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

Question:     The message that I am conveying in my letter is precisely what you are conveying to me...that the "universal" message of the Gita is "couched" in metaphors and doesn't directly speak to women--however, there are constant references to 'he' by translators like Swami Prahbupada and Swami Tripurari that perpetuate that heavily male-dominated cultural setting.

I certainly dont think of myself as a woman --although that is my form in this particular life--fully protected under the UN Declaration of Human Rights and Constitutions of both India where I was born and Canada where I currently live.

Spiritually, however, I'm a spirit soul--coming from a pious family of Gaudia Math Vaishnavas who never taught us that we were male or female. However, Swami Prabhupada's Gita constantly tells women that they are less intelligent and comparable to sudras because of their birth.

So, I'm really offended by all this male-chavanism and patriarchical institutions like Iskcon--and while I haven't looked thru Swami Tripurari's Gita yet--just reviews- I understand that it is a companion to Prabhupada's Gita.

The Gita should be translated in gender-neutral language without references to "he" and the offensive line that 'even women and sudras can attain Krsna" should be deleted from all Gitas because it is a spiritual lie.

Answer:      Dear *****,

I find it interesting that you identify yourself as a "Gaudia Math Vaishnava". Gaudiya Math was the registered name of the institution started by Prabhupada's Guru. His guru followed and promoted even stricter segregation from women then did Prabhupada. Perhaps you meant to say that you were a Gaudiya Vaisnava which could mean you identify with any number of groups that promote Sri Chaitanya as the yuga avatar.

As a sanyassi Sri Chaitanya observed a vow of strict separation from women as was common for sanyassis in his time. Times of course have changed but there are still scriptural guidelines that are meant to govern the interaction between renounciates and the opposite sex. Iskcon and other Gaudiya groups balances these rules in their own ways and other religious groups who try to follow Gita make their own adjustments. I can see from your mail that Iskcon is not for you but that does not mean it is not for anyone.

Bhaktivinode Thakur said that one should be careful of "atmavan manyate jagat" or assuming that everyone thinks as we do. We all have our own conditioned mentality. Had you been born female a thousand years ago in India it is unlikely you would have demanded a gender sensitive feminist edition of Bhagavad Gita. It is more likely that you would have been happy to read sloka 9.33 and taken heart that a woman could attain the same spiritual goal as any male brahmana or king. The fact is there are millions of women worldwide who read this sloka and find great inspiration from it. Perhaps not in your circle but there are so many other circles that see things differently than you and I.

Is that sloka a "spiritual lie" as you asserted? I think not.

Krishna assures everyone in that verse that women, workers, and people without any background in Vedic spirituality can attain the transcendental goal regardless of any and all oppression or discrimination they may encounter. You may take this sloka as a symbol of discrimination and indeed it did reveal the discrimination of the times. But this verse has also been a message of hope for countless generations of oppressed women.

Prabhupada has thousands of spiritual daughters and granddaughters that love him dearly and cherish this verse and every verse he wrote in Bhagavad Gita. It is from reading his Gita that they came to know their full prospect of a transcendental life beyond the oppression and discrimination of this world. I think you would do well to talk to some of them and find out why they love Prabhupada regardless of any sexist statements he may have written more than 50 years ago in his Gita. Life was different 50 years ago in Calcutta and life was also different thousands of years ago in India when Bhagavad Gita was spoken by Krishna to Arjuna.

Best wishes,
Brahma Das