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EDITORIAL August 8, 2000 VNN6125 Related VNN Stories Diska For Women BY VIDYA DASI EDITORIAL, Aug 8 (VNN) — Sri Sri Guru Gouranga Jayatah! Dear Respected Vaisnavas! Pranams to one and all. Some devotees are under the conception that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was the first acarya to give diksa to women. Some others are under the conception that His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad introduced this, but neither case is true. Women have always been given diksa. There is however a very sweet story in this regard. In the early days, before Srila Saraswati Thakur's mission had really started to take off, he had a small group of followers, one of which was the honorable Saroj Pishima, maternal aunt of Sri Vinodebihari (later to become His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktiprajnana Keshava Goswami Maharaja, the illustrious sannyaas guru of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja and the diksa guru of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja). One day, Pishima begged from Srila Saraswati Thakur the Divine Mantram. However, for reasons of his own, the Thakur had previously decided not to accept lady disciples. When he thus denied her request, the clever lady responded, "Oh?! The whole world will receive the mercy of Sri Guru and Gouranga and only I will be deprived of it?" At this the Thakur lovingly relented in his resolve and bestowed upon Saroj Pishima the Divine Mantram, thus initiating her. Well, particular traits often run in the same family, and so we see in the following story how the young Sri Vinodebihari (later Srila Bhaktiprajnana Keshava Maharaja), inherited the same transcendental cleverness as his Aunt: Previously, out of humility, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur did not give the Guru Mantra and Guru Gayatri (the 2nd and 3rd lines) to his disciples when bestowing diksa. When Sri Vinodebihari (Srila Bhaktiprajnana Keshava Maharaja) received diksa from him, he was disappointed not to get any Guru Mantras. Following in the transcendentally clever footsteps of his Aunt, he approached Srila Saraswati Thakur and said, "Oh Gurudeva! You have given me mantras by which I can worship Sri Goura and Radha and Krishna, but how can I worship them without first worshipping Sri Guru? Is it necessary to obtain the Guru Mantra and instructions on guru-seva from some other guru?" .... "Hearing this, Srila Saraswati Thakur began to smile, and gave Vinodebihari the Guru Mantra very affectionately. After this, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur started to give the Guru Mantra to others as well." (reference below). So in this way today devotees all over the world can thank Srila Bhaktiprajnana Keshava Maharaja for our daily chanting of the Guru Mantra and Guru Gayatri! Vaisnava Kripa Ki Jai! submitted by Vidya dasi (above second quote from the biography, "Acarya Kesari Sri Srimad Bhaktiprajnana Keshava Goswami Maharaja written by Tridandi Swami Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja) Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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