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By Brahma prabhu – http://www.swami.org/sanga
Question: The website I found about the problems with ISKCON, (Chakra) really made me stay away from them. As a woman, I feel that their ways of bigotry are no different from the KKK. Why do groups think that it is proper to bash women still, esp groups that are religious?
This low view of women is one reason why I do not wish to read "The Bhagavad Gita As It Is". The verse located here http://www.asitis.com/1/40.html (see underneath) is reason why I do not wish to study the works of this teacher or organization. I know that Prabhupada has also said other insulting things about women as well. Just as I would refuse to follow someone who is racist, I refuse to follow a man who had very little understanding biology and science, but yet intoned those concepts to "prove" that women was not as worthy as men.
What hog-wash
Answer: Dear *****,
Yours is a very superficial evaluation of Prabhupada and Bhagavad Gita As It Is. There are no doubt some sexist statements in his edition of Bhagavad Gita but the same can be said about the Bible, Koran, the rest of Mahabharata and the entire Vedas and Puranas as well. The Bible is full of sexism, racism and homophobia but does that mean that the saints who wrote it have no realization and the book is of no spiritual value?
You should consider that Prabhupads Gita was written over fifty years ago in a country where the social norms were much different than we experience now in America. In those days in Calcutta women were much more restricted and in many cases uneducated. They were also bared from various religious functions and not encouraged to study scripture.
In that culture and time Prabhupada was a liberal. He gave women greater roles then were considered acceptable in the Hindu religious culture of his time and in his movement often gave women positions of authority over men. If you talk to any female disciple of Prabupada you will find they felt he loved them dearly and they all loved him in return. In truth he was ahead of his time when it comes to expanding the role of women in Hinduism.
Scripture is that point where eternity meets time. In scripture eternal truths are couched in a cultural setting that reflects the social norms of the day.
In reading scripture we are concerned with the essential teachings and not the external setting. Cultural norms are products of the changing modes of material nature whereas essential spiritual truths are eternal realities.
In the future the social norms will change.
Even now we see how society is changing to maternal thinking with men considered inferior to women because of their lack of heart and insight. Actually this idea is already the norm where I live in liberal San Francisco.
Regardless of social consciousness essential spiritual truths remain the same. Those seeking essential spirituality will find much to offer in Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
Understanding sanits and scripture requires proper adjustment. For proper adjustment of certain sexist statements in Prabhupada's books go to www.vaisnavi.com
Best wishes,
Brahma Das
Chapter 1. Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of KuruksetraL
TEXT 40
adharmabhibhavat krsna
pradusyanti kula-striyah
strisu dustasu varsneya
jayate varna-sankarah
SYNONYMS
adharma--irreligion; abhibhavat--having become predominant; krsna--O Krsna; pradusyanti--become polluted; kula-striyah--family ladies; strisu--of the womanhood; dustasu--being so polluted; varsneya--O descendant of Vrsni; jayate--it so becomes; varna-sankarah--unwanted progeny.
TRANSLATION
When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Krsna, the women of the family become corrupt, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vrsni, comes unwanted progeny.
PURPORT
Good population in human society is the basic principle for peace, prosperity and spiritual progress in life. The varnasrama religion's principles were so designed that the good population would prevail in society for the general spiritual progress of state and community. Such population depends on the chastity and faithfulness of its womanhood. As children are very prone to be misled, women are similarly very prone to degradation. Therefore, both children and women require protection by the elder members of the family. By being engaged in various religious practices, women will not be misled into adultery. According to Canakya Pandita, women are generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy. So, the different family traditions of religious activities should always engage them, and thus their chastity and devotion will give birth to a good population eligible for participating in the varnasrama system. On the failure of such varnasrama-dharma, naturally the women become free to act and mix with men, and thus adultery is indulged in at the risk of unwanted population. Irresponsible men also provoke adultery in society, and thus unwanted children flood the human race at the risk of war and pestilence.
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