Casteless

I think way too much empha­sis is placed on brah­mini­cal cul­ture and lifestyle in Chai­tanya Vaish­nav­ism. When I was a young san­nyasi in India, adopt­ing brah­mini­cal stan­dards made sense. Later, when I returned to the West and no longer had a sup­port sys­tem for that, I gave it up with no regrets. It goes against my nature and the life I live. One is to fol­low one’s sva-dharma, not that of another. When we fol­low another’s way and repress our own nature, it devel­opes a large shadow which often expresses itself in unhealthy ways. There­fore, I con­sider myself to be caste­less, or of mixed caste, and do what­ever I have to do. These are all mate­r­ial things and have noth­ing to do with devotion.


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