Charles Michael Byrd (Charukrishna)'s Blog

Charles Michael Byrd (Charukrishna), author of “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness” (Backintyme Publishing), is available as a speaker/lecturer on Vaishnava-Hinduism and specifically on how the ancient Vedic philosophy has practical application as regards transcending the race notion in general, and its particular application apropos of the mixed-race community.

Attention business owners and corporate leaders! Consider the practical application of the Vedic message to your company. While businesses typically provide “race relations” courses for their employees, why not make available to them “Transcending Race Consciousness in the Workplace” which Mr. Byrd will deliver at your establishment.

Contact Mr. Byrd by writing to: CM Byrd, P.O. Box 560185, College Point, NY 11356-0185.

Telephone contact is 718-909-1878.

Email is chasbyrd@gmail.com

One of the biggest mental stumbling blocks for any American to hurdle when considering whether to embrace Vaishnava philosophy is India’s notorious caste system. To some it is an evil parallel to this country’s insidious racial classification system that positions whiteness on top with blackness on the bottom, with all the other so-called races relegated to intermediate positions. Nothing could be further from the truth, however.

The timeless Vedic literature describes a natural system of social organization that can bring about a peaceful society where everyone is happy. This system is called Varnashrama dharma, and while it serves as the basis for India’s current caste system, it is far different, without hint of racial prejudice.

The purpose of the Varnashrama social system is to provide a structure allowing people to work according to their natural tendencies and to organize society so that everyone, regardless of their position, makes spiritual advancement.

According to this philosophy, people can only work with a cooperative spirit if there is a central point of focus. Over the years proponents of many different political ideologies (e.g., Communism) have tried to unite society by providing such a central point. These attempts have all ultimately failed, though.

Generally, people work for their own pleasure, and this is sometimes extended to working for the family, the nation or even the whole world. Because the aims and aspirations of the members of society are so varied it is practically impossible to achieve a peaceful situation as everyone is working to fulfill his or her own personal goals.

The only universal point around which everyone can work is God. He provides an absolute, eternal center for all our activities. If we try to make something else the central point, the resulting society is doomed to fail.

The ancient Varnashrama system recognizes that there are many different types of people who may not be spiritually inclined. The society is thus organized under the direction of qualified brahmanas, spiritually gifted intellectuals, and is divided into four occupational and four spiritual divisions in such a way that everyone is serving God simply by performing their occupational duties. As the entire society is arranged to please God, anyone working within the society also pleases God, whether consciously or unconsciously.

The Varnashrama system recognizes the natural talents and abilities of each person and provides work according to a person’s qualities. There are four qualities of work. The brahmanas are the intellectual and priestly class. The kshatriyas are the government, the military and the administrative classes. The vaishyas are farmers and businessmen, and the shudras are workers.

There are also four spiritual divisions: brahmacharya or student life, grihastha or married life, vanaprastha or retired life and sannyasa or renounced life. As per Vaishnava teachings, if this system is properly implemented under the direction of qualified brahmanas, the result will be peace and prosperity throughout the world.

Varnashrama social divisions are based on qualities and work. If someone has the qualities of a brahmana, and if he works as a brahmana, he is accepted as a qualified brahmana. In this way, the Varnashrama system should not be confused with the corrupt caste system of India.

The current Indian system is akin to accepting the sons of a United States Supreme Court justice as Supreme Court justices themselves. Of course, that would be nonsense, as the individuals would have to be qualified. They have to attend and graduate from institutions of higher learning and pass bar exams, etc. Then they have to gain practical experience – usually as lawyers and judges on lesser platforms of jurisprudence — before even being considered for a high court appointment.

In India, people often claim to be brahmanas simply because they are born into a brahmana family, even though they do not possess the qualifications or qualities of a brahmana. In most cases they are not working as brahmanas either. The result of the corruption of the original system has been the destruction of the entire social structure in India, and, now, the rich tend to use the caste system to exploit and oppress the poor.

In the original Varnashrama society, however, all members are equally important. An analogy comparing the social body to the human body is instrumental in explaining this. The brahmanas are the head of the body, as they possess the intelligence and give directions to the other parts of the body. The kshatriyas are likened to the arms of the body, as their business as administrators and the military is to protect the social body from threats from outside (attacks from enemies) and disruption from within.

Vaishyas are likened to the stomach that provides energy to the body. The vaishyas, as the productive class, are the farmers and businessmen who produce and distribute food to the social body. The vaishyas are also responsible for protecting the cows – vitally important in a society that looks upon cows with reverence usually reserved for one’s mother. (Vedanta considers the cow to be essentially similar to our mother, because, in our infancy, our mother gave us cow milk to drink.)

Shudras are equated with the legs as they provide the manual labor required by the social body. We look after our whole body. It is not that we attend to problems affecting the head and neglect problems in the legs. The body works as a coordinated unit, and a problem anywhere in the body causes a disruption to the proper functioning of the whole body. When that happens we must immediately attend to that problem.

The social body should work as a coordinated unit with different members of the society acting in their respective positions as brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas and shudras according to their qualities. The result would be a happy, peaceful and efficient society.

Even if you do not accept the premise that we are all born with different levels of intellect, different tendencies and inclinations, you have to accept that the varna system exists contemporarily in America almost exactly as described above. We have our own brahmana caste, i.e., religious leaders and empirical philosophers – the intelligent class/caste — that offer sage advice to government and military leaders. The kshatriyas are the political and military leaders. The vaishyas are the captains of industry, and the shudras constitute the overwhelming bulk of the population – working class stiffs.

Transcending the quest for racial identity
Thursday, September 27, 2007

By TARESSA STOVALL of The Montclair Times

Some bi/multi-racial people feel they have a choice of colors, options for selecting how they define their racial/ethnic identities. Between a decades-long movement to create a separate census category and an increasingly blended United States population bursting the seams of traditional definitions, the issue is on more peoples’ minds than ever before.

Charles Michael Byrd, who describes himself as being “of black, white and Cherokee heritage,” made a name as the editor and publisher of Interracial Voice Web site from 1995 to 2003. Byrd has taken his personal quest for identity beyond physical labels to a whole ’nother level.

In his first book, “The Bhagavad-Gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness,” (Backintyme, 2007) Byrd, whose Krishna name is Charukrishna, said he has found the answer to his lifelong quest of transcending race, ethnicity, religion and other physical categories to ascend to a higher, universal identity.

“The subtitle reflects my thinking over the years, my journey,” he said. Born and reared a Southern Baptist in Southwest Virginia, Byrd said he “came up buying into society’s notion that I was just a very light-skinned black kid. But over a period of time, when you keep looking at yourself in the mirror [and see that] there’s a disconnect there, I think you grow past the first level of identity that society gives you.”

“I went from black to being mulatto because one of my great-aunts used to tell me about back in the early days when the newspaper would list people as being black, white and mulatto,” he said.

“I don’t feel either black or white,” Byrd said, “but the racial identity crisis that this country causes, especially for people of mixed background, pushes you to search for a higher spiritual truth, something that makes sense of the madness behind lumping people into separate and distinct racial groupings.”

Now, when asked his identity, “I tell them I’m a human being, that I don’t racially identify anymore,” Byrd said. “Krishna Consciousness transcends identifying with the physical body. I no longer push for a multiracial identity because I’ve gone beyond that.”

Byrd’s turnaround from multiracial/mulatto crusader to the man who is above any race but human came in the form of a book. Seven or eight years ago, someone gave him a copy of “The Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God,” which is widely considered to be sacred by many of the Hindu traditions, especially by followers of Krishna.

“I thought, ‘it’s a cult,’” said Byrd, who was familiar with the bald-headed, saffron-robed, chanting so-called Hare Krishnas who were often seen on street corners and in airports in the 1960s and 1970s. Then, curiosity drove him to read the book.

“It’s the deepest thing I’ve ever read in my life,” he said, inspired to learn more about the philosophy behind it. Today, he attends a Krishna temple in Brooklyn, and has gone through the first stage of initiation.

His leap from wrestling with black/white/other categories to transcendent Eastern theology is at the heart of “The Bhagavad-Gita in Black and White.”

“The book gives a pretty good outline of what’s been going on in this country the past few decades regarding racial identification, and freedom of association, such as interracial marriage,” Byrd said.

“Krishna consciousness is defined as the revival of our natural original consciousness of complete harmony with God, or Krishna,” he explained. “It changed me in the way I viewed myself, and it changed me in terms of how I view everything else. I see everyone else as emanating from the same source.”

Having fond a context and framework that work well for him, “I’d like to share it with others,” Byrd said.

“This book is primarily aimed at the multiracial population in America, and any American who wants to avail him or herself of the Vedic knowledge and how it might apply to the current situation of race consciousness in the United States,” Byrd said.

If you go

Charles Michael Byrd (Charukrishna) will discuss, read from and sign copies of “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness,” on Thursday, Oct. 4, 7 to 8 p.m., in watchung booksellers, 54 Fairfield St., Watchung Plaza.

Adam Abraham hosts the weekly “Talk For Food” podcast on WebTalkRadio. He recently interviewed me about my new book, “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness.” Click the below link to hear that conversation (approximately one hour):
“Beyond Race and Into Spirit”

Charles Michael Byrd, author of “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness” (Backintyme Publishing) will be speaking at Watchung Booksellers, 54 Fairfield Street, Watchung Plaza in Montclair, New Jersey on Thursday, October 4^th from 7 to 8 p.m.

In addition to reading from his book and holding a Q&A session on racialism from the Vedic perspective, Mr. Byrd, along with bookstore owner Margot Sage-El, will conduct a drawing afterwards. Individuals (nationally as well as locally) who purchase “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness” from the Watchung Booksellers website between now and October 4^th — as well as those folk who buy the book after they arrive that evening — will be eligible to win Watchung Booksellers Gift Certificates!

Born in 1952 in Abingdon, Virginia, Mr. Byrd is of “black,” “white” and Cherokee heritage. From 1995-2003 he published Interracial Voice, an Internet newsjournal serving the multiracial community in cyberspace. Among numerous media credits, he has appeared on both Tony Brown’s Journal and Jim Lehrer’s “NewsHour” and has written Op-Eds for the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday and The Times Union of Albany. As well, he was recently interviewed for the Washington Post article entitled “A Part Colored By History: Choice of White Actress For Mixed-Race Role Stirs Debate on Insensitivity.”

A student of Vedic scriptures, Mr. Byrd believes that individuals of mixed racial backgrounds quickly begin searching for a higher spiritual truth, something that allows them to make sense of the madness behind lumping human beings into separate and distinct “racial” groupings.

Boston native Margot Sage-El is interracially married with three children and was interviewed by Mr. Byrd for Interracial Voice back in September 1995. Additionally, she has been in the forefront of the effort to promote literature geared toward “mixed-race” children and their families.

Order “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness” from Watchung Booksellers today, and come to Montclair on October 4^th. (Telephone 973-744-7177 if you need directions or more information.) See you there!

Here’s an Op-Ed I wrote that The Times Union of Albany, N.Y. was gracious enough to run on Saturday, July 28, 2007 in the paper’s Voices of Faith: Religious Commentary section.

Look inside to find path to harmony

For the past 25 years or more, I have been walking — albeit haltingly at times — down the path of self-realization, down that road less traveled.

At this point I can honestly say that every discipline I’ve studied to any degree — be it Taoism, Rosicrucianism, the New Age teachings of Deepak Chopra and James Redfield, L. Ron Hubbard’s controversial Scientology system or the 17th-century impersonal philosophy of Baruch Spinoza — coalesces rather nicely with the message of one book: the Bhagavad-gita.

The Bhagavad-gita (the “Hindu Bible” to some Westerners), an important source book on yoga, is the essence of India’s Vedic wisdom and is one of the great spiritual and philosophical classics of the world. Remarkably, however, the setting for this best-known classic of spiritual literature is an ancient Indian battlefield — in the land of Kurukshetra.

At the last moment before entering battle, the great warrior Arjuna begins to wonder about the real meaning of his life. Why should he fight against his friends and relatives? Why does he exist? Where is he going after death? In the Bhagavad-gita, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna — Arjuna’s friend and spiritual master — brings his disciple from perplexity to spiritual enlightenment through instruction in the science of self-realization. Nowadays, people who view themselves as mixed race are often internally conflicted, not knowing how to identify or to which side they should pledge their racial allegiance. One’s view of the “race” notion and to what “race” the individual supposedly belongs is heavily influenced by the family into which the person is born. Thus, transcending the race concept is often difficult because it is so heavily connected with family (intimate relatives) and background (including teachers and close friends). It is analogous to Arjuna’s dilemma.

As someone whom society views as racially mixed (black, white and Cherokee), I can personally attest that a spiritual path is the only means to achieve happiness and to resolve the internal conflicts that arise from this nation’s obsession with the politics of racial identity. In my experience, people who consider themselves of mixed race inevitably question not only the wisdom of normal racial identification but also the very scientific and biological foundation of race itself.

To lend public expression to these heretofore private individual challenges to the racial paradigm was one of the reasons I launched, in September 1995, the Interracial Voice Web site, a networking news journal serving the mixed-race community in cyberspace. Furthermore, I believe that individuals of mixed racial backgrounds quickly begin searching for a higher spiritual truth, something that allows them to make sense of the madness behind lumping human beings into separate and distinct racial groupings. The basic Vedic conclusion is that we are not our bodies. Rather, we are the eternal spirit-souls animating our physical forms. Ergo, we are not innately representative of racial, ethnic or cultural groupings. We are not Christians or Jews or Muslims or blacks or whites because those are merely temporary external identifications that die along with the body. We do not possess Hindu souls or Christian souls as the soul or atma knows no duality, color or “organized religion.”

Instead, there is sanatana dharma, or our eternal occupation as servants of God, and knowledge of that timeless nature of the soul transcends the tenets of any sectarian belief system.

I recommend studying the Bhagavad-gita as a means for anyone, whether mixed race or not, to transcend race-consciousness and to elevate oneself to the level of humanity. From that platform, it is easier to then lift oneself to the level of Krishna consciousness — the revival of our original natural consciousness of complete harmony with Krishna or God.

Charles Michael Byrd of New York City edited the Interracial Voice Web site (http://interracialvoice.com) from 1995-2003 and is author of “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness” (Backintyme Publishing).

Nearly a year ago Washington Post Staff Writer Teresa Wiltz interviewed me for an article she was doing on known mixed-race actors who are cast in racially ambiguous roles. (The newspaper never ran that article for some reason.) It seemed that Teresa may have been implying that doing so is a new age version of “passing for white.” She harkened back to those days sixty to seventy years ago when mixed actors had to either pass or “darken up” and play a black role.

At any rate, Teresa contacted me just two days ago to solicit my comments on a somewhat similar article focusing on what has come to be known as color-blind casting. Specifically, she wanted to know what I thought about Angelina Jolie being cast to play Mariane Pearl, widow of Daniel Pearl — the journalist beheaded by Islamic fascists in Karachi, Pakistan.

Teresa’s article is entitled “A Part Colored By History — Choice of White Actress For Mixed-Race Role Stirs Debate on Insensitivity.”

I’m particularly pleased as punch that she saw fit to mention my new book — “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness” — in the Washington Post article.

Hare Krishna! I am pleased to announce that my new book “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness” (Backintyme Publishing) is now available for purchase on Amazon.com!

The primary lesson of the Bhagavad-gita (the essence of India’s Vedic wisdom, and one of the great spiritual and philosophical classics of the world) is that we are not our bodies; rather we are the eternal sparks of consciousness, the spirit-souls, animating our fleshy forms. The practical application, particularly as it relates to the race notion is simple. You are not your body; therefore, you are not a representative of a racial or ethnic group. Studying the ancient Vedic spiritual philosophy residing in the Gita allows you to transcend race-consciousness and to realize your true nature as an eternal servant of God or Krishna.

As we look around us, though, not everyone appears ready to receive this transcendental message. Are you? Are you sufficiently awake and aware of yourself as something other than a pawn in the game of racial and multiracial identity politics?

Nineteenth century transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau once remarked:

The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred million to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?

The perennial philosophy of the Gita has intrigued the philosophical mind of man, both Eastern and Western, for millennia. Accordingly, Thoreau also wrote that in relation to the Bhagavad-gita, “our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.”

Are you ready for a book that deliberately mixes tough political commentary with spiritual meditations, a book that articulates what has transpired over the past decade and more in this country vis-à-vis the politics of racial identity? Specifically, I’m referring to the battles to freely and publicly name self (whether on the upcoming 2010 Census or otherwise) and for freedom of association — e.g., the fight over the legalization of interracial marriage. Once the insanity of it all becomes crystal clear, perhaps you too, regardless of how you currently self-identify racially (hapa, mestizo, metis, creole, latino, melungeon, cablinasian, mulatto, white, black or whatever), will opt to spend the rest of your life cultivating spiritual enlightenment — the ability not merely to name self but to know self.

If you feel you are able to “have” this message, please order the book now. All links to Amazon.com are active, so please have your credit card handy. If you feel you are more comfortable, however, continuing to identify with the body, that you are not yet prepared to “have” the mystic revelations offered in “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness,” that’s okay as well. God speed on your life’s journey!

Charles M. Byrd

(Charukrishna)

The rain stayed away all day this past Saturday, June 9th as the Festival of India got under way in Manhattan. Lord Jagannath’s Ratha Yatra Parade commenced at 5th Avenue and 59th Street, came all the way down 5th Avenue and ended in Washington Square Park. In past years I’ve helped pull the carts of Lord Jagannath (the Lord of the Universe, a manifestation of Krishna) his brother Balarama, and their sister Subhadra, but this year, owing to a nasty heel spur, I and my family met the parade in the park.

Hare Krishna or Vaishnava devotees from all over the country, if not from around the world, flock to New York for the Big Apple’s Ratha Yatra Parade. Hands folded and close to the body (as is the case with the swami in the picture on the left and the devotee below right) is a way of recognizing the spark of divinity in all of us. Generally one also says “namaste” which is Sanskrit for “I bow to the divine in you.”

What a radical concept, especially here in the West where we’re more than content with “Yo!” “Wassup?” “Hello” or “How are you today?” Few of us would ever think of walking up to someone and greeting that person with “I bow to the divinity in you.” Why? It is because that most of us are so immersed in the bodily concept of existence that we mistake the physical form for the living entity itself.

There are many booths selling transcendental literature including Bhagavad-Gita As It Is along with other Vaishnava texts. Additionally, there are booths where one can learn to properly chant the Holy Name on japa beads (photo right), learn about reincarnation, the philosophy behind vegetarianism (it retards your spiritual progress to eat that which was once sentient life), the yoga experience, how to get back to Godhead, and much more! It’s really quite fun.

There are two Krishna temples in New York City. The main and largest one is Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir in Brooklyn, and the other smaller mandir (temple) is Sri Krishna Caitanya Mandir of Queens. The devotees in the photo left usually frequent the latter, and they are very loving and compassionate souls. You can see that by the effervescent glow on their faces.