IDEAL PREACHING SYSTEM IN KALI-YUGA - MEN'S GROUP & WOMEN'S GROUP

07-27-2002, 03:07 AM

IDEAL PREACHING SYSTEM IN KALI-YUGA - SEPARATE MEN'S GROUP & WOMEN'S GROUP
THE MOST IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE OF DAIVI-VARNASHRAMA AND PURE PREACHING
RECOMMENDED BY ALL ACHARYAS, SCRIPTURES & THE SUPREME LORD GAURANGA HIMSELF
By Tridandi Bhikshu Bhaktiratna Sadhu.

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SHRILA PRABHUPADA

"YES, THE SEPARATION OF MEN AND WOMEN IS DESIRABLE. IF YAMUNA AND YOURSELF
CAN DEVELOP AN *** INSTITUTION *** OF A WOMEN'S ASHRAMA, THAT WILL BE NICE."

"IT IS NOT GOOD F0R (MARRIED) MEN, UNMARRIED MEN, BRAHMACARIS AND
BRAHMACARINIS (AND ALSO MARRIED WOMEN), TO CONSTANTLY BE MIXING."

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SHRILA SACCIDANANDA BHAKTIVINODA THAKURA

"IN THE OPINION OF THE PURE VAISHNAVA PHILOSOPHY, THE PURUSHA-SADHAKAS
(MALE- BODIED DEVOTEES) SHOULD PRACTICE BHAJANA (DEVOTIONAL SERVICE) IN A
SEPARATE GROUP (MANDALI) THAN THE STRI-SADHAKAS (FEMALE-BODIED DEVOTEES).
AND THE WOMEN SADHAKAS (DEVOTEES) SHOULD NEVER ALLOW ANY MALE DEVOTEE TO
ENTER THE WOMEN'S PREACHING GROUP. THOUGH BHAJANA (DEVOTIONAL SERVICE) IS A
COMPLETELY TRANSCENDENTAL ACTIVITY BUT IF MUNDANE MATERIAL MELLOWS ENTER (IN
THE ABOVE WAY) THEN IT WILL BECOME COMPLETELY DESTROYED."

"IN SPIRITUAL LIFE, THE SOULS IN A MALE BODY AND SOULS IN THE FEMALE BODY
SHOULD ALWAYS STAY SEPARATE (EXCEPT FOR HUSBAND AND WIFE). THE PLACE OF
WORSHIP OR DEVOTIONAL PRACTICE FOR THE WOMEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE AND THAT FOR
THE MEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE."

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The following instructions of Shrila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the
modern pioneer and grandfather of the Krishna consciousness movement and the
direct, eternal and most intimate associate of Shri Nitai-Gauranga and Shri
Radha-Krishna which gives the BLUEPRINT OF HOW THE PURE BHAJANA AND
PREACHING OF KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS SHOULD BE AND WILL BE CONDUCTED IN NEXT
10,000 YEARS OF KALI-YUGA. There are so many problems in the society of
devotees because it is doubtful whether these quotes are even known to
anyone what to speak and discussing or implementing them.

SHRILA SACCIDANANDA BHAKTIVINODA THAKURA:

Sahajiya-matera-heyatva, Sajjana Tosani 4/6:

Original Bengali:

suddha-vaisnava mate purusa-sadhaka-gana stri-sadhaka haite prthak-mandali
haiya bhajana karibena evam stri-sadhaka-gana kona purusake tanhadera
bhajana-mandalite asite dibena na. bhajana sampurna cinmaya karya, ekathu
jada-bhavera pravesa karilei nasta haya."

English Translation:

"In the opinion of the pure Vaishnava philosophy, the purusha-sadhakas
(male-bodied devotees) should practice bhajana (devotional service) in a
separate group (mandali) than the the stri-sadhakas (female-bodied
devotees). And the women sadhakas (devotees) should never allow any male
devotee to enter the women's preaching group. Though bhajana (devotional
service) is a completely transcendental activity but if mundane material
mellows enter (in the above way) then it will be completely destroyed."

(Note: This is the beginning of sahajiyaism because Thakura Bhaktivinoda has
made this statement is his article warning us against sahajiyaism.)

Samalochana, Sajjana Tosani 10/6:

Original Bengali:

"bahya-dehagata stri-purusagana sarvadai prthak thakibena. stri-lokadigera
bhajansthana prthak thakuka evam purusadigera bhajanasthana prthak thakuka;
kena na, ekatra haile rasa-tattva pravista vyaktidigera kramasah jadiya
stri-purusa gata vairasya asiya upasthita haya. takhana sastrera anyartha
kariya nijera caritrake vancaibara cestaya uttama sadhudigera ninda asiya
upasthita haya."

English translation:

"In spiritual life, the souls in a male body and souls in the female body
should always stay separate (except for husband and wife). The *PLACE OF
WORSHIP OR DEVOTIONAL PRACTICE FOR THE WOMEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE* and that
*FOR THE MEN SHOULD BE SEPARATE*. If this is not followed then the following
very dangerous phenomenon occurs. When they practice bhakti in the same
group, the mundane or material perverted mellow of illicit men-women
relationships gradually but surely enters the minds and hearts of those
sincere men and women spiritual aspirants who are initially interested in
relishing or are already relishing the spiritual mellows of devotional
service to Lord Krishna. Because the mundane sex attraction is very strong
in the hearts and minds of the conditioned souls, this perverted mellow
gradually replaces the superior spiritual mellow in the devotees' hearts.
This in turn leads to the indirect criticism of the topmost (uttama)
self-realized souls because everyone tries to justify this mixing of the
sexes in spiritual life by trying to cite the examples of what the great
souls did basically to prevent the scandalization of their own character.
This creates the most inauspicious situation where the aspirants gradually
give up spiritual life due to sahajiyaism and Vaishnava-aparadha."

Also Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura furthur discusses this topic in his
articles Sanga-tyaga, Sajjana Tosani 11/11 and Sadhu-vrtti 11/12:

AGAIN SHRILA BHAKTIVINODA THAKURA CLEARLY HINTS THAT THERE SHOULD BE
SEPARATE PREACHING GROUP FOR MEN AND WOMEN

"Men should not associate with other women except their wives in the name of
spiritual life. On the other hand, when a woman is engaged in sadhana-bhakti
(devotional practice), she should not associate with men. Associating with
the opposite sex is very inauspicious for any advancing devotee either man
or woman, householder or renunciate."

"The wife should also always endeavor for spiritual perfection with the help
of subordinate women such as her sister and daughter (and her husband and
other advanced women devotees. Similarly men should also endeavour for
spiritual perfection with the help of Guru, advanced male devotees and his
wife). There is no illicit conduct in this, so there will not be any
association with the opposite sex. Therefore, whether one is a householder
or a renunciate-all practitioners should totally give up the association
with the opposite sex (except wife and husband) in the name of spiritual
life."

"Householders should not associate with others' wives or prostitutes in the
name of spiritual life. They should not indulge in any association other
than with their own wives according to religious scriptures for the
procreation of Krishna conscious children. "

Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Sanga-tyaga, Sajjana Tosani 11/11:

“Those whose attraction has been purified by the strength of sadhu-sanga
(association with pure devotees) give up the association of the opposite sex
altogether and continually engage in devotional service. Persons in this
group are known as renounced Vaisnavas (sannyasis). Those whose propensity
for associating with the opposite sex has not been destroyed accept the
codes of marriage and remain as householders while engaging in devotional
service. For a householder devotee, touching and speaking to his wife in the
matter of executing devotional service is not detrimental to devotional
service; but for a renunciate there cannot be any type of talking to or
touching the opposite sex, otherwise his practice of devotional service will
be completely spoiled. Association with such a deviated person should be
totally rejected. One should give up the association of such dharmadvajis,
the hypocritically devout, with special care. Such people who accept the
external signs of dharma but do not actually follow dharma are called
dharmadvajis or pretenders.”

SHRILA PRABHUPADA'S QUOTES:

Shrila Prabhupada himself initiated this kind of preaching when he
instructed his women disciples to start an only women’s preaching effort
without the help of any men:

SHRILA PRABHUPADA STATES THAT MEN SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY CONNECTION WITH A
WOMEN'S PREACHING ASHRAM

“Manage a small ashram, but don’t try bigger scale, then you require the
help of men. Don’t try manual exertion, then again there is mixture and that
is not desired. Simply keep yourself aloof from men—-chanting, many more
times as possible, read books, worship the deity.” (Letter to: Yamuna,
Dinatarine Mayapur 21 Feb, 1976)

“Yes, the separation of men and women is desirable. If Yamuna and yourself
can develop such an institution of a women’s ashrama, that will be nice. You
are all elderly devotees. I think that this will be a good idea.” (Letter
to: Palika Hare Krishna Land, Bombay 13 November, 1975)

"Because it was not good for men, unmarried men, brahmacaris and
brahmacarinis, to constantly be mixing." (Shrila Prabhupada's Room
Conversation about Marriage September 24, 1968, Seattle)

“You can attract the fair sex community. Most of them are frustrated being
without any home or husband. If you can organize all these girls they will
get a transcendental engagement and may not be allured to the frustration of
life.” (Letter to: Yamuna, Dinatarine Calcutta 13 Jan, 1976)

Purport by Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami:

The above statements by Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Shrila Prabhupada
very clearly explain and establish the urgent need to create a forum where
men can guide men, women can guide women and husband and wife can help each
other in spiritual life.

For material occupational work or for fulfilling family or social
obligations in the present social structure, it may be indispensible for men
to talk to women other than their wives and for women to talk to men other
than their husbands. But a true Vaishnava householder should never talk to
other women or the devotee wives should never talk to other men IN THE NAME
OF SPIRITUAL LIFE or for preaching Krishna consciousness except for highly
unavoidable or urgent circumstances. Because in the conditioned stage the
senses are so powerful and they grasp the sense-objects very quickly and
surely. If they do so, then hypocrisy or duplicity enters in their practice
of Krishna consciousness and thus their practice gradually becomes polluted.
This is the basic principle of the daivi-varnashrama-dharma. As predicted in
the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, the human society will gradually move in the
direction of purely establishing this Vedic Krishna conscious culture for
the next 10,000 years which is going to be a golden era in this Kali-yuga.

The excesive free mixing or intermingling of men and women in the present
society has destroyed all chances of any genuine interest among the people
in spiritual life. Till this illicit mixing is not stopped and the pure
Vedic culture is not established, there is no question of any kind of
spiritual awakening among the people of this world. And it is the most
shameful and worst situation when people engage in this free mixing of the
sexes in the garb of spiritualism. It is the highest kind of cheating and
fraud.

The men can be trained very nicely in the science of bhakti-yoga the
sannyasi guru himself himself. They will in turn will train and teach
bhakti-yoga to their wives or dependants at home. The wives can also
regularly read the spiritual books and hear audio lectures to get a more
deeper understanding of Krishna consciousness. They can also ask their
devotee husbands any questions they may have about the philosophy of Krishna
consciousness. If the husbands cannot answer the questions, the husbands may
take direct guidance from guru or other senior godbrothers. In this way they
can provide satisfactory answers to all the questions of their wives. The
wives can then start practicing the science of Krishna consciousness
especially by the regular chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. After
properly understanding the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, the wives
can then start widespread programs for educating and training other women in
Krishna consciousness.

Ideally men should go out and distribute books to men and women should
distribute books to women. How can a wife of another man look up and talk
for hours to another man on the street in the name of so-called 'spiritual
preaching'. This is against the principles of Vedic culture and a breach in
the chastity of women and the same is applicable to the men also..

IT IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE AND UNAVOIDABLE FOR A MAN NOT TO TALK TO OTHER
MEN'S WIVES OR FOR A WOMEN NOT TO TALK WITH OTHER'S WIVES' HUSBANDS FOR DAY
TO DAY OCCUPATIONAL WORK TO MAINTAIN A LIVING BECAUSE THE SOCIETY IS IN A
VERY DEGRADED CONDITION WITH NO KIND OF CULTURE REMAINING. ONE MAY NOT BE
ABLE TO MAINTAIN ONE'S LIVELIHOOD IN SUCH A CASE. BUT TO JUSTIFY THIS MIXING
AND DO IT IN THE NAME OF PREACHING KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS WILL SURELY LEAD TO
UNIMAGINABLE CHAOS AND IS A BIGGER OFFENSE BECAUSE IT IS DONE EVEN AFTER
KNOWING THE PURE PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE INJUNCTIONS OF
GURU-SADHU-SHASTRA. IT ULTIMATELY ONLY BRINGS THE PROCESS OF KRISHNA
CONSCIOUSNESS INTO VERY BAD LIGHT AND THUS THE RESULT OF PREACHNG IS THAT
EVENTUALLY MORE HARM IS CAUSED THAN BENEFIT.

Shrila Prabhupada could not implement this ideal Vedic system immediately
due to highly degraded situation in human society. He said 50% work on
Varnashram is remaining. I think majority of that pertains to establishing
separate groups for men and women. He had to preach at all costs because
there was not a single institution in his time which was widely preaching
our Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy all over the world. But now if we simply
try to maintain and consolidate what Prabhupada has given us that will
enough to begin with. Also as Shrila Prabhupada says that an acharya can
introduce novel ways and means to somehow introduce Krishna consciousness
when there is an emergency but that does'nt mean that the sincere followers
of the acharya should always maintain that minimum standard and should not
try to progress towards the ideal standard. Infact it will actually please
the acharya if the followers try to do so. Unless we always try to improve
our devotional standard we will be pushed down by maya more and more.

A majority of grihastha men are already agitated that is why they decided to
marry in the first place. Thus normally they are more weaker than a sannyasi
in their resolution not to have illicit-sex life.There are so many strict
injunctions for a sannyasi not to have any kind of connections with women.
So one can imagine how strictly the grihastha males should follow in regards
to women other than their wives because in most cases they are weaker than
the sannyasis in this regard.

The husbands and other male relatives of these new women aspirants who join
the women's group should be encouraged by their wives to join the men’s
preaching group which is receiving training and guidance from a sannyasi or
male guru. The male members who are benefitted by this guidance in Krishna
consciousness should bring as many male friends and relatives to hear about
Lord Krishna and Lord Gauranga. In this way the men’s group of spiritual
aspirants can expand unlimitedly under the care of the sannyasi or male guru
without any danger or risk for the sannyasi-guru or the grihastha followers
to talk and mix with women. Other male members of the group will also be
avoided from talking with other men's wives in the name of so-called
preaching. Where there is talking, mixing is surely bound to come. This is
the rule of Kali-Yuga.

The women group of spiritual aspirants can also unlimitedly expand their
preaching activities to other women. They can also unlimitedly expand the
scope of their preaching activities by inviting, training and inspiring
hundreds, thousands and millions of other women to take up bhakti. In this
way both men and women can preach vigourously to their heart's fulfillment.
Each woman can practice spiritual life under the guidance of their devotee
husband and / or other advanced women devotees.

This is the perfect arrangement for the peaceful, pure and successful
prosecution of Krishna consciousness individually as well as collectively.
While following such a system, all the spiritual aspirants whether men or
women will experience great positive spiritual advancement in their personal
spiritual lives because the problem of illicit mixing of sexes in the name
of spiritual life will be greatly if not completely minimized.

Women may raise the question that they will be missing the direct process of
hearing from the sannyasi guru or his other advanced male disciples. But
they will not miss anything because they can catch up through reading of
Shrila Prabhupada's books, hearing the audio lectures etc. It may be a
little more austerity for the women devotees but it saves everyone from a
lot of complications later. In very difficult cases the wives can always get
some guidance by asking their husbands to consult the sannyasi guru.

But the sannyasi guru will not take any kind of direct interest or
responsibility in the women’s preaching effort like Prabhupada states in the
above quotes. If the devotee women want they can start a completely
independent women’s group or if that is not in their capacity they can go on
practicing spiritual life under the guidance of their devotee husbands and
help and guide a few other matajis. The male devotees should assist the
sannyasi or male guru in his preaching work. The female devotees can assist
their husbands in preaching and also try to expand the women's preaching by
assisting other advanced women devotees in preaching to women. They can
remain under the guidance of their advanced devotee husbands or under the
guidance of advanced women devotees or under the guidance of Prabhupada's
books. This system will automatically inspire and encourage women to read
the scriptures thoroughly and get trained up in all aspects of philosophy
and preaching because they will get lots and lots of opportunities to
preach and lead their fellow women devotees on the path of bhakti. I am
guessing that the women population must be almost 50% of the world's
population at present. So the women's group will have a unlimited scope for
preaching and the men's group will also have an unlimited scope for
preaching. This arrangement makes lot of sense and is very simple to
implement. Once it will be implemented, it will automatically expand
unlimitedly. That is my firm conviction.

As per all the Vedic scriptures, the chanting of the Hare Krishna
maha-mantra or the 'Gauranga' Mantra is supremely powerful and does not
depend on initiation (diksha), purification (purascarya) etc. for granting
liberation to the chanter (Cc Madhya 15.108).

Accepting the pure maha-mantra from the advanced spiritual master (guru) at
the time of diksha expediates the process of self-realization through the
primary process of chanting the maha-mantra. the advanced and pure sannyasi
guru can give diksha (initiation) to the male devotees who will gradually
become serious, sincere and qualified in Krishna consciousess.

These male devotees will then be trained furthur. During this process they
will keep on training their wives in the process of Krishna consciousness.
The wives can gradually come up to the standard of chanting atleast sixteen
rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily. If the wives want diksha
(initiation), their well-trained and advanced devotee husbands can give them
initiation by conducting a small fire sacrifice in their homes after taking
permission from their sannyasi-guru. On the order of the Guru, the husbands
can initiate their wives. The advanced grihastha devotee can initiate other
men also if his self-realized guru orders him to do so also. This is
perfectly as per the Vedic scriptures which state that the husband who is
advanced in spiritual consciousness is the primary and only guru for his
wife.

If the devotee husband is not so much advanced, the wives should keep on
chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra while taking guidance from the
scriptures, audio lectures and other advanced women devotees as shiksha
gurus. If they so require they can also accept initiation from advanced
women devotees who have been preaching and training them. They should
develop the faith that the constant chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra
will lead us to offenseless chanting which will enable one and all to go
back to Godhead. Great Vaishnavis like Shrimati Bhagavati devi, the wife of
Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Shrimati Devahuti, the wife of the great
Kardama Muni achieved perfection by faithfully serving their exalted
husbands in Krishna consciousness. There is no mention found anywhere of
their accepting formal initiation. Shrila Prabhupada states in his purport
to Shri Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya-lila 15.108:

“The offenseless chanting of the holy name does not depend on the initiation
process. Although initiation may depend on purascarya or purascarana, the
actual chanting of the holy name does not depend on purascarya-vidhi, or the
regulative principles. If one chants the holy name even once without
committing an offense, he attains all success. During the chanting of the
holy name, the tongue must work. Simply by chanting the holy name, one is
immediately delivered. ”

The sannyasi-guru will not give initiation (diksha) to any women because as
a sannyasi he is not allowed by the scriptures to have any kind of
connection with women (all sastric quotes sent earlier). Diksha is a very
intimate connection between guru and disciple where the guru has a very
heavy responsibilty to always monitor and guide the disciple’s progress and
constantly correct the wayward disicples. This function cannot be normally
rendered by a sannyasi guru in regards to a female disciple. In many many
(if not most) cases we can seen how the so-called exchanges and guidance by
a sannyasi guru to his women disicples gradually but surely changes into an
subtly erotic or lusty relationship thereby destroying the spiritual life of
the sannyasi-guru as well the women disciples.In the case of non-fully
realized gurus who have even a little material contamination, this practice
of accepting women disciples will gradually degrade them to the lowest and
the most sinful kinds of habits. Because apart from the gross desires for
women and money, the subtlest form of sex-life which is name, profit and
adoration is gratified to it's ultimate extent when the women disicple
worship, obey and 'surrender' to the sannyasi guru who is still on the
material platform in many ways. This leads to the complete destruction of
that so-called sannyasi guru. This also explains the increasing number of
divorce cases in a religious institution where the not fully perfect
sannyasi-guru directly has dealings with the wives of other men in th ename
of becoming their spiritual master.

Even a householder male guru can’t discharge this function of guru in
regards to other men’s wives as per the scriptures. Only the advanced
devotee husband can discharge this function of a guru for his own wife only
or an advanced women guru can do it in regards to a women disciple or a
sannyasi-guru and directly guide a male disciple. These are the only three
options possible.

The devotee husband should give initiation to his wife only and no one else.
He can monitor the spiritual progress of his wife and guide her from time to
time without trangressing any principles of the Vedic varnashrama-dharma.
This is the perfect combination. Or advanced women gurus can guide their
women disciples very nicely and carefully and the same thing is applicable
to a sannyasi-guru and his male disciples.

We have seen innumerable cases over the past many many years in various
religious organizations that sannyasis who preach and talk to and accept
women disciples with good intention (of expanding the 'preaching') in the
beginning gradually end up giving up their sannyasa vows and most
disgracefully marrying one of their women disciples. This is the greatest
abuse of the guru-disciple relationship which is a supposed to be an eternal
father-child relationship but later corrupts into a husband-wife
relationship due to intimate contact between the male guru and the female
disciple. There have been thousands and thousands of devotees who have
eventually lost faith in Guru and Gauranga because of observing the gradual
degradation of their gurus in front of their eyes due to extensive contact
of their women disciples which cannot be avoided by a guru if he accepts
women disciples in the first place. Thus in the end the same so-called
preaching by the sannyasi gurus has resulted in a mass and destructive loss
of faith in the process of Krishna consciousness for their neophyte
disciples due to ultimate collapse an ddegradation of the gurus themselves
who never tried to take heed of the instructions of the scriptures and the
acharyas.

Even male householder gurus end up giving up their own chaste wives and
remarrying one of their female disciples. Due to accepting women as their
disciples or followers, the sannyasi (or any male) guru has to compulsorily
become intimate with them either through meeting with them, talking with
them, helping them out, hearing their problems, replying to them by email
etc. This is becausee he takes the heavy responsibility of guiding them and
he cannot shirk that responsibility later. This great risk in turn gradually
leads to the downfall of the guru whether sannyasi, grihastha or a
brahmchari. The sannyasi ends up violating all the rules, principles and
prohibitions mentioned for the sannyasa ashram in the scriptures (THE
COMPILATION WITH ALL THE SHASTRIC RULES & REGULATIONS FOR A SANNYASI IS
AVAILABLE WITH ME AND WILL BE SENT ON REQUEST). Therefore a sannyasi or any
male-bodied guru should not accept any female-bodied disciples unless he
completely transcended the bodily platform and is acting on the pure
platform of his constitutional relationship with the Supreme Lord in the
spiritual world. As Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada states in
his article 'Diksha' in Sajjan Tosani that the guru should have himself
mantra-siddhi (realized his constitutional position and seen Krishna face to
face) before imparting the mantra to his dsciple otherwise the diksha is
invalid or very less effective. Believe me it is 100% sure that the guru
will have problems and eventually falldown if he does so unless the guru is
an eternal associate of the Lord. Thus this guru-abuse creates great
inauspiciousness and disturbance in the society of spiritual aspirants and
causes permanent unreparable damage in the preaching work and also in the
minds and hearts of other devotees who witness this guru abuse and falldown.

Ofcourse sometimes a specifically empowered pure representative of Krishna
like Shrila Prabhupada may break this principle because he is above the
varnashrama-system by the dint of his perfect spiritual position. Even
though he may be a sannyasi, he may directly give initiation to many women
for the sake of rapidly advancing the preaching work because he is fully
aware that this is the desire of the Lord for him due to being in constant
touch with the Lord. But his extraordinary activities should not be imitated
by the less perfect sannyasi gurus or other male-bodied gurus otherwise they
will have to suffer the heavy reactions of breaking the varnashrama
principles. Instead they should try to follow the instructions of their
guru, sadhu and shastra.

Sometimes women devotees are more advanced than their husbands. In such
cases the wives should try to make their husbands into sincere and advanced
devotees by facilitating him to go and take association of other advanced
male Vaishnavas in the men's group. When the husbands become spiritually
advanced then the wives can accept initiation from them. If the husbands
don’t become qualified to act as gurus for their wives then the wives can
keep on sincerely practicing Krishna consciousness and they will be assured
of all success in spiritual life. In such cases, the wives can also accept
initiation from other very advanced women devotees in the women’s group.
Such women devotees who act as gurus should themselves be initiated by their
advanced devotee husbands.

Unmarried women devotees in the women’s group can gradually choose advanced
devotee husbands from the spiritually trained men’s group. This can be
arranged by a husband-wife devotee couple where the husband is attending the
men's group and the wife is attending the women's group. There should
absolutely be no contact of the husband with other women of the women's
group or the wife and other men of th emen's group. The newly married women
can later accept intiation from their all well-trained husbands if required.
Or they can accept initiation from other advanced women devotees who should
be accepted as gurus by the women’s group on the dint of their spiritual
advancement. Any exchanges or communication between the men’s and women’s
group must be strictly done through husband and wife only and only if
urgently required i.e. a male devotee will approach another male devotee
who’s wife is a member of the women’s group or a women can approach other
women whose husband is a member of the men's group. She will communicate the
message received from her husband to the concerned woman in the women’s
group and vice versa.

Some may raise the question that since nowadays husband and wife treat each
other like friends in a very informal way, how can the wives ever accept
their husbands as gurus? The answer is that in the pure Vedic culture, the
spiritually advanced husband is automatically considered the first and
foremost spiritual guru of the wife. The wife is supposed to be always
subordinate to the spiritually advanced husband. Ofcourse if the husband is
not spiritually enlightened and the wife is, then it is different case. But
even that does not give a license to the women to freely talk to other men
in the name of spiritual life. They can take guidance from other women
devotees, spiritual literature, audio lectures etc. Alongwith this the wives
should also try to gradually uplift their husbands spiritually. Unless this
Vedic mood is recultivated in husband-wife relationships, there will no end
to the miseries in married life.

The present society is so much degraded that this Vedic system of preaching
Krishna consciousness as suggested above by the scriptures and the acharyas
may seem to some as utopian, idealistic, unrealistic or impractical in the
present circumstances. Perhaps it may take many (hundreds of) years after
which this above system of preaching in daivi-varnashrama can be implemented
in its true form. But it will surely be implemented in full force sometime
during the next 10,000 years which is the Golden Age of Lord Gauranga
Mahaprabhu as predicted in the Brahma-vaivarta Purana. So someone has to set
the ball rolling at some point of time. Success or no success depends on the
will of the Lord.

If one is trying his best to purely implement the injunctions of
guru-sadhu-shastra, then the Lord will be surely be pleased. The pleasure of
the Lord is the ultimate achievement and success for the devotee. If the
Lord wants it to be a success in the form of external results, then let it
be so. If not, then that is also okay. What is use of winning the whole
world but loosing your own consciousness or doing so by deviating from the
scriptures? What is the use of big external successes in the preaching field
if one ends up diluting or compromising the instructions of
guru-sadhu-shastra or introducing some deviation or sahajiyaism on the path
of pure devotion? It will only end up in becoming a great disturbance on the
path of pure preaching. We should constantly try to remember the instruction
of Bhagavatam that what great, exalted and empowered personalities do, we
should never try to imitate. We should only try to sincerely understand and
follow their instructions, those of the previous acharyas and Lord Gauranga
Mahaprabhu Himself.

The points and quotes in this article are the basic minimum and they can be
unlimitedly expanded upon or modified a little to furthur facilitate and
establish this system of seperate bhakta-sanghas for men and women as per
the desire of Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Shrila Prabhupada himself and the
Vedic scriptures. I think one day down the line in these 10,000 years some
empowered person will appreciate this article and make this dream a reality
otherwise the problems and impediments in the preaching of Krishna
consciousness will never decrease as shown by the quotes below.

I would like to conclude with a few more quotes from Shrila Prabhupada, etc:

"A civilization that allows men to mix unrestrictedly with women is an
animal civilization. In Kali-yuga, people are extremely liberal, but mixing
with women and talking with them as equals actually constitutes an
uncivilized way of life."(SB 7.12.8 purp)

"Unless one is very strong in knowledge, patience, and proper bodily,
mental, and intellectual behavior, controlling one's lusty desires is
extremely difficult.[..] When Cupid attacks, all one's education, culture,
and knowledge are lost. Therefore one has to avoid this free-mixing, lusty
society." (Second Chance Chp 12)

"Because modern society sanctions unrestricted mixing of men and women, its
citizens cannot possibly achieve peace; rather, the regulation of conflict
becomes the basis of social survival."(SB 11.21.19 purp)

Once a devotee asked Shrila Prabhupada, “We have the perfect philosophy,
Krishna consciousness, and we have the perfect spiritual master, Your Divine
Grace. Everything about Krishna consciousness is perfect, yet we always seem
to have so many problems. Why?” Shrila Prabhupada replied, “Because the
brahmacaries and sannyasis associate too much with women.” (From Bhakti
Vikasa Swami’s book Brahmacarya in Krishna consciousness

"Unrestricted social mixing between men and women is a major distraction
from the spiritual path." (Narada-bhakti-sutra verse 43)

Dasanudaso'smi, Tridandi Bhikshu Bhaktiratna Sadhu.

(Kindly forgive me if I will not be able to respond immediately to email
philosophical queries related to this email or otherwise due to the heavy
load of book writing, translation, publication and preaching work at
present.)