Суд над Бхагавад-гитой / Attempt to ban Bhagavad-gita

18. CREATING AND PROTECTING A CLASS OF CHASTE WOMEN

So the point is, being a "liberated" woman is not necessarily the qualification for being a happy woman. Srila Prabhupada of course confirms this: "Independence for a woman means misery." He also says it means "prostitution." So even though chaste women are usually not as sophisticated, intellectual, flashy, daring, exciting, etc., as Western women, they are more steady, peaceful, healthy and most of all faithful and chaste to their husbands. There is no such thing as marrying a non-virgin in Vedic culture and adultery practically does not exist. So why do we stress the superiority of chaste women over "liberated" women? There is only one reason: spiritual life. For those persons who are actually on the level of human beings, that is, they use their developed consciousness for higher ends, such persons will be attracted to a simple but chaste wife. Those persons who are more interested in extracting as much sense pleasure as possible, in as short a period of time as possible, they will be looking for a Western wife. The readers of this book will be interested in spiritual life, and therefore we are interested in Teaming how to create and protect a class of chaste women, not "liberated" women. The next chapter shows why it is so difficult to convert Western women into Vedic women and how the leaders of ISKCON are not encouraging this change.

PART THREE

WOMEN IN ISKCON

19. INTRODUCTION

In Srila Prabhupada's personal letters, he had to address the issue of marriage and a women's relationship to her husband more than he addressed any other single issue save and except to follow the four regulative principles and chant 16 rounds. This is obviously because it is here that the devotees becoming responsible householders, he still had to address the issue constantly. We feel that these voluminous instructions on marriage given in their entirety in our upcoming book, is ample evidence to clear the gross misconceptions on marriage that have plagued ISKCON since the beginning. Prabhupada did not want the women joining his movement to neglect their husbands in preference to himself, even though he was a completely pure devotee. He wanted the women to faithfully and devotedly serve their husbands, and in that way, serve himself. Why Srila Prabhupada initiated women at all is of course a controversial point, but the following letter gives us a clue. The matter is also thoroughly covered in the document entitled: SULOCANA vs. KIRTANANANDA (Appendix 22). Before beginning this section, the reader should keep in mind that there are numerous instructions, both from the books and letters, to back every sentence made herein. In the complete book, there will be footnotes to the Appendix references for all these points. For now please trust that we are not concocting anything.

20. AFFECTION BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE

"Regarding your personal question in the matter of relationship with your husband. Your relationship with your husband is all right. You must be faithful and devoted to your husband, Dayananda. Vedic system advises women to become very chaste and accept the husband as master. Your husband is especially good because he is progressing in Krsna consciousness. I am very glad that you two are very good combination and your devotion for your husband and your husband's love for you are considered great achievements. I feel very happy when I see my spiritual boys and girls, especially those who have been married by my personal presence, are very happy in their conjugal relationship." (Nandarani, 10/8/67)

This mood shows the way Srila Prabhupada felt about his married disciples. In personal letters, he never discouraged affection between man and wife, or said such affection was Maya. Rather he encouraged it in many letters like the one above. Why would Srila Prabhupada consider it a "great achievement" to be attached to one's spouse? Does this sound like the words of a renunciate who is always preaching against family attachment and sense gratification? No. There is no contradiction whatsoever. Srila Prabhupada wanted mature responsible householders to manage his movement. This is clear by the fact that all the original GBC men were married. He knew perfectly well that his disciples were not prepared to accept the celibate order of life, sannyasa, but he was hoping that they could at least come up to the level of being responsible householders. Marriage means responsibility. It is superior to be a responsible householder than a wild-card bachelor in the guise of a sannyasi. He knew that for man and wife to live together peacefully and push on the movement there would have to be some affection between them. Ideally, as stated in many places, the wife should be faithful to her husband out of duty even if affection isn't there. But that is neither likely, or expected, in Westernized women. Therefore Prabhupada encouraged the women to be very attached to their husbands. He never preached some artificial renunciation to his young and usually passionate disciples.

21. THE EARLY MARRIAGES

Prabhupada's handling of his Western disciples was a real "can of worms" to say the least. Let's take a close look what he had to deal with. The vast majority of the men were too immature and/or irresponsible to become proper family men. But they were also too sexually agitated to remain single, which means celibate. And the women, they were too independent and usually "spoiled" to surrender very easily to anyone, much less men with the above qualifications. But single women were coming to the movement in large numbers and there was no possibility of stopping that influx in a "liberated" society. Without being married, all these women were a major disturbance to the single men who were already too sexually inclined. Srila Prabhupada stated in many letters what a tremendous problem this created. He flatly admitted that it was impossible to deal with. For a short time, when the first married couples were living and working together in a semblance of harmony, Srila Prabhupada encouraged them to no end in their preaching efforts. He was very pleased that they were cooperating with each other to spread Krsna consciousness. But later, when many of those first married couples became restless and started to split up, Prabhupada washed his hands of the whole "dirty business." Only then did he start discouraging marriage and started giving important posts to single men.

22. WHY PRABHUPADA GAVE "SANNYASA"

But the problem with the majority of these single men was that they were not free of sex desire and so were actually not qualified for real sannyasa. Almost all of his disciples still had strong material desires. So what was he to do? They couldn't possibly be allowed to have sex, or as Prabhupada would word it, "freely mix," without any responsibility of marriage. That would have meant abortions and contraception, which Prabhupada condemned. He never compromised in that way, thereby encouraging another sex cult like Rajneesh. So, as early letters reveal, Prabhupada tried and tried to inspire his disciples to be good householders. He wrote hundreds of letters like the one above to Nandarani encouraging the couples to become attached to one another and preach. Then, when that failed to keep them together, we see how he made them sign documents promising that they would never separate under any circumstances. But even then they refused to obey. Daily he was getting more and more letters from disciples asking if they could divorce, what they should do with the unwanted children, if they could remarry, and so on.

So he finally refused to take part in any more marriages. But there was still the problem of what all these agitated young men should do. They wouldn't remain responsible householders as he wanted. Although Prabhupada said in one letter in 1970 that he was going to forget the whole mission and go back to India to write books with the help of a few of his more mature disciples, that wouldn't have kept the mission alive in the West. The material desires of these men would have to be satisfied if they were to go on preaching. Simply eating opulently would not suffice indefinitely. But the position of sannyasa could supply the material gratifications of profit, adoration, and distinction, or subtle sex life. None of them were actually fit for sannyasa, as Prabhupada later revealed. Many had been homosexuals, gangsters, drug addicts, etc. Except for the rare soul, sannyasa in Vedic culture is a graduation from mature household life. (And are we more advanced than Vedic culture?) None of these men had actually graduated. So, with these "sannyasis," the very same sex desire the householder vents in physical sex with his wife, the "sannyasi" could enjoy through the benefits of adoration and distinction. At least in that way unwanted children wouldn't be produced and the preaching could go on without this constant disturbance. There were still disturbances created by these neophyte "sannyasis," but compared to the alternatives, it was acceptable for the time being. Such a time-and-circumstance adjustment made by the uttama-adhikari does not become a Vedic law to be imitated by anyone regardless of qualification.

23."PRACTICAL SANNYASIS"

These were not real sannyasis Srila Prabhupada was making but "practical sannyasis," an alternative to their going away altogether. We can admire the perfection of Srila Prabhupada's strategy. Everyone engaged in preaching and distributing books, and the only negative result was that some of his Godbrothers criticized him for giving unfit men sannyasa. To this criticism, Srila Prabhupada would often reply, "My Godbrothers have no brain how to spread Krsna consciousness all over the world," not understanding the adjustments needed for the sake of preaching in the West. Of course, disturbances continued with householders and sannyasis being envious of each other, but all-in-all, Prabhupada's strategy worked miracles in keeping these otherwise difficult-to-engage men busy in spreading the message of Lord Caitanya throughout the world. In numerous letters, Prabhupada said that this sannyasa is not important, that any devotee preaching Krsna consciousness is already better than a sannyasi.

24. A MOVEMENT OF HOUSEHOLDERS

So, considering what Srila Prabhupada had to work with, is it any wonder when he says above: Your mutual affection for each other is a "great achievement." Prabhupada said that he wanted his temples managed by mature householders. Actually the scriptural injunction for this age is not to take sannyasa but to remain home and preach (Cc. Mad, 7.127). That was Lord Caitanya's instructions to Kurma Brahmin. In these Western countries, the idea of real sannyasa, in most cases, is out of the question. Until one is very mature, something that usually comes from living a mature household life, most devotees should not even consider sannyasa before age fifty. In one letter, Prabhupada said, "First prove yourself by being a responsible husband." Therefore, teaming how to be mature householders is of tantamount importance for anyone serious about spiritual life, especially in this age. There is no longer any need for this facade by the so-caned sannyasis. That time is now over. Srila Prabhupada's adjustments 'm this regard got the movement off the ground and got his books printed. He never indicated that sannyasa was a cheap thing. How could we think that Prabhupada wanted a movement of young, passionate, "sannyasis" with hundreds of women hanging on to their sandals? He only gave one man (Kirtanananda) sannyasa before 1970, and that "sannyasi" immediately turned on Prabhupada to steal the movement for himself (full story in Chapter Ten). The next four "sannyasis" were the ones who locked him in his room in LA. That was when Prabhupada said that he was going to retire to book writing and nothing more. They also wanted to take over the movement for themselves. That story is in Chapter Eight. So one should not think that Prabhupada's giving "sannyasa" meant that these men were spiritually advanced. In these early instances, it was generally just the opposite-they were simply advanced in their material ambition.

25. INITIATING WOMEN: WHY?

This brings us to an important point: Why did Srila Prabhupada initiate women if they were meant to be the disciple of their husbands? As stated above, young girls were coming to the movement in large numbers. Prabhupada often stated, "they couldn't be rejected, because they are also coming to Krsna for shelter." Prabhupada had said that all the women had to be married, but at the same time we can see that if he said openly that women were disciples of their husbands, it would create havoc with their Western egos. They would have been so offended by such a proposition that there is no telling what they would have done. And of course they can't be blamed, since the men were not very advanced either. So again-a difficult situation. He stated that he would not discriminate against them by not initiating them and had said they should not remain single and unprotected. Since a man needs full devotion from his wife if he's to be faithful to her, Prabhupada always told the women, both in his books and letters, to fully surrender themselves to their husband and see him as their guru.