The Sex Change of King Sudyumna

SANSKRIT: tata ūrdhvaṁ vanaṁ tad vai, puruṣā varjayanti hi, sā cānucara-saṁyuktā, vicacāra vanād vanam


ENGLISH TRANSLATION
"Since that time, no male had entered that forest. But now King Sudyumna, having been transformed into a female, began to walk with his associates from one forest to another"


PURPORT
 
In Bhagavad-gītā (2.22) it is said:
 
vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi
tathā sarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
 
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
 
The body is just like a dress, and here this is proved. Sudyumna and his associates were all male, which means that their souls were covered by male dress, but now they became female, which means that their dress was changed. The soul, however, remains the same. It is said that by modern medical treatment a male can be transformed into a female, and a female into a male. The body, however, has no connection with the soul. The body can be changed, either in this life or the next. Therefore, one who has knowledge of the soul and how the soul transmigrates from one body to another does not pay attention to the body, which is nothing but a covering dress. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18]. Such a person sees the soul, which is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Therefore he is a sama-darśi, a learned person.


[Srimad-Bhagavatam Chapter 9 Text 1 Verse 33, Purport By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]

SPIRITUAL UNION

"Political fraternity is not enough. Political friendship to remain true and permanent must be forged into a profound spiritual union. India has a stupendous chance today of leading the world back from the barbarism of bankrupt Western civilization and of realizing the spiritual civilization offered by Mahatma Gandhi, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rabindranath Tagore, and the entire luminous galaxy of India's spiritual giants.

We Indians, whether Jews, Christians, Moslems, Parsis, or Hindus, whether in India or in Israel, have upon our heads the crown of a supreme responsibility. We cannot betray our conscience. We cannot forget our duty to the world. For the sake of blood-stained and tear-filled Humanity, let us aspire to assume the position of Arjuna in the Gita who heard the mighty words from the divine lips of Shri Krishna: "I am the Lord seated in the hearts of all men ... Those who worship the devils go to the devils; those who worship the gods go to the gods; but those who worship Me come to Me. He who worships Me with all his heart, with fearlessness, sincerity, and loving devotion, I am responsible for his happiness. I am Truth, I am Wisdom, the source of Wisdom, and the end of Wisdom. 'India and Israel.' "

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī in the line of His predecessors exactly wanted that persons who are born in the sacred land of India may first of all know in perfection the entire luminous galaxy of spiritual giants and then preach the truth all over the world for their benefit. Mahatma Gandhi tried to touch the spiritual attainments of India for his political end. Rabindra Nath tried to enter into the spiritual Kingdom by mundane poetic sentimentalism and Arabindo Ghose tried to evolve the mystic powers within himself. As such all of them wanted to develop their respective angle of vision with different purposes. The purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is however one and Absolute, because the ultimate purpose of Bhagavad-gītā transcends the spheres of karma, jñāna, yoga and other purposes and coincide in one Absolute purpose, namely transcendental service of thc Personality of Godhead Śrī Krishna as is quoted by Mr. A.I. Macnull of Jerusalem in his article referred to above. The Bhagavad-gītā is in nutshell the summary of all descriptions of spiritual developments that India attained and it is the book which reveals the real picture of God as He is. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu reveals the same purpose of Bhagavad-gītā by practical demonstration. What is theoretically revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā is practically demonstrated by the movement of Lord Caitanya Who is confirmed as Śrī Krsna Himself in the following śloka

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

"In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions." [S.B. 11.5.32]

Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī therefore invited all persons from every corner of the world to take up this cause of spiritual movement in a combined force and offer a challenge to the onward progressive march of the demoniac civilization eating the vital force of humanity.

SPIRITUAL UNION Indian Philosophy attracts Israel BY A.I. Macnull(6/8/1952) WITH COMMENTARY BY HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA

[Unknown date, Fragment of an Untitled Essay on His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Mahārāja by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakitvendata Swami Prabhupada]

Vedas Predict Advent of Lord Chaitanya

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam when Karabhajana Muni was elucidating the different incarnations of Godhead in different yugas, he said that "In the Kali-yuga the intelligent persons will worship the incarnation of Sri Krishna, by the transcendental sankirtana method. This incarnation of Sri Krishna will be non-blackish in the color of His body but will constantly chant the name of Krishna along with His many disciples who will act as the soldiers for the deliverance of the fallen souls of the Kali-yuga.''[Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.32]
 
Sri Krishna Caitanya preached as one of the Vaisnava acaryas like Ramanujacarya and others and His mission was to establish the same theory of deliverance as was propounded by Sri Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad-gita. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord personally described as to the method of approaching Him; His real features, His different Potencies known as the mahamaya and the yogamaya, His virat appearance - His method of creation maintenance and destruction of the material world, information of the transcendental world which does not annihilate even after the annihilation of the material world. [Lord Krishna also describes] the living entities / souls, the process of migration of the souls the description of the mahatmas, their duties and lastly the duty of everybody after elaborate elucidation of the three modes of nature; satya, raja, tama [goodness, passion, ignorance] and the different human races, work, knowledge, devotion, worship activities under the influence of such modes of nature. In the Bhagavad-gita a clear distinction has been made between the asura prakrti [bad energy] and daiva prakrti [good energy] and He has vehemently deprecated the demonic or asuric prakrti and eulogized the daiva prakrti.
 
The Mahamaya, who is known as Durga, Kali, Candi, Bhadrakali, Mohalaksmi, etc is the embodiment of His external potency as described in the Candi and it is the thankless task of the Mahamaya to punish the asuras with Her all powerful weapons in the ten direction of the material world. She does not only create and maintain this material world, but also she annihilates it according to the direction of the almighty God.


In the Bhagavad-gita this Mahamaya has also been described as Daivi Maya and She is so powerful that the asuras [demons] cannot by-pass Her at any rate. The asura can get remission from the stroke of the trisula of Mohamaya when he the asura surrenders, surrenders himself to Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead. As Superintendent of the material world, the Mohamaya has been described [as] Durga the protectress of the great durga or fortress of the grand universes. She gives all the necessities for our existence but as soon as we become an asura like the Mohisasuras, Ravanas, Hiranyakasipus, and in later ages like the Mussolinis and such others for the exploitation of the material energy, the Durga Devi at once appears Herself with Her dreadful trident and begins to devastate the whole existence by such tribulations as war, famine, pestilence, or sometimes annihilation of a total existence. The methods of annihilation as are invented by the human brain such as the atomic bombs etc are also Her creations but the deluded asuras, who are caused to act by the modes of prakrti, the material nature, do think themselves as the originator or inventor of such weapons. In that way a constant struggle is going on between the asuras and the prakrti and the asuras are thus being punished in different ways which the asuras cannot overcome by any method except by full surrender unto the almighty God.
 
In the Bhagavad-gita the last instruction is to surrender fully unto Him the author of the Bhagavad-gita but unfortunate men of demonic mentality misunderstood the teachings of Bhagavad-gita as a method of sophistry and therefore the same Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna in the garb of a transcendental devotee preach the same techniques of Bhagavad-gita i.e. full surrender unto the almighty God or His different potencies in a demonstrative way.
 
The method of His demonstration was also very suitable. He inaugurated the sankirtana movement accompanied with melodious song which method has been found practically very effective amongst the masses. It is not possible for the masses to study the Vedanta or to undergo the difficult mystic processes especially in the Kali-yuga when the general people [are] indolent, unfortunate, shortlived and always disturbed by physical and mental tribulations. So they the general mass of people are fallen in the estimation of the great saints and as such for them Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the only hope for deliverance. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited Varanasi He was invited to a philosophical discourse by the Prakashananda Sarasvati a great giant scholar and sannyasi of the Mayavadi [the school of thought that God is not a person] or Sankara sampradaya and discussion was made on the Vedanta philosophy. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was victorious in that discussion and converted the great sannyasi with his 60,000 followers to His cult of devotion and established His easy method of sankirtana movement the most suitable method for the deliverance of the people in general.
(Excerpt from: A Letter written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to Juggannath Babu -- Calcutta 14 March, 1949)