Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's standard on sannyas & brahmacarya

[Guest guest]

>From notes compiled by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta

Sarasvati Thakura

 

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada several times, told a story to

demonstrate how strict Sarasvati Thakura actually was in dealing with women.

The wife of O.B.L. Kapoor, who was also the harernama disciple of Sarasvati

Thakura, requested to see him in private to speak with him. At that time he

was old enough to be her grandfather, and was a very senior, respected,

naistik brahmacari-guru, but still he said, "No, I cannot see you alone.

Whatever you have to say, do so in the company of others."

 

Dr. Kapoor revealed how Sarasvati Thakura gave harernama to his wife,

without even seeing her face, because there was a screen placed between

them.

 

The Zamindar (landholder), a very rich man of Navadvipa, was named (?) His

mother was over 60 years old and he brought her to meet Sarasvati Thakura,

but he said, "Mother, you stay downstairs. Don't come up. I don't want to

meet any women. Send your son to meet me." Even women accompanied by their

husbands couldn't come to meet him. During lectures, a fixed screen divided

the men and women, so they couldn't see each other. This was very strict.

 

ISKCON's SP Letter, 7/4/70: "He didn't like very much preaching amongst

women."

 

Some centers (Gaudiya Math) maintain more strict standards than others. They

had a division system, where a screen was put so that the women might have

been able to see the men but the men could not see the women. When spreading

out the carpet to sit on they would not allow the men and women to sit near

each other on it.)

 

The marriages were performed in their home village or town, not in the math.

Sraddha ceremonies were performed in the math. Unmarried girls would take

harernama at their own risk. He did accept just a very few. If their parents

married them to someone who was opposed to their Krsna consciousness then

they had to continue whatever their husband was like. That was not Sarasvati

Thakura's concern.

 

His policy was that women must be married. He didn't like the idea of

unmarried women. Women were always separate from the men, in the public

assembly. Chik (a fine bamboo screen for dividing women from men) was used

not only in the Gaudiya Math but was also common in public meetings.

 

Sarasvati Thakura many times quoted the S.B. verse from the 9th canto (S.B.

9.19.17), which is also in Manu samhita, matra svasra duhitra va - even a

learned person shouldn't sit close to his mother, daughter, or sister,

because the senses are so strong that they can agitate the mind even of a

learned person.

 

After taking diksa, or second initiation, not at the time of harernama, or

first initiation, all the brahmacaris living in the Math could wear saffron

coloured robes, but if they became implicated with women, Sarasvati Thakura

said they had to wear white. Many brahmacaris wearing saffron later on got

married, that wasn't forbidden. Unlike the South Indian sampradayas, before

taking sannyasa, the devotees were not checked with astrology.

 

Sarasvati Thakura said, "Don't sit against the wall. That is stri-sanga.

That bodily comfort is a kind of pleasure as a stri-sanga is a kind of

bodily pleasure." Sarasvati Thakura himself would sit with a very straight

back. He would say, "Aram (comfort) is haram (abominable)." So he warned his

disciples against subtle sense pleasure in this way. This instruction was

especially meant for brahmacaris and sannyasis.

 

In Sarasvati Thakura's Gaudiya Bhasya commentary, he always discouraged the

association of women within the Math also. They could come and visit and

take darshan etc., but not intimately mix-up. They should keep away from the

place of cooking, because that's the extension of the Deity service. Very

strict.