Misogyny, MGTOW and the Bhagavatam
Radhe Radhe. The other day I mentioned the name of Gaurahari Das Babaji at Bhagavata Niwas. I had hoped to talk to him before leaving, but he apparently has a kutir in Radha Kund also, so I was thwarted. Bhagavata Niwas has certainly become steadily more vibrant over the past two years since he made his presence felt there. Bhagavata path, regular kirtan for kunja bhanga and other actions accompanying the deity service, the deity worship of all the Giridharis is unique and striking.
Moreover, the grounds seem much better taken care of, with Babajis themselves actively taking care of the gardens, including vegetable plots. Garbage disposal is still a problem, but not as bad as before. But there was a vibrancy of bhajan in the air. All the sadhus there appear to be serious sadhakas and the doors-closed policy to external visitors milling around during the day is a good one. This place is too holy to be not protected. It is my fervent prayer that the difficulties that currently exist between Bhagavata Niwas and the disciples of Haridas Shastri will be washed away by a common love for this religion of the Bhagavata.
So I was writing that Gaurahari Das Baba took on Kapila's verses to Devahuti, describing the birth of a reincarnating jiva who is undergoing the misery of being born into this world and has the opportunity of a human life whereby he can cultivate spiritual life and be free from this unending cycle of birth, old age, disease and death. But Kapila warns that there are dangers and none is greater than the attraction to woman. Let us not quibble here, the instruction is for men. These verses are somewhat problematic for those who are sensitive to the issues raised by feminism, but what I liked was Gaurahari Das Babaji's mild-mannered but uncompromising joy at the truth contained in these words.
If therefore, the living entity again becomes influenced by sensually-minded people engaged in the pursuit of sexual enjoyment and the gratification of the palate, he takes to the path of irreligion, and enters the darkness as before. (3.31.32)
One should avoid association at all costs with those lamentable creatures who have become the playthings of women. They are lacking in peace, are constantly bewildered, and their concept of self is fragmented. By keeping such company, one loses the qualities of truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, gravity, intelligence, modesty, beauty, reputation, forgiveness, control of the mind and senses, and good fortune.
Indeed there is no enchantment more powerful, no bondage for a man more sure than that which comes through the association of women and through the association of the womanizer. (SB 3.31.33-35)
Other than Narayana Rishi, what man is there in this universe created by that same Lord Brahma and his descendants, whose intelligence will not be disturbed by the Maya in the form of woman?
Just behold the power of my Maya in the form of woman, who places the conquerors of all the directions under her feet with the mere movement of her eyebrows.
This is in fact a trope that can sometimes be found in the secular poets. See for example Śṛṅgāra-śataka 10, where one word for woman, abalā or "weak" is constrasted with her powers (bala):
One who wishes to attain the highest rungs of the yoga ladder, or one who has attained the Self through service to me should keep out of the maddening company of woman.
So what I liked about Gaurahari's presentation was that he did not tiptoe around these verses, which are meant to be the most realistic statement on the nature of bondage in the world.
In our society today we have distanced ourselves to a great extent from this view. In the Bhagavatam epoch, the concept of a happy social environment based on a religious-minded householder life would have been the civilizational norm. Nevertheless, even within that context, the Bhagavatam is at its soul fundamentally committed to the vision of renunciation and places sexual desire, even in its most benign forms, at the very center of the process of material bondage in a direct proportion : the greater one's sensuality or lustfulness, the deeper one becomes immersed in darkness.
I noticed that Gaurahari Dasji did not shy away from other texts that dealt with the matters of renunciation of a life based on the illusory hopes that are engendered by sexual desire. Even the householder wishing to find some fulfillment of his romantic hopes would do well to take a big dose of the "red pill" of vairagya.
I have not mentioned MGTOW on this blog before. I have to confess that the misogyny aspect of MGTOW -- which is what they are usually accused of -- kept me a bit shy about feeling comfortable with the most fervent preachers of the red pill message, who often present themselves as macho males whose ideal is still the stone-age hunter, big drinking, NRA-supporting, motorcycle-riding guys from middle America. Trump voters. Not exactly my world.
But what the MGTOW people recognize is that they are living in a world where women already rule. Where Maya in the form of the sexual attractiveness of the female form is the unattainable carrot that somehow keeps a man a slave in this world. And, as Kapila Deva says, "Even the emperor falls down at the feet of his queen or mistress." If she is not happy, the rest of it quickly becomes a hell.
And, although I have spoken a lot about erotic love on this blog, often taking a somewhat romantic viewpoint, This does not mean that I am not aware of the "myth of romantic love" about which I wrote something, but never got into a fuller discussion, even though I feel it provides some direction to understanding the psychological dimensions of Radha-Krishna bhakti and a good counterpoint to the romanticism that arose in Christendom. The point being, that whether it is Radha-Krishna or Tristan-Iseult, let it be known that erotic love of the most passionate kind only leads to unhappiness, indeed to the most unmitigated disastrous misery that a human being can call upon himself. And yet it seems to be an illusion with a tremendously long shelf-life in the human psyche. A religious belief without a religion.
Taking the "red pill" means to disabuse oneself of the romantic idea that there can be two bodies with but one soul. Unfortunately, though most in the MGTOW crowd recognize that living without a romantic relationship with a woman is a sign of intelligence, and that self-control is an important ingredient in that independence, they are not very interested in trying to master the sexual instinct for a higher purpose, a higher and more beatific independence. The time spent trying to please women in order to gain entry into their flowery boudoirs could so much better be spent in productive pursuits and entertainments, what to speak of those activities that take us into the inner world, to the True Self.
The only way the romantic ideal, so cherished somewhere deep in our collective unconscious, when desire for it springs forth from the jungle of archetypes into our concrete reality, may remotely be concretized is if
a pure-hearted sadhaka couple,
having internalized a distrust for selfish lust,
share an unbreakable commitment
to following a common spiritual path,
for learning the practices that lead to prema,
and learn to communicate
through a mutually intelligible sacred language,
the vibrations of the Holy Name,
and silence.
Moreover, the grounds seem much better taken care of, with Babajis themselves actively taking care of the gardens, including vegetable plots. Garbage disposal is still a problem, but not as bad as before. But there was a vibrancy of bhajan in the air. All the sadhus there appear to be serious sadhakas and the doors-closed policy to external visitors milling around during the day is a good one. This place is too holy to be not protected. It is my fervent prayer that the difficulties that currently exist between Bhagavata Niwas and the disciples of Haridas Shastri will be washed away by a common love for this religion of the Bhagavata.
So I was writing that Gaurahari Das Baba took on Kapila's verses to Devahuti, describing the birth of a reincarnating jiva who is undergoing the misery of being born into this world and has the opportunity of a human life whereby he can cultivate spiritual life and be free from this unending cycle of birth, old age, disease and death. But Kapila warns that there are dangers and none is greater than the attraction to woman. Let us not quibble here, the instruction is for men. These verses are somewhat problematic for those who are sensitive to the issues raised by feminism, but what I liked was Gaurahari Das Babaji's mild-mannered but uncompromising joy at the truth contained in these words.
yady asadbhiḥ pathi punaḥ śiśnodara-kṛtodyamaiḥ
āsthito ramate jantus tamo viśati pūrvavat
satyaṁ śaucaṁ dayā maunaṁ buddhir hrīḥ śrīr yaśaḥ kṣamā
śamo damo bhagaś ceti yat-saṅgād yāti saṅkṣayam
teṣv aśānteṣu mūḍheṣu khaṇḍitātmasv asādhuṣu
saṅgaṁ na kuryāc chocyeṣu yoṣit-krīḍā-mṛgeṣu ca
na tathāsya bhaven moho bandhaś cānya-prasaṅgataḥ
yoṣit saṅgād yathā puṁso yathā tat-saṅgi-saṅgataḥ
prajāpatiḥ svāṁ duhitaraṁ dṛṣṭvā tad-rūpa-dharṣitaḥ |
rohid-bhūtāṁ so'nvadhāvad ṛkṣa-rūpī hata-trapaḥ ||
Lord Brahma himself was overcome by the beauty of his own daughter and shamelessly ran after her, taking the form of a stag when she took that of a doe.
tat-sṛṣṭa-sṛṣṭa-sṛṣṭeṣu ko nv akhaṇḍita-dhīḥ pumān |
ṛṣiṁ nārāyaṇam ṛte yoṣin-mayyeha māyayā ||
Other than Narayana Rishi, what man is there in this universe created by that same Lord Brahma and his descendants, whose intelligence will not be disturbed by the Maya in the form of woman?
balaṁ me paśya māyāyāḥ strī-mayyā jayino diśām |
yā karoti padākrāntān bhrū-vijṛmbheṇa kevalam ||
This is in fact a trope that can sometimes be found in the secular poets. See for example Śṛṅgāra-śataka 10, where one word for woman, abalā or "weak" is constrasted with her powers (bala):
nūnaṁ hi te kavi-varā viparīta-vāco
ye nityam āhur abalā iti kāminīs tāḥ |
yābhir vilolitara-tāraka-dṛṣṭi-pātaiḥ
śakrādayo'pi vijitās tv abalāḥ kathaṁ tāḥ |
Surely the poets are confused when they call woman the "weaker sex," for even the king of the gods is overcome when the playful pupils of a woman's eye turn towards him. How then can they be called weak?
saṅgaṁ na kuryāt pramadāsu jātu
yogasya pāraṁ param ārurukṣuḥ |
mat-sevayā pratilabdhātma-lābho
vadanti yā niraya-dvāram asya ||
One who wishes to attain the highest rungs of the yoga ladder, or one who has attained the Self through service to me should keep out of the maddening company of woman.
So what I liked about Gaurahari's presentation was that he did not tiptoe around these verses, which are meant to be the most realistic statement on the nature of bondage in the world.
In our society today we have distanced ourselves to a great extent from this view. In the Bhagavatam epoch, the concept of a happy social environment based on a religious-minded householder life would have been the civilizational norm. Nevertheless, even within that context, the Bhagavatam is at its soul fundamentally committed to the vision of renunciation and places sexual desire, even in its most benign forms, at the very center of the process of material bondage in a direct proportion : the greater one's sensuality or lustfulness, the deeper one becomes immersed in darkness.
I noticed that Gaurahari Dasji did not shy away from other texts that dealt with the matters of renunciation of a life based on the illusory hopes that are engendered by sexual desire. Even the householder wishing to find some fulfillment of his romantic hopes would do well to take a big dose of the "red pill" of vairagya.
I have not mentioned MGTOW on this blog before. I have to confess that the misogyny aspect of MGTOW -- which is what they are usually accused of -- kept me a bit shy about feeling comfortable with the most fervent preachers of the red pill message, who often present themselves as macho males whose ideal is still the stone-age hunter, big drinking, NRA-supporting, motorcycle-riding guys from middle America. Trump voters. Not exactly my world.
But what the MGTOW people recognize is that they are living in a world where women already rule. Where Maya in the form of the sexual attractiveness of the female form is the unattainable carrot that somehow keeps a man a slave in this world. And, as Kapila Deva says, "Even the emperor falls down at the feet of his queen or mistress." If she is not happy, the rest of it quickly becomes a hell.
And, although I have spoken a lot about erotic love on this blog, often taking a somewhat romantic viewpoint, This does not mean that I am not aware of the "myth of romantic love" about which I wrote something, but never got into a fuller discussion, even though I feel it provides some direction to understanding the psychological dimensions of Radha-Krishna bhakti and a good counterpoint to the romanticism that arose in Christendom. The point being, that whether it is Radha-Krishna or Tristan-Iseult, let it be known that erotic love of the most passionate kind only leads to unhappiness, indeed to the most unmitigated disastrous misery that a human being can call upon himself. And yet it seems to be an illusion with a tremendously long shelf-life in the human psyche. A religious belief without a religion.
Taking the "red pill" means to disabuse oneself of the romantic idea that there can be two bodies with but one soul. Unfortunately, though most in the MGTOW crowd recognize that living without a romantic relationship with a woman is a sign of intelligence, and that self-control is an important ingredient in that independence, they are not very interested in trying to master the sexual instinct for a higher purpose, a higher and more beatific independence. The time spent trying to please women in order to gain entry into their flowery boudoirs could so much better be spent in productive pursuits and entertainments, what to speak of those activities that take us into the inner world, to the True Self.
The only way the romantic ideal, so cherished somewhere deep in our collective unconscious, when desire for it springs forth from the jungle of archetypes into our concrete reality, may remotely be concretized is if
a pure-hearted sadhaka couple,
having internalized a distrust for selfish lust,
share an unbreakable commitment
to following a common spiritual path,
for learning the practices that lead to prema,
and learn to communicate
through a mutually intelligible sacred language,
the vibrations of the Holy Name,
and silence.
Comments
"In furias ignemque ruunt: amor omnibus idem."
abhyasen manasā śuddhaṁ
trivṛd-brahmākṣaraṁ param
mano yacchej jita-śvāso
brahma-bījam avismaran
https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/2/1/17/
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)
Verse 2.1.17 (The First Step in God Realization)
In any case, it seems to me that this model of thinking can be extrapolated to other issues. House on fire? That's what you get for living in a house. Get a speeding ticket? Yell at a cop. The red pill mentality finally disentangles cause and effect, putting things in their proper order, returning men to their natural state as playthings of circumstance, victims of predatory forces beyond their ken with no recourse but hatred of themselves and the world and, where possible, violence. That's real vairagya! Angry boys ki jai!
But you cannot have that kind of culture and practice without cultivating the basics of spiritual life and physical self-control.
The women who have a tendency to renunciation should have their own facilities for that purpose.
Jai Radhe.
Nevertheless, generalizations or caricatures of this nature are the stuff of thought itself, and should always be taken with a grain of salt.
The "type" caricature is problematic, not just in politics. I imagine you are familiar with the gross characterization of the "karmis" that exists in much of our world.