Page 78 - Defending Prabhupada Words - By Harivlas Das

After hearing my explanation, the young lady devotee
changed her opinion and was much more determined to
hear and understand Srila Prabhupada’s purports. Rather
than her statements putting a doubt in my mind, my
statements based on Srila Prabhupada’s words convinced
her to read more carefully the words of a pure devotee.

She was still uncomfortable with Srila Prabhupada’s quote
of Canakya Pandit, “Women and children are unintelligent
and not trustworthy.” She insisted that it was unnecessary
for Srila Prabhupada to put that quote in the purport
when the fault was due to male leaders who were blinded
by greed and irresponsible men. I explained that Canakya
Pandit was a great moralist and brahmana who was the
personal advisor to the Indian King Chandragupta. By
listening to Canakya Pandit’s advise, Chandragupta was
able to defeat Alexander the Great’s invasion of India.
Canakya wrote a famous collection of pithy aphorisms
entitled “Canakya Niti Shastras.”

His aphorisms were concerned mainly with understanding
the nature of material life and how to avoid the many pitfalls
of material existence by understanding traditional wisdom
about this world. Canakya was not a pure devotee. Yet, he
understood the material world and its many entrapments.
His aphorism is concerned with materialistic women and
young children who lack experience. I explained that

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