Ep 36: Prof. Tracy Coleman: Krishna stands for women empowerment

As we celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna on Janmashtami, we should also honour him as a god who models positive masculinity, says Tracy Coleman, Professor, Department of Religion at Colorado College, US, She says, “Bold, strong, outspoken or aggressive, women are not a threat to him. He loves them as they are. In the Gita Govinda, he even submits to Radha.” Krishna, she believes, can be potentially socially transformative in empowering women by shifting the male gaze, despite being seen as a divine, all-powerful hyper masculine figure.

In her research spanning early texts such as the Harivamsa, Bhagavata Purana and the poet Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda, Tracy explores Krishna in various shades, including his playful divinity and the “viraha-bhakti” or the longing of separation he inspires, which is akin to becoming one with the universal divine.

A scholar of Hinduism and its traditions of bhakti (or devotion), especially Krishna-bhakti in the Sanskrit epics and purāṇas, her teaching and research addresses issues of women, men, and gender in religion and society. Tracy has also been the Editor in Chief of Oxford Bibliographies--Hinduism since 2016. 

Timestamps
01:00 What drew Tracy to studying Sanskrit and the Hindu “bhakti” tradition; being intrigued by poet Jayadeva's Gita Govinda
05:00 “Kama” (desire) vs “prem” (selfless love): What the early Sanskrit texts say in relation to Krisna, Radha and the gopis
09:50 Krishna as the “Yogeshwara” of Bhagavata Purana vs the sensuous lover of Gita Govinda
13:14 ‘Yoga in action’: Krishna’s “karma yoga” vs Buddha’s renunciation
20:00 The Bhagavad Gita places everyday actions in a larger context, as part of a greater cosmic plan
25:00 Krishna’s childhood, his relationship with both his mothers; the supreme god conceived as a human in the early texts
31:15 Krishna as a symbol of women’s empowerment; loves women just as they are
46:50 Play is an essential part of his divinity, signifying divine freedom and inspiring “bhakti”
52:46 “Viraha bhakti” as devotion during separation, embodied by Radha and the gopis
58:14 There is no Krishna bhakti without suffering
01:05:28 Happy Janmashtami!

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