Women worshiping salagram

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>>However I still maintain that it is a seva aparadha whichshould be atoned

>>for. There are many seva aparadhas that both men and

>>women will commit even apart from those related to mere bodily

>>contamination.>>

 

Yes thank you Srimati Urmila mataji prabhu for your quote. There are others

that Srila Prabhupada has also given, restricting ladies from performing

puja during menses. It is obvious through his teachings that any person

should not touch the deity in a contaminated state (before bathing and

putting on clean cloth, after passing stool without bathing, in an angry

mood, having not cleaned one's teeth & tongue properly, immediately after

the death of a family member, etc.).

 

It is definitely NOT proper vaisnava behavior to commit any offense

knowingly, with the intention of trying to atone for it at some future time.

Atonement with this mentality is like 'kunjara-sauca' - elephant bathing. A

vaisnava always thinks that his/her activities and mentality are offensive

to Krsna and thus he always prays for forgiveness to the Lord BEFORE and

after starting his daily bhakti. That sort of 'atonement' is acceptable.

 

I concur with Gaura Kesava prabhu that an aspiring vaisnava should do

his/her UTMOST to avoid ANY type of aparadha. Maharaja Nrga is a good

example. I know of some aspiring devotees who waited more than 30 years

before agreeing to worship a deity in their own homes, just out of fear of

committing offenses or not being able to worship Sri Krsna properly. They

prefered to perform the worship of Sri Krsna thru Harinama and thus try to

come to a less offensive platform before beginning seva puja. The PROPER

vaisnava mentality is one of ALWAYS being utterly aghast at committing any

aparadha - vaisnava, seva, Nama, dhama, etc.

 

Contrarily, once a female devotee asked me for a Salagrama to worship, so I

asked her how His worship was going to be performed during her menses. She

replied that she lives alone and therefore worships her deity (physically by

touching Him) even during her menses. Her reasoning was that she considered

the Deity to be her son and as a mother would care for her child (bathe,

cook) whether she was contaminated or not, she would thus worship her Deity.

That sounded nice. HOWEVER, the lady was imitating being on the realized

platform of vatsalya-rasa, without the prerequisite qualifications AND

symptoms. One should not imitate persons of the stature of Paramahamsa Sri

Srila Vamsidasa babaji Maharaja or Paramahamsa Sri Srimati Krsna priya

Thakurani. Had this lady agreed to simply perform manasa-puja during her

menses with the "I am contaminated" mood, I would have been happy to give

her a Salagrama.

 

ys

Haridasa vesyadasa

 

 

 

 

PAMHO AGTSP

 

On Oct 18, 2006, at 1:05 PM, Urmila devi dasi/Dr. Edith Best wrote:

 

> According to the smarta vidhi, women cannot touch deity during

> menstrual period but the goswami viddhi allows. But it is better

> not to do it. One thing is that the seva can never be stopped for

> any reason. This also for the cooking.

 

Thanks Urmila ji for posting this letter. Yes, I am aware of it. Note

that the words "But it is better not to do it." are given. I believe

I have said the same thing. The only thing that I have not mentioned

is Srila Prabhupada's contention that "goswami viddhi allows". I do

not know what that exactly means. There is a quote in Hari Bhakti

Vilasa about women touching salagrama and the original text says that

they will go to hell whereas the purport (tika) by Sanatana Goswami

states that for Vaisnavis this is not so. However it is NOT in

reference to touching the deity during their menses. I have yet to

see any quote anywhere "allowing" that. Of course Srila Prabhupada

gives the overriding instruction "One thing is that the seva can

never be stopped for any reason. This also for the cooking." So this

may happen. However I still maintain that it is a seva aparadha which

should be atoned for. There are many seva aparadhas that both men and

women will commit even apart from those related to mere bodily

contamination. The more important ones involve offensive mentality

towards the Deity or Vaisnavas. This question is in regards to a

simple fact of life and should not be blown out of proportion. We

should endeavor to minimize all offenses. However I do not believe

that we can re-classify this as "allowable" in the sense that it

should not be avoided if at all possible.

 

your servant

 

Gaura Keshava das