Krishna-The next gay liberation icon in the west ?

The Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association, Inc. (GALVA)

Pictures from their site


I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all.
But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend,
is in Me, and I am also a friend to him

(The point they are trying to put across is that he likes hugging men in a sexual way )


Krishna once dressed Himself up exactly like Srimati Radharani,
just to create fun among His friends. By seeing this dress, Krishna’s
friend Subala became very astonished."

(The point is Krishna was a cross dresser )

I got this from a website hosted by Hare Krishna devotees I think
(There was no official declaration though)
There literature made it sound like Shri Krishna was some kind of bisexual
god who liked men in the same way he liked women

On searching I found that there exist a vast variety of such sites and almost all are from Hare Krishna devotees in the west

Maybe in a few years time Lord Krishna will be reduced to a gay liberation icon in the west ?

Shri Krishna -Lord of the queers

 

i dont fucking think so = excuse my french. Gays are allready in the military and in high goverment places like they allways have thru out history. forget those strange people by the airport lobby.

 

whats better, a religion that accepts all sexualities or one that condemns al except the officialy acceptable?

 

Like we need another religion ram down our throat. the first 3 major ones are a joke allready.

 

If gay people want to explore the possibilities of spirituality, I can't see what's wrong with that.

 

Ridiculous! thats not what they mean when they give reference to :

I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all.
But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend,
is in Me, and I am also a friend to him

Krishna is not a "man", He is God, you don't understand the perspective they come from.
So gripped are we in the hands of prakriti, we only think of the body , so gripped are we in materialism, there is no place for spirituality in our hearts anymore.

Krishna likes everyone the same way no matter what their present body is. He is God, He is in love with the soul , not the body. You are an idiot if you bring this to some disgusting level that you are bringing it here now.

 

Who is this adressed to Jedi? I don't think Half a Hippie means this in a positive way - I think that's clear from the tone of his post.

If you find gay people 'disgusting' that is your problem.

I was under the impression that the love affairs of Krishna and the Gopis were supposed to be purely spiritual anyway - not sexual in nature. So what would be the difference in the case of a man or a woman?

And what about gays who accept they are gay but give up sexual activity? Are they disgusting too?

 

One further point which exposes the hypocrisy of the Krishna Consciousness movement in the west - they don't hesitate to publicise the famous meeting between Prabhupada and ALLEN GINSBERG - a very prominent figure in the gay liberation movement of the 60s and 70s for propaganda purposes. They don't conceal the fact that Ginsberg was gay, but still they want to capitalize on his fame to promote their own doctrines.


http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET0209/ET09-7547.html

 

BBB, I never said gayism is disgusting, but if he says "The point they are trying to put across is that he likes hugging men in a sexual way " and he gets that idea out of the hugging picture and the bhagavad gita verse, he is a fool.

The idea with the gopis is that we are all pure spiritual souls, yes - and we are all like those gopis who are in love with krishna/ or gopas who are in love with krishna. It has nothing to do with this physical world.

 

contextually, the mythos of hinduism is more accepting of gay culture than what is the basis judeo-christianity although the cultural presentation can be just as caustic as that of the west

and for all the fundementalist ideas that prabhupada had that i am highly critical, he was pro-gay and put first first and foremost, the chanting of hare krishna... although for some bizarre reason he felt he had to debunk the moon landing and western atheistic science for such chanting to take place... prabhupada is quite an anomaly

 

ummmm, the rasa dance has very much to do with this physical world and sensuality

 

once again you fail to appreciate the exchanges that took place in krishna lila... he had many wives and don't you think there was some enjoyment in the sex that took place... material enjoyment is not the problem... desire in the absence of love is the problem

 

“Same-Sex Love in India”
(By Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai)



​

“Same-Sex Love in India” presents a stunning array of writings on same-sex love from over 2,000 years of Indian literature. Translated from more than a dozen languages and drawn from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and modern fictional traditions, these writings testify to the presence of same-sex love in various forms since ancient times. An eminent group of scholars have translated writings for the first time and have retranslated well-known texts to correctly make evident previously underplayed homoerotic content. Selections range from religious books, legal and erotic treatises, story cycles, medieval histories, and biographies, to modern novels, short stories, letters, memoirs, plays, and poems. From the Rig Veda to Vikram Seth, this anthology will become a staple in courses on gender and queer studies, Asian studies, and world literature.”
(“Same-Sex Love in India,” back cover)


“[Arjuna, after being transformed into the beautiful woman Arjuni and worshipping Sri Radhika] saw Krishna whose shiny, curly, fragrant hair was tied with the finest plume of an intoxicated peacock. His ear ornament of flowers attracted swarms of bees, His cheeks shone like mirrors, bright with beelike locks of hair. His expansive forehead was decorated with a lovely auspicious mark. His nose resembled the flower of sesame or the beak of the king of birds. His beautiful smiling lips, red like the bimba fruit, inflamed desire. He was charming on account of His necklace, which resembled a wildflower. His broad shoulders were covered with a garland of the divine tree, and attracted thousands of female bees… His beautiful waist resembled that of a lion, and His navel was very deep. His knees were like a good tree, rounded, and not too far apart. He was adorned with excellent ornaments—bracelets, armlets and anklets. His penis was covered with a part of His yellow garments. His beauty and charm excelled that of a choir of love gods. Enchanting were the charming melodies produced by His flute. He enchanted the three worlds and immersed them in the ocean of happiness. His every limb seemed to be that of the god of love, satiated with the pleasure of rasa.

“On seeing Radhika humbly offering a betel leaf to the One with the charming smile, Who seemed to be to Her left, Arjuniya was overcome with desire. Seeing her in that state, the all-knowing Hrishikesa [Krishna] took her hand and indulged in all the sports in the forest. The Great Lord sported with her secretly, at will. Then putting His arm on her shoulder, and coming to Sharada, He said: ‘Quickly bathe this slender, gently smiling lady, who is exhausted with play, in the western lake.’

“The goddess Sharada took her to the western lake and said: ‘Bathe here,’ and the tired one did as she was told. She who entered the water was transformed once again into Arjuna, and rose at the spot where the Lord of the gods and of Vaikuntha stood. Krishna, seeing that Arjuna was depressed and heartbroken, touched him with His magic hand, so that he became aware of his nature.

“Shri Krishna said: ‘O Dhananjaya, I bless you, my dear [male] friend. There is none equal to you in the three worlds, as you know My secret. O Arjuna, you will curse Me if you talk to anyone about the secret which you wanted to know and have experienced.’”

From the “Padma Purana” 5.74.60-198
(Excerpt from “Same-Sex Love in India” p. 92-93)

 

sigh, there is no point to this, all I can say is first develop bhakti , then you will know what you are talking about.

The wives of krishna actually represents the prakriti, which is everything other than the supreme purusha sri krishna, and that includes you and me, but this is something that you will not understand through your thinking just yet, develop bhakti then you will see.

 

Krishna then isn't Bhraman because Brahman is 'one without a second' (Swami Nikhilananda).

But also, the Gopis are said to represent souls - not prakriti, but purusha.

Don't you think though that the tone of this is a little bit patronizing? Do you know Molly? If not I don't see how you can say she doesn't have Bhakti already -
Unless of course you think to have bhakti means simply to agree un-critically with every word spoken by Prabhupada.

 

How so?

 

Ditto...I learned it last night... I didn't think there was anything sensual about it...physical in not trying to fall on my bum though...lol...but I thought it was fun...and very spiritual...because the people who I pray with every week took me and now we were sharing something fun and I don't know it has this spiritual, blissful level to it... rasa is fun; garba is even better!

 

Jedi

Go check out the website yourself

www.galva108.org

what I posted is what I percieved on their website

Tell me what your impression of them is

Clearly that was their whole point, I think
because when you enter a site with a name like that
and see a picture of two men hugging each other
What else can it mean ?

I don't think it will be far-fetched to say that these people
have wet dreams about shri krishna every night .

BBB

I lack clarity on my stand on homosexuality and bisexuality
and have issues with bisexuality

 

Maybe it is patronizing, I am sorry if I came across that way, but what I was trying to say is that one has to develop bhakti to understand why rasa dance is not a physical thing. The gopis are spiritual entities as well as Krishna who is the Purusha from which everything comes out.

I am not a fan of prabhupada, you can keep those comments where they belong BBB, critical thinking is all well and good, but sometimes you need to just accept things to experience those things again later on.

 

OK - I tell you what I think about this, just to clarify -

I'm not gay myself - I'm not attracted to other men sexually. Thats point 1.
I have met and known many gay people over the years, and some of them are very nice people, well intentioned, sensitive and in some cases, spiritual.
I don't really consider homosexuality to be a 'moral' issue. It seems to me that some people are just that way - whether because of nature or nurture I can't say.
I think many hetrosexual men feel a bit threatened by gays and bi-sexuals, and I think that accounts for some of the prejudice etc. along with the usual fear of anyone or anything that is a bit different.

In the UK until the early 60's, homosexuality was illegal, and when caught, many gays were sent to jail. Some of these people were otherwise well respected and useful members of society, who were making a real contribution. One case known to me is of a gentleman who was the headmaster of a private school. There was never any suggestion that he was either seeking to instill homosexuality in his pupils, and certainly no irregular behaviour ever occured between him and any boy in his care. However, he was prosecuted for homosexulity, jailed and kicked out of his job.
He is now retired, but until quite recently he worked at a free law centre, and doubtless helped many people, including many who are socially disadvantaged, in many ways - including many probably who would have thought less of him had they known the truth.

In Britain now, gays are pretty well protected by law. We even have openly gay policemen, inc. one who is a deputy commisioner of the Metropolitan Police.
It would be very disfunctional for our society to go back to the old days of intolerance.

But HH, I think there's actually a wider issue here too. Some followers of spiritual paths say sex is for reproduction only, and in effect, one is better off giving it up.
If one accepts that position (which after much thought, and experience I don't) then it's hard to see any real big difference between hetro or homo sexual activity for any other end.
Some say that homosexuality is 'un-natural' - but I have actually seen male rabits doing it! It's not just humans. And gay people say that their sexuality is natural to them.

I think a live and let live attitude is the best thing. But I don't see why, if we allow that active hetrosexuals can advance spiritually, we should think gays can't.

Another set of issues probably exist around portrayal of traditional religious figures in a gay context. For instance, over here back in the 80's we had a 'blasphemy' trial where the defendants were a gay newspaper, who had published a poem about Jesus cucifixion from the standpoint of one of the Roman soldiers who cucified him who is gay -
There have been cotroversial movies - 'Sebastian' being one that springs to mind. This was about St.Sebastian, and once again the film had a strong gay content -
There have been numerous other instances too. But I don't think that it affects the general perception of Jesus Christ among ordinary people - I think mainly he is still seen as an asexual figure.
In the case of Krishna things are more complex, as some see the stories of His love affairs with the Gopis as sexual in nature. I'm not sure they're really meant to be taken in that light, and certainly to attribute bi-sexuality to Krishna is absurd.