Posted on: 11 Oct 2020
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on October 5, 2020, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
Swāmi replied: There is only one God, whereas, devoted souls are many and they have different tastes regarding their relationships with God. As such, there cannot be any relation or bond between the unimaginable God and devotees due to His unimaginable nature. All these bonds that devotees have with God are only with the imaginable mediated God. When God is mediated, i.e., when He enters into a medium, the medium may be male or female. But generally, it is male. The soul is also mediated by a body, which too, could be either male or female with equal probability. Generally, the male is supposed to protect the female since the male usually has a stronger and more powerful body. The female is generally protected by the male due to her comparatively tender body. Based on this fundamental difference observed among human beings, God is said to be male (Puruṣa) and the soul is said to be female (prakṛti). In Sanskrit, the word puruṣa, which means male, also happens to be a masculine noun (puṃliṅga) and the word prakṛti is a feminine noun (strīliṅga), since in Sanskrit, nouns have gender.
In the Hindu tradition, a woman who is bonded to a man as his married wife is considered to be very precious and holy. This is similar to a devoted soul bonded to God due to devotion. Hence, the media of God are always masculine, whereas, the media of the soul could be either masculine or feminine, in the external sense of the body. Actually, the unimaginable God present in the male medium is beyond gender and the soul present in either a male or a female body is also beyond gender. This distinction of gender is purely limited to the external medium or the body alone.
The man is slightly stronger than the woman. God is vastly more powerful than the soul since God is omnipotent. To indicate this difference in power and capabilities between God and the soul, God generally enters into a male medium. Even though souls could be either male or female from the point of view of their external body, essentially, all souls have a female nature with respect to God. It means that they depend on God for their protection. Hence, all souls are only included under the prakṛti category (creation) and not under the Puruṣa category (Creator) (Prakṛtiṃ Puruṣaṃ caiva...—Gītā). In this two-level classification of Puruṣa and prakṛti, Puruṣa exclusively means God. Prakṛti (creation) is further classified into awareness and inert creation, which is soul (parā prakṛti) and the body (aparā prakṛti), respectively. But it is important to note that awareness or soul is part of prakṛti alone.
Among humans, the soul in a male body is the husband and the protector and the soul in a female body is the wife and the protected. In that sense, the husband can be called puruṣa and the wife can be called prakṛti. But, after all, both the husband and the wife are souls within the relative creation. Beyond them and greater than both of them is God. So, God is said to be Puruṣottama, which means the highest puruṣa. Assuming that the soul in the male body (puruṣa) is higher than the soul in the female body (prakṛti), God is higher than both of them. This then becomes an alternative three-level classification. Another variation of a three-level classification is God, awareness (soul) and inert creation (body). As per this classification, if we look at the latter two categories, the soul in the human being is the puruṣa and the body is prakṛti since the body is inert and is controlled by the soul. Thus, both males and females are combinations of puruṣa and prakṛti.
This difference relation of protector-protected exists in all types of relationships. The male father protects the female daughter; the male brother protects his female sister and so on. For this reason, the comparatively tender females, who also generally wear costly gold ornaments, are advised in the ethical scripture to not go out alone, without the company of a male (Na strī svātantryamarhati). It is said that the girl or woman should be protected by her father before marriage, by her husband after marriage and by her son in her old age (Bālye pitṛvaśā kanyā...). This is misunderstood by women as if their entire freedom is being curtailed by men. So, they are learning martial arts to protect themselves, which is also good in the present circumstances. Actually, the word (na) svātantryam used in the scripture only refers to not going out alone. It does not mean a loss of the woman’s total independence. Misinterpretations always lead to misunderstandings, resulting in enmity among souls.
The Veda says that the so-called males among souls are not only females, but that they are also the wives of God (Striyaḥ satīḥ tāṃ u me puṃsaḥ...). When it is said that all souls are females, it means that all souls belong to prakṛti (creation), which is feminine. When it is said that souls are the wives of God, it means that all souls are maintained and protected by God. The Sanskrit words for husband and wife are bhāryā and bhartā. Bhāryā means the maintained or the protected and bhartā means the protector.
The relationship between the mediated God (Incarnation) and the mediated soul can be of the form of any of the different close worldly relationships like parent-child, husband-wife, brother-brother, brother-sister and lover-lover. There is only one type of relationship that cannot exist between God and the soul. It is a romantic relationship in which God is in a female medium and the soul is in a male medium. For example, God as the wife and the soul as the husband or God as the female lover and the soul as the male lover are not possible. The reason is that God is always the male protector and the soul is always the protected female. This basic relationship cannot be reversed. However, non-romantic relations with God, in which God is in a female medium and the soul is in a male medium are possible, such as mother-son, sister-brother etc.
Love surpassing the above-mentioned romantic relationship can exist in other relationships too. Romance is only a temporary form of love, whereas, love is eternal. Romance does not exist in old age. When Kṛṣṇa’s finger was wounded, all His wives ran in various directions searching for a piece of cloth to bandage the wound. But Draupadī tore a piece from the saree she was wearing and used it as a bandage. She expressed her real love for her brother, Kṛṣṇa! She excelled over all the wives of Kṛṣṇa. Her love for Kṛṣṇa surpassed her love for her costly saree, which is natural for ladies.
All the female deities are devoted souls in female bodies and they love the same unimaginable God existing in different male media. The female deities are also worshipped as God since they are even more powerful than God in the male form. Due to the unimaginable love of the soul for God, these deities have become masters of God and God has become their servant. This is the secret of worshipping the female deity, which is called Śākteyam or the worship of Power (Śakti) as the divine mother. Since the female deity is only a devoted soul, she is more sympathetic to other devoted souls in solving their worldly problems. Hence, more souls are interested in the worship of the female deity.
A soul in a male body attracted to the physical beauty of the female deity is always destroyed, if the attraction is polluted with the idea of romance. Demons attracted to the female deity in that manner are always destroyed because the female deity is already dedicated to God existing in a male medium. Rāvaṇa too was destroyed due to this reason. Sometimes, even God exists in a female medium like God Viṣṇu in the female medium called Mohini. Demons attracted to Mohinī romantically lost the chance of drinking the divine nectar. Rāma and Kṛṣṇa were very beautiful in their physical personalities. Their extreme beauty attracted even male sages so much that they wanted to become ladies and embrace Rāma (Puṃsāṃ mohanarūpāya). This is not the present foolish trend of homosexuality because the sages wanted to embrace Rāma after becoming ladies. Also, the sages did not wish that Rāma should become a lady so that they could embrace Him. They wanted to become ladies themselves. This shows that God should always remain in the male medium alone and the soul can become a female devotee, so that God is always the protector husband and the soul is always the protected wife. In fact, in the next birth, the sages became the female Gopikās and God took up another male medium called Kṛṣṇa. Romance is always linked with the external beauty of the body, which is temporary since it disappears in old age. Love is eternal, which is linked with the divine qualities of the internal personality.
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| Shri Datta Swami | If souls are supposed to worship God as the Father and the divine mother as the Mother, why did some souls like Lakshmi select God as her Husband? | Purusha prakriti Purusha strilinga Prakritim Purusham chaiva Gita Giita Purushottama Na stri svatantryamarhati Balye pitrivasha kanya svatantryam Striyah satih tam u me punsah Śakteyam Punsam mohanarupaya Rama Krishna Vishnu Raama