[Jagannath] LACK OF TRUST

February 20, 2000

Dear Sanjayji,

Jaya Jagannatha!.

> There are different Niti (literally Niti means codes of conduct or> behaviour) Shastra and the best Niti has been outlined in the Rig Veda> samhita that is followed by the Pure ones. This has also been codified by> Katyayen (you can call this Brihaspati Niti). Chanakya Niti is commonly> called Kutil Niti or the "Shrewd/Smart Man's behaviour" and is applicable> only to "Raj Niti" or Politics. Chanakya is not wrong in that he advises the> king to beware of women and politicians and in here he refers to the women> coming into politics, directly or indirectly as being untrustworthy.

When Pearl wrote her reply the tone of her reply was: "Why woman are mentioned in this context? We are not different than men." Vedic culture never encouraged equality of sexes and you also know that, that's why man and woman in Vedic society have certain role and they would stick to it, of course they were some exceptions. When woman are trying to become like man and man are trying to become like a woman it is called Kali Yuga. In Srimad Bhagavatam that was written down more than 5000 years ago such predictions were given.

When referring to this verse from Chanakya Niti Shastra Srila Prabhupada never referred to it in a context that only for a king or politician it is not advisable to trust the woman. From what I have red in his books he always referred to that verse that for a common man it is not advisable to trust the woman.

> However, in this place, we use Katyayen Niti and Women are to be> respected and educated women should be married and given a respectable place> and their offspring will also be learned and this will only result in the> spreading of knowledge (reference is to Saraswati). Thus, the Rig veda> encouraged the education of women.

That is fine, but woman were never given independence because they cannot be trusted. I never said that they should not be educated, but they are always under a protection either of father, husband or their children (mainly son(s)). Independence for woman means varna sankara or unwanted progeny. In Bhagavad Gita one of Arjuna's first arguments to Krishna that he should not fight was this reason. Arjuna said if the chapter 1, verse 40: "When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Krsna, the women of the family become corrupt, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vrsni, comes unwanted progeny"

In the purport to same verse Srila Prabhupada writes:"...As children are very prone to be misled, women are similarly very prone to degradation. Therefore, both children and women require protection by the elder members of the family. By being engaged in various religious practices, women will not be misled into adultery. According to Chanakya Pandita, women are generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy. ."

At the end of same purport Srila Prabhupada also writes:" ...Irresponsible man also provoke adultery in society , and thus unwanted children flood the human race at the risk of war and pestilence." The idea is that both man and woman can be wrong as Srila Prabhupada writes, but woman are much more prone to it and if you read the whole purport (http://www.asitis.com/1/40.html) you'll understand it (you can read, search and much more whole Bhagavad Gita on www.asitis.com) .

The proof of the above statement about unwanted progeny is that so many abortions are happening all around the world and that is literally because of unwanted progeny, because some woman don't want their progeny. The society has become so degraded that even mothers are killing their children before they are even born and that is because they don't want them.

> India fell into dark ages only because it stopped practising the Niti> given in the Veda and followed Chanakya Niti. I clarify that the latter is> only for politics.

Again I must disagree here. Chanakya Niti shastra basically consists moral rules to help people improve their lives. Chanakya drew his wisdom from the niti-sastra, the common wisdom recorded in books like Hitopadesha and Panca-tantra. How following moral and other instructions from Chanakya Niti Shastra can degrade someone?

India fell into dark ages because of smarta brahmanas that wanted to keep people in darkness so that they could manipulated them, later because of Mogul invasion and in recent history because of British rule. If everyone was following Chanakya Niti my opinion is that India would flourish.

Hare Krishna,

Dina-natha Das.