First dress, then address

[Guest guest]

> CC Madhya 14.5

>

> TRANSLATION

> Following Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s instructions, the King had given up

> his royal dress. He now entered the garden in the dress of a Vaisnava.

>

> PURPORT

> Sometimes members of the International Society for Krishna

> Consciousness—especially in the Western countries—find it difficult to

> approach people to distribute books because people are unfamiliar with the

> traditional saffron robes of the devotees. The devotees have therefore

> inquired whether they can wear European and American dress before the

> general public. From the instructions given to King Prataparudra by

> Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, we can understand that we may change our dress in

> any way to facilitate our service. When our members change their dress to

> meet the public or to introduce our books, they are not breaking the

> devotional principles. The real principle is to spread the Krsna

> consciousness movement, and if one has to change into regular Western

> dress for this purpose, there should be no objection.

 

 

Yes, there is no objection if one wants to wear western dress for a few

hours while distributing books, but then one should put on dhoti/sari. It

was very clear that Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees to wear dhotis/saris.

 

 

 

Before me, so many swamijis went there [to Western countries such as

America]. They did not give, but they took something and came here [india]

and advertised themselves as foreign-returned sannyasi and exploited the

people. They lost even their original dress. Everyone knows, I have never

changed my dress. Rather, I have given the dress to the foreigners, and they

have taken it. The Ramakrishna mission people came to request me that I

dress myself in coat, pant, hat. Because they are doing. Their so-called

swamis, they are dressed in coat, pant, hat. So this is a culture. (Srila

Prabhupada lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.9.48 -- Mayapura, June 14, 1973)

 

 

 

 

 

Syamasundara: This is Kalki dasa and Ambika devi dasi [husband and wife].

 

Prabhupada: Now, with this dress you look so beautiful. This Vedic dress is

also nice, very beautiful. It increases the beauty hundred times by this

dress. (Initiations -- Sydney, April 2, 1972)

 

 

 

 

 

Kirtanananda was the first to wear a dhoti, and Srila Prabhupada showed him

how to put it on, in the style that you talk about. Kirtanananda had told

Srila Prabhupada that he wanted to wear robes. When Kirtanananda came back

from India in 1967, he told the devotees that they could wear karmi clothes.

When Srila Prabhupada found out, he was displeased and wrote a letter

stating that he had never said any such thing. He said that when he saw the

devotees with flags [sikhas] and dhotis, he thought they looked like angels

from Vaikuntha.

 

I received my second initiation in Montreal in 1968, but I had gone to

Montreal without a dhoti because we did not worry so much about those things

at that time. When the ceremony began Srila Prabhupada asked me, "Where is

your dhoti?" So Himavati gave me a piece of cloth that I sort of made a

dhoti out of. But Srila Prabhupada did not want to perform the initiation

unless I was in a dhoti.

-Umapati Swami

 

 

 

 

Swamiji had commented that he did not like the Western women's dress, and at

his request, Yamuna was dressed in a sari. (Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta 22)

 

 

 

 

 

Nandarani devi dasi recalls her marriage day in San Fransisco (1967): "I

finished cooking that afternoon about four o'clock, and then I went home to

get dressed for the wedding. Although I had never worn anything but old

dresses and jeans, Swamiji had suggested to the other ladies that they find

a way to put me into a sari for the wedding. So we bought a piece of silk to

use for a sari. I went to Malati's house. She was going to try to help me

put it on. I couldn't keep it on, so she had to sew it on me. Then they

decorated me with flowers and took me to Swamiji and showed him. He was very

happy. "This is the way our women should always look. No more jeans and

dresses. They should always wear saris."(Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta 22:

"Swami Invites the Hippies")

 

 

 

 

If you want you can cut your hairs, but there is no need of cutting. It

would be nicer if you can put on sari, you can learn it from Jadurani. You

must remain like a nice girl. The dress and appearance is social convention

of the society. (Letter from Srila Prabhupada to: Madhavi Lata -- Montreal

20 June, 1968)