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What's a woman to do? v2 Reflections on Why We May Misunderstand Srila Prabhupada’s Teachings Regarding Women
<< 5. Conclusion >>
 | Unfortunately, biases and fallacies can lead to poor decisions, bad judgments, and lousy attitudes. Even in the face of contrary evidence, such attitudes can stubbornly persist, and entire organizations can be adversely affected. Put simply, we may be hearing and seeing through the colored lens of our faulty thinking and biases – biases left over from our pre-Krishna conscious conditioning.
| | | The root of the problem is that we’re conditioned souls. We’re meant to become free of our conditioning by hearing and chanting, remembering and worshiping Krishna. But when we don’t do these activities purely we do them with our unique mixtures of spiritual practice and conditioning. Srila Prabhupada writes, “There are different devotional activities, such as hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, offering prayer, rendering service, and surrendering everything, and each of them can be divided into three qualitative categories. There is hearing in the mode of passion, in the mode of ignorance, and in the mode of goodness. Similarly, there is chanting in the mode of ignorance, passion, and goodness, etc.” (SB 3.29.10, purport)
| | | Hearing influenced by the modes means we are failing to hear in a full and balanced way. The solution? To recognize that our devotional service is still conditioned and to consciously struggle against that conditioning. Srila Prabhupada encouraged us to strive to come at least to the mode of goodness, and then to transcend the modes entirely. Failing this, we may adopt attitudes and behavior because we’re influenced by an unbalanced understanding. It’s time for us all to become balanced, which is usually not easy. It takes time, repeated and complete hearing, and our open-hearted and ongoing endeavor. If we can try in this way, however, that attempt itself will be our success.
| | | Let us keep our commitment to spiritual advancement alive, and not get diverted by subtle or not-so-subtle agendas. If we stay in a spirit of inquiry, we may enter a magical world of spiritual wonder and discovery and joy
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