Page 42 - Defending Prabhupada Words - By Harivlas Das
P. 42
Srila Prabhupada made “some concession” after he
observed western society. He permitted men and women
to serve together in temples as celibates and also as
married couples living inside or outside the temple. He
permitted women to engage in brahminical functions,
cooking for and serving the Deities and giving classes, etc.
These “concessions” were not a departure from shastric
teaching about women and their functions in Krishna
consciousness. Srila Prabhupada did not alter bona fide
Vedic shastric statements about men and women. He
made “some concessions” about how men and women
could serve Lord Krishna together. Brahma das and others
are claiming that Srila Prabhupada would have made
concessions by adjusting his comments about women in
his books and conversations (or that his disciples who edit
his books should). Such a claim is an illicit extrapolation
because it would require changing the philosophy of
Krishna consciousness which explains more profoundly
than any other tradition the reality of entrapment in the
material world and how to get out of it.
To understand how much Brahma das and others are
attempting to misrepresent Srila Prabhupada’s words I
will continue the scrutiny of Kapiladeva’s teaching to his
mother Devahuti.
“One who aspires to reach the culmination of yoga and
has realized his self by rendering service unto Me should
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