When social justice is not defined in the West in terms of caste discrimination how can bhakti be seen as promoting social justice here?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
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Thank you. Hare Krishna I understand That’s true, yeah Yeah I understand So in the western world their social justice is very different from the idea of caste system, so how can we we are actually perceived as orthodox as restrictive or regressive, so how can we present the idea of social justice in today’s world with respect to bhakti wisdom Yeah, there is there is the there is the body, there is the soul and there is a process from rising to bodily consciousness to the spiritual consciousness and much of what is talked about as social justice is based on is based on body based discrimination whether it be gender whether it be sexual orientation or it be the race of one’s birth or whatever now if we align ourselves with any of these causes bhakti is not for feminism but then it is not all for male chauvinism also sometimes we may criticize feminism but then feminism has arisen as a reaction to something and when we start taking sides in any social debate then we alienate others who are not a part of the debate or who are on the other side and yes there are some things which are right about there are some every thought system if you see that some things are right some things are wrong about it so if we focus on the principle that we are not the body and then at the bodily level how people are going to function that is something which can be individually worked out if we try to we are a spiritual movement if we try to become a movement that creates material structures and systems it is going to be very difficult and even if we succeed in creating something that works at one place it is unlikely that it will work at another place because the culture and things like that are so different in different parts of the world so if we present ourselves as a movement that is recommending or insisting on a particular material arrangement in society then we will be perceived as old school as anti social justice almost but if we focus on this was the take off point that was there traditionally and this was why it was favorable but the point is not to create the take off point the point is to take off the point is to rise from material consciousness to spiritual consciousness so there was a certain social structure which is favorable for that now is our goal to recreate that social structure so that people can practice spiritual life if it is if it is uncool to bhakti that is fine but if that very social structure becomes unfavorable starts alienating people then we have to know that if we focus on the principle that whatever be the bodily bodily things bodily gender, bodily inclination bodily orientation that is not as important as the soul’s longing for Krishna and we are facilitating that soul to rise up towards Krishna if we do that then we will we can actually present bhakti as universal so Prabhupada’s approach if we see with respect to various issues if we consider say the issue of gender Prabhupada in his books often talks about how women need to be protected and they should be under the protection of appropriate male at the same time if we see what Prabhupada did overall if the women were brought up in a traditional Indian kind of culture where they grew up in a particular way he encouraged them to continue that social role and practice bhakti in that role but when his disciples were from the west where they had grown up almost like men and women are equal then he engaged them in service appropriately it’s not that he forced people to change their social mode so that they can practice bhakti the principle in my understanding is that we don’t have to make bhakti more difficult than it needs to be controlling our mind and senses is difficult enough but on top of that if we add that you have to fit this social mold then that is not going to work so yes we could say that living in a farm eco-friendly society and practicing bhakti is free that is wonderful, yes it is good but for people who have lived with lot of say in urban places lot of comfort if we tell them that to practice bhakti you have to go and live in a village then that itself will be so difficult that they will not practice bhakti some people who have lived in cities but they are fried out with city life I want to go to a village or live in a farm, chant Hare Krishna that’s what I want to do, wonderful that facility is there so to the extent we make the material structure mandatory for the practice of bhakti to that extent we will come off as anti-social justice but to the extent we present the material structure as facilities for spiritual growth which is universal and we focus on the principle of spiritual growth and then depending on time, place, circumstances we create facilities for people to practice bhakti according to where they are at then they will grow wonderfully in bhakti so we can’t compromise the principle that we are all meant to grow spiritually that we are not the body souls were meant to love Krishna at the bodily level how we adjust things that is something which we all have to not whimsically just capitulate to the social ideas but intelligently present so that from where people are they can rise up otherwise I’ll conclude with this point that at one time I was sick for almost like one year and doctors were trying to detect what was the problem and they had taken so many blood samples that my whole hand was filled with blood with pins, with pricks of the injection so the nurse once came to take a blood sample and that nurse was almost touching my hand for ten minutes to find out where they could pierce the needle so that it would not pain so much that nurse could have said if you have got so many wounds on your body that’s your problem, my problem is I have to take the blood and if you pierced me wherever I already have a wound, I would have hurt unbearably I learned a lot they don’t do that so the point I am making is if people have certain sore spots then if we are meant to be like spiritual doctors who are giving the medicine yes the medicine piercing the body with the injection is going to cause pain but it is our responsibility to cause as less pain as possible sometimes in the name of saying that we will not compromise we may become insensitive and pierce people where it hurts them the most and then they will just go away at least when people are sick they understand I have a sick, I need a doctor but people don’t even understand that they are sick so they will just go away we have to present our message and sometimes our message is going to ruffle feathers sometimes it is going to hurt people anger people but that is for the sake of their spiritual elevation but we don’t have to make that message more alienating or agitating than it needs to be so if people have some sore spots we have to present bhakti in such a way that it doesn’t aggravate their sore spots we can do that then the principle of spiritually universal access for everyone is actually very resonant with the ethos of social justice does that address the question? thank you very much do we have time? let’s go