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color:maroon"">Question: Is Krishna (God) Male, Female, or Both?

In talking with friends about God, they struggle to understand when I refer to God as He. They believe that because everything comes from God then He must be a She also. They also find itextremely hard to refer to God as He due to past negative experiences growingup as Christians. They feel that referring to God as He does not liberate themas females. I'm not sure how to handle their objections.mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"""> 10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""">

Can everyone look to God the way that works for them? Why is God male and notfemale? Or is he sexless but appeared as male on earth? Thinking about myfriends struggle I'm now getting confused writing this to you.

Would you be so kind as to help educate me about the male/female-ness of God?

C.S.

color:maroon"">Answer: All Aspects Are Present in Krishna or God

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The masculine and feminine natures must both be present in God, since God is the source of all existence. Radha is the feminine aspect of the Supreme and Krishna is the masculine aspect. Weaddress God as "Radha Krishna" acknowledging both the masculine andfeminine aspects. We first address the feminine aspect of God because thefeminine aspect is more softhearted and easily approachable than the masculineaspect. In the Hare Krishna mantra we first utter "Hare" addressingRadha, the feminine aspect of God, before we utter Krishna to address themasculine aspect. So our Hare Krishna mantra calls out to God as"She-He."11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"""> "Times New Roman""">

As long as someone is attached to thinking themselves to be a male or a female,they will remain on the material non-liberated platform. It is only when onerealizes, "I am not my material body. I am instead a spirit-soul who isthe eternal servant of God." that they can become liberated. A male doesnot become liberated by thinking that because I am male, God must also be male.Similarly, a female does not become liberated by thinking that because I amfemale God must be female. God is not a subjective relativity conjured up inour fertile imagination. God is a scientific reality, the source of allexistence.

Since God is the original impregnating seed-giver for all of existence, in Hisoriginal form He must be male. Even though He sometimes manifests the femaleform of Mohini-murti, still in his original form He is male because the femaledoes not give the seed to impregnate the male. It is the other way around. Itis the male that impregnates the female. These are nature's laws. They cannotbe changed. Because God is the supreme impregnator of the entire existence, Hemust therefore be male.

When one becomes spiritually perfect and perceives the original form of theSupreme Personality of Godhead, the source of all existence, one will see thatHe is manifesting a male form. To expand His enjoyment that Supreme Personmanifests from Himself His feminine aspect, Srimati Radharani. It is onlythrough the mercy of Radharani, our divine mother, that we can approach ourdivine father, Lord Sri Krishna. So, since in one sense God's feminine aspectis more important and in another sense God's masculine aspect is moreimportant, both of them are given equal importance by learnedtranscendentalists.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari