Hare Krishna.All glories to Srila Prabhupada.It is usually said that souls have no gender and male/female are material forms. But if the material world is the perverted reflection of the spiritual world, then gender should exist in the spiritual world as well in its pure form.Does it mean that when a human reaches a specific spiritual intelligence and becomes God conscious, the gender of the human in that life is the actual gender of his/her individual soul?A Happy God Conscious New Year to everyone.Your servant.
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narada muni, shiva and others , they are transcendental and eternal, but they have a gender.
god has a gender, and therefore every living entity has gender in material or transcendental world.
on another side , pure soul without transcendental or material body cover dont have a gender,
neither male ,female or both.
material and transcendental worlds are just made for lords satisfaction and play.
so, there is transcendental soul in material body in material world,
and transcendental soul in transcendental cover body in material world( narada,shiva..) or gods abode (jaya,vijaya..),
this is examples of pure souls in state without material and before getting transcendental cover body :
SB 10.12.33— From the body of the gigantic python, a glaring effulgence came out, illuminating all directions, and stayed individually in the sky until Kṛṣṇa came out from the corpse’s mouth. Then, as all the demigods looked on, this effulgence entered into Kṛṣṇa’s body.
SB 10.78.10— A most subtle and wondrous spark of light then [rose from the demon’s body and] entered Lord Kṛṣṇa while everyone looked on, O King, just as when Śiśupāla was killed.
.
for ordinary person is very difficult to understand all this, but i tried my best.
It is an interesting question what I have never thought about.
- According to Christianity the soul has a gender. God made humans, "in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26).
- According to Bhaktivinoda Thakura "Sri Krishna is the only purusa; all other souls are prakritis." So, a soul doesn't have a gender in material sense; if yes that would be a feminine gender i.e., all souls would be in the category of feminine gender.
Let us see what Srimad Bhagavatam says:
SB 3.15.20: The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha travel in their airplanes made of lapis lazuli, emerald and gold. Although crowded by their consorts, who have large hips and beautiful smiling faces, they cannot be stimulated to passion by their mirth and beautiful charms.
SB 3.15.21: The ladies in the Vaikuṇṭha planets are as beautiful as the goddess of fortune herself. Such transcendentally beautiful ladies, their hands playing with lotuses and their leg bangles tinkling, are sometimes seen sweeping the marble walls, which are bedecked at intervals with golden borders, in order to receive the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Now, I need help from exalted prabhujies and matajies. Please help me to understand the concept.
Aspect of gender belongs to material body to perform bodily function of producing material body of offsprings. Soul by nature of it being prakriti(marginal potency) has no function to produce. It is simple sat cit ananda.
By nature all souls are prakriti and Krishna is Purusha. But the original form of the soul can be feminine like soul can be a manjari or a gopa, or cow or bull etc. But there is no question of gender. The form is based on the rasa to serve krishna and is not the same as gender of the body. As said earlier there is not question of producing offspring by soul or sex life in spritual world or by soul.
If you are talking about gopis who were present on the earthly planet to perform pastimes with Krsna, then it is naturally understood that there was distinction of body and soul. Gender is attribute of body. But in spiritual world when there is no body but it is just sat cit ananda soul - the soul has its eternal form(permanent not like changing bodies), that form of soul is free from the bodily distinction of gender.
Even in conditioned state the soul doesn't have gender. Simple car (Soul)and driver(body) analogy. Attribute of the car say color has nothing to do with the driver. Because car is red doesn't mean driver is red.
Atma in its true form is of jnana, ananda mayan. Based on its contamination on account of papa- punya karma; it gets a suitable material body. When it becomes free from karma; the Supreme lord awards it a suitable spiritual body based on the spiritual service the jivatma is habituated to perform while in the material world.
as souls get material body in material world, they get transcendental when they come to transcendental.
the difference is that in material world material body is temporary ,and in spiritual is eternal.
something whats temporary is called illusion and something whats eternal is reality .
existing gender of transcendental bodies in spiritual world is not illusion, despite the fact that soul doesnt have gender.
material and transcendental worlds are made for the pleasure of the god and his lilas, there is no other purpose.
here is some examples of pure souls before entering krishnas body:
SB 10.12.33— From the body of the gigantic python, a glaring effulgence came out, illuminating all directions, and stayed individually in the sky until Kṛṣṇa came out from the corpse’s mouth. Then, as all the demigods looked on, this effulgence entered into Kṛṣṇa’s body.
SB 10.78.10— A most subtle and wondrous spark of light then [rose from the demon’s body and] entered Lord Kṛṣṇa while everyone looked on, O King, just as when Śiśupāla was killed.
Replies
narada muni, shiva and others , they are transcendental and eternal, but they have a gender.
god has a gender, and therefore every living entity has gender in material or transcendental world.
on another side , pure soul without transcendental or material body cover dont have a gender,
neither male ,female or both.
material and transcendental worlds are just made for lords satisfaction and play.
so, there is transcendental soul in material body in material world,
and transcendental soul in transcendental cover body in material world( narada,shiva..) or gods abode (jaya,vijaya..),
this is examples of pure souls in state without material and before getting transcendental cover body :
SB 10.12.33 — From the body of the gigantic python, a glaring effulgence came out, illuminating all directions, and stayed individually in the sky until Kṛṣṇa came out from the corpse’s mouth. Then, as all the demigods looked on, this effulgence entered into Kṛṣṇa’s body.
SB 10.78.10 — A most subtle and wondrous spark of light then [rose from the demon’s body and] entered Lord Kṛṣṇa while everyone looked on, O King, just as when Śiśupāla was killed.
.
for ordinary person is very difficult to understand all this, but i tried my best.
trancendental bodies has gender in gods abode, as the material bodies has gender in material.
jaya an vijaya have gender, despite being transcendental in vaikuntha.
Hare Krsna :)
So what would be the gender of Jay and Vijay in Vaikuntha ?
Hare Krishna Siddhant Prabhu!
It is an interesting question what I have never thought about.
- According to Christianity the soul has a gender. God made humans, "in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26).
- According to Bhaktivinoda Thakura "Sri Krishna is the only purusa; all other souls are prakritis." So, a soul doesn't have a gender in material sense; if yes that would be a feminine gender i.e., all souls would be in the category of feminine gender.
Let us see what Srimad Bhagavatam says:
SB 3.15.20: The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha travel in their airplanes made of lapis lazuli, emerald and gold. Although crowded by their consorts, who have large hips and beautiful smiling faces, they cannot be stimulated to passion by their mirth and beautiful charms.
SB 3.15.21: The ladies in the Vaikuṇṭha planets are as beautiful as the goddess of fortune herself. Such transcendentally beautiful ladies, their hands playing with lotuses and their leg bangles tinkling, are sometimes seen sweeping the marble walls, which are bedecked at intervals with golden borders, in order to receive the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Now, I need help from exalted prabhujies and matajies. Please help me to understand the concept.
Your insignificant servant,
Amal
-
Hare Krishna
Aspect of gender belongs to material body to perform bodily function of producing material body of offsprings. Soul by nature of it being prakriti(marginal potency) has no function to produce. It is simple sat cit ananda.
By nature all souls are prakriti and Krishna is Purusha. But the original form of the soul can be feminine like soul can be a manjari or a gopa, or cow or bull etc. But there is no question of gender. The form is based on the rasa to serve krishna and is not the same as gender of the body. As said earlier there is not question of producing offspring by soul or sex life in spritual world or by soul.
YAS Bharat
you said : soul can be a manjari or a gopa, or cow or bull etc. But there is no question of gender.
.
even krishna gopis had a families and kids , so you cant say that they didnt have gender.
devotees of lord have gender even in transcendental abode.
Hare Krsna
If you are talking about gopis who were present on the earthly planet to perform pastimes with Krsna, then it is naturally understood that there was distinction of body and soul. Gender is attribute of body. But in spiritual world when there is no body but it is just sat cit ananda soul - the soul has its eternal form(permanent not like changing bodies), that form of soul is free from the bodily distinction of gender.
Even in conditioned state the soul doesn't have gender. Simple car (Soul)and driver(body) analogy. Attribute of the car say color has nothing to do with the driver. Because car is red doesn't mean driver is red.
YAS Bharat
Atma in its true form is of jnana, ananda mayan. Based on its contamination on account of papa- punya karma; it gets a suitable material body. When it becomes free from karma; the Supreme lord awards it a suitable spiritual body based on the spiritual service the jivatma is habituated to perform while in the material world.
as souls get material body in material world, they get transcendental when they come to transcendental.
the difference is that in material world material body is temporary ,and in spiritual is eternal.
something whats temporary is called illusion and something whats eternal is reality .
existing gender of transcendental bodies in spiritual world is not illusion, despite the fact that soul doesnt have gender.
material and transcendental worlds are made for the pleasure of the god and his lilas, there is no other purpose.
here is some examples of pure souls before entering krishnas body:
SB 10.12.33 — From the body of the gigantic python, a glaring effulgence came out, illuminating all directions, and stayed individually in the sky until Kṛṣṇa came out from the corpse’s mouth. Then, as all the demigods looked on, this effulgence entered into Kṛṣṇa’s body.
SB 10.78.10 — A most subtle and wondrous spark of light then [rose from the demon’s body and] entered Lord Kṛṣṇa while everyone looked on, O King, just as when Śiśupāla was killed.