...may be an in depth study for some members of society, but for those who have some idea of who they are, as spirit souls there is no need in becoming involved further in this topic.
First and foremost is that we firmly understand and at least begin to act on the basis that we are spiritual beings and not this body.
For those who are confused about their gender, simply seek medical help. In general terms there are males, females, and the occasional hermaphrodite.
Unlike in India the hermaphrodites hold no special privileges or claims.
In India we have seen, and read in local Times of India magazines, incidences where if a child is born with defective genitals the hermaphrodites claim that child as theirs. Sometimes they even forcibly enter a house and take a child, and the parents stand by helpless to the fate of their child.
From articles that I've read in Delhi (1993) the kidnappers then keep the child until an auspicious time is found to remove his male genitals by the use of a sharp knife in ritual sacrifice, and sealed with branding seals to stop the blood flow. Needless to say those who survive, and it is a mere few, are traumertised to their new role. Deprived of their testosterone, they begin to develop female traits. When these are complete, or as need be for their trade, these young mutants are sold into prostitution on the streets to provide handsome lifestyles for their pimps.
Such unnatural and brutal acts on children and young men in the name of religion are in the mode of ignorance according to Bhagavad Gita.
The goal of such acts, despite their rituals and so-called sacrifice, is not to please the Supreme Lord, but rather to engage in debase activities of homosexuality, either for mundane physical pleasure or money or both.
Such activities are not on the progressive path to enlightenment, instead the result is both confining and entangling for further suffering in repeated birth and death.
Similarly those who undergo costly and painful operations to achieve the same or similar end do so in ignorance of who they are and what the real end result is.
If therefore someone is confused about their gender, seek medical help. If you are dissatisfied with the findings, as some may be, there is no need to artificially undergo some torturous surgery to re-shape the external form. By your consciousness you will be carried into the appropriate form at the time of death, after your meditations of that life-time are realised.
yam yam väpi smaran bhävam
tyajaty ante kalevaram
tam tam evaiti kaunteya
sadä tad-bhäva-bhävitah
“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his present body, in his next life he will attain to that state without fail.” (Bhagavad Gita 8:6.)
çaréraà yad aväpnoti
yac cäpy utkrämatéçvaraù
gåhétvaitäni saàyäti
väyur gandhän iväçayät
SYNONYMS
çaréram—the body; yat—as; aväpnoti—gets;
yat—as; ca api—also; utkrämati—gives up; éçvaraù—the
lord of the body; gåhétvä—taking; etäni—all these;
saàyäti—goes away; väyuù—the air; gandhän—smells;
iva—like; äçayät—from their source.
TRANSLATION
The living entity in the material world carries
his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries
aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.
PURPORT
Here the living entity is described as éçvara,
the controller of his own body. If he likes, he can change his body to
a higher grade, and if he likes he can move to a lower class. Minute independence
is there. The change his body undergoes depends upon him. At the time of
death, the consciousness he has created will carry him on to the next type
of body. If he has made his consciousness like that of a cat or dog, he
is sure to change to a cat’s or dog’s body. And if he has fixed his consciousness
on godly qualities, he will change into the form of a demigod. And if he
is in Kåñëa consciousness, he will be transferred to
Kåñëaloka in the spiritual world and will associate with
Kåñëa. It is a false claim that after the annihilation
of this body everything is finished. The individual soul is transmigrating
from one body to another, and his present body and present activities are
the background of his next body. One gets a different body according to
karma, and he has to quit this body in due course. It is stated here that
the subtle body, which carries the conception of the next body, develops
another body in the next life. This process of transmigrating from one
body to another and struggling while in the body is called karñati,
or struggle for existence.
(Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhagavad
Gita As It Is. Bg 15.8. purport.)
About the nature of the Jiva - Soul