RACISM & KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS

The other day someone brought up the topic of experiencing racism. It made me reflect on the topic. What is racism? Am I racist? Have I ever been the recipient of racist behaviors? Is there racism in our society? What would it be like to be discriminated upon due to something unchangeable, the body you received from Krishna – understanding it to be a result of your past activities, pious and impious, your desires.

In Krishna Consciousness, there is NO RACISM.

Am I? Are we situated in Krishna consciousness?

What is RACISM?

I started with the dictionary.

RACISM:

a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

RACE:

a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.

It made me think in a broader way about racism. It is not a question of colour but of “common descent or heredity”. I guess when you look at it this way there are so many more “races”. The Brahmans, street sweepers, ksatriyas…. They also have a common decent and heredity.

According to the example of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, these designations are not too important. He was born in a brahmana family yet he instructed Ramananda Raya who belonged to the sudra caste and also Haridas Thakur, born a Mohamedan. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said to Ramananda Raya (C.C. Madhya 8.128):

kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya

yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei 'guru' haya

"Whether one is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī or a śūdra — regardless of what he is —

he can become a spiritual master if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa."

Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

… Actually the brāhmaṇa is supposed to be the spiritual master of all other varṇas, or classes, but as far as Kṛṣṇa consciousness is concerned, everyone is capable of becoming a spiritual master because knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is on the platform of the spirit soul. To spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one need only be cognizant of the science of the spirit soul. It does not matter whether one is a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, sannyāsī, gṛhastha or whatever. If one simply understands this science, he can become a spiritual master….

Am I RACIST?

My first spontaneous answer is: “of course I am not”. Racism is ugly … so I look deeper, to make sure. Do I relate to others based on their inherited body? or do I see them as an embodied spirit soul. Do I judge people based on their vehicle, the armor around their soul? Do I see others in relation to their place of birth, their upbringing, the way they dress or do I look at the spirit soul inside, the same 1/10,000th the tip of a hair, covered with more or less layers of dressing in one colour or another. Do I fully accept everyone as they are, understanding they are not the covering I see before my eyes, not their vehicle?

Regardless of discomfort in admitting it, I am not totally free from this finer racism. I yet have to see Krishna brightly shining in everyone’s heart, equally.

“The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and

gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].”

(BG 5.18)

Somehow there are still times when I forget who is standing in front of me – an atma with Paramatma covered by a body – and relate to others as the body they are wearing.

Work in progress I will get there.

Have I ever been the recipient of RACISM?

I almost automatically replied that I had no experience of racism. I think I answered too hastily.

Am I ever seen or treated as woman?

Am I ever seen or treated a white Westerner?

Am I ever seen or treated as less intelligent, fat ugly, pretty....?

Am I ever seen or treated older?

Am I ever seen or treated as a married woman?

Am I ever seen or treated my children’s mother?

Am I ever seen or treated my husband’s wife?

While many of the above description may be true and even the proper way to be addressed according to social customs, they are not uplifting.

.

Why is that?

They are all relatively true assumptions of my vehicle... not Me.

I am none of the above.

Not anymore than a black man is black.

I am not this body neither is the black man his body. I am simply passing through this body just as I passed through the body of a child and that of a youth, just as I will pass into another body at death. I am something else than this body.

naham vipra na ca narapatir napi vaisyo na sudro

naham varni na ca grhapatir no vanastho yatir va
kintu prodyan nikhila paramananda-purnamrtabdher
gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanu-dasah

" I am not a brahmana, nor a ksatriya; I am not a vaisya nor a sudra, I am not a brahmacari, nor a householder, not a vanaprastha, not a sannyasi. But since Lord Sri Krsna, the maintainer of the gopis and the overflowing ocean of nectar, is the only source of universal, transcendental bliss,

I claim to be a servant to the servant of the servant of His lotus feet."
(Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 13.8, Padyavali 74)

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon,

nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.

This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble,

and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere,
unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.

It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable.

Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.
BG 2.23-25

Is there RACISM in our society?

Srila Prabhupada often compared the devotees to mangoes, ripe ones and green ones. yes there are green mangoes in our society.

As long as the mango is green there is a sour taste. We can compare the remnants of racism and finer racism, this identification with the body to this sour taste. The sour taste of the green mango is symptomatic of his immaturity and of its impending growth. As it ripens it disappears.

I have great hopes that all acidity will become transformed as we endeavor to chant the holy name without offense and gradually grow into full juicy ripe mangoes, humble sages, pure vaisnavas seeing everyone with equal loving vision…

One step at a time, walking towards Radha Krishna's service and love,

your servant, gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanu-dasah