Interviewer, April 06 2009, NEW YORK: What do you think about the GBC allowing women to initiate?
Locanananda dasa: Srila Prabhupada had great confidence in his female disciples. He said they were our secret weapon. Because people tend to trust women, they can be very effective preachers and distributors of transcendental knowledge. All glories to the service of the Vaisnavis! I’ve seen how women devotees can be very austere, even more than men, and very dedicated to the mission of Srila Prabhupada. They are generally less inclined to speculate about philosophical topics and they more easily accept the authority of a spiritual master and sastra, and they are naturally kind-hearted and compassionate, and therefore dear to the Lord.
On the other hand, from what I have absorbed from the study of Srila Prabhupada’s books, the role of women in Vedic culture is not to be the initiator of disciples or the performer of traditional fire yajna ceremonies. There may be exceptions under extraordinary circumstances, but this is generally the rule.
Srila Prabhupada said that women were more easily misled and taken advantage of than men and were therefore always meant to be under the protection of men at all stages of life. He said they therefore could not safely travel all over the world as sannyasis do. When householders perform yajna, their wives may take their place at the husband’s side, but they do not take a more prominent role than that in the presence of male devotees, at least, not in Vedic culture.
By custom, and according to varnasrama dharma, the sannyasis most commonly initiate disciples since they are recognized as the spiritual master of the entire society. That is not to say that a grhastha cannot act as guru if he is detached and knowledgeable and advanced in Krishna consciousness. One simply has to know the science of Krishna and live according to its tenets. Because we do not prohibit anyone from accepting responsibility or engaging in service based on bodily identification, a woman who is advanced in Krishna consciousness may certainly preach and train other women devotees.
To be an initiator means to be transparent to the previous acarya. It is very rare that someone would have the qualifications required to assume that role. Historically, those recommended by Srila Prabhupada in 1977 to give diksa on his behalf were his most qualified male disciples in leadership positions. They were the same devotees who were organizing the preaching, opening centers, overseeing the translating and printing of Srila Prabhupada’s books in all of the world’s major languages, interacting with public officials, negotiating agreements to acquire properties for ISKCON, arranging for the installation of Deities, and so on. Only men were named to the GBC by Srila Prabhupada and only male disciples were named as “rittik” representatives of the acarya in the letter of July 9, 1977. All of these factors should be taken into account when considering the issue of whether women should initiate.
That the proposal to have women initiate disciples of their own has been made reveals much about the current state of our movement. While it seems to make our policies look more liberal, what it really says is that our men are not spiritually strong, that they cannot handle the burden of such a grave responsibility. Perhaps it is because we are not sufficiently focused on the quality of our hearing and chanting, on our study of Srila Prabhupada’s books, on our adherence to the regulative principles and sadhana practices meant for our purification that the men cannot rise to the occasion.
Spiritual strength increases the more we devote ourselves to the preaching of Krishna consciousness without personal motivation. Although Srila Prabhupada said that “Sankirtana is our life,” so few devotees, men and women, are actually engaged in the public chanting of the Holy Name these days. Our leaders have relegated this most blissful activity to a lower status, even though the Lord Himself came to inaugurate the chanting of Hare Krishna and to taste the sweetness of the unlimited nectar contained within the thirty-two syllables of the Maha-mantra. It was by the public chanting of the Sankirtana party that the name of Krishna became a household word. Now, our movement has become largely invisible by the absence of this great chanting for deliverance on the streets and thoroughfares of the major cities of the world.
If male devotees are neglecting this mandate to perform Sankirtana for the benefit of the conditioned souls, and if women devotees instead are leading the preaching, then why should they not initiate? If they are able to inspire others to place their faith in Krishna and can teach them how to follow in the footsteps of the great acarya and live according to his instructions, why should they be held back?
In conclusion, I would say that it is not at all customary to have women act as initiator, but if the men are weak or unwilling or untrained or unsteady, it may be attempted. The question that needs to be addressed is, “Why are ISKCON men not becoming qualified to act as guru?” Srila Prabhupada said we will require 10,000 devotees to serve as spiritual master in order to guide the society at large. So where will they come from if not from among the spiritual descendents of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada? Srila Prabhupada said that sannyasis are the spiritual masters of the society. He didn’t say “sannyasis and mature women.” What he did say was that men would manage externally and women internally. In other words, the male devotees would be the recognized leaders while women would run the show from behind the scenes. This humble role agrees more with a Vaisnavi’s natural quality of shyness.
It is possible for a woman to act as guru, but our recommendation is that our society adopt the following guideline. Women can certainly preach effectively, and it is by such parampara preaching that our movement becomes grounded in spiritual knowledge, jnana and vijnana. But the initiation can be performed by a male devotee acting as official initiator spiritual master, or officiating acarya. These were terms introduced by Srila Prabhupada and can be perfectly applied to the above-mentioned circumstances. The officiating acarya takes a step forward to perform the initiation, then takes a step back to allow the Vaisnavi to carry on as spiritual guide for her students. This would be a very nice arrangement and in agreement with the teachings of our eternal spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, and our Vaisnava heritage. This suggestion is based on the solution we will propose to resolve the controversy over initiations in the Hare Krishna movement in a subsequent installment of this interview.
I humbly prostrate myself at the feet of the Vaisnavas and pray for your blessings.
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