The Bhāgavata Speaks of Woman

Indic texts have played a crucial role in constructing, and greatly influencing, gender roles and social norms in Indian society. Scholarship on these texts has identified problems of identity and hegemony that are thoroughly discussed in such fields as subaltern studies, gender studies, cultural studies, and the like. Because of cultural practices such as satῑ‎ and religious laws for widows, Hinduism and some of its associated texts tend to have a reputation for patriarchal misogyny. In her Encyclopedia of Feminism, Lisa Tuttle advises scholars to ask “new questions of old texts;” following her lead, this chapter intends to examine the gender discourse contained in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, focusing on the text’s characterization of women as māyā, which we have here defined as God’s deluding or covering potency. The analysis should make it plain that while the Bhāgavata does support patriarchal institutions and practices, on a deeper level it portrays women in a far more positive light, holding them in a more esteemed position than one may assume.

Māyā’s Relation to the Temporal Realm

This chapter shows how māyā, on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, makes manifest all the ingredients of creation, and, through a sequential series of developments, forms those ingredients into a plurality of universes, bodies, and minds, known as the temporal (phenomenal) realm. It specifically explores māyā’s relation to material creation, concentrating on the Bhāgavata’s Sāṁkhya account of the manner in which māyā transforms into the various elements of the temporal realm. In the course of this examination, we will attempt to compare the Bhāgavata’s Sāṁkhya system to that of classical Sāṁkhya, specifically with regard to such standard Sāṁkhya categories as puruṣa (the individual self), prakṛti (the physical world), ahaṁkāra (false identification), the guṇas (qualitative energies), the twenty-three elements, and so on.

Māyā in the Bhāgavata and Preceding Texts

While there is disagreement among various scholars as to precisely when the Bhāgavata was written, all sides agree that the compilation of the Vedas, Brāhmaṇas, Upaniṣads, and Mahābhārata preceded its composition. As such, any discussion of the Bhāgavata’s treatment of māyā must begin with an examination of this concept’s lexical and historical development in these earlier Sanskrit works, as well as how their formulations of the term were used in Śaṅkara’s Vedānta. The Sanskrit term māyā has held a variety of meanings in Indian religious thought, although its etymology remains a matter of some dispute. This chapter attempts to demonstrate how the Bhāgavata’s doctrine of māyā constitutes a refinement of earlier Vedic, Upaniṣadic, and Epic formulations.

Epilogue

This chapter concludes by examining how the Bhāgavata figures into the intellectual history of India. As has been shown throughout this work, rather than being a naive, irrelevant book of fabled tales and irrational beliefs, the Bhāgavata provides a sophisticated alternate view of Vedānta to that which is presented by Śaṅkara and his followers, up to and including Vivekānanada. The Bhāgavata claims that Kṛṣṇa is endowed with unlimited potency (māyā), for which nothing is impossible or contradictory. It is through the transformation of Kṛṣṇa’s māyā that the categories of existence are said to arise, and never through a transformation of Kṛṣṇa himself.

Origins, Bondage, Liberation, and Grace

The Bhāgavata is primarily concerned with how the jīva (self’s) bondage is perpetuated and how it is brought to an end. While the text more or less takes bondage for granted, there are several passages that discuss the important but vexing question of how we became bound in the first place. In some of these passages, the self’s bondage is described as having a beginning, and that beginning is described as a type of “fall” from an original spiritual state. As for freedom from bondage (or liberation), this is basically described as a return to that original state. Standing against this portrayal, however, are a handful of Bhāgavata passages which seem to suggest that the self’s bondage is beginningless (anādi), with no starting point in time. This chapter explores the question of whether the Bhāgavata views the bound jīva as having existed eternally in the cycle of birth and death or as having previously existed in an unbound state of eternal being, from which it fell into temporal cyclical existence.

The Bhāgavata Speaks of Human Suffering

This chapter examines the Bhāgavata’s overall response to the problem of suffering, namely to celebrate “devotional heroism”: the facing and conquering of unavoidable suffering through intensified devotion. The Bhāgavata does not see karma as an adequate solution to the problem of suffering. It admits that just as it is difficult or sometimes impossible to ascertain the cause of a forest fire, which may be due to lightning or the rubbing of sticks, so also the cause of living beings’ suffering is difficult to understand. Implicit in the narratives of devotional heroism throughout the Bhāgavata is the notion that the ultimate purpose of all temporary sufferings is eternal freedom and never-ending spiritual joy in intimate association with Kṛṣṇa. Suffering, in other words, is a means by which devotees—bhāgavatas—are understood to be elevated from already-existing greatness to eternal glory. As models for ordinary human beings, saintly devotees in such conditions of adversity underscore the Bhāgavata’s message of hope, that all human beings, and indeed ultimately all living beings, may become exalted, overcome the bonds of māyā, and attain Kṛṣṇa-prema (love of God) by imbibing the Bhāgavata vision.

Māyā’s Role in the Absolute Realm

This chapter explores māyā’s role in the absolute realm that is said to be a transformation of yoga-māyā, Kṛṣṇa’s internal energy, meaning the realm in which Kṛṣṇa personally resides along with his loving associates: those souls that want to live in full knowledge and remembrance of Kṛṣṇa (sambandha), that have chosen loving devotional service (bhakti) as the means (abhidheya), and that have found complete fulfillment and unlimited joy in unconditionally dedicating themselves to Kṛṣṇa’s happiness (prayojana). However, before journeying into that divine realm, this chapter first develops a nuanced understanding of the term bhakti. The chapter concludes that in the context of Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, māyā serves not as the potency of delusion, but rather as the energy that reconnects finite souls with the divine play of Kṛṣṇa. Instead of forgetting God, the souls now forget that he is God, so that they may play their role in relationship with him. Indeed, Kṛṣṇa himself voluntarily submits to the power of yoga-māyā, losing himself in this divine drama, thus increasing the intensity and intimacy of his devotees’ love for him.

Māyā in Relation to the Human Condition

This chapter discusses māyā’s role as the deluding power that covers the memory of souls that desire to live in forgetfulness of God and causes them to identify as products of matter, living in the temporal realm. As with most Indic literatures, the Bhāgavata employs metaphors to explain its philosophical doctrines, and the dream experience is the primary metaphor used to describe māyā’s deluding power. The Bhāgavata considers the human condition to be a condition of dreaming, with the word svapna (dream) appearing well over sixty times throughout its pages. This chapter also explores the Bhāgavata’s largest and most complex allegory—that of Purañjana and the City of Nine Gates. The questions to be addressed by means of this allegory are of paramount concern to the Bhāgavata, and they are central to its account of māyā and the human condition: What is the self? Why does the eternally transcendent self misidentify with temporary matter? How does it come to do so?

Introduction

This chapter introduces the Bhāgavata and this book. The Bhāgavata’s philosophical content is solidly grounded in the classical understandings of both Vedānta and Sāṁkhya, and its overarching theological aim is to promote unalloyed devotion to Kṛṣṇa (or God) as the highest and most satisfying human occupation. This having been said, this chapter also argues that the Bhāgavata is not a systematic work in the manner of the Sāṅkhya-kārikā or Yoga-sutras, nor is it structured and linear in fashion as are these works. Rather it weaves its theological discourse through its narratives, often discussing various themes at the same time. The Bhāgavata’s discourse sometimes moves like a spiral, discussing a theological topic repeatedly, but each time with a bit more depth or in a different context. At other times, it moves like a neural network, in which one theological idea leads to another with no apparent framework other than the connections between the ideas themselves. All these matters and more are touched upon in this chapter.