http:\/\/gbc.iskcon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Pati-guru_April_2019_SAC2.pdf<\/a> <\/p>\n——<\/p>\n
Conclusion and Recommendation<\/h1>\n
1) A guru should not marry a disciple: <\/strong>As marrying a disciple is improper by both \u015b\u0101stric example and ordinary moral codes, it is right and proper for ISKCON law to prohibit such relationships or have sanctions against those who engage in them.<\/p>\n2) The normal and preferred situation is for a woman to take d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101 from a guru who is not her husband: <\/strong>\u015a\u0101stra generally identifies the husband as his wife’s guru in a worldly, not transcendent, sense, and husbands giving d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101 to their wives is not the general rule in our tradition. Therefore, even if a married man is qualified to act as a d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru within ISKCON, and that person’s wife is qualified to take d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101 within ISKCON, neither ISKCON law nor social convention should encourage him to be the d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru for his wife. ISKCON leaders and members should encourage women to take d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101 from someone other than their husbands.<\/p>\n3) Under very rare circumstances, it is permissible for a husband to be the d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru for his wife: <\/strong>\u015a\u0101stra, tradition, and \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da identify a husband as his wife’s natural guru and sometimes include the function of p\u0101ram\u0101rthika, or spiritual guru (which includes d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101 and \u015bik\u1e63\u0101-guru) in that relationship. Therefore, if a married man is qualified to act as a d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru within ISKCON, and that person’s wife is qualified to take d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101 within ISKCON, then there should be no direct or indirect legislative action, condition, nor social norm to restrict the husband from giving d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101 to his wife provided they both desire to enter into that relationship of their own volition and after careful consultation with senior devotees. It is reasonable under current ISKCON law fo<\/a>r the institution to add an additional layer of oversight before such an initiation occurs.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n4) Adding a d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru-disciple relationship to an existing husband-wife relationship is likely to be challenging for both aspects of the relationship: <\/strong>Mixing of the relationship between d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru or formal \u015bik\u1e63\u0101-guru and disciple with the relationship between husband and wife has a number of potential or even probable conflicts, along with some possible benefits. Therefore, those who already guide and instruct prospective disciples should include the discussion of challenges (for example, as outlined in this paper) for any woman who wishes to have her husband as d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru. Any couple where the husband and wife (who are otherwise qualified to be d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru and disciple, respectively) are firmly fixed on adding being a d\u012bk\u1e63\u0101-guru and disciple to their relationship should receive support from the ISKCON community as would be given in any guru-disciple relationship.<\/p>\n5) Education on this topic may be helpful in ISKCON: <\/strong>ISKCON leaders may consider when and where education on these topics would aid the society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/hRKIG8e.jpg\")
By the GBC<\/strong><\/p>\n A primary reason this issue was brought before the SAC was to consider whether a husband initiating his wife is like a guru marrying his disciple. There are major differences in the two scenarios. Traditionally, a guru is sometimes considered to be like a parent, and for a guru to marry a disciple is like a parent marrying his or her own offspring \u2013 something strongly disapproved in both general society and \u015b\u0101stra<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74859"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74866,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74859\/revisions\/74866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n[Statement]\n(Proposed and Sponsored by the SAC) <\/p>\n