In a human society aligned with fundamental universal principles (a “Vedic civilization”) spiritual and seminal family structure are aligned. The husband and father of the family is the natural leader and is the spiritual authority or guru. Making sure that the spiritual and seminal families remain synchronized is the dynamic function of the spiritual preceptors of society, the brahmanas.
The Sanskrit term gotra refers to both family and disciplic succession (ref: gotra).
The family is the institution of socialization, education, and spiritual formation. It’s a naturally occurring sociological construct which is built up from obvious biological principles. The aggregation of individuals into families and then families into larger agrupations gives rises to human society and human social structure.
The family is the basic building block of human society.
Presently spiritual and seminal family structures are misaligned. Beginning with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, spiritual and seminal son of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, a conscious reengineering of human society has begun, in order to resynchronize the spiritual and seminal family structure of human society.
The first phase of this involves re-establishing spiritual principles and spiritual family structure. The next stage is to align seminal family structures with spiritual family structures. This is the 50% of work that Srila Prabhupada said remained undone. In the language of the tradition it’s “re-establishing Varnashram-dharma”
Doing this involves creating community within an already existing community that is misaligned from spiritual principles. It would be nice to theorize about what the final result should look like and then try to artificially create it, but some reflection, as well as experience trying this, shows that such an approach is like a farmer trying to force shoots to rise up out of the ground.
Step-by-step, guided by simple principles. Change course gradually but surely. Allow the complex system to grow organically from simple fundamental principles implemented at a local level. Who knows what it will look like, except in a general, abstract sense? Society is a complex thing.
Next: Some reflections on the progress so far…
