IDEAL PREACHING SYSTEM IN KALI-YUGA - MEN'S GROUP & WOMEN'S GROUP

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IDEAL PREACHING SYSTEM IN KALI-YUGA - SEPARATE MEN'S GROUP & WOMEN'S GROUP

THE MOST IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE OF DAIVI-VARNASHRAMA AND PURE PREACHING

RECOMMENDED BY ALL ACHARYAS, SCRIPTURES & THE SUPREME LORD GAURANGA HIMSELF

By Tridandi Bhikshu Bhaktiratna Sadhu.

 

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SHRILA PRABHUPADA

 

"YES, THE SEPARATION OF MEN AND WOMEN IS DESIRABLE. IF YAMUNA AND YOURSELF

CAN DEVELOP AN *** INSTITUTION *** OF A WOMEN'S ASHRAMA, THAT WILL BE NICE."

 

"IT IS NOT GOOD F0R (MARRIED) MEN, UNMARRIED MEN, BRAHMACARIS AND

BRAHMACARINIS (AND ALSO MARRIED WOMEN), TO CONSTANTLY BE MIXING."

 

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SHRILA SACCIDANANDA BHAKTIVINODA THAKURA

 

"IN THE OPINION OF THE PURE VAISHNAVA PHILOSOPHY, THE PURUSHA-SADHAKAS

(MALE- BODIED DEVOTEES) SHOULD PRACTICE BHAJANA (DEVOTIONAL SERVICE) IN A

SEPARATE GROUP (MANDALI) THAN THE STRI-SADHAKAS (FEMALE-BODIED DEVOTEES).

AND THE WOMEN SADHAKAS (DEVOTEES) SHOULD NEVER ALLOW ANY MALE DEVOTEE TO

ENTER THE WOMEN'S PREACHING GROUP. THOUGH BHAJANA (DEVOTIONAL SERVICE) IS A

COMPLETELY TRANSCENDENTAL ACTIVITY BUT IF MUNDANE MATERIAL MELLOWS ENTER (IN

THE ABOVE WAY) THEN IT WILL BECOME COMPLETELY DESTROYED."

 

"IN SPIRITUAL LIFE, THE SOULS IN A MALE BODY AND SOULS IN THE FEMALE BODY

SHOULD ALWAYS STAY SEPARATE (EXCEPT FOR HUSBAND AND WIFE). THE PLACE OF

WORSHIP OR DEVOTIONAL PRACTICE FOR THE WOMEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE AND THAT FOR

THE MEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE."

 

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The following instructions of Shrila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the

modern pioneer and grandfather of the Krishna consciousness movement and the

direct, eternal and most intimate associate of Shri Nitai-Gauranga and Shri

Radha-Krishna which gives the BLUEPRINT OF HOW THE PURE BHAJANA AND

PREACHING OF KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS SHOULD BE AND WILL BE CONDUCTED IN NEXT

10,000 YEARS OF KALI-YUGA. There are so many problems in the society of

devotees because it is doubtful whether these quotes are even known to

anyone what to speak and discussing or implementing them.

 

SHRILA SACCIDANANDA BHAKTIVINODA THAKURA:

 

Sahajiya-matera-heyatva, Sajjana Tosani 4/6:

 

Original Bengali:

 

suddha-vaisnava mate purusa-sadhaka-gana stri-sadhaka haite prthak-mandali

haiya bhajana karibena evam stri-sadhaka-gana kona purusake tanhadera

bhajana-mandalite asite dibena na. bhajana sampurna cinmaya karya, ekathu

jada-bhavera pravesa karilei nasta haya."

 

English Translation:

 

"In the opinion of the pure Vaishnava philosophy, the purusha-sadhakas

(male-bodied devotees) should practice bhajana (devotional service) in a

separate group (mandali) than the the stri-sadhakas (female-bodied

devotees). And the women sadhakas (devotees) should never allow any male

devotee to enter the women's preaching group. Though bhajana (devotional

service) is a completely transcendental activity but if mundane material

mellows enter (in the above way) then it will be completely destroyed."

 

(Note: This is the beginning of sahajiyaism because Thakura Bhaktivinoda has

made this statement is his article warning us against sahajiyaism.)

 

Samalochana, Sajjana Tosani 10/6:

 

Original Bengali:

 

"bahya-dehagata stri-purusagana sarvadai prthak thakibena. stri-lokadigera

bhajansthana prthak thakuka evam purusadigera bhajanasthana prthak thakuka;

kena na, ekatra haile rasa-tattva pravista vyaktidigera kramasah jadiya

stri-purusa gata vairasya asiya upasthita haya. takhana sastrera anyartha

kariya nijera caritrake vancaibara cestaya uttama sadhudigera ninda asiya

upasthita haya."

 

English translation:

 

"In spiritual life, the souls in a male body and souls in the female body

should always stay separate (except for husband and wife). The *PLACE OF

WORSHIP OR DEVOTIONAL PRACTICE FOR THE WOMEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE* and that

*FOR THE MEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE*. If this is not followed then the following

very dangerous phenomenon occurs. When they practice bhakti in the same

group, the mundane or material perverted mellow of illicit men-women

relationships gradually but surely enters the minds and hearts of those

sincere men and women spiritual aspirants who are initially interested in

relishing or are already relishing the spiritual mellows of devotional

service to Lord Krishna. Because the mundane sex attraction is very strong

in the hearts and minds of the conditioned souls, this perverted mellow

gradually replaces the superior spiritual mellow in the devotees' hearts.

This in turn leads to the indirect criticism of the topmost (uttama)

self-realized souls because everyone tries to justify this mixing of the

sexes in spiritual life by trying to cite the examples of what the great

souls did basically to prevent the scandalization of their own character.

This creates the most inauspicious situation where the aspirants gradually

give up spiritual life due to sahajiyaism and Vaishnava-aparadha."

 

Also Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura furthur discusses this topic in his

articles Sanga-tyaga, Sajjana Tosani 11/11 and Sadhu-vrtti 11/12:

 

AGAIN SHRILA BHAKTIVINODA THAKURA CLEARLY HINTS THAT THERE SHOULD BE

SEPARATE PREACHING GROUP FOR MEN AND WOMEN

 

"Men should not associate with other women except their wives in the name of

spiritual life. On the other hand, when a woman is engaged in sadhana-bhakti

(devotional practice), she should not associate with men. Associating with

the opposite sex is very inauspicious for any advancing devotee either man

or woman, householder or renunciate."

 

"The wife should also always endeavor for spiritual perfection with the help

of subordinate women such as her sister and daughter (and her husband and

other advanced women devotees. Similarly men should also endeavour for

spiritual perfection with the help of Guru, advanced male devotees and his

wife). There is no illicit conduct in this, so there will not be any

association with the opposite sex. Therefore, whether one is a householder

or a renunciate-all practitioners should totally give up the association

with the opposite sex (except wife and husband) in the name of spiritual

life."

 

"Householders should not associate with others' wives or prostitutes in the

name of spiritual life. They should not indulge in any association other

than with their own wives according to religious scriptures for the

procreation of Krishna conscious children. "

 

Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Sanga-tyaga, Sajjana Tosani 11/11:

 

“Those whose attraction has been purified by the strength of sadhu-sanga

(association with pure devotees) give up the association of the opposite sex

altogether and continually engage in devotional service. Persons in this

group are known as renounced Vaisnavas (sannyasis). Those whose propensity

for associating with the opposite sex has not been destroyed accept the

codes of marriage and remain as householders while engaging in devotional

service. For a householder devotee, touching and speaking to his wife in the

matter of executing devotional service is not detrimental to devotional

service; but for a renunciate there cannot be any type of talking to or

touching the opposite sex, otherwise his practice of devotional service will

be completely spoiled. Association with such a deviated person should be

totally rejected. One should give up the association of such dharmadvajis,

the hypocritically devout, with special care. Such people who accept the

external signs of dharma but do not actually follow dharma are called

dharmadvajis or pretenders.”

 

SHRILA PRABHUPADA'S QUOTES:

 

Shrila Prabhupada himself initiated this kind of preaching when he

instructed his women disciples to start an only women’s preaching effort

without the help of any men:

 

SHRILA PRABHUPADA STATES THAT MEN SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY CONNECTION WITH A

WOMEN'S PREACHING ASHRAM

 

“Manage a small ashram, but don’t try bigger scale, then you require the

help of men. Don’t try manual exertion, then again there is mixture and that

is not desired. Simply keep yourself aloof from men—-chanting, many more

times as possible, read books, worship the deity.” (Letter to: Yamuna,

Dinatarine Mayapur 21 Feb, 1976)

 

“Yes, the separation of men and women is desirable. If Yamuna and yourself

can develop such an institution of a women’s ashrama, that will be nice. You

are all elderly devotees. I think that this will be a good idea.” (Letter

to: Palika Hare Krishna Land, Bombay 13 November, 1975)

 

"Because it was not good for men, unmarried men, brahmacaris and

brahmacarinis, to constantly be mixing." (Shrila Prabhupada's Room

Conversation about Marriage September 24, 1968, Seattle)

 

“You can attract the fair sex community. Most of them are frustrated being

without any home or husband. If you can organize all these girls they will

get a transcendental engagement and may not be allured to the frustration of

life.” (Letter to: Yamuna, Dinatarine Calcutta 13 Jan, 1976)

 

Purport by Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami:

 

The above statements by Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Shrila Prabhupada

very clearly explain and establish the urgent need to create a forum where

men can guide men, women can guide women and husband and wife can help each

other in spiritual life.

 

For material occupational work or for fulfilling family or social

obligations in the present social structure, it may be indispensible for men

to talk to women other than their wives and for women to talk to men other

than their husbands. But a true Vaishnava householder should never talk to

other women or the devotee wives should never talk to other men IN THE NAME

OF SPIRITUAL LIFE or for preaching Krishna consciousness except for highly

unavoidable or urgent circumstances. Because in the conditioned stage the

senses are so powerful and they grasp the sense-objects very quickly and

surely. If they do so, then hypocrisy or duplicity enters in their practice

of Krishna consciousness and thus their practice gradually becomes polluted.

This is the basic principle of the daivi-varnashrama-dharma. As predicted in

the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, the human society will gradually move in the

direction of purely establishing this Vedic Krishna conscious culture for

the next 10,000 years which is going to be a golden era in this Kali-yuga.

 

The excesive free mixing or intermingling of men and women in the present

society has destroyed all chances of any genuine interest among the people

in spiritual life. Till this illicit mixing is not stopped and the pure

Vedic culture is not established, there is no question of any kind of

spiritual awakening among the people of this world. And it is the most

shameful and worst situation when people engage in this free mixing of the

sexes in the garb of spiritualism. It is the highest kind of cheating and

fraud.

 

The men can be trained very nicely in the science of bhakti-yoga the

sannyasi guru himself himself. They will in turn will train and teach

bhakti-yoga to their wives or dependants at home. The wives can also

regularly read the spiritual books and hear audio lectures to get a more

deeper understanding of Krishna consciousness. They can also ask their

devotee husbands any questions they may have about the philosophy of Krishna

consciousness. If the husbands cannot answer the questions, the husbands may

take direct guidance from guru or other senior godbrothers. In this way they

can provide satisfactory answers to all the questions of their wives. The

wives can then start practicing the science of Krishna consciousness

especially by the regular chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. After

properly understanding the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, the wives

can then start widespread programs for educating and training other women in

Krishna consciousness.

 

Ideally men should go out and distribute books to men and women should

distribute books to women. How can a wife of another man look up and talk

for hours to another man on the street in the name of so-called 'spiritual

preaching'. This is against the principles of Vedic culture and a breach in

the chastity of women and the same is applicable to the men also..

 

IT IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE AND UNAVOIDABLE FOR A MAN NOT TO TALK TO OTHER

MEN'S WIVES OR FOR A WOMEN NOT TO TALK WITH OTHER'S WIVES' HUSBANDS FOR DAY

TO DAY OCCUPATIONAL WORK TO MAINTAIN A LIVING BECAUSE THE SOCIETY IS IN A

VERY DEGRADED CONDITION WITH NO KIND OF CULTURE REMAINING. ONE MAY NOT BE

ABLE TO MAINTAIN ONE'S LIVELIHOOD IN SUCH A CASE. BUT TO JUSTIFY THIS MIXING

AND DO IT IN THE NAME OF PREACHING KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS WILL SURELY LEAD TO

UNIMAGINABLE CHAOS AND IS A BIGGER OFFENSE BECAUSE IT IS DONE EVEN AFTER

KNOWING THE PURE PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE INJUNCTIONS OF

GURU-SADHU-SHASTRA. IT ULTIMATELY ONLY BRINGS THE PROCESS OF KRISHNA

CONSCIOUSNESS INTO VERY BAD LIGHT AND THUS THE RESULT OF PREACHNG IS THAT

EVENTUALLY MORE HARM IS CAUSED THAN BENEFIT.

 

Shrila Prabhupada could not implement this ideal Vedic system immediately

due to highly degraded situation in human society. He said 50% work on

Varnashram is remaining. I think majority of that pertains to establishing

separate groups for men and women. He had to preach at all costs because

there was not a single institution in his time which was widely preaching

our Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy all over the world. But now if we simply

try to maintain and consolidate what Prabhupada has given us that will

enough to begin with. Also as Shrila Prabhupada says that an acharya can

introduce novel ways and means to somehow introduce Krishna consciousness

when there is an emergency but that does'nt mean that the sincere followers

of the acharya should always maintain that minimum standard and should not

try to progress towards the ideal standard. Infact it will actually please

the acharya if the followers try to do so. Unless we always try to improve

our devotional standard we will be pushed down by maya more and more.

 

A majority of grihastha men are already agitated that is why they decided to

marry in the first place. Thus normally they are more weaker than a sannyasi

in their resolution not to have illicit-sex life.There are so many strict

injunctions for a sannyasi not to have any kind of connections with women.

So one can imagine how strictly the grihastha males should follow in regards

to women other than their wives because in most cases they are weaker than

the sannyasis in this regard.

 

The husbands and other male relatives of these new women aspirants who join

the women's group should be encouraged by their wives to join the men’s

preaching group which is receiving training and guidance from a sannyasi or

male guru. The male members who are benefitted by this guidance in Krishna

consciousness should bring as many male friends and relatives to hear about

Lord Krishna and Lord Gauranga. In this way the men’s group of spiritual

aspirants can expand unlimitedly under the care of the sannyasi or male guru

without any danger or risk for the sannyasi-guru or the grihastha followers

to talk and mix with women. Other male members of the group will also be

avoided from talking with other men's wives in the name of so-called

preaching. Where there is talking, mixing is surely bound to come. This is

the rule of Kali-Yuga.

 

The women group of spiritual aspirants can also unlimitedly expand their

preaching activities to other women. They can also unlimitedly expand the

scope of their preaching activities by inviting, training and inspiring

hundreds, thousands and millions of other women to take up bhakti. In this

way both men and women can preach vigourously to their heart's fulfillment.

Each woman can practice spiritual life under the guidance of their devotee

husband and / or other advanced women devotees.

 

This is the perfect arrangement for the peaceful, pure and successful

prosecution of Krishna consciousness individually as well as collectively.

While following such a system, all the spiritual aspirants whether men or

women will experience great positive spiritual advancement in their personal

spiritual lives because the problem of illicit mixing of sexes in the name

of spiritual life will be greatly if not completely minimized.

 

Women may raise the question that they will be missing the direct process of

hearing from the sannyasi guru or his other advanced male disciples. But

they will not miss anything because they can catch up through reading of

Shrila Prabhupada's books, hearing the audio lectures etc. It may be a

little more austerity for the women devotees but it saves everyone from a

lot of complications later. In very difficult cases the wives can always get

some guidance by asking their husbands to consult the sannyasi guru.

 

But the sannyasi guru will not take any kind of direct interest or

responsibility in the women’s preaching effort like Prabhupada states in the

above quotes. If the devotee women want they can start a completely

independent women’s group or if that is not in their capacity they can go on

practicing spiritual life under the guidance of their devotee husbands and

help and guide a few other matajis. The male devotees should assist the

sannyasi or male guru in his preaching work. The female devotees can assist

their husbands in preaching and also try to expand the women's preaching by

assisting other advanced women devotees in preaching to women. They can

remain under the guidance of their advanced devotee husbands or under the

guidance of advanced women devotees or under the guidance of Prabhupada's

books. This system will automatically inspire and encourage women to read

the scriptures thoroughly and get trained up in all aspects of philosophy

and preaching because they will get lots and lots of opportunities to

preach and lead their fellow women devotees on the path of bhakti. I am

guessing that the women population must be almost 50% of the world's

population at present. So the women's group will have a unlimited scope for

preaching and the men's group will also have an unlimited scope for

preaching. This arrangement makes lot of sense and is very simple to

implement. Once it will be implemented, it will automatically expand

unlimitedly. That is my firm conviction.

 

As per all the Vedic scriptures, the chanting of the Hare Krishna

maha-mantra or the 'Gauranga' Mantra is supremely powerful and does not

depend on initiation (diksha), purification (purascarya) etc. for granting

liberation to the chanter (Cc Madhya 15.108).

 

Accepting the pure maha-mantra from the advanced spiritual master (guru) at

the time of diksha expediates the process of self-realization through the

primary process of chanting the maha-mantra. the advanced and pure sannyasi

guru can give diksha (initiation) to the male devotees who will gradually

become serious, sincere and qualified in Krishna consciousess.

 

These male devotees will then be trained furthur. During this process they

will keep on training their wives in the process of Krishna consciousness.

The wives can gradually come up to the standard of chanting atleast sixteen

rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily. If the wives want diksha

(initiation), their well-trained and advanced devotee husbands can give them

initiation by conducting a small fire sacrifice in their homes after taking

permission from their sannyasi-guru. On the order of the Guru, the husbands

can initiate their wives. The advanced grihastha devotee can initiate other

men also if his self-realized guru orders him to do so also. This is

perfectly as per the Vedic scriptures which state that the husband who is

advanced in spiritual consciousness is the primary and only guru for his

wife.

 

If the devotee husband is not so much advanced, the wives should keep on

chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra while taking guidance from the

scriptures, audio lectures and other advanced women devotees as shiksha

gurus. If they so require they can also accept initiation from advanced

women devotees who have been preaching and training them. They should

develop the faith that the constant chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra

will lead us to offenseless chanting which will enable one and all to go

back to Godhead. Great Vaishnavis like Shrimati Bhagavati devi, the wife of

Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Shrimati Devahuti, the wife of the great

Kardama Muni achieved perfection by faithfully serving their exalted

husbands in Krishna consciousness. There is no mention found anywhere of

their accepting formal initiation. Shrila Prabhupada states in his purport

to Shri Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya-lila 15.108:

 

“The offenseless chanting of the holy name does not depend on the initiation

process. Although initiation may depend on purascarya or purascarana, the

actual chanting of the holy name does not depend on purascarya-vidhi, or the

regulative principles. If one chants the holy name even once without

committing an offense, he attains all success. During the chanting of the

holy name, the tongue must work. Simply by chanting the holy name, one is

immediately delivered. ”

 

The sannyasi-guru will not give initiation (diksha) to any women because as

a sannyasi he is not allowed by the scriptures to have any kind of

connection with women (all sastric quotes sent earlier). Diksha is a very

intimate connection between guru and disciple where the guru has a very

heavy responsibilty to always monitor and guide the disciple’s progress and

constantly correct the wayward disicples. This function cannot be normally

rendered by a sannyasi guru in regards to a female disciple. In many many

(if not most) cases we can seen how the so-called exchanges and guidance by

a sannyasi guru to his women disicples gradually but surely changes into an

subtly erotic or lusty relationship thereby destroying the spiritual life of

the sannyasi-guru as well the women disciples.In the case of non-fully

realized gurus who have even a little material contamination, this practice

of accepting women disciples will gradually degrade them to the lowest and

the most sinful kinds of habits. Because apart from the gross desires for

women and money, the subtlest form of sex-life which is name, profit and

adoration is gratified to it's ultimate extent when the women disicple

worship, obey and 'surrender' to the sannyasi guru who is still on the

material platform in many ways. This leads to the complete destruction of

that so-called sannyasi guru. This also explains the increasing number of

divorce cases in a religious institution where the not fully perfect

sannyasi-guru directly has dealings with the wives of other men in th ename

of becoming their spiritual master.

 

Even a householder male guru can’t discharge this function of guru in

regards to other men’s wives as per the scriptures. Only the advanced

devotee husband can discharge this function of a guru for his own wife only

or an advanced women guru can do it in regards to a women disciple or a

sannyasi-guru and directly guide a male disciple. These are the only three

options possible.

 

The devotee husband should give initiation to his wife only and no one else.

He can monitor the spiritual progress of his wife and guide her from time to

time without trangressing any principles of the Vedic varnashrama-dharma.

This is the perfect combination. Or advanced women gurus can guide their

women disciples very nicely and carefully and the same thing is applicable

to a sannyasi-guru and his male disciples.

 

We have seen innumerable cases over the past many many years in various

religious organizations that sannyasis who preach and talk to and accept

women disciples with good intention (of expanding the 'preaching') in the

beginning gradually end up giving up their sannyasa vows and most

disgracefully marrying one of their women disciples. This is the greatest

abuse of the guru-disciple relationship which is a supposed to be an eternal

father-child relationship but later corrupts into a husband-wife

relationship due to intimate contact between the male guru and the female

disciple. There have been thousands and thousands of devotees who have

eventually lost faith in Guru and Gauranga because of observing the gradual

degradation of their gurus in front of their eyes due to extensive contact

of their women disciples which cannot be avoided by a guru if he accepts

women disciples in the first place. Thus in the end the same so-called

preaching by the sannyasi gurus has resulted in a mass and destructive loss

of faith in the process of Krishna consciousness for their neophyte

disciples due to ultimate collapse an ddegradation of the gurus themselves

who never tried to take heed of the instructions of the scriptures and the

acharyas.

 

Even male householder gurus end up giving up their own chaste wives and

remarrying one of their female disciples. Due to accepting women as their

disciples or followers, the sannyasi (or any male) guru has to compulsorily

become intimate with them either through meeting with them, talking with

them, helping them out, hearing their problems, replying to them by email

etc. This is becausee he takes the heavy responsibility of guiding them and

he cannot shirk that responsibility later. This great risk in turn gradually

leads to the downfall of the guru whether sannyasi, grihastha or a

brahmchari. The sannyasi ends up violating all the rules, principles and

prohibitions mentioned for the sannyasa ashram in the scriptures (THE

COMPILATION WITH ALL THE SHASTRIC RULES & REGULATIONS FOR A SANNYASI IS

AVAILABLE WITH ME AND WILL BE SENT ON REQUEST). Therefore a sannyasi or any

male-bodied guru should not accept any female-bodied disciples unless he

completely transcended the bodily platform and is acting on the pure

platform of his constitutional relationship with the Supreme Lord in the

spiritual world. As Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada states in

his article 'Diksha' in Sajjan Tosani that the guru should have himself

mantra-siddhi (realized his constitutional position and seen Krishna face to

face) before imparting the mantra to his dsciple otherwise the diksha is

invalid or very less effective. Believe me it is 100% sure that the guru

will have problems and eventually falldown if he does so unless the guru is

an eternal associate of the Lord. Thus this guru-abuse creates great

inauspiciousness and disturbance in the society of spiritual aspirants and

causes permanent unreparable damage in the preaching work and also in the

minds and hearts of other devotees who witness this guru abuse and falldown.

 

Ofcourse sometimes a specifically empowered pure representative of Krishna

like Shrila Prabhupada may break this principle because he is above the

varnashrama-system by the dint of his perfect spiritual position. Even

though he may be a sannyasi, he may directly give initiation to many women

for the sake of rapidly advancing the preaching work because he is fully

aware that this is the desire of the Lord for him due to being in constant

touch with the Lord. But his extraordinary activities should not be imitated

by the less perfect sannyasi gurus or other male-bodied gurus otherwise they

will have to suffer the heavy reactions of breaking the varnashrama

principles. Instead they should try to follow the instructions of their

guru, sadhu and shastra.

 

Sometimes women devotees are more advanced than their husbands. In such

cases the wives should try to make their husbands into sincere and advanced

devotees by facilitating him to go and take association of other advanced

male Vaishnavas in the men's group. When the husbands become spiritually

advanced then the wives can accept initiation from them. If the husbands

don’t become qualified to act as gurus for their wives then the wives can

keep on sincerely practicing Krishna consciousness and they will be assured

of all success in spiritual life. In such cases, the wives can also accept

initiation from other very advanced women devotees in the women’s group.

Such women devotees who act as gurus should themselves be initiated by their

advanced devotee husbands.

 

Unmarried women devotees in the women’s group can gradually choose advanced

devotee husbands from the spiritually trained men’s group. This can be

arranged by a husband-wife devotee couple where the husband is attending the

men's group and the wife is attending the women's group. There should

absolutely be no contact of the husband with other women of the women's

group or the wife and other men of th emen's group. The newly married women

can later accept intiation from their all well-trained husbands if required.

Or they can accept initiation from other advanced women devotees who should

be accepted as gurus by the women’s group on the dint of their spiritual

advancement. Any exchanges or communication between the men’s and women’s

group must be strictly done through husband and wife only and only if

urgently required i.e. a male devotee will approach another male devotee

who’s wife is a member of the women’s group or a women can approach other

women whose husband is a member of the men's group. She will communicate the

message received from her husband to the concerned woman in the women’s

group and vice versa.

 

Some may raise the question that since nowadays husband and wife treat each

other like friends in a very informal way, how can the wives ever accept

their husbands as gurus? The answer is that in the pure Vedic culture, the

spiritually advanced husband is automatically considered the first and

foremost spiritual guru of the wife. The wife is supposed to be always

subordinate to the spiritually advanced husband. Ofcourse if the husband is

not spiritually enlightened and the wife is, then it is different case. But

even that does not give a license to the women to freely talk to other men

in the name of spiritual life. They can take guidance from other women

devotees, spiritual literature, audio lectures etc. Alongwith this the wives

should also try to gradually uplift their husbands spiritually. Unless this

Vedic mood is recultivated in husband-wife relationships, there will no end

to the miseries in married life.

 

The present society is so much degraded that this Vedic system of preaching

Krishna consciousness as suggested above by the scriptures and the acharyas

may seem to some as utopian, idealistic, unrealistic or impractical in the

present circumstances. Perhaps it may take many (hundreds of) years after

which this above system of preaching in daivi-varnashrama can be implemented

in its true form. But it will surely be implemented in full force sometime

during the next 10,000 years which is the Golden Age of Lord Gauranga

Mahaprabhu as predicted in the Brahma-vaivarta Purana. So someone has to set

the ball rolling at some point of time. Success or no success depends on the

will of the Lord.

 

If one is trying his best to purely implement the injunctions of

guru-sadhu-shastra, then the Lord will be surely be pleased. The pleasure of

the Lord is the ultimate achievement and success for the devotee. If the

Lord wants it to be a success in the form of external results, then let it

be so. If not, then that is also okay. What is use of winning the whole

world but loosing your own consciousness or doing so by deviating from the

scriptures? What is the use of big external successes in the preaching field

if one ends up diluting or compromising the instructions of

guru-sadhu-shastra or introducing some deviation or sahajiyaism on the path

of pure devotion? It will only end up in becoming a great disturbance on the

path of pure preaching. We should constantly try to remember the instruction

of Bhagavatam that what great, exalted and empowered personalities do, we

should never try to imitate. We should only try to sincerely understand and

follow their instructions, those of the previous acharyas and Lord Gauranga

Mahaprabhu Himself.

 

The points and quotes in this article are the basic minimum and they can be

unlimitedly expanded upon or modified a little to furthur facilitate and

establish this system of seperate bhakta-sanghas for men and women as per

the desire of Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Shrila Prabhupada himself and the

Vedic scriptures. I think one day down the line in these 10,000 years some

empowered person will appreciate this article and make this dream a reality

otherwise the problems and impediments in the preaching of Krishna

consciousness will never decrease as shown by the quotes below.

 

I would like to conclude with a few more quotes from Shrila Prabhupada, etc:

 

"A civilization that allows men to mix unrestrictedly with women is an

animal civilization. In Kali-yuga, people are extremely liberal, but mixing

with women and talking with them as equals actually constitutes an

uncivilized way of life."(SB 7.12.8 purp)

 

"Unless one is very strong in knowledge, patience, and proper bodily,

mental, and intellectual behavior, controlling one's lusty desires is

extremely difficult.[..] When Cupid attacks, all one's education, culture,

and knowledge are lost. Therefore one has to avoid this free-mixing, lusty

society." (Second Chance Chp 12)

 

"Because modern society sanctions unrestricted mixing of men and women, its

citizens cannot possibly achieve peace; rather, the regulation of conflict

becomes the basis of social survival."(SB 11.21.19 purp)

 

Once a devotee asked Shrila Prabhupada, “We have the perfect philosophy,

Krishna consciousness, and we have the perfect spiritual master, Your Divine

Grace. Everything about Krishna consciousness is perfect, yet we always seem

to have so many problems. Why?” Shrila Prabhupada replied, “Because the

brahmacaries and sannyasis associate too much with women.” (From Bhakti

Vikasa Swami’s book Brahmacarya in Krishna consciousness:)

 

"Unrestricted social mixing between men and women is a major distraction

from the spiritual path." (Narada-bhakti-sutra verse 43)

 

Dasanudaso'smi, Tridandi Bhikshu Bhaktiratna Sadhu.

 

(Kindly forgive me if I will not be able to respond immediately to email

philosophical queries related to this email or otherwise due to the heavy

load of book writing, translation, publication and preaching work at

present.)