Guest guest Posted December 23, 1999 Report Share Posted December 23, 1999 Dear Lola Prabhu, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupad. > Dear Sridhari Prabhu, > > Please forgive me if you don't like this address. Srila Prabhupada > asked us to call other devotees this way. Srila Prabhupada taught his > female disciples to call each other Prabhu. It is male disciples that are > to call all women, except for their wives, Mataji. I never heard any > ladies calling each other 'mother' or 'mataji' until 1993 when I visited > the Holy Dhama of Mayapura for the 5th time. I did notice that the women > devotees from South America, Germany and Singapore were the main ones who > were saying 'Prabhus' when referring to only male devotees. Never before > had I heard this done, including in my 4 previous visits to India, > Vrndavana and Mayapura, and I have been a devotee since 1973. I cannot speak for Singapore but in all of Harikesa's former zone incl. Germany and South America the devotees were taught to address men as 'Prabhus' and women as 'Matajis'. They used it for addressing genders and not as an honorable form of address. Even on festivals the doors of the lavatories were signed with 'Prabhus' and 'Matajis'. When I speak for Germany I can say that 'Mataji' was almost never used in a respectful way. Often one could hear men calling women 'mental matas'. Y.s. Hariballabha dd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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