By Brahma prabhu – http://www.swami.org/sanga

Question:      Dear Brahma,

When I first read the paragraph below by Sridhara Maharaja, something bothered me about it, but I was not quite able to figure out what that was. I was thinking about it today and I think what bothers me is that he mentions there are so many unknown "lady" gurus and what was their realization, even though there are equally an unknown number of "male" gurus in the line that probably also did not have any realization. Okay, maybe that is a silly thing to worry about. But I was thinking about how you used this paragraph to give evidence that there will eventually be lady acaryas. However, it seems that in this paragraph Sridhara Maharaja is preaching against lady acaryas.

"We have to follow the spirit; otherwise after Jahnava devi, the wife of Lord Nityananda, up to Vipina [Vihari] Gosvami, from whom Bhaktivinoda Thakura took initiation, there are so many unknown lady gurus. Through them, the mantra came to Vipina Gosvami, and from him Bhaktivinoda Thakura received the mantra. We accept Bhaktivinoda Thakura, but should we count all those ladies in our disciplic succession? What was their realization?"

Answer:     Dear ******,

In my VNN article I didn't use that quote as evidence in favor of lady acharya's. At the time I just took the opportunity to caution against interpretation of that passage as against the idea of women acharyas. Women acharyas in Gaudiya Vaisnvaism are historical fact and in this matter Sridhar Maharaja advised us to accept whoever is qualified. In the passage in question Sridhar Maharaja was referring to writings from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta objecting to some of the practices in the seminal line coming from Jahnava devi. What he found particularly objectionable in the over all line from Jahnava was the practice of displaying women as acharyas regardless of qualification. I believe he felt this was a type of exploitation of women.

Otherwise, yes one could say there are also plenty of unqualified men in the seminal lines and could theorize that Sridhar Maharaja was just making a sexist comment. But I did not see it that way at the time nor do I see it that way at present. My vision of Sridhar Maharaja and his words are based on my faith and how much he personally helped me. A popular author once said that we don't see the world as it is rather we see it as we are. Therefore I acknowledge my bias on the matter because faith and love always generate a certain amount of bias.

However, there is plenty of objective evidence that according to the standards of his time Sridhar Maharaja was quite liberal regarding women in Vaisnavism. Like Prabhupada, Sridhar Maharaja gave women greater position than was otherwise found in Gaudiya Math. He had them uncover their heads which he said was a practice introduced into India by the Muslims and at times he made a special point to tell those taking sanyass from him that they should not avoid preaching to women. The final evidence that he was not sexist by standards of his time was his statement in support of women acharyas.

"Someday the question will arise whether there can be one lady acharya in the ISKCON. My opinion is that whoever is qualified can become acharya."

What was considered sexist at that time in India is much different then what is considered sexist today in the west. When I was a preacher 30 years ago in Iskcon the subject of sexism rarely came up but today it is the hot issue. Another topic that rarely came up was homosexuality in Vaisnavism as gays for the most part had not yet come out of the closet. Thirty years ago I never imagined there would be a group called "Gay Vaisnavas" that I would be referring people to and thirty years ago I never thought that I would spend so much time writing about sexism in Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

Times marches on and with the progress of time people change vision and attitudes. Bhagavad Gita says that reality in the highest sense is changeless. In the material world what is first today will later be last cause the times they are a-changin.

Best wishes, Brahma

Brahma Das /Sanga Editor