By Brahma prabhu – http://www.swami.org/sanga

Question:     I do not understand how your spiritual mission is assisting in changing the world in order to free it of the misconceptions and limitations of gender. Certainly there is no name for an order of renunciate women in your mission, and they are not awarded the same.
Religion attempts to control evolution with texts and separation, in a way that I can not attribute to the Supreme, because it is man and his laws.

Answer:      Dear *****,

You might want to browse www.vaisnavi.com a website for women in Krishna consciousness. Swami Tripurari's and other devotees responses to similar questions are posted there. Your statement "assisting in changing the world in order to free it of the misconceptions and limitations of gender" is interesting. Historically women have been the most abused section of society, indeed John Lennon wrote that women are the niggers of the world as women are even abused (often the most abused) in downtrodden societies and classes. Still the world is gradually changing and the power of women is increasing almost everywhere, but increasing power or prosperity is not what spirituality is about. Essential spirituality helps one overcome the limitations of race or gender by teaching one to transcend the material conception of self. Historically women have mostly been denied power but when women do come to power what is to keep them from abusing it. Power corrupts and abuse of power is not the domain of men alone. Powerful and corrupt queens like Marie Antoinette (let them eat cake) or business leaders like Leona Helmsley (the queen of mean) have shown that women in power can be as abusive as any man. Therefore in spirituality overcoming limitations is not about obtaining power.

Bhagavad Gita discusses overcoming the limitations of birth, race, and gender in Chapter 9 text 32 where it says that women or other abused sections of society can obtain the supreme destination by taking shelter of Krishna. This refers to taking shelter of Krishna in an essential sense not just socially because we see that even in religious societies women are sometimes abused.

A soul born a women today may take birth as a man tomorrow. Both positions must face the limitations of their karma. Is a poor man better off than a rich women because he is not a woman? The answer to that question depends on onesrealization because according to the Gita a poor person, man or woman, who has spiritual realization is better off than a king or queen. The Gita teaches that regardless of our birth or social position we should try to transcend karma and thus become truly free.

Thank you for your question and for reading Sanga.

Best wishes,
Sanga Editor