Clarification of woman issue having darsan
- I was not saying that women shouldn’t have nice darsan of the deities and all facilities
- Point was: Material world means genuine hard-core exploitation because it means sex exploitation
- It means sex life – illicit sex life means exploitation
- When you disconnect that whatever little remnants of lording it over may still carry over are very mild in comparison
- Otherwise women should have darsan, prasadam, place to stay – everything nice
Even devotees are confronted with the dangers of household life
- So far we spoke about the troubles of materialistic household life but this should also be a warning for devotees
- SB 5.5.7 pp ‘The influence of mäyä is so strong that even a person advanced in knowledge actually forgets that he is Kåñëa's eternal servant. Therefore he remains satisfied in his householder life, which is centered around sexual intercourse’ - It is not an accusation that this is going on even amongst devotees, no hardly - The danger is there that even if one is advanced in knowledge he may forget Krsna therefore these strict regulative principles are there – beyond that full engagement in devotional service that the heart gets purified
- SB 5.5.8 If we don’t want to forget Krsna we have to follow in the footsteps of Lord Brahma pp: ‘Sometimes it is found among exalted personalities like Lord Brahmä that the wife and children are not a cause of bondage. On the contrary, the wife actually helps further spiritual life and liberation. Nonetheless, most people are bound by the knots of the marital relationship, and consequently they forget their relationship with Krsna’
- SB 4.31.1pp ‘One should therefore not be too much attached to family life, for it will spoil one's development of Kåñëa consciousness’
- SB 9.14.36 pp ‘Cäëakya Paëòita has advised, viçväso naiva kartavyaù stréñu räja-kuleñu ca: "Never place your faith in a woman or a politician." Unless elevated to spiritual consciousness, everyone is conditioned and fallen, what to speak of women, who are less intelligent than men. Women have been compared to çüdras and vaiçyas (striyo vaiçyäs tathä çüdräù [Bg. 9.32]). On the spiritual platform, however, when one is elevated to the platform of Kåñëa consciousness, whether one is a man, woman, çüdra or whatever, everyone is equal’
Women are less intelligent than men
- That is a fact
- You can go on with your idea that women are equally intelligent – they are so intelligent that now they are free to do whatever they like and be exploited like anything
- This is the statement of the sages – we take Vedic knowledge as a fact – not our own ideas
- Does it mean literally that women are less intelligent? Yes
- That is the difficulty of the present civilization that people want to make friendship with women and mix freely and not know what’s what
- This is knowledge – Vedic knowledge: the nature is different
- Also a lady-professor at university of Pennsylvania wrote recently a book about the different nature of man and woman:
- She disabuses the reader about the idea the man and woman are the same thing just in different clothing
- She confirms that there is a fundamental, biological, emotional, temperamental, psychological absolute set of differences
- Everybody knew anyway but people are busy trying to forget and taking advantage of some strange conception with the purpose of sense gratification
Srila Prabhupada’s nice ways of dealing with that woman/man issue
- He wasn’t just in the mood of making people feel bad
- One time Prabhupada gave evidence that according to some scientist man have 64 ounces worth of brain substance and women have 32
- One of our ladies was there and he turned to her and said: But when they become Krsna-conscious then they grow the other 32
- When Prabhupada gave the first brahminical initiations of course he didn’t give the sacred thread to the women
- Quoted saying in Bengal: ‘Person who is not qualified as a brahmana can’t become qualified by going to the market and buying a sacred thread. And a person who is qualified doesn’t need a sacred thread’
- So he said you are all more qualified so I don’t give you a sacred thread
Why less intelligent?
- In terms of book knowledge
- In general particularly the tendency toward sense gratification is stronger
- Sense gratification means attachment to the bodily concept of life, material comforts, husband, children …
‘But everyone in Kali-yuga is born as sudra’
- Still they are men
- Prabhupada seem to hold that the distinction still applies even in Kali-yuga
- Otherwise it becomes more Kali-yuga if we pretend that there is no distinction
(16:50)
Prabhupada got a letter from a black devotee
- In different parts of the scriptures it is indicated that be born black is to take birth in a lower status
- One black devotee wrote to Prabhupada to ask whether that what he heard was true
- Prabhupada wrote back saying in essence: What you want to know for? If you think that you are black then you are in the illusory conception of life
- Even if it is true what do you care – you are not this body
First point of spiritual understanding: To understand that we are not this body
- When we understand that he or she is not this body that is a liberated person
- We should not make a case that our embodiment is great because we are white, black, woman, man, American, Indian … because then your intelligence is like that of a cow or an ass – sa eva go-kharah
- We must come to the spiritual platform and understand that we are not this body
- Everyone is better than man or woman: Everyone is spiritual soul
Anything engaged in devotional service is good
- Men engaged in devotional service is nice/ women engaged in devotional service is nice
- As soon as something is separated form Krsna it is useless
Coming to KC there is equality: Everyone is intelligent
- You got the other 32 ounces
Send children to Gurukula
- Then parents are free to serve Krsna
- School doesn’t mean that you are packed-up: you have to pack up the lunch box everyday and send him around the corner to the gurukula
- Gurukula means (SB 7.12.1) the child is sent to the place of the guru and is trained up
- Parents are naturally indulgent so child at the age of 5 he is sent to the gurukula to be trained in spiritual culture
- Child is getting nice education and your life is free
Accepting household life means accepting the whole business
- Not just the happiness of material comforts but also the responsibility
- One who has gotten that responsibility can’t say: I don’t like it – like a chicken: I only like the side that produces eggs – the other side that needs to be fed I don’t like
- Accepting household life means accepting the whole business: Material comforts + Responsibility
- It is a very heavy responsibility and one who doesn’t want/ can’t discharge that responsibility should stay away from householder life
- One who has entered householder life he has to perform his prescribed duty
Problems of householder life
- Householders all want a good job for the husband (earn money but not get too much entangled), good school for the children (nice gurukula – nice education), nice place to live (not hellish Kali-yuga)
- But it is difficult because it is the MW – things don’t just fall into our laps as we like them
- You find a school but the work is over there/ if there is school there is no work/ if there is work there is no school/ if the rent is low over here but there are no jobs/ the jobs are over here but the rent is sky high/ jobs and rent are good but there is no school
Letter to Mr. Loy - Vrindaban 7 Nov, 1972
- ‘After all, she is your beloved daughter, and you have sacrificed everything just to bring her to the point of proper education, training, and so many things are there between you. But what can I say? In your country the girls are independent, and from very young age they are accustomed to mix with young boys, so naturally there will be attraction, sex desire and marriage’
- ‘But this kind of householder life of "grihameda'' consciousness does not apply to our marriages in Krishna Consciousness Movement’ … ‘And it is recommended they should be married at very early age, then the wife will remain always chaste and devoted to her husband. At such young age, from the first night onwards, she can never for a moment forget him, being still child and unspoiled, therefore she becomes the perfect chaste wife, and in those times the wife was so much devoted to her husband that she would voluntarily die in the fire of his cremation, unable to live without him. Myself, I was very young when I got married, and my wife was 11 years only’
Marriage is not for sense gratification but for serving Krsna/advancing in KC
Letter to Kirtiraja – Mayapur 28 Feb, 1972
- ‘Yes, even thinking sex is the same as illicit sex, but one who is not advanced cannot avoid it. But that does not disturb our regular procedure. We should strongly follow all the regulations and principles and chant and these thoughts will come and go away. Thinking will come; even great saintly persons like Lord Siva are not free of thoughts that come, so what to speak of you. So we must say that such thinking is no offense because you are accustomed to this habit’
- ‘So there is test for knowing if I am pleasing Krishna: If He reveals Himself to me, if I see Krishna, then I know I am pleasing Krishna. And another test is if my Spiritual Master is pleased by my service then I know that I am pleasing Krishna; it is very simple, because if I am following the prescribed regulative principles of my Spiritual Master, then without doubt I am pleasing him’
(48:17)
Letter to Vaikunthanath, Bombay 29 December,1972
- ‘Sometimes Krsna may put us into some difficulty just to purify us and force us to advance in Krsna consciousness. The devotee should always see his difficulty in this light, that Krsna is so kind upon me for creating this condition of struggling, thus He is relieving me of so many billions of lifetime of sinful reactions by this very insignificant and temporary condition of suffering something’
- ‘The activity most recommended by Krsna and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu for taking oneself to the perfectional stage in this age of Kali-yuga is this sankirtana or preaching mission. So if you will be able to form yourself into the first-class preacher, that will be best for you and for others also. Your wife may also assist you in your important activities of spreading Krsna consciousness. She is a very nice painter and artist, and she is very sincere and serious also, so you may together utilize your spot-life as preachers of Krsna consciousness, that will be the better occupation. There is no harm for having children, that is no impediment for preaching endeavor. But too much attachment for children, home and work will spoil your opportunity to get very quickly the mature benefit of Krsna consciousness or self-realization’
Prabhupada’s advice
- For men: Don’t marry!
- For women: Marry early!
Satsvarupa Maharaj on a radio show
- What would happen if all people came to your temple to your feast? What would you do?
- Satsvarupa Maharaj didn’t have a answer – so he asked Prabhupada later:
- Prabhupada said: First thing is that they don’t come – let them come we will feed them – but they are not coming, that’s the problem – hundreds of thousands of men can come, Krsna is there, we are ready to feed them – problem: people are not agreeing – they don’t become devotees
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