Comments Posted By Govindacarandasi BTS

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A sober reply to Mother Govinda Dasi ACBSP

Akruranātha Prabhu’s latest argument: “With respect to 4.12.32, Srila Prabhupada writes that Suniti could not initiate Dhruva because she was a woman, and specifically his mother. This raises the question, “What if she was not his mother?”

The problem with using this statement from the Purport of 4.12.32 as evidence that women can never give diksa is that it is not directly answering the question of whether women can give diksa. It refers indirectly to the issue, in passing, in the course of explaining why Suniti did not become diksa guru of Dhruva (although she was his siksa guru).

Our answer: Womanhood of Sunīti is the first and general reason given by SP as to why she is not able to initiate her son i.e. Dhruva. Motherhood of Sunīti is, however a more specific reason given. In this case, the general and specific reasons harmoniously complement each other and do not possess mutual contradiction; hence, womanhood of Sunīti was also considered to be an obstacle for her being dīksā-guru of Dhruva. When SP says that because she was a woman, it means that womanhood is also an obstacle in giving initiation; however, her being his mother adds on to the previous disqualification. They don’t contradict each other. Neither is former overriden by the later. We don’t get any sense of such while reading SP’s original statements. This puts to rest all of Akruranātha Prabhu’s arguments.

Regarding Akruranātha Prabhu’s other argument as to the availability of numerous instructions on the allowance of women gurus given by SP, our answer is that in those pro-women guruship instructions, SP never specifically clarifies as to whether those women can be dīksā-gurus or not, since in our sampradāya, there are four categories of gurus according to Jīva Gosvāmī’s Bhakti Sandarbha. They are: 1) Vartma-pradarśaka-guru, 2) Dīkṣā-guru, 3) Sikṣā-guru, and 4) Bhajana or Śravaṇa-Guru. SP very clearly and specifically states that Suniti’s womanhood and motherhood was not an obstacle in her becoming Dhruva’s śikṣā-guru and vartma-pradarśaka-guru. This clarification by SP puts to rest all inconsistencies appearing in pro-woman-guruship and anti-woman-guruship statements found in SP’s overall teachings of various hierarchical categories. So, whenever and wherever SP indicates a possibility for a woman guru, he means only the roles of śikṣa and vartma-pradarśaka-gurus. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Comment Posted By Govindacarandasi BTS On 07.12.2012 @ 08:32

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