Women In Krishna Consciousness–Questions & Answers
The first step in spiritual understanding is to transcend the bodily concept of life. To think I am a man or I am a woman is to be in illusion. The body is a material dress for the soul, a dress that’s changing from moment to moment, as the body develops, and will change entirely at death. But the constant within the body is the soul, which is not subject to any of these changes.
Q: Why should women be interested in Krishna consciousness?
A: So they can realize they’re not women! If we think of ourselves as “women,” we reveal our ignorance of our actual identity. The word woman refers to the temporary material body, not to the eternal, spiritual soul, the person within the body. In maybe forty or sixty years, the body I’m wearing will perish, and I’ll no longer be a Woman. But the living force, the soul within the body, won’t perish. Krishna consciousness provides an understanding of the relationship between the soul and matter and the Supreme Soul, Krishna. Human intelligence is meant for contemplating these subjects, not for dwelling on materialistic thoughts based on a false identification with the temporary body.
Q: What do you think of the women’s liberation movement?
A: The highest liberation is to go back home, back to Godhead, and never again face the miseries of birth, old age, disease, and death. Although the women’s liberation movement may offer some worthwhile proposals, it generally ignores this highest goal. But by becoming Krishna conscious, a woman is liberated in this life and the next; so Krishna consciousness is the real women’s liberation movement.
Q: In the Krishna consciousness movement, what is the position of women devotees?
A: From the spiritual viewpoint, men and women (and all other living entities) are equal. The soul within the body is part and parcel of Krishna and is equal in quality and quantity to all other souls. But from the material, bodily point of view, obviously there are differences.
Q: What about those differences?
A: As far as serving Krishna and preaching Krishna consciousness, material differences are ignored. Men and women serve the Supreme Lord’s Deity form in the temple–worshiping, cleaning, cooking–and they go out daily to preach to interested people and distribute literature about Krishna consciousness. Women with children both care for their children and spread Krishna consciousness alongside their unmarried godsisters. Actually, to raise a child as a devotee of God is in itself a great service to Krishna.
Q: But I’ve heard that you think women are inferior to men. Is that true?
A: As I mentioned before, spiritually there’s no distinction. In Bhagavad-gita Krishna says that both men and women are eligible to attain the highest destination, to return to the kingdom of God, if they take shelter of Him. Spiritually there’s no duality, no inferiority or superiority based on the body and mind. But there are material differences: women are generally not as physically strong as men, but only women can bear children and nourish them with their breast milk. So it’s natural that women’s duties will differ from men’s in some ways.
Q: Today many people reject that idea. It won’t make your movement very popular among women.
A: We can’t change the Krishna conscious philosophy to make it popular. Nor are we so concerned with popularity. We simply want to present Krishna’s teachings as they are, and those who hear receptively will benefit. The first step in spiritual understanding is to transcend the bodily concept of life. To think “I am a man” or “I am a woman” is to be in illusion. The body is a material dress for the soul, a dress that’s changing from moment to moment, as the body develops, and will change entirely at death. But the constant within the body is the soul, which is not subject to birth, death, or any other material influence.
Q: How do men and women relate to each other in Krishna consciousness?
A: Except for his wife, a Krishna conscious man should regard every woman as he would his mother. So in Krishna consciousness the relationship between men and women is based not on lust but on mutual respect, with Krishna in the center. If this mentality is absent, men and women mix too freely, and their relationship may easily degrade into immorality and mutual exploitation.
Q: What about in more intimate relationships?
A: In more intimate relationships, the man protects the woman. In a woman’s youth, her father protects her; after marriage, her husband protects her; and later on in life her grown sons protect her.
Q: What do you mean, “protect”?
A: Protect from illusion and degradation. That is real protection. When the father, husband, and sons are fully trained in spiritual principles by the spiritual master, they are qualified to guide their family members.
Bhagavad-gita points out that when the religious tradition in the family breaks down, the chastity and faithfulness of women are shaken. As men and women mix freely, the result is abortion and unwanted progeny. From such immorality and licentiousness come broken homes and the degradation of the whole society. Conversely, when the husband is a dedicated devotee of God and the wife is loyal, good progeny and a harmonious society result.
Q: But what if the woman wants to be more than just a housewife?
A: That is welcome and encouraged. Women in the Krishna consciousness movement sing, write, photograph, paint, act, sculpt, teach, and dance. One of my godsisters in our West Virginia farm community is an architect. Now she’s helping plan out a huge temple that the devotees there will build over the next few years. So there’s no hindrance at all to a woman who wants to use her special talents to serve Krishna.
Q: Can women become leaders?
A: Real leadership is to teach by example and precept how to go back home, back to Godhead, at the end of this lifetime. A fully Krishna conscious devotee, whether man or woman, is actually more of a leader than all the so-called leaders of modern society. Materialistic leaders simply increase our material problems; a devotee decreases those problems to nil. That is real leadership.
VISAKHA-DEVI DASI, a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, is a professional photographer and an expert on photomicrography, in which small objects are reproduced as magnified images. She joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness while doing free-lance work in India. She and her husband, also a professional photographer, are currently traveling around the world making documentary films about the Krishna consciousness movement.
About the Author
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Will krishna ever accept a characterless women like me😭i want to leave evrything behind and sacrifice myself in his lotus feet ,will he ever accept me as his devotee
Yes. Krishna will accept us if we surrender to and serve His pure devotee. Not that Krishna will accept us directly. We have to surrender to and serve His pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada. So you will not have any hope trying to approach Krishna directly. But if you get all of Srila Prabhupada’s books and read them and follow the instructions Srila Prabhupada gives you as you read his books, then, if you please Prabhupada, Krishna will be very happy to accept you.
Hare Krishna ,
I am a beginner, I started following iskon on you tube .. then I listened some lectures , I found it more interesting then I read some pages of books of Shrila Prabhupad ji, It was very very nice .. i saw some devotees taking care of deity of shri prabhupad ji , I am women , can I also keep diety of Prabhu ji in alter ? And how to take care on daily basis ? Please tell
Yes. Yes. Yes. You are not a woman, I am not a man, we are all eternal servants of Krishna, currently trapped in these material bodies. But we are not these bodies we currently find ourselves in. Previously we have been in many different material bodies and in the future also we can travel into many other material bodies, or, alternatively, we can become Krishna conscious by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and remember Krishna at the time of death and go back home back to Godhead, never to return to this miserable material world.
So yes yes yes. Worship Srila Prabhupada, worship Krishna, always remember Krishna, never forget Krishna, and at the end of this body go back home, back to Godhead.
Hare Krishna. Wonderful conversation with Srila Prabhupada. Very nicely explained about women duties, women position, women empowerment and all women can contribute to reduce the problems of this material world if they follow these principles.
I believe only Vishnu (God) can decide wether women should be gurus not any man on this planet. I’m sure Vishnu would want is wife to be his guru as much as he would want to be her guru. The laws of the church will always discriminate women from running Temples because of men who believe in misoygn which is not equal as the Bahavagita says it should be that man and women are equal.
In Krishna consciousness guru is self-manifested. Guru is not dependent on the body, so there have been rare examples in Vaisnava history of woman gurus. It is not unheard of. But the position of guru is generally not for women. It is for men. But in rare cases woman may be guru also, but that is self-manifested. She has to be an actual empowered pure devotee of Krishna. That is the same for men also, not the rubbish, “anyone can be guru” system ISKCON currently follows. Only self-effulgent empowered pure devotee of Krishna can be guru, that is the qualification, not the type of body, man or woman, they happen to be in. But generally it will be man, may be women in some rare exceptional cases.
My partner is too much attached to her two dogs. She found them from the streets and shelter. Now she has brought them into our house. I hoped she would come to her senses and leave the dogs at least outside. But no, she won’t listen to me. She treats them like family members. I wonder how I can wake her up from her unhealthy attachment to the two inauspicious beasts. Someone give me advice.
Hello, It is important to remind her that devotional service towards Krisha is the purpose and all our work needs to be for Krishna it is easy to be distracted and attracted and find temporary happiness in material things such as a pet but this will only end in misery as the body of the animal will die. An life in an animal can also participate in Krishna consciousness if associating with a true devotee – by doing this and treating them with care as a higher conscious life we give them the opportunity in the next life to take a human form. If we elevate them and become the servant of a lower conscious form – ie let them in the house, eat at the table – we are falsely satisfying our desire to provide devotional service ( which should be for Krishna ) and in the end harming the creatures opportunity. We at our Amrata Ashram have many creatures – dogs etc that form part of the community and have found that developing this understanding can help in situations such as this ……Hope that advice is of assistance – Hare Krishna
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
wonderful article love of godhead one is not the body nor the mind one is jivatman spirit soul hari bol
Can we (husband and wife) stay whole life for serving Krishna in isckon.
Husband and wife can stay in their house and raise a family in Krishna consciousness. That is what husband and wife are for. Husband will work and support the family and wife will raise the children.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu.
I have heard from Srila Prabhupada that women cannot be elevated to the Brahman platform. And I have also heard that no one can be raised to the Vasudeva platform without becoming Brahman. Then how can women become pure devotees and attain the spiritual abode of the Lord as mentioned in Gita? Is there some difference between those who have attained Vasudeva platform and those who are pure devotees?
Hare Krishna Aman
There is no difference between a man and a woman on the spiritual platform. It is only the difference of the body. A spirit soul in a mans body can take a woman’s body in his next birth and a spirit soul in a man’s body could take a woman’s body in his next birth. So there is no difference if the person is Krishna conscious.
However, on the material bodily platform there are differences between male bodies and female bodies. So there are differences in the sense that a woman is always dependent. A woman always needs to be protected by a man, otherwise she will be exploited. That is because women are weaker and less intelligent than men. So they are vulnerable and need to be always protected by a man. In her childhood her father is responsible for protecting her, the the father gets his daughter married and hands her over to a qualified man as her husband, then the husband is responsible for protecting his wife. Then husband and wife have some children and at least one son, then in her old age the son is responsible for protecting his mother.
So in this way, all throughout her life, a woman is protected by a man.
But Krishna consciousness is not on the material bodily platform, it is on the spiritual platform. So a woman can become a pure devotee of Krishna and a great Vaisnava. But she will still act in the position of a woman to give a good example for other women to follow.
So woman is not for leader, guru, brahmana, etc. She is not offered sacred thread. She serves her husband. So if the husband is a brahmana the wife is considered brahmana, etc. Woman shares in the results of the pious activities of her husband. In this way she is always the servant of and dependent on her husband.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
This is what Srila Prabhupada said in lecture on SB 1.3.17 on 22 Sep 1972: “Woman, they are generally equipped with the qualities of passion and ignorance. And men also may be, but man can be elevated to the platform of goodness. Woman cannot be. Woman cannot be. Therefore if the husband is nice and the woman follows, woman becomes faithful and chaste to the husband, then their both life becomes successful. There are three qualities of nature: sattva, rajas, tamas. So rajas, tamas generally, that is the quality of woman. And man can become to the platform of goodness. Therefore initiation, brahminical symbolic representation is given to the man, not to the woman. This is the theory.” So is it that most women cannot become pure devotees since generally they cannot achieve the mode of goodness? Or is it possible to become a pure devotee without achieving the mode of material goodness?
Hare Krishna Aman
Spiritual life is difficult for women because they are more materialistic than men. But Srila Prabhupada also says that women have the great quality that many of them naturally have faith in God. So it is not that a man’s greater intelligence than a woman is always an advantage for him. Sometimes a simple woman just naturally has faith in Krishna and worships Krishna very sincerely and faithfully without understanding any great philosophy. The greatest devotees are the gopis of Vrindavan who are just simple village girls who do not even know that Krishna is God. They simply fall in love with their beautiful friend, Krishna.
So ultimately Krishna consciousness is not on the material platform and both men and women can become pure devotees of Krishna. But in practice generally women are more materialistic than men and it is more difficult for them so they are not offered the brahminical initiation, etc.
A woman is meant to faithfully serve her husband and she shares in the spiritual advancement of her husband.
A pure devotee is higher than the mode of material goodness and pure devotee includes material goodness.
So the point is you are not in a woman’s body so it does not matter for you. You have a man’s body and that is to your advantage. So just become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself and then everything will become clear to you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thanks Prabhuji. By your and Srila Prabhupada’s mercy I have come out of darkness little to understand some spiritual things.
Hare Krishna Prabhu can you please give some reference from scriptures which says women cannot be given brahmana initiation and why? When we say we are not this body we are spirit soul. And all practising kc are in same platform
?(if a woman is not on Bodily conception and practicing sincerely)
A woman’s position is considered as a servant of her husband. So if the woman is married to a brahmana, she is considered a brahmana’s wife. So in that way she can be considered a brahmana. As far as within Srila Prabhupada’s movement women can be awarded brahminical initiation and can perform deity worship, offer aroti, cook for the deities, etc. But they are not awarded the brahman thread. This is the system established by Srila Prabhupada. We are followers of Srila Prabhupada, that means we have to follow his instructions:
“Women in general, being very simple in heart, can very easily take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and when they develop love of Kṛṣṇa they can easily get liberation from the clutches of māyā, which is very difficult for even so-called intelligent and learned men to surpass. According to Vedic injunction, women are not allowed to undergo the purificatory process of initiation by the sacred thread, nor are they allowed to live as brahmacari in the āśrama of the spiritual master; nor are they advised to undergo the strict disciplinary procedure; nor are they very much expert in discussing philosophy or self-realization. And by nature they are not very pure; nor are they very much attached to auspicious activities. “But how wonderful it is that they have developed transcendental love for Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of all mystic yogīs!” the brāhmaṇas exlaimed. “They have surpassed all of us in firm faith and devotion unto Kṛṣṇa. Being too attached to the materialistic way of life, although we are considered to be masters in all purificatory processes, we did not actually know what the goal is. Even though we were reminded of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma by the cowherd boys, we disregarded Them. We think now that it was simply a trick of mercy upon us by the Supreme Personality of Godhead that He sent His friends to beg foodstuff from us. Otherwise, He had no need to send them. He could have satisfied their hunger then and there just by willing to do so.”
MOREOVER, can you please tell us what books should we buy of prabhupada’s which can take us to teh right path?
I hope you didn’t mind the straightforward answer that I wrote before, so kindly guide us. Don’t take taht as an insult.
You can buy and read all of Prabhupada’s books on http://www.krishnastore.com
HARE KRSNA…JAYA. SRIMATI RADHERANI
People talk about love, like between a boy and a girl and I wanted to ask, how does this love help in spiritual advancement as a girl only thinks about the boy she loves and the boy only thinks about the girl he loves. This love gets so deep sometimes that they make each other their world. I feel it deviates us from krishna consciousness. So why is there such love? And why does it become a big goal of our lives today? People talk about true love between a boy and a girl, like they were made for each other, is all of that true?
The whole point of the material world is maya, illusion. So the whole idea is to give us the illusion we can be happy in the material world without serving Krishna. So this relationship between a boy and a girl is the chains that bind us to the prison of the material world.
The only true love is the love between us and Krishna. Love between a boy and a girl is only lust. It is based on the body only, it has nothing to do with the soul, and it will only cause suffering.
We have to make the goal of our lives to become Krishna conscious. And we need to associate with devotees. We can have relationships with devotees to cooperate with other devotees to serve Krishna together.
SOITS NOT ONLY WOMEN, ALSO MEN WHO NEED to indulge in Krishna to know that their material body is temporary.why bshould just women understand. men also needs to understand
Yes. Everyone needs to understand they are not the material body.
In which day Lord krishna is devoted?
A pure devotee worships Krishna, serves Krishna every day, constantly 24 hours a day.
I want to know more
Read Srila Prabhupada’s books… You will find everything you are looking for there.
pranam prabhuji
are the women allowed to wear gold ornaments and if not, then why, please kindly tell
Yes. The woman can wear gold ornaments. Why not?
Hare Krishna..
Well I read many things on this website..i have some doubts..
To start with i must admit that i do worship lord krishna and i do believe in the supreme( Krishna) ..i even went to the Govardhan parikrama n felt great..but I don’t worship the Lord properly as I don’t change clothes of deity n bath him or chant ..( I kept Laddu gopal ji small murti near my bed on the bedside table..i read somewhere that it’s not okay to keep the deity in the bedroom ( I would like to know why).
..i have seen devotees selling books n other stuff ( good thing to earn the honest living) but they never ask any one if they will respect geeta..or even they give geeta to a person then the devotee never ask anyone (who is purchasing just for helping devotee) that he might had non veg food so why touching the pure book..Krishna itself is very pure,i strongly believe that he only loves those who care for the needy..I had seen the magic in Vrindavan, it was Krishna..in my city delhi I had felt the power of The Lord around me..and that’s too without performing any bath or ornaments or food offering to the lord..i don’t say that don’t do all these offerings but I must admit that the this power is only Krishna who is asking for this from there devotees..Krishna ji never asked me to give him bath as he already have that before I wake up..haha…All he wants me is to offer my love to his devotees n that’s what I m doing..Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna Sunny
You can only understand Krishna by the mercy of Krisha’s pure devotees. It is not possible to understand Krishna any other way.
And you have to find a bona fide spiritual master, surrender to him and serve him, offer obeisances to him, such a self-realized soul can give you real knowledge because he has seen the truth.
We have to admit that we are fallen, we are in maya, we are in illusion, we do not know Krishna, we do not know how to serve Krishna, we do not know anything. It is only in this humble mood that we can submissively surrender to a pure devotee of Krishna and get real transcendental knowledge.
Of course you are from India, the land of the bogus guru. So it is very difficult. Practically today you can guarantee that anyone who is presenting themselves as a guru is bogus. At least you have to presume that every guru is a bogus cheater who is just after your money and who wants to become famous by collecting a batch of disciples who will worship him. That describes practically every Kali-yuga guru, even the ISKCON gurus, these days it is the same, they are bogus cheaters who are not even pure devotees themselves and who are therefore incapable of instructing anyone else in such a way that they can revive their dormant Krishna consciousness.
Krishna consciousness is dormant within us all but it can only be awakened by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna. There is no other way that we can become Krishna conscious.
We have to find a bona fide spiritual master, surrender to him, inquire form him, serve him, offer him obeisances. Such a self-realized soul can give you real knowledge because he has seen the truth.
We have seen so many bogus pretender gurus and the whole world is full of these bogus pretender gurus now so the situation has become very difficult for the general people. Now what happens is someone like yourself has a sincere desire to find out something about Krishna consciousness and immediately you express your interest in Krishna consciousness the bogus gurus will surround you and try to convince you that you should surrender to them and give them all your money and that is the secret. That is how you will become Krishna conscious. So many fall for these bogus gurus and loose everything. It is a great disaster.
So I can guarantee that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is a pure devotee of Krishna, he is more than qualified to instruct you, to teach you the science of Krishna consciousness, and if you surrender to him and serve him that will be the perfection of your life. You will be very happy in this life serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and at the time of death you will remember Krishna and go back home back to Godhead. That will be the perfection of your life.
But if you actually want to succeed in Krishna consciousness, if you actually want to become a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, you have to work hard at it. It is like any sort of success. You have to work for it. The beginning you have to surrender to chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, you have to strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication, and you have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. This is only the beginning. If you are not prepared to spent the time and energy every day and actually surrender to doing these things then Krishna consciousness will not be possible for you.
Becoming Krishna conscious requires that we surrender, we have to work for Krishna, we have to spend the time for Krishna, ultimately we have to work for Krishna 24 hours a day but at least in the beginning we have to work for Krishna at least seriously 4-6 hours a day. I just read that the average young person these days spends 5-6 hours a day watching the television and using their mobile devices and computers. So everyone has plenty of time. We just have to stop wasting our time on maya and use our time serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
So basically you have to realize that at the moment you have no spiritual knowledge at all. You have no idea what Krishna wants you to do, you have no idea what Krishna consciousness is, you are in maya, in illusion. We have to realize our actual position is fallen, in maya. If we do not realize we are fallen then there is no hope for us getting out of maya. So we need to realize we are fallen and need to be saved and we can be saved if we surrender to Srila Prabhupada, read his books and actually follow the instructions he gives us as we read his books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I recently got attracted towards lord krishna when I started reading shrimad bhagvadgita, though many things i dont understand.. I want to become krishna concious because I want to make lord happy and want his mercy.
I also chant which makes me fearless. I only chant 2 or 3 rounds. Please guide me how to follow krishna concious doing my daily routine chores in life. Please guide how to chant 16 rounds, how to know lord krishna.
It is not difficult to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. You have to become determined to do it and do it without fail. That is all. It requires a little determination. So just do it…
One can understand the Supreme personality
hare Krishna …
hari bol …
please tell me how ican give up attachment to women
You have to become attached to Krishna. Attachment to women is the symptom of material life and attachment to Krishna is the symptom of spiritual life. As we become more attached to Krishna naturally we become less attracted to women. And if we become more attracted to women we become less attracted to Krishna. It is like this. These are opposites. Spiritual life and material life. We can not have both. We have to decide what we want and work for that.
To become Krishna conscious is a great science and Srila Prabhupada has written almost 100 books on this great science so you need to study Srila Prabhupada’s books to learn the science of Krishna consciousness. And when you actually become Krishna conscious you will only be attracted to Krishna and will no longer be interested in sex life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna….very nice article…
Hare Krishna to all.
AGTSP, PAMHO.
To clarify this debate I want to quote Srila Bhaktivinoda: “A grihastha-vaisnava who remains with his married wife in a detached mood is acting properly in the Vaisnava world, and this is not called “association with women.” The attachment of men for women and women for men is called yosit sanga. If a householder takes krishna-nama and gives up his attachments, then he will certainly attain the highest goal of life.” Jaiva Dharma
The symptoms of a sadhu are described as follows in Srimad-Bhägavatam 5.5.2-3 “The mahat or great souls are endowed with the following qualities: They see all jives with equal vision. They are fully peaceful because their intelligence is firmly fixed in Krishna. They are devoid of anger. They are well-wishing friends to all jivas. They are sadhus, meaning that they never consider others faults. They are firmly established in a loving relationship with the Supreme Lord, and they consider prema to be the supreme object of attainment. They do not consider any other object to be worthy of interest. They have no attachment for people who are absorbed in material enjoyment, nor for wife, children, wealth, or home. They have no desire to accumulate wealth beyond what is necessary to maintain their body for the service of Sri Krishna.”
Hare Krishna – Hare Krishna – Krishna Krishna – Hare Hare.
Hare Rama – Hare Rama – Rama Rama – Hare Hare.
Oh dear Radha I love Krishna.
Oh dear Radha I love Rama.
Please engage me in Your service.
In this case the quality of the chant is better than the quantity.
THank you for this article.
It is interesting to me because I am spiritual and seeking. I am a woman and I am deeply effected by materialistic life and the ideals that airbrushed into modern western society. It depresses me and crushes my spiritual connection. I find the Hare Krishna talk very intriguing yet I am cautious because some of the terminology is confusing to me. It would be great to find more articles like this one where it makes it easier to see how an ordinary person might be able to take on the Hare Krishna way of life.
Hazel
Hare Krishna Hazel
Any new thing we take an interest in will have new concepts and new terminology so there is no need to worry about that. If you just start reading Srila Prabhupada’s books then you will automatically come to understand the terminology very quickly. Actually really what you want is Srila Prabhupada’s books. They systematically present the science of Krishna consciousness in a easy to understand way that we can take on the Hare Krishna way of life in our day-to-day life.
It is a simple thing. Krishna consciousness is simply a change of consciousness. We transform our lives by doing things for Krishna instead of doing things for our self or our family, etc. And practically how to transform our lives so our every action is for Krishna, that is described in Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Right now I am having a very special offer of 16 essential books of Srila Prabhupada at a very low price and I would suggest you take advantage of this, get Prabhupada’s books and read them and the more you read the more you will understand and the more the beautiful and wonderful spiritual world will open up for you. This is a fact and it has been experienced by so many people. You simply read Prabhupada’s books and try to put into practice in your life the instructions you find there and your life will be wonderfully spiritually transformed…
You can get everything you need here:
http://krishnastore.com/prabhupada-library-h-krishna-1734.html
altough i am nt so pure to comment here but one devotee has given me the link so i want to give my comment on the gaursundra prabhuji post
of course gaur kishore babaji. i think gaur kishore babaji want to emphasis that a married couple should not engaged themselves in sense gratification and instead of considering themselves as wife and spouse, they should consider themselves as a devotee who is the representative of guru and a devotee of lord krishna . thus they both should respect themselves as devotees and should childrens in rhe family are not normal peoples they are unsuccsefful vaishnvas who have taken birth in the spritual family
so one should be thankful to god that they are getting chance to serve a vaishnav and if they all think like that then they will raise themselves from the material platform and if they will remain under the association of devotees and will follow the guru instructions then they definately they will go back to godhead
according to the varnashrama dharma a man has to pass through grahastha stage. a man and women can live together and produce krishna conscious children.
i disagree with what gaursundara das has written saying- a married couple should live seperately. no. they should live together leading a regulated krishna conscious life and support each other in spiritual advancement.
Hare Krishna Sooraj
I do not know what Gourasundara has said but yes. Of course a married couple should live together. That is the point of getting married. In a Krishna conscious marriage the husband and wife are getting married to help each other advance in Krishna consciousness. Not for sense gratification. And they will bring nice children into the world and educate them about Krishna consciousness. That is the grhastha ashram. And of course the husband and wife have to live together…
Of course later on. After the children have grown up the husband may take varnaprastha and in this stage his wife may still accompany him as he tours the holy places of pilgrimage and spends the later part of his life coming closer to Krishna. There is no necessity, but he may take Sannyasa and only in that stage he must leave his wife and at that time the wife will go back to her sons and live with them.
But Sannyasa is not necessary and actually not recommended in this age. So husband and wife can stay together for their whole life and assist each other in serving Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna, dear Rajesh. AGTSP, PAMHO.
Srila Gaura Kisora Dasa Babaji was very radical here he say: “Although you are pretenciously acting as if you are chanting the Lord’s holy name, still you are desiring to taste the finest vegetables. Do you think that after a person suffers a loss of one million rupees, he will be satisfied by accepting only a handful of rice?”
The goal is chant Hare Krishna all the time, this was the order of Srila Gaura Kisora to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta.
I hope it helps, wish you the best.
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
According to the article written by Gaurasundara das ji above a man and a women should live separately after marriage even though they are newly wed. A man should not eat food prepared by his wife. Prabhu, then in that case there is no meaning to married life. A man after marrige is supposed to live with his wife and take care of her. He needs to act as her spiritual master if the wife is still a neophyte in spiritual life. A husband and wife means there will be some sort of bonding, loving caring relationship. Otherwise there is no meaning to married life. It just feels as if some strangers are living in the same house. Only since the husband shows loving care to the wife, the wife will feel protected and she supports the husband in his spiritual life and also follow him in spiritual path of Krishna consciousness.. In this way both husband and wife can make more and more progress in their devotional path of Krishna consciousness, chanting 16 rounds per day, strictly following the regulative principles, reading spiritual books on Krishna consciousness, preparing prasadam at home and eating only prasadam and not bhoga, listening to lectures of Prabhupad and devotees, association of devotees etc.
Another sentence i would like to ask you from the comments of Gaurasundara das ji- “we see there are so many vaishnavas living together with their wife and performing service unto Lord. wont there be any benefit to them?” Please reply to my questions soon prabhuji… Im in very much need of your answer because im in confusion..
wonderful article, i admire your strength and knowledge.
hari
hare krishna and love to all….
i like to talk with u all on krishna…if any friend like to talk on krishna…most welcome…my e-mail is….
my_krishna30@yahoo.com
hare krishna
Hare Krishna Dandavats.
In the biography of Srila Gaura Kisora Das Babaji Maharaj we findthe following:
The Householder Vow
One newly-married devotee and his wife once came to pray for the mercy of Srila Gaurakisora . Srila Gaurakisora said to the husband, “If you actually want to perform devotional service, you must live separately from your wife. Not depending on each other you can chant the Lord’s holy names.” After hearing the instructions the newly-wed devotee left and did as he was instructed A few days past, and he came again to Srila Gaurakisora, who asked, “Are you and your wife taking your meals together or separately?” The husband told him, “We are living separately and carrying on our worshop as you instructed, but we take our meals together.” Srila Gaurakisora then asked him, “What foodstuffs did you have today?” The newly-wed man answered, “We had very nice vegetables, the tastiest dhal, and fried eggplant.” Srila Gaurakisora added, “It is not enough to only give up your external connection with your wife, because you are internally associating with her. You have not been able to give up the finest tasty dishes prepared by your wife so how will you be able to worship the Lord? Your wife is communicating with you through the medium of the tasty dishes she has prepared. Shame on you! Although you are pretenciously acting as if you are chanting the Lord’s holy name, still you are desiring to taste the finest vegetables. Do you think that after a person suffers a loss of one million rupees, he will be satisfied by accepting only a handful of rice? Although he may gradually become accustomed to accepting the rice as a daily practice, he will always think about the money he lost. Even if you give such a person the nicest rice he will have no taste for it due to being in anxiety over what he has lost. Similarly, you have lost the most precious jewel of devotional service to the Supreme Lord. So, how can you become absorbed in simply eating nice foodstuffs? Externally you are disassociated from your wife yet you are maintaining internal attachment for her!”
Renunciation for Krsna’s Pleasure
A householder who was present during Srila Gaurakisora’s conversation with the newly-wed devotee asked Babaji Maharaja, “We see there are many Vaisnavas living together with their wives who perform service unto the Supreme Lord. Won’t there be any benefit for them?” Srila Gaurakisora replied, “The living entity is the eternal servant of the Supreme Lord Krsna, but in the conditioned state he cannot recognize this. He only sees the illusory form of his wife and children. If this is the case, then his vision is illusory. One who has no eyes to see through the medium of devotional service, can never realize his real identity as an eternal servant of Lord Krsna. The tendency to enjoy materialistically is always present in the association of one’s sons and wife. These days the householders who do not hear the topics of the Supreme Lord in the association of the Lord’s devotees, will become attracted to their wives and children and will not attain the spiritual energy revealed by the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.”
“Then again, some persons, like falsely renounced monkeys, act unattached towards their wives and children. Such householders are only making a show of renunciation. An actual Vaisnava in married life never enjoys sense gratification with his wife in any way whatsoever. He will always see his wife as a servant of Krsna and respect her as the representative of the spiritual master. Those householders, who actually desire to purely worship the Supreme Lord, yet are weak-hearted due to their attachment to wives and offspring should always associate with the advanced devotees, Maha-bhagavatas. By hearing the glories of the Lord they can quickly become free from their exploitative intelligence towards the family. Gradually they will realize that full surrender to Lord Krsna is the highest benefit for the spirit soul. Body consciousness obstructs self surrender and the causeless mercy of Lord Hari. An extended form of bodily awareness is depicted as attachment for wife and children.”
Best regards.
Hare Krishna.
In the biography of Srila Gaura Kisora Das Babaji we can find the following:
The Householder Vow
One newly-married devotee and his wife once came to pray for the mercy of Srila Gaurakisora . Srila Gaurakisora said to the husband, “If you actually want to perform devotional service, you must live separately from your wife. Not depending on each other you can chant the Lord’s holy names.” After hearing the instructions the newly-wed devotee left and did as he was instructed A few days past, and he came again to Srila Gaurakisora, who asked, “Are you and your wife taking your meals together or separately?” The husband told him, “We are living separately and carrying on our worshop as you instructed, but we take our meals together.” Srila Gaurakisora then asked him, “What foodstuffs did you have today?” The newly-wed man answered, “We had very nice vegetables, the tastiest dhal, and fried eggplant.” Srila Gaurakisora added, “It is not enough to only give up your external connection with your wife, because you are internally associating with her. You have not been able to give up the finest tasty dishes prepared by your wife so how will you be able to worship the Lord? Your wife is communicating with you through the medium of the tasty dishes she has prepared. Shame on you! Although you are pretenciously acting as if you are chanting the Lord’s holy name, still you are desiring to taste the finest vegetables. Do you think that after a person suffers a loss of one million rupees, he will be satisfied by accepting only a handful of rice? Although he may gradually become accustomed to accepting the rice as a daily practice, he will always think about the money he lost. Even if you give such a person the nicest rice he will have no taste for it due to being in anxiety over what he has lost. Similarly, you have lost the most precious jewel of devotional service to the Supreme Lord. So, how can you become absorbed in simply eating nice foodstuffs? Externally you are disassociated from your wife yet you are maintaining internal attachment for her!”
Renunciation for Krsna’s Pleasure
A householder who was present during Srila Gaurakisora’s conversation with the newly-wed devotee asked Babaji Maharaja, “We see there are many Vaisnavas living together with their wives who perform service unto the Supreme Lord. Won’t there be any benefit for them?” Srila Gaurakisora replied, “The living entity is the eternal servant of the Supreme Lord Krsna, but in the conditioned state he cannot recognize this. He only sees the illusory form of his wife and children. If this is the case, then his vision is illusory. One who has no eyes to see through the medium of devotional service, can never realize his real identity as an eternal servant of Lord Krsna. The tendency to enjoy materialistically is always present in the association of one’s sons and wife. These days the householders who do not hear the topics of the Supreme Lord in the association of the Lord’s devotees, will become attracted to their wives and children and will not attain the spiritual energy revealed by the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.”
“Then again, some persons, like falsely renounced monkeys, act unattached towards their wives and children. Such householders are only making a show of renunciation. An actual Vaisnava in married life never enjoys sense gratification with his wife in any way whatsoever. He will always see his wife as a servant of Krsna and respect her as the representative of the spiritual master. Those householders, who actually desire to purely worship the Supreme Lord, yet are weak-hearted due to their attachment to wives and offspring should always associate with the advanced devotees, Maha-bhagavatas. By hearing the glories of the Lord they can quickly become free from their exploitative intelligence towards the family. Gradually they will realize that full surrender to Lord Krsna is the highest benefit for the spirit soul. Body consciousness obstructs self surrender and the causeless mercy of Lord Hari. An extended form of bodily awareness is depicted as attachment for wife and children.”
Best regards.
I was very happy to read this. I was raised Christian but love to chant and learn more about Krishna. I don’t know why but the last few years I’ve had a lot of anger issues with being a woman. It’s hard to explain but I just almost hate being a woman because of how I see women in the media and what the world seems to think of us. It’s just nice to read something like this. Thanks for posting. 🙂
I COMPLETELY AGREE I find myself lashing out at men and being incredibly vindictive, hateful, and malicious towards them. They are like sexual bodies with no soul to me. I used to be mad at myself and now I’m more mad for being mad at myself at all. Men need to be ignored unless they have these practices those are the only men worth a woman’s time of any sort. Sadly if you are in harmony with such beliefs the vast population of America will disappoint. It is about finding family, purpose and balance. I am a leader by nature I would help men physically build a temple and sweat all day in the sun with a smile on my face and not one complaint. I will also just as gladly sing and dance. This body is a blessing but my soul is even more so. I too was raised Christian and I focus on inner self I believe women are superior to men body and soul because men take so much more to be mindful, spiritual, respectful beings and only a small percentage of them succeed. That being said when I find a one worth respecting my gaurd is high I am catious and there is no need to exploit each other. Relationships should be designed for spiritual growth and respect. So don’t ever hate being a woman hate the men but act accordingly. Acting hateful will only hurt you we can’t change how stupid they very well maybe but we can ignore them and find harmony in passing knowledge and truth. Women are natural born sustainers of life we live to teach and be respected it’s part of our nature. We should be so proud of ourselves and rather embarrassed by the nature of men who chose not to follow the kirshna practice. Or any practice that does not involves spirtual growth of any kind.
Hare Krishna Tessa
The disturbance to the natural way of things created by the feminists is the cause of most of the problems we are facing on this planet at the moment.
For a functional society to exist the family unit needs to be strong and protected. Without a stable family which children can be born into knowing they have a loving mother and father who will guide them and protect them it is not possible for a child to develop into a properly developed adult who can contribute to the society in a meaningful way.
For the stable family units to exist both men and women have to play their respective parts. Actually spiritually we are not these material bodies, we are the spirit souls within the bodies, so as spirit soul we are neither male or female. So this identification we have of being mail of female is false in the sense that it is only that we are currently in a male or female body. As spirit soul we have no real connection with that body and we can take birth in a different type of body in our next life.
However, while we are in the material world we have to act according to the body we find ourselves in. So a woman has to act as a woman and a man has to act as a man. The roles of women and men in society are very different as the body of a woman is very different from the body of a man. So for society to function and for peace, prosperity and happiness in society women have to at as women and men have to act as men.
The man is naturally the leader and protector and he is served by his wife. So the natural position for a woman is to serve her husband. If there is any future for sane life on this planet the women have to be educated to nicely serve their husbands. If this is done everything else will naturally fall into place. The men are more intelligent than the women and are capable of protecting and providing for the women. And the women need to be protected and provided for.
This is a natural union, man and woman. The man is not complete without a woman and the woman is not complete without a man. They can not he happy without each other. And no one can be happy if the woman are trying to pretend to be men…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Wonderful article! We are not women, we are spiritual beings! This is the real women’s lib!
Hari Bol
Elizabeth Grnanti