First dress, then address

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhus,

 

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

 

The argument can be made that a brahmacari or sannyasi should wear his dhoti

because, indeed, he is a 'monk.' A householder, on the other hand, may be a

brahmana, but he is not a monk in the Western understanding of the term.

Therefore the person asking Mahat tattva prabhu, "Are you a monk?" indeed

refers to monks. However, given that the large majority of the ISKCON

Vaisnava world is (and will increasingly be) made up of grihasthas living in

the world in all spheres of social and economical levels, it would be unfair

to impose upon them the restricted profile of a monk.

One of the advantages of being a grihastha is that he can indeed infiltrate

himself in various places in society and preach by his own example. Wearing

a dhoti categorically in all circumstances in today's society may not

realistic, or even desired by Srila Prabhupada, as will be seen below.

 

 

 

 

>

> > >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.

 

There are many photographs in which Srila Prabhupada is surrounded by some

disciples who are wearing coat and pant.

 

Here are a few quotes also:

 

 

Dr. Wolfe: Çréla Prabhupäda, the dhoté is not important then.

Prabhupäda: Not important. He can have dhoté, you can have pant, you can

have... It doesn't matter.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975,

Los Angeles

 

 

 

Prabhupada: Now, nowadays coat-pant is very costly. If you can spend your

money, costly dress, we have no objection.

VD 41: Bhuvanesvara, January 21, 1977: Room Conversation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rämeçvara: No. I'm just saying that it is a little difficult if they wear

their dhoté.

Prabhupäda: No, dhoté, I don't say. You have nice coat-pant. I don't say

that you have to... I never said that. You have adopted it. (laughs) I never

said that "You put on dhoté." But those who are sannyäsés, brahmacärés,

their dress is different. But it doesn't require that one has to become a

sannyäsé.

 

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977,

India

 

 

This point is important, I think:

"But those who are sannyäsés, brahmacärés, their dress is different. But it

doesn't require that one has to become a sannyäsé."

 

 

 

 

We should not be more "Catholic than the pope," or

more "Vedic than Srila Prabhupada," and we should not forget, as Prabhupada

makes very clear in the last quote above, that there may be different

allowances in terms of dress for different asrams. At the very beginning of

the movement, when everyone was living in a temple, irrespective of asram,

the contrasts between

asrams was not yet pronounced as it later naturally became (and will

increasingly become in the future.) For example, in one letter from 1967,

Srila Prabhupada says,

 

"Clean shaved Brahmacharies & Grhasthas in SAFFRON robes look like angels

from Baikunta."

 

 

Which grihastha today would wear saffron robes??

 

 

 

Since Prabhupada said, speaking about dhotis, 'you have adopted it,' one

can say that wearing a dhoti (at least for a grihastha) is not as essential

as wearing, for example, Tilak and keeping kunti mala and sikha. These

symbols, on the contrary, were considered by Prabhupada as 'essential' for

ALL Vaisnavas, as shown below:

 

 

"if somebody dresses like nice American gentleman without any robes, I have

no objection; but every one of my disciples must have the flag & marks of

tilak on forehead. This is essential."

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Damodara — Calcutta 13 October, 1967

 

 

"I have no objection if members of the Society dress like nice American

gentlemen; but in all circumstances a devotee cannot avoid tilak, flag on

head, & beads on neck. These are essential features of a Vaisnava."

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Brahmananda — Calcutta 14 October, 1967

 

 

 

 

I never objected to any of my students dressing like nice American

gentleman, clean shaved; those who are my disciples must have flag, tilak &

beads on neck without fail.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Kirtanananda — Calcutta 16 October, 1967

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

> >

> > Thank you very much, Mahat-tattva Prabhu, for the quotes. No one can or

> > will argue that Prabhupada did stress devotional clothes and wanted

> > devotees to wear them as much as possible.

 

Personally, I love to wear a dhoti. But I am not a monk in an ISKCON temple,

and I also love wearing a fancy coat and pant with nice Tilak and a nice

sikha. And I feel absolutely bona-fide doing it, given the quotes above.

 

 

Will the first high court judges in the modern world who wear Tilak to court

automatically wear dhotis also?

 

 

Your respectful servant,

Candrasekhar acarya dasa