Page 45 - Defending Prabhupada Words - By Harivlas Das

had different residential quarters. The internal quarters of
a residential house were for the woman, and the external
quarters were for the man. Acceptance of service rendered
by a woman may appear very pleasing, but one should be
very cautious in accepting such service because it is clearly
said that woman is the gateway to death, or forgetfulness
of one’s self. She blocks the path of spiritual realization.”
(This purport was written by Srila Prabhupada sometime
in 1971 or earlier. His reference of “fifty years ago” means
sometime around 1920 or earlier)

Kapiladeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, states
that Vedic scripture declares, “an attractice woman…..to be
the gateway to hell for the advancing devotee.” When Srila
Prabhupada repeats Kapiladeva’s words is he misogynous,
expressing gender bias, or a bigoted fundamentalist? Can a
pure devotee be wrong when he simply repeats the shastric
evidence correctly in context? Brahma das does not
directly claim that Srila Prabhupada is wrong. He claims
that such statements are not conclusive or essential to the
development of Krishna consciousness. He writes, “The
guru’s statements are not always conclusive when they
refer to material issues. This is Bhaktivinoda’s point about
relative and absolute.” Brahma das does not understand
the difference between correctly stating Vedic shastric
evidence in context and making statements based on one’s
own speculation. Brahma das is speculating.

44

09-02-2023 17:30:17
e.indd 44
Defending Prabhupada Words insid
Defending Prabhupada Words inside.indd 44 09-02-2023 17:30:17