Important

[Guest guest]

>I humbly request anyone to kindly explain how this statement "The GBC will

>not tolerate...preferential treatment given to male devotees in any form"

>is in accord with the teachings of guru-sadhu-sastra.

 

Without wanting to get involved in the actual issue which has raised this

point, and about which I know very little, I think it is possible to

reconcile the above GBC statement with sastra, and with Prabhupada's

directions about 'equal rights'. That there should not be 'equal rights',

does not infer that either party has *no* rights. Both men and women have

certain rights, although of course these are different. I think this is

what is meant when we say that there cannot be 'equal rights'. For example,

men have the right to be respected by their wives as gurus (provided they

are properly qualified), while on the other hand women have the right to be

protected by men. These respective rights cannot be reversed, or

'equalised'.

 

The words 'preferential treatment' indicate that something is favored over

something else, in this case men over women. This could mean that the

rights of one group were given emphasis, while the rights of the other were

ignored. That would be generally unacceptable, in my view. If men demanded

the respect of gurus from women but failed to give them protection then this

would be wrong, as far as I can understand from sastra.

 

This is only a brief analysis, but maybe it is what the GBC had in mind. I

don't know - they will have to speak for themselves I guess.

 

ys

KDd