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EDITORIAL March 17, 2000 VNN5697 Comment on this story "ISHCON" Solves It Again... BY NISCALA DD EDITORIAL, Mar 17 (VNN) — Papaharini's article is a brilliant blending of truth and illusion, only possible, I would think, for someone thoroughly trained in the ritvik philosophy. This "philosophy" maintains that you take a sentence or even a word of Srila Prabhupada's and use it to disprove everything else he said on subjects, related or unrelated. How she leads us to conclude that our confusion over women's issues, all stems from our misinterpretation of the word "henceforward", is nothing short of amazing.
But there are other fallacial conclusions as well- that whether or not women are in positions of leadership is a factor in the development of varnasrama. This is neatly side-stepping the actual essence of varnasrama by attending to a detail that may or may not be relevant in these times. The essence of varnasrama is that it is a society guided by the intelligent class, who are independent of administration, who have the qualities of sattva-guna, who are thus able to make judgements independent of considerations such as profit and control, who thus avoid the accumulation of wealth, and whose only business is to study, teach, lecture, write, edit, research, discuss philosophy and worship the diety. We are so far off this that in our society, that we prefer to punish the independent thinkers for giving advice and critical feedback necessary for us staying on-track. Anyone who disagrees with the GBC is "against Prabhupada"; if critical feedback is given it is assumed its because they are "envious"; and if they have a different opinion even if it is backed up by sastra, it is described as "deviant philosophy". As a result we have a ksatriya-driven leadership who "control" what the brahmanas think (i.e. try to) by passing resolutions which ban those books which disagree with their practices or philosophy. They proclaim themselves instead to be the "brahminical heads", to gain God-sanctioned control over our thought processes, and to thus have God on their side, but their "might is right" attitude is symptomatic of the mode of passion, not goodness. They are involved in making profit, controlling money and people, administering justice, passing laws, initiating development, and so many other qualities of ksatriya leadership, but as they are self-proclaimed brahmanas, they therefore need no advice. A brahmana however being a broad-minded soul, does not ban books on philosophy, he welcomes the opportunity for discussion from "all angles of vision". He does not condemn critical feedback, he welcomes it: "he who criticizes me is my friend...", because he is only interested in the welfare of others, the highest of which is to "distinguish reality from illusion for the benefit of all". Such brahmanas form the head of the social body without which it is the "movement of the headless chicken". This is the essence and foundation of varnasrama- guidance by the brahmana class- it is not the essence whether the brahmana is man or woman. In varnasrama, the woman is automatically brahmana by the association of her brahmana husband. Why therefore, they cannot give advice? They may not have positions of leadership, but neither does the brahmana- It is by non-participation in daily administration that allows the brahmanas to cultivate wisdom and insight- and yet they control the rest of society -by advice. This is because in varnasrama, the ksatriyas actively seek their advice. They will go to the remote hermitage of a brahmana -who is poor in a social sense, but learned in the scriptures- to get good advice for leadership. We see this with ksatriyas- in the middle of a hunting expedition they would leave off, to get the good association of a nearby brahmana in his hermitage. They were then duty-bound to follow his advice. They were glorified in-as-much as they followed the brahmanas. If you examine scripture, you will see it is not gender-stressed it is qualification-stressed. Everything in Krsna Consciousness or varnasrama is - but we prefer to stress power-of-one-over-another. We prefer to stress control over another's lives. Women can be taken advice from- even from their brahmana husbands- if it is quality advice. When the wives of the brahmanas disobeyed their husbands to offer Krsna and Balarama food, the husbands admitted their fault and followed their good example. It is not cut-and-dry- if the woman is more Krsna conscious she can be followed. The question is when will we follow the intelligent class and stop condemning their advice as "envious" and their opinion as "dangerous" or "deviant"? Her other fallacious conclusion is that all this confusion hinges on how we interpret the word "henceforward" in a letter not written by Srila Prabhupada, but signed. Even if we assume ritvik philosophy is correct, this is bewildering. Its like saying, the reason you have a boil on your toe is because you are short-sighted, and thus recommend wearing glasses as a cure for the boil. Absolutely brilliant application of "rit-twit" thought in the service of clearing up confusion over varnasrama. Magically, everything rests on "henceforward", and in the light of this brilliant all-effulgent word, the words of the sastra, the previous acaryas, and even our beloved Srila Prabhupada all fade into oblivion. By its mystic influence, all issues are resolved. You should call your movement the "henceforward" movement, or ISHCON- or the International Society for Henceforward Consciousness. Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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