Jan 19, 2013 — USA (SUN) —
Just as Dharmapad das opened his latest article by saying that he was dismayed to read D. das's article, I was likewise dismayed upon reading his own recent offering, Feminism Article Off the Mark". I found his opening statement particularly offensive:
"I would like to once again point out that the whole time that A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was on the planet, ladies in the Hare Krishna movement, typically and usually, were not given traditional roles to carry out. They were typically and usually sent out into the streets to extend their female beauty, charm, personalities and positive-female emotions in order to spread Krishna consciousness through book distribution and preaching."
No woman, Feminist or otherwise, should be pleased to read this sort of gender-bigoted remark. Dharmapad basically suggests that the women who were sent out on the early sankirtana were primarily deployed to exploit their beauty and feminine wiles. Presumably they were hustling books off to those foolish members of the (male?) public more interested in skirts than philosophy. And what about the ugly women… the plump, the aged, the not-so-attractive? Does Dharmapad think they were held back from distributing Srila Prabhupada's transcendental literature because they didn't measure up? Where are the historic testimonies to support that notion? There are countless photos of the 1970's sankirtan parties, populated with many devi dasis like myself, who were not great beauties. Their attractiveness came from the bhakti mood they embodied.
Does Dharmapad think that putting on a good public face was limited to the temple women only? Does he think that men weren't also singled out as great candidates for book sankirtana because they were confident talkers, with broad smiles and attractive personalities? Because they expertly played kartals or mrdanga… had a melodious voice that would attract passers-by to take a book? There is no reason to turn this phenomenon into a sexist factoid to support pro-Feminist theories, as Dharmapad has done. Worse still, Dharmapad links Srila Prabhupada's presence during the era when this was supposedly going on, which is offensive to His Divine Grace. To suggest that Srila Prabhupada made a choice against traditional roles, and in favour of exploiting womens' feminine beauties in order to distribute books is, I think, nonsense.
Nor does Dharmapad seems to know what he's talking about when he states, essentially, that the young women of today are too savvy to be fooled into accepting a traditionalist ISKCON preaching approach that embodies a sastrically well defined and carefully structured role for women. Perhaps Dharmapad hasn't visited many temples outside of Brazil. In fact, one doesn't have to travel far to meet dozens and dozens of young women who are well educated, comfortable in the modern world and sharp as tacks, and who nonetheless thrive in Krsna Conscious environments that promote the protection of women according to Srila Prabhupada's instructions and Gaudiya Vaisnava sastra. They are not "too smart to be fooled". They are young women devotees in ISKCON because they WANT to be in ISKCON. You see them everywhere in the movement, under the shelter of parents, and husbands. Where does Dharmapad think these pukka young Vaisnavis come from… inside the Hollow Earth? No, they come from good ISKCON devotee families. And plenty of them come from karmi families… they come running to live with the devotees and take-up, as much as they can muster, the traditional female role preached in sastra. No one had to try and pull the wool over their eyes, as Dharmapad suggests can't even be done. They hanker for this traditionalist lifestyle.
Dharmapad das makes the same mistake that so many religious leaders have done throughout history -- sadly, including some of the liberal, pro-Feminist ISKCON leaders: he wants to lower the bar, softening the strict rules and formulas, dumbing them down so that they appeal to the masses. But that is not what we're here to do. We're here to preach the Science of Krsna Consciousness as it's been handed down by our Acaryas. We don't need or want to lower the bar, becoming more and more like the rest of the depraved Kali Yuga society, that has no answers for anyone's problems. We want to stand far above, as a shining example, as an alternative to the painful reality of a poisonous culture that can't bring joy, peace, or self-realization to the people.
We cannot stand by and let men like Dharmapad preach that we should 'modernize' for the sake of appealing to the masses. Nearly every church in the history books has done this, almost always with disastrous results. The religions have all become homogenized, slightly different flavors of the same low-bar, watered down philosophy… pseudo-religions. They have lost the essence that once made them unique religious traditions, merging instead into a great, soft, mindless machine of religiosity-for-the-masses, and for the money.
Finally, a comment on Dharmapad's suggestion that if ISKCON doesn't modernize and lower the bar, then the government might do it for them. He has apparently not taken note of the recent very opposite trend, in which national governments are caving in to fundamentalist Islamic demands that they be permitted to practice their strict religious traditions without interference. Just Google "Sharia law in the West", and see how many discussions there are about forcing the imposition of Sharia law outside the Arab countries. How many European cities now have 'Islamic Only' sections, where non-Arabs are discouraged from setting foot? We hear about them with increasing regularity.
So I don't think we have to worry that anytime soon, if ISKCON doesn't allow and encourage its female members to pursue a graduate degree, drive a hot car, live with her (male or female) lover for years before marrying and having children, or any of the other nonsense so-called Feminist social advancements, that our ISKCON will fail to deliver the mercy to the fallen conditioned souls. Let us give some credit to Supersoul, who will surely take charge of seeing that the Yuga Avatar's program of indiscriminate distribution of Love of God will take place, just as it's meant to. The trend towards "Feminism" is not a required element in that Great Plan.
Hare Krsna
