Equality? Is there such a thing?

 

Sunday morning satsang :

Dr Anant Rambachan spoke this Sunday.  As always it was a thought provoking session.

He started off with his time with his young twin grand daughters who were briefly visiting recently from San Francisco. He enjoyed teaching them to ride their bikes and watching them play and hear their talk and telling them stories etc. As he acknowledged how precious these moments were, he also considered how so many children around the globe were not so fortunate to have a similarly secure childhood. They were caught in the midst of wars, mutilated and themselves killed, seeing their parents killed,  facing starvation, and other horrors. How morally broken we as a society have become that we allow this to continue without saying a word. 

समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रिय: |
ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम् || 29||

samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣhu na me dveṣhyo ’sti na priyaḥ
ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā mayi te teṣhu chāpyaham

At the root of all violence and wars, Dr Rambachan continued to argue, is the notion that one person, or family, or community, or religion, nation, race, gender, way of life, is superior to another!  The idea of supremacy creates a tendency to dominate over another who is deemed as lesser. This is in direct contradiction to what scriptures say.

To highlight the issue he had picked one verse from the Bhagwad Gita. 

Chapter 9 verse 29.

“For me every being is equal. I do not consider anyone that I despise or anyone that I favor. Those who worship me, they are in me and I am in them.”

These are the declarations of Krishna. 

Dr Rambachan, who is an internationally respected scholar on religion and head of the department of religious studies at a Lutheran University in Minnesota, mentioned in his talk about the hierarchy in Christianity. There is God, then Jesus, then Christians who follow the teachings of Jesus and then the rest. Since most of the followers of Christianity were white men, at some point, race got attached to this religion. Society was always patriarchal. So, not only race, but gender too got attached to the concept of hierarchy and supremacy. Thus white men began to identify themselves as true Christians and everyone else was considered subordinate. Although this was definitely not the original teaching of Christ.

In the Hindu religion and also in other faiths, the holy words are similarly and often interpreted by many to suit themselves and to forward their agenda, at the expense of someone else. 

Prof Rambachan was indeed making a very valid point in context of today’s world situation. I am in agreement with this philosophy that every being is equal in the eyes of God; even those who do not follow the word of God, those who do not believe in the presence of God, those who treat the believers with contempt. God still looks at them as his children, albeit misbehaved in various degrees. 

The doctrines in the scriptures are not easy to understand. The text of Bhagwad Gita itself seems self contradictory at places. Even the verse Prof. Rambachan picked for his talk appears to be a paradox by itself, in its two parts.

“ I do not have favorites,

 BUT those who worship me are closer to me “. 

At other places Shri Krishna makes reference to 

“Lower births “!

Chapter 9, verse 32 He refers to women, shudras, vaishyas as paap yonis or sinful births. 

In verse 15 in chapter 14 He says those who die under circumstances when tamas guna prevails, they will be born in “ moodha yonis”, like animals,( species with lower intellects). 

In chapter 16, verses 19,20 He is describing the characteristics of good and evil people ( daivi and asuri sampatti) and ,in that context, states that people with evil tendencies will be born in families with similar traits thus having further downfall and slim chance of liberation. 

We observe on one hand God says every being in his creation is equal and on the other he clearly cites these hierarchies! How is a sincere seeker to reconcile these? 

These paradoxes have always raised questions in my mind. Why has he called women as paap yonis? If God proclaims women as inferior to men, why wouldn’t men treat women any differently?

During my recent trip to Dallas as we were driving to the airport I asked my brother in law “ do you think women have a harder life than men?”.  I was curious to know what a decent man, who is known to treat women with respect and fairness, thinks.  We women think our lives are harder. Is it a skewed opinion ?

  He answered without hesitation “ Absolutely, their life is harder “. So here was some credible perspective that even for men who are fair and objective, women’s lives are harder. 

That suddenly answered my question about paap yonis. The heirarchy was based on how challenging the life for that species would be. Hierarchy is undeniable. It is based on the law of karma. The cumulative merit accrued from previous births and the balance of the three gunas determines our order in the scheme of things. It is in no way a sentence permanently damning any person or species. The path towards salvation, emancipation is open to all through learning and reforming over a linear period of time. Devotion and submission towards a path of goodness are prescribed means for redemption. Men, just by gender at birth, have a head start. But unless living by values of honesty, justice, compassion, equality etc they could easily devolve to a lower status. This part is often forgotten.

Everyone deserves kindness, dignity and grace. It is upon God to confer justice based on the karma, not upon us. Except of course laws and law enforcement who are entrusted these duties in the social context. But even there the principles of justice are to be followed. 

I recall from stories from the Mahabharat where Krishna admonished the Pandavas for using disrespectful words for Duryodhan. They were scolded and reminded of Duryodhan’s strengths and virtues, even if they weren’t many. Thus God never gave his devotees the license to look down upon others. Devotees are required to practice humility of the highest order. 

It is worth considering also: 

What happened to the humility of followers of other religions? 

It is the responsibility of the privileged to stand up for the underprivileged and also to lift them up in whatever way they can. Is this happening around the world?

Are we standing up for our helpers and maids? Are we standing up for the war afflicted? Are we standing up for those suffering due to disease and poverty? 

For that, first we need to become aware of what regards we are privileged and where we can do better. We must recognize existing hierarchies and their impact on lives. 

Prof Rambachan in his talk made another important point. Just as much as it is wrong to consider oneself as superior to others, it is equally wrong to believe than one is inferior to anyone else. 

As I understand it, humility and inferiority are not the same. Where there is humility there is also self respect. Where there is inferiority, there is a compromise of self respect. Therefore one must stand up and demand dignity if someone is denying it to you when they are on a higher level of authority. 

True that women face hardships, certain races face hardships, certain ethnicities face more challenges than others. But that doesn’t mean they should not fight for equal rights, equal opportunities and equal treatment. More often than not, rights are not served on a platter. They require a voice, a demand, a fight. 

As I stated earlier, those who are in a privileged position need to instill humility in themselves to be able to recognize others as equals. Those who are being subjugated must know what is their right. And both must know what is their responsibility. 

And how can one recognize and execute responsibility if they don’t recognize a God and instead consider themselves as kings and emperors. 

It is a tough thing in today’s world to wipe out the differences yet celebrate diversity. The ignorance is astounding and unless people are willing to search their souls, pay heed to wise people, and learn from history, it seems really frightening to think of where our world is headed. 

At the end of it we must recognize this paradox that exists in the universe.

We are all equal.

We are not all equal. 

We are equal in essence and hence deserve to be treated as such by each other.

We are not equal in terms of social opportunities and challenges. This must serve as an incentive to improve ourselves and close the gaps. The manifest world must move towards becoming a reflection of the ideal world. And for that every citizen of the universe needs to find the light. 

One thing is for sure. The scriptures mean no harm or disrespect to anyone. Harm comes only from lesser brains who don’t understand the scriptures. 

Saree is a cotton silk Maheshwari with Ganga Jamuna borders. I had bought this in Pune about 10-15 years back.