Never called women mataji

[Guest guest]

> > I think if you look carefully you will find that these are all

> > references to elderly Indian women. I have searched and cannot find any

> > reference where Srila Prabhupada uses "Mataji" with any of his

> > disciples.

>

> Prabhupada, being from Bengal, perhaps would not have used the term

> 'Mataji' in a general way for any woman as indicated above. Reason being

> that Bengalis generally do not use 'ji', they consider it a bit

> undignified since it belongs in the diction of the Hindi speaking people.

> I am speculating that because all his spiritual daughters definately saw

> him as their father, he was not about to break that bubble by complicating

> things calling them Mataji or Ma but he used the word Prabhu in a generic

> way in order to encourage amongst all his new, young disciples, the habit

> of seeing every other devotee as master which was the more important

> lesson to grasp.

>

> Now that we have learned that lesson (hopefully), is it not a step forward

> in the right direction that Prabhupada wanted for all of us men to call

> all women mother or mataji and see ourselves as the son of every woman?

> This habit of seeing woman as mother and addressing her as such definately

> signifies an acceptance of the Vedic norm. And, if women want to call each

> other Prabhu amongst themselves, what is the harm, why should the men be

> concerned about what women call each other?

>

> 'Mother' is not inferior in any way to 'Prabhu'. After all, Narayan is

> always addressed as Prabhu, and Lakshmi, His eternal Consort, is always

> addressed as Mother, or Ma Lakshmi (if you are Bengali), Lakshmi Mata (if

> you are from north India). In spite of the fact that the Supreme Lord is

> both the original father and mother, Laksmi is never addressed as Prabhu

> and Narayan is never addressed as Mother!

>

> YS PD

 

Lakshmi "devi"... Narayana "deva"... etc., etc., etc.

 

Good points indeed, Paradhyeya Prabhu!