava, living in a relatively pure cultural context in India. So Shri Prabhupada saw beyond their conditionings and saw their souls and encouraged whatever spark of devotion that they had.
So whatever be people's sexual orientation, that is a feature of the body. And we need to see beyond the body to the soul. And recognize that they also are parts of Krishna and they need, they are also ultimately looking for Krishna.
So one understands, especially if somebody starts practicing devotional service, then we should see them first of all as devotees and then whatever else might be there. And to discriminate against devotees based on their bodily situation is actually Vaishnavi jati buddhi. It is a materialistic mentality that can even be offensive.
Just as we say that we should not discriminate between devotees based on whether a devotee is born in a Brahminical family or a Shudra family, a devotee is born in India or America. Similarly, just as being born in a particular country or a particular caste is a bodily characteristic. Similarly, one's sexual orientation is also a bodily characteristic.
And we should not discriminate against these devotees. They deserve the respect that all other devotees are entitled to just for the fact that they are devotees of Krishna. And they also need to be encouraged in Krishna consciousness.
So that's why it's not that we should treat people who are having homosexual orientations to be some modern version of untouchables, where we can't allow them to come to temples and we have to keep them at a distance as if they are some something perverse or something evil. That is very, it is not just politically incorrect today, but it is incorrect from the philosophical perspective also. Now, going beyond bodily vision applies not only to others, it applies also to the homosexuals.
The whole agitation for the right of homosexuals that is there in civil society today is because they are identifying with their body and are identifying with their sexual orientation and are perpetuating their sexual orientation. Now, when we become devotees, we want to go beyond the body and the bodily conditionings. So, the difference between the homosexual orientation and say birth in a Shudra family or birth in a Mleksha country is that those births don't directly obstruct our practice of devotional service or they don't militate against the practice of devotional service.
Whereas, the homosexual orientation often impels people to behave in a way that makes them violate the principle of no illicit sex. And traditionally, marriage is for procreation and that is between man and woman. And in homosexuality, there is no concept of copulation being united with procreation.
It is primarily for pleasure and it is in that sense against the principles of Dharma. So, if a person with a homosexual orientation becomes a devotee, such a person should also recognize that I am not my bodily conditioning and I need to go beyond my bodily conditioning. Certainly, for them to get over their bodily conditioning is much more challenging.
And actually, because it's much more challenging, they need more encouragement and more help. Now, is homosexuality a result of culture or birth? It can be both. Sometimes, when a person dies and the person is too attached to the body, then as per the karma, the person is born next life in the opposite gender.
But what the person is still, because of that attachment to the previous body, is physically in a body of a particular gender, but psychologically is in another body. And that's how this homosexual orientation comes up. When the soul doesn't get integrated properly into the body that it is presently, then it leads to this kind of homosexual orientation.
Now, actually to misidentify with the body that we have is bad enough. But to misidentify with a body that we don't have, that we had in the previous life, is actually worse. And those who are in this particular situation need help in overcoming their bodily conditionings and their particular orientation.
But the idea that when they identify with their bodily conditioning and start demanding rights for the perpetuation of their bodily conditioning, then that becomes a violation, that militates against the spiritual principles. And that needs to be discouraged sympathetically, gently, respectfully, but that needs to be discouraged, that needs to be countered. So, certainly for them to practice devotional service, to follow the regulative principles is difficult.
It is almost like taking the vow of sannyas. And because it is difficult, they need to be supported. They need to be encouraged.
If they are discriminated against, that only makes things more difficult for them. So, both from the side of the devotee community, as well as from the individual devotees, we need to see beyond the body to the soul and encourage the soul to act at the spiritual level and not perpetuate the bodily misidentification, the bodily tendency by that particular way of behaving. So, those who have this kind of orientation, by birth, by genetic orientation, from the modern scientific perspective, basically our genes are created by genetic orientation, genetic disposition, is an expression of our past life subhava, which manifests as our dislike nature, our past life karma, which manifests as our dislike subhava.
So, now, there are of course other people who are just so uncontrolled in their sexual desires that they just want to indulge and they don't care whether the partner is of the opposite sex or of the same sex. So, that sort of thing is rabidly against devotional principles and that definitely has to be given up. But where the person has no attraction to the member of the same sex and has of the opposite sex and has attraction to the members of the same sex, then culturally, the devotional culture may make things a little bit more difficult for them to practice and they will have to take the necessary precautions.
Generally, in devotional culture, there is separation of sexes and separation of genders means that there is often close proximity of members of the same gender. So, men stay with men and women stay with women. So, this makes things more difficult for them.
And for such people to actually stay in the devotional community without acting on their impulses can be a great challenge. And they shouldn't act on their tendencies and disturb the minds of others. They need that level of self-control.
And they need to recognize that by the practice of devotional service, it is possible to develop that level of self-control. So, actually, yes, for them, the starting point in devotional service may be a little far off. They have to struggle more.
But actually, devotional service is so potent that once one starts off, the starting point soon becomes irrelevant because devotional service helps us to advance very swiftly. So, they have to be very cautious that they should not act out their tendencies with other devotees and especially other devotees of the same gender, which is what they will be attracted to. And from the cultural perspective, if some people do in this way, and then they will create a disturbance in the devotee community and then it is best for them to practice devotional service, but from a distance and not mix too much in the devotee community.
But if they can curb their impulses and can purify them by intense devotional service, then definitely they can practice devotional service in the devotee community also. But if they have this tendency, they should inform a senior devotee who is mature and broad-minded, at the same time is also practical and sound-headed so that they can get guidance about how they can practice devotional service properly without unnecessary disturbance or discrimination against them and without unnecessary disturbance for others also. So, it is a challenge how this can be done and there are no quick answers to this.
And in every situation, every person will have to individually find out the best situation and practice devotional service. Everybody has their own challenges in devotional service and everybody needs to be encouraged and everybody needs to find a conducive situation where they can practice devotional service. So, the basic principle is look beyond the body, whether it is other devotees or we and but it's not just idealistic, theoretical looking beyond the body.
Practically also, we need to have a cultural context where one can act so that one can gradually go beyond the bodily condition. Thank you.