Radical governments and religious conservatives target LGBTQ+ people worldwide. A Hindu priest with decades of ministry to LGBTQ+ communities emphasizes responding with knowledge and compassion. He founded GALVA-108, an LGBTQ+ Hindu religious organization, inspired by his spiritual master’s desire for all types of people to advance spiritually through chanting Hare Krishna, while addressing misunderstandings and exclusion faced by LGBTI+ people. He points to Vedic Hinduism’s traditional accommodation of sex- and gender-minorities and describes God as unlimited and not restricted by gender. He links this view to Hinduism’s foremost quality of compassion and frames spiritual practice as a constructive response.
"The main inspiration to found GALVA-108 was my spiritual master or guru, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Knowing his desire to see all different types of people make spiritual advancement and engage in the chanting of Hare Krishna, and at the same time seeing many misunderstandings and even some exclusion or ridicule of LGBTI+ people within his mission, I felt it important to research the matter thoroughly from a personal and more positive perspective."
"In Hinduism, God is recognized as unlimited and untethered by any gender restrictions. It's a conception that cascades through the religion and informs Hinduism's foremost quality: compassion."
"With LGBTQ+ identity under attack by radical governments and religious conservatives around the world, how should gay and trans people respond? We “confront this challenge with knowledge,” says Amara Das Wilhelm, a Hindu priest who has spent the last 30 years ministering to LGBTQ+ people. “The sword of knowledge is very helpful and powerful.”"
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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