Q: Many homosexuals seem to be experiencing an identity crisis. They don't know who they are. They are in men's bodies but they feel like enjoying as women (homosexual) or they are in women's bodies but they feel like enjoying as men (lesbians). So are these people men or women?
A: Neither. Just because a person is in a male body doesn't mean that the person is male; and just because a person or soul is in a female body doesn't mean that the person is a female. This is because the person or soul is not the material body, you are not your body, I am not my body.
The body is like a suit of clothesthat you are wearing temporarily. At death you will leave this suit of clothes behind and it will be buried in the dirt or burned to ashes. Your body may be female, black, brown or white, American or Filipino, fat or skinny, tall or short, etc. But since you are not the physical body -- since you are the eternal soul only temporarily in the body -- it can ultimately be said you are not any of these labels like male, female, black, white etc. These are bodily designations only but you are not the body.
Q: So if I am in a male body and feel a desire to enjoy as a female -- am I in fact a female, or if I am in a female body but I desire to enjoy as a male, am I in fact a male?
A: No. I have explained that the person is not the gross physical body but this doesn't mean that the person is the subtle physical body. You must realize that the mind and material desires are a subtle physical body which is also like a suit of clothes over the person or soul. The gross material body made up of the elements earth,water, fire etc., can be compared to the jacket and shirt and the subtle material body composed of the mind, material desires etc., can be compared to the undershirt or underwear.
In fact you are not your jacket and shirt nor are you your underwear and undershirt. You are covered by a gross material body and a subtle material body. You are the eternal soul within these gross and subtle physical casings.
Q: The identity crisis of homosexuals is "Am I a man because I have a man's body or am I a woman because I want to enjoy as a woman? Which am I, the mind or the body?" This is the question the homosexual is asking himself. Am I the particular type of external body that I have on or am I the desires that I feel? But what you are saying is that we are neither the external body nor the desires.
A: Exactly. You are neither the mind nor the gross body. Both the gross body (male and female body) and the subtle body (mind and desires) are material coverings that you have on. Just because you are in a male body doesn't mean that you are male, similarly just because you are covered by the desire to enjoy as a female doesn't make you a female. You are not the gross physical body nor are you the mind and desires. You are the soul or person covered by these two bodies. You are not the gross or subtle body. You are the living entity situated within these bodies. The identity crisis exists for a person who is not aware of this fact.
Q: So homosexuals who say they feel like women trapped in men's bodies are mistakenly identifying themselves as the mind and desires?
A: Yes. Individuals in men's bodies but who want to enjoy as women should appreciate the fact that they are not women trapped in men's bodies, rather they are living entities covered up by the desire to enjoy as women, but their "female" desireis encased in a male body.
In other words, they are actually identifying themselves to be the subtle body, the mind and desires. That is their mistake. A person can realize that the mind is not the self. Homosexuals, for example, can separate themselves from the tendency to enjoy as women. In other words they can see this tendency to enjoy as women as something apart from themselves; in the same way that they can experience their body as apart from themselves through meditation.
A person says "my body", as if the body is his possession. Similarly, a person says, my mind, which points to the fact that the mind is also a possession of the person. I have a body and I have a mind -- but I am neither the body nor the mind.
A person can watch images going through his mind in the same way that he watches television. He can act as a witness to the activities of the mind or he may dream and say, "Oh, I had a terrible nightmare", but as soon as the dream is gone, is he gone? No, he still exists. This means he is not the dream. The dream has ceased existing but he has not ceased existing. So he is notthe mind.
Similarly, desires continually change. A desire to enjoy in a certain way may exist, but then it goes away.But the living entity does not go away. The living entity, who is aware of that desire, continues to exist. The homosexual should be aware that his desires are changing from day to day, month to month, momentto moment. The person is the one who is aware of these ever-changing desires, feelings and thoughts.
Homosexuals can say to themselves, "I am aware that I am now experiencing the desire to enjoy as a woman." By such meditation the homosexual comes to realize that such desires are apart from himself; that he can watch those desires as a witness; or he can try to rid his mind of them; or he can give in to them. The choice is his.
If the homosexual chooses to (a)watch the desires come and go, if he is simply a witness to them, then he realizes that obviously he is not them, he is apart from them. He is merely a spectator, separated, watching the desires and thoughts go by.
If the homosexual chooses to try to (b) rid himself of such perverted thoughts and desires, he will experience how hard it is to control them. This should act as further evidence to him that he is not those thoughts and desires. In other words, the very fact that a person has a hard time controlling the mind proves that the mind is something distinct from the person -- that the person is apart from the mind trying to control it.
The mind is separate from the person. The person is trying to get a grip on the mind and make it do this and do that. This means that the person isnot the mind.
Furthermore, the very fact that a person has a choice between: A. watching the desires and thoughts as spectator; or B. trying to rid the mind of such thoughts and feelings; or C. giving in to and following the dictates of the mind and desires, is proof that the person is not the desires andthoughts. The person is the one who chooses between A., B. or C. Also, the person is the one who is aware that, "I have decided to give in to my desires" or "I have decided to try to control my desires".
Q: Homosexuals can somehow experience that their gross body is something foreign; that they have the wrong kind of body on. Their subtle body does not match up with their gross body. How did this happen?
A: This is all due to their desires and activities in their past life. Such desires and past activities have caused them to transmigrate to gross bodies which do not match up with their subtle body.
Q: Some people may ask, "How can you prove that we actually transmigrate from one body to another?"
A: This is not very difficult to show. As a matter of fact, we have already transmigrated from one bodyto another in this life. There is no question of what is going to happenlater:
As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.
The soul transmigrates from a baby body to a boyhood body, and then migrates into a young man's body. A person who used to live in a young body now lives in a middle-aged body, And a person who used to live in a middle-aged body now livesin an old body. The young body he used to live in is no longer there.
Thus, there is no question whether or not there is transmigration of the soul. We see the process happening all around us. We see a person dropping off one body, then leaving that body and taking on another body. It is not the same body -- the body of an old man is not just an older version of the same body he had as a youth. All the cells have changed, the bones have changed, the whole body is different. This is a scientific fact. The body is made up of cells which are constantly being replaced. In fact,the dying process is going on at every moment. The body is constantly changing.
In the same way that there is continuity through-out the gradual changes of the present body, there is continuity in the life of the conditioned soul. The desires that a person cultivates during the lifetime of the present gross body do notdie when the material body dies. They remain with the living being and act as the link or connection with the next body. The bridge between one type of body and the next is the mentality of the living being -- the subtle body or mind.
Q: How does the mind affect the gross body?
A:The mind is the nucleus around which the gross body develops. The gross body is the reflection of the mind. The different types of bodies we see in the material world are simply external manifestations of the different desires or tastes of the different living entities.
"The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aroma. "
-- Bhagavad-gita 15:8
A person's consciousness or mentalityat the time of death determines the type of gross body he will take on in his next life. And a person will naturally think of what is most dear to him at the time of death. It may be certain pleasures or experiences he is very much attached to or it may be the form of somebody he loves very much, the person he is most attached to.
Whatever it may be, by the arrangement of material nature's laws which are under God's direction, he will either take on a body like the one he thinks of or he'll take on a body made specifically for enjoying the type of material pleasure he is most attracted to.
In the case of homosexuals, such individuals in their previous lives were somehow or other attached to the male form. And at the time of death, they were thinking of the male form. Thus, they got male bodies in this life.
However, because they still have some tendencies to enjoy as women, oftentimes, feminine traits are there in the subtle body. That is why sometimes it seems like these people are freaks of nature. But it is not nature's mistake. It is just that these persons had very, very strong desires to enjoy as women but they were simultaneously attached to men. The line between enjoying as a male or female is very thin.
Q: What do you mean when you say, "The line between enjoying as a male or female is very thin"?
A: During sexual intercourse, both parties are simply enjoying sexual stimulations. Whether one enjoys the stimulation with a female organ or with a male organ is a very minor point. The point is that during sexual intercourse itself, a person enjoys both sexual organs at one time. A person can't just enjoy his own sexual organ. But whether the instrument that a person or his partner is using is male or female, it doesn't really matter. All the person wants is the sex experience. That is what he is attached to.
Q: Many homosexuals are found to have more female hormones than the ordinary men. Can you also explain how this happened?
A: Hormones, chromosomes and the entire physical make-up of people are determined by the mentality of the individualswhen they leave the body at the time of death. Because there are people who are attached to the male form but who still want to enjoy as females (i.e. they still have feminine desires such as the desire tohave children or enjoy sex as women), this mental condition manifests on the gross physical level in the form of increased female hormones or certain modifications in physical make-up.
As I've explained earlier, the mentality or consciousness that persons have when they leave the body at the time of death determines the type of body they will take on in their next life. Thus, if a person has the male form firmly implanted in his mind but still has some desires to enjoy as a woman at the time of death, he takes on a male body but one which has more female hormones.
This is a very great science. People have to try to understand it as a science. This is not a belief. People must understand the reality of how the mind affects the gross body and how activities of the present body affect the mind.
Q: So if a person has more female hormones due to his desires to enjoy as a female, is he destined to be homosexual?
A: No, You have to appreciate how this internal condition needs external stimulus to bring it to the forefront.In other words, you will usually find that an active homosexual was at one point a latent homosexual who did not need to get into it. But if the environment and social situation promotes homosexuality, then this internal condition is easily set into motion.
Unfortunately, so-called modern society is increasingly providing the unwanted stimulus for people to become homosexuals. Through social acceptance of perverted homosexual activities, including the establishment and proliferation of homosexual nightclubs and saunas, society itself is making it so thatmore and more people are becoming homosexuals.
The media is especially guilty of encouraging people who were not homosexuals before to become active homosexuals by propagating the idea that homosexuality is a normal and acceptable occurrence.
Q: From a worldly morality point of view, activities are judged as good or bad according to the standards set by society.Homosexuality has always been judged as 'bad; now it's becoming 'OK'. But how would you judge homosexual activities from the Absolute point of view rather than from the viewpoint of worldly morality?
A: If an activity is done for one's own pleasure, it is bad. But if an activity is done for the pleasure of God, then it is good. Actually, this is the only real basis for determining whether an activity is good or bad.
Q: So from the Absolute viewpoint, is homosexuality right or wrong?
A: In all scriptures, it is clearly stated that homosexuality is wrong. It goes against the laws of nature and of God. This does not mean, however, that all people who are engaging in heterosexual activities are completely free from sin. Illicit heterosexual activities are as sinful as homosexual activities.
Q: What do you mean by the word "illicit"?
A: Illicit means having sex without actually wanting to have children. It is having sex without making it possible for a soul to enter into the woman's womb so that the soul can be raised to love God. Even sex in marriage is considered illicit if it is engaged in simply for sense gratification and not procreation. It may not be as sinful as engaging in homosexual activities, but it is still displeasing to God. Heterosexual activities, then, are non-different from homosexual activities if they are both based on the selfish desire to enjoy matter.
Q: But there must be some differences between engaging in homosexual activities and engaging in heterosexual activities.
A: Yes. People can engage in heterosexualactivities and be pleasing to God. Heterosexual activities for thepurpose of having children do not go against the laws of nature and God. So, they actually please God. However, homosexual activities can never be pleasing to God. Why? Because the onlyreason people engage in them is for the purpose of gratifying theirsenses. They are only based on the selfish desire to enjoy matter.
Q: Ultimately, you are saying that the only reason peopleengage in homosexual activities is because they want to enjoysex.
A: Yes. That is their only reason. Sexual pleasure is their life -- their God.
Q: But this is also the goal of most heterosexual.
A: Yes. But in this regard, the homosexuals areone step ahead of the heterosexuals. Homosexuality is the next step after illicit heterosexuality, because it eliminates the hassles that come with having sex. It is the practical solution in getting rid of problems such as supporting the wife and children and having responsibilities in married life. Without these hassles, homosexuals can enjoy sex more. And because the homosexuals have less hassles than the heterosexuals, then their position, in terms of enjoying sexual orgasm without trouble, is better than the heterosexuals'.
The bisexuals, of course, claim thattheir position is the best because they can choose sex partners from 100% of the population rather than just 50%.
In this way, the choice of sex partneris based on the partner’s usefulness in satisfying the sex desire of the other person. The sex partner is seen simply as a sex object to enjoy with and exploit. This is a practical conclusion of the materialistic philosophy.
Q: Which is?
A: That everyone and everything in the world is meant for our enjoyment and exploitation.
Materialistic people perceive others simply as objects to enjoy because they do not see that all living entities are eternal spirit souls who are part and parcel of God. Materialists think that they are the body. They conclude that they can become happy by making the body happy.
So, everything and everyone is used to satisfy the desires of the body. They are after sense orgasms -- orgasms of the genitals, the eyes, the nose, the tongue, the ears and the skin.
Q: From the materialistic point of view, it seems that the homosexuals and bisexuals have made it?
A: Yes. They have succeeded in becoming the complete slaves of their senses. They have made it because they now have less "hang-ups". "Hang-ups'" is described in the concluding article on Guam in a recent Pan-Am magazine:
"Since Guam has become a favorite area of the Japanese honeymooners, it is only logical to regard the island mainly as the resort of blushing but properly married couples. Regard again! Until recently, the Guam Visitors Bureau made a practice of observing numerical milestones in the influx of Japanese couples, honoring the lucky thousandth,two thousandth, and the like, with complimentary bridal suites, champagne, meals and other trimmings. To the embarrassment of the Guamanian officials, the news escaped that some of the couples so feted were not married. Guam obviously is a place for FREE SPIRITS."
From this article, we get the idea of what a "free spirit" is! One who does what he wants without any restrictions. A "free spirit" thinks, "I do not have any 'hang-ups'. Previously, I used to have this 'hang-up' about having sex with someoneother than my wife/husband. But now, I do not have that 'hang-up' any more. I can enjoy sex without any restriction."
A homosexual, then, has one "hang-up" less. He thinks, "I used to be 'hung-up' with my wife. Then I became more free. Now, I can enjoy other women without feeling any guilt whatsoever. It is great! My wife has started to do the same thing with other women. What do I think about it? Well, it is all right. After all, we are both "free spirits". And now, it is even better. I have gone one step further. I not only enjoy women but I now enjoy the men too. Previously, half the population was totally off limits to me. Now I can enjoy everyone -- men and women – without any 'hang-ups'."
And maybe, if he becomes more free, he will come to the point of having sex even with pigs and dogs. Without any "hang-ups", of course.
Q: Most Filipinos would think that this is an exaggeration.
A: It is not an exaggeration, This is actually going on in the United States and Europe.
It may not be a far-fetched idea that, soon, people will start suggesting that we should become homosexuals to solve the population problem. I am just waiting for the Planned Parenthood Association to back up homosexuality as the practicalsolution to overpopulation. They might even teach it in schools -- women for women and men for men.