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Comments Posted By Mohana Mohini dd

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On the Subject of Female Diksha Gurus

My dear Mother Phalini Mataji,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to you.

I just wanted to thank you for writing this wonderful text full of deep realizations and coming straight from the heart, you must be directly inspired by paramatma.

While the men who are commenting on this text argue about points of sastra and logic, the women in my ladies sangha all agreed with what you wrote because of our direct experience of what it means to have a female form. Many of us have experience of what happens when we go against our nature (dharma) and try to be like men. We lose our femininity that is so pleasing to Lord Krsna, and we don’t do a good a job of being a man either. So it is a lose-lose situation.

May Srimati Radharani and Her beloved Lord Krsna bless you with many more years so that you will inspire us with more of your writings and hopefully personal association.

Your humble servant
MMdd

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 17.12.2012 @ 14:27

My dear Mother Phalini Mataji,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to you.

I just wanted to thank you for writing this wonderful text full of deep realizations and coming straight from the heart, you must be directly inspired by paramatma.

While the men who are commenting on this text argue about points of sastra and logic, the women in my ladies sangha all agreed with what you wrote because of our direct experience of what it means to have a female form. Many of us have experience of what happens when we go against our nature (dharma) and try to be like men. We lose our femininity that is so pleasing to Lord Krsna, and we don’t do a good a job of being a man either. So it is a lose-lose situation.

May Srimati Radharani and Her beloved Lord Krsna bless you with many more years so that you will inspire us with more of your writings and hopefully personal association.

Your humble servant
Mohana Mohini devi dasi

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 11.12.2012 @ 21:20

The Woman as Guru: Words of Silence

Re #11

Dear Sita Rama Prabhu,

Hare Krsna. I am too obtuse and not understanding what you are trying to get at. Could please explain more clearly.

MMdd

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 03.12.2012 @ 19:19

Abhaya Mudra mataji wrote:

Dhruva Maharaja lived in Satya Yuga or the Golden Age. The difference between Satya Yuga and Kali Yuga is like the summer and winter seasons. During Satya Yuga all good qualities of human beings were inevitably present whereas in Kali Yuga hardly any good qualities decorate humankind. In Satya Yuga the people practically equaled paramahamsas while now in the Iron Age practically everyone has become a mleccha.

I fail to see your logic here. Most of the Bhagavatam contains episodes from yugas other than Kali so does that mean that we should jettison 3/4 of the Bhagavatam? Where does any acarya say that because it took place in Satya yuga it should not be followed in Kali yuga. It looks to me that you are trying to warp the teachings to fit your own bias.

Another thing, in Satya yuga women were paramahamsa in comparison to kali yuga, so if they could not be diksha guru then, how then in a much more degraded kali yuga they can now become diksha guru when they have degraded. This makes absolutely no sense at all. According to you the more degraded the better suited a person is to taking up higher positions.

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 02.12.2012 @ 16:18

Female Diksha Gurus - "Yes. But, Not So Many." Sp

In #1 Kesava Krsna wrote:

“I think it is incorrect to say that only the “extreme” factions oppose lady guruship. That is a generalisation. I have written in defence of women devotees against ‘conservative’ views, but I need to be convinced that there is a compelling case for lady guruship. I do not consider myself to be a ‘conservative’ the way it is depicted in this article.

Whenever Srila Prabhupada cited historical examples, we usually see only one unique and outstanding name mentioned - that of Sri Jahnava Mata. This is rare indeed.

The problem now is weighing Her example up in the modern era. Just as we can cite Her rarity, we can also cite the relative frequency of male gurus. The pressing issue here is why the urge to push for a position of guruship, whether pursued by males or females? Is there competitiveness in wanting to emulate what males already do?

Are there any records of Sri Jahnava Mata being granted guruship because she petitioned for it? That question alone would be an insult if applied to Her. Her greatness and all allied divine qualities earned Her that position, though She would not have sought it Herself. She was recognised as ‘self-effulgent.’ Hers is a “hard act to follow” so to speak. She was an exception, not the rule.

Thank you very much for your wise words. Indeed it is not an extremist position but a sane position held by many in ISKCON. If male gurus fell down in the past then it just shows that there is a need to be more selective as to which man fill that post. Actually I think that it was because they took sannyasa in an era in ISKCON when sannyasa candidates weren’t vetted like they are today. Very few if any sannyasis who were carefully vetted have fallen down. So as the old generation of sannyasis dies off you we will have much fewer fall downs and then there will be nothing to point fingers at.

Women can also make major blunders just like the 1st woman head of the 25 million strong German Lutheran Church, Bishop Margot Kaessmann, was arrested after she ran a red light while intoxicated and 3X over the legal limit. You can read about it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8530736.stm

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 02.12.2012 @ 17:06

Ajamila said:

“In your part 1 reply you imply that no women in ISKCON are up to the standard of Sri Jahnava Mata. But who is qualified to judge that? What about Yamuna Devi Dasi? Srila Prabhupada said speficially that all his sons and daughters are not ordinary but you imply his daughters are ordinary. That’s unfair.

Jahnava mata was an incarnation of Anangamanjari, the younger sister of Srimati Radharani, she was in the category of Laxsmi tattva and married to a purusha Who was in category of Visnutattva–she could manifest four arms. Are you saying that Yamuna Mataji was in Laxsmitattva and could manifest four arms? Are you seriously saying that anyone male or female in ISKCON is on this level? Let us be serious here.

Please state categorically if you think that Yamuna dd was Laxsmitattva.

Aside from that Yamuna dd is not one of the persons who is ambitiously campaigning to be a diksha guru. So why bring her up at all?

You say “who is qualified to judge that?” only someone who can tell if she has four arms. So better to be on the safe side and not do something we will regret later when we become sober. If you can’t tell what the qualification is of a person then you should not be promoting something that requires that the lady actually be an exception. As someone else wrote: “Exceptions to the rule must be exceptional.” And those exceptions should be obvious to everyone. It seems to me and a lot of others here that what is happening is that unexceptional ladies are being pushed forward and equated by you as equivalent to mother Jahnava–Laxsmi-tattva. And if someone complains that they are not exceptional according to strict definition you then retort “But are you qualified to judge?” There is something decidedly wrong with this way of doing things.

This makes for a very fearful situation in ISKCON.

MMdd

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 02.12.2012 @ 16:51

Respecting Our Women In Iskcon

I am a little late to this party, I avoided reading the article because as other commentators mentioned it was just another futile walk down the path of the “culture wars” which makes maya smile while we grab the iron like stalks of grass like the Yadus did and club each other to death with offenses.

On reading the comments I found #28 by Mother Narada Priya to be the most stinging because it woke me up with its painful and brutal honesty. Note that I didn’t call it offensive. It was just the bald face truth.

BBD texts were entertaining excursions into fantasy. By studying a few pictures he sets out to disprove all of the sastra. We note that none of the pictures he linked to showed any higher class Vedic families as none of the men are wearing brahmana threads. His conclusions based on how labourers and low class people lived and projecting that onto the whole of society would be like making conclusions about the dress codes of Western society based on pictures of the sartorial tastes of the Hell’s Angels http://tinyurl.com/b64cay7 or Goths http://tinyurl.com/a8uoy28

When Draupadi was first introduced to Narada Muni she is said to have been very modestly dressed and wearing a veil across her face. In the Iliad it is said that when Andromache, wife of Hector, heard that her husband had been killed she fainted and the veil fell off her face. Respectable Roman women covered their heads. Ancient Chinese women also wore very modest clothes

http://traditions.cultural-china.com/en/15T1735T3390.html

This was well before the rise of Islam. Cultured Japanese ladies were also modestly dressed http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/omori/court/court.html

Returning to Vedic culture we rely not on BBD faulty vision but on the revalations of the sastras and our acaryas. Rupa and Sanatana gosvami personaly saw how Radha and Krsna and their associates dressed. So did Srila Prabhupada and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati thakura. I have faith in their descriptions of how the denizens of the spiritual world dressed. As well as followers of Vedic culture. When BSST visited South India he pointed out to his disciples that the way the men and women of the higher classes dressed was the traditional Vedic style. Thus BST’s opinion is exactly opposite to that of BBD. So who do I choose to put my faith in BSST a self realized soul who has direct access to Lord Krsna, or to BBD who is a conditioned soul?

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 09.01.2013 @ 04:35

OPEN LETTER TO Bhakti Vikasa Swami

I also took the time to listen very closely to BVKS’s talk and I agree with what Bhakta Dasa wrote in comment #28
http://www.dandavats.com/?p=9969#comment-15065

We need to distinguish between actual Bhakti and sentimentality.

SENTIMENTALITY IS NOT BHAKTI:

“So Bhagavata begins with this word of Vedanta-sutra, janmady asya yatah anvayad itaratas ca arthesu abhijnah svarat. So it is the, in the beginning, Srimad-Bhagavatam is the explanation of the Vedanta-sutra. Srila Jiva Gosvami has recommended, therefore, one should learn Bhagavatam from a person who knows Vedanta-sutra. Sruti-grhitaya, bhaktya sruti-grhitaya. Bhakti should be generated, sruti-grhitaya, by studying Vedanta-sutra. Bhakti is not sentiment. Bhakti is the transcendental science.” Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.1 - Mayapura, June 16, 1973

“Seva mean there is a sevaka and there is a master, sevya, one who is worshiped and one who serves. Then the process is called bhakti. Here it is also said, bhaktya. What kind of bhakti? Bhaktya sruta-grhitaya. Sruta, by hearing sruti, or Vedas. Completely on the basis of Vedic knowledge, that bhakti, not sentimental. Sentimental bhakti is also there, because the acceptance of Krsna is there. Therefore there is some value. But real bhakti, Sri Jiva Gosvami has commented that bhakti based on understanding of Vedanta-sutra is perfect, on the basis of jnana, knowledge, and vairagya. That is… And Krsna has also said, brahma-sutra-padais caiva hetumadbhir viniscitaih [Bg. 13.5]. Brahma-sutra means Vedanta-sutra.” Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.12 - Delhi, November 18, 1973

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 21.10.2011 @ 07:02

Live From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir! HG Urmila Mataji

In 331 Urmila Mataji wrote:

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu broadcast the purpose of Srimad-Bhagavatam. He sometimes spoke for the benefit of His devotees and sometimes empowered one of His devotees to speak while He listened.

PURPORT: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, as an ideal teacher, or acarya, explained Srimad-Bhagavatam very elaborately Himself. He sometimes also empowered His devotees to speak while He listened. This is the way an acarya should train his disciples. Not only should he describe the Bhagavata cult personally, but he should also train his disciples to speak on this sublime subject.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila 25.267

Dear Mataji,

Hari Bol.

Could you explain the meaning of what you are trying to say in this text. It really seems unrelated to the whole comment thread.

yhs
MMdd

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 15.07.2011 @ 07:13

Dear Kulapavana Prabhu,

Hare Krsna.

Maybe this conversation quote with Srila Pabhupada will help you to understand. In it Srila Prabhupada explains that when a woman becomes a wife of a brahmana she is designated as a brahmani but she is not actually a brahmana. But because she is the wife of a brahmana only she is called a brahmani, it is only a social convention and sign of respect and indicates she is in the family of a brahmana.

Yhs
MMdd

“Prabhupada: In, actually, in Bengal, Bengal has lost its original culture. In other provinces the brahmana class, they are keeping very strictly the original culture. Even a brahmana would not accept foodstuff prepared by his wife, because woman is considered sudra. The woman, when she becomes the wife of a brahmana, then she is called brahmani, but she’s not offered brahminical culture. She remains as sudra. So therefore a strict brahmana does not accept foodstuff prepared by his wife. Still there are in U.P. The wife will arrange for cooking, and he’ll sit down and cook dal, capatis. Then he will eat, and whatever remains, that is there, that will be taken by her. But he will not take foodstuff cooked by his wife even.” Room Conversation–August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm)

Comment Posted By Mohana Mohini dd On 13.07.2011 @ 00:10