750909 - Letter to Ed Gilbert written from Vrndavana

Letters by Date, 1975

Krishna Balaram Mandir, Raman Reti
Vrindavan, U.P. INDIA
September 9, 75

Mr. Ed Gilbert
3101 West End Ave.
No. C4B
Nashville, Tennessee 37203

Dear Ed Gilbert:
Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 19, 1975 redirected to me from New York. Regarding your question, God does not discriminate, but so long as we have got forms we have to discriminate. Without God consciousness the discrimination is there. Why should think that you are American or that he is an Indian? Upon this platform of discrimination the whole philosophy of nationalism, communism, this ism and that ism is going on. When one learns how to see individual persons without discrimination, then he becomes perfect. That is described in the Bhagavad-gita: vidya vinyaya sampanne/ brahmane gavi hastini/ suni caiva svapake ca/ panditah sama darsinah. "The humble sage by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater (outcaste.)" (Bg. 5:18) It is only on the spiritual platform or Krishna consciousness or God consciousness platform that there is no such discrimination. So if you remain on the material platform and artificially desire no discrimination it is not possible.
We are preaching therefore this Krishna consciousness movement so that we may not have material discrimination. The soul has nothing to do with the body. The body is of different varieties calculated to be 8,400,000 forms. The soul is the same passing through different bodies by the process of transmigration. It is exactly like gold passing through business transaction, but when it is in the hands of somebody he thinks that it is "my gold," and when it is passed through another's hands, he thinks it is "my gold." Similarly the soul being as gold when he is situated in a particular body, it identifies with the bodily position, and each and every body is different from the other. So long the soul is in ignorance and identifies with the body, how can there be equality? So unless one is raised to spiritual understanding, there is no question of equality on the bodily platform. This is a scientific calculation.
Women claim to be equal, so that now they are thinking that they do not want to become pregnant, so they are killing their own child. What kind of equality is this that it creates another's suffering? As soon as the body is different how can there be equality? We see that woman cannot work so hard as a man, and women can do work that a man cannot do, so where is there equality?
I hope this meets you in good health.

Yours sincerely,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

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