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EDITORIAL March 25, 1999 VNN3417 Lord Ramachandra's Example: Only One Wife BY BABHRU DAS EDITORIAL, Mar 25 (VNN) — Ameyatma prabhu's lengthy response to Prtha's complaints about polygamy seems to miss one important source: a verse and purport in the Ninth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Chapter 10, verse 54 says, Lord Ramacandra took a vow to accept only one wife and have no connection with any other women. He was a saintly king, and everything in His life was good, untinged by qualities like anger. He taught good behavior for everyone, especially for the householders, in terms of varnasrama-dharma. Thus He taught the general public by His personal activities. In his purport, Srila Prabhupada explains this further: Eka-patni-vrata, accepting only one wife, was the glorious example set by Lord Ramacandra. One should not accept more than one wife. In those days, of course, people did marry more than one wife. Even Lord Ramacandra's father accepted more wives than one. But Lord Ramacandra, as an ideal king, accepted only one wife, mother Sita. When Mother Sita was kidnapped by Ravana and the Raksasas, Lord Ramacandra, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, could have married hundreds and thousands of Sitas, but to teach us how to be faithful He was to His wife, He fought with Ravana and finally killed him. The Lord punished Ravana and rescued His wife to instruct men to have only one wife. Lord Ramacandra accepted only one wife and manifested sublime character, thus setting an example for householders. A householder should live according to the ideal of Lord Ramacandra, who showed how to be a perfect person. Srila Prabhupada makes abundantly clear in this purport his desire that we establish daivi-varnasrama-dharma by marrying only one wife and remaining faithful to her throughout our lives. Since Ameyatma invests much in dates, let's note that this volume was published in 1977. Ameyatma's research shows that, in the abstract, we should have little objection to the kind of polygamy practiced by men with qualifications similar to King Dasarath. We should also note, however, that even Dasarath's household was not perfectly peaceful. If men less qualified than he try to care for more than one wife, we can expect just the sorts of problems we have experienced over the years. In fact, our godbrothers' attempts at polygamy were really meant for increasing their sense gratification, regardless of their attempts to rationalize their behavior. I know of no such arrangements in which the wives were all equally satisfied with the results over the long run. In the conversation Ameyatma cites as Srila Prabhupada's last and final instruction on the matter, Srila Prabhupada says another wife would be allowed [i]f the woman allows husband. He imposed the same restriction on acceptance of the sannyasa ashram by his married disciples. This shows the wife's importance in the family and underscores Srila Prabhupada's assertion that both husband and wife should be faithful. In trying to introduce spiritual culture to the world, we need to be bold, as Srila Prabhupada showed by his own example. We must also be humble and honest enough to acknowledge the limits of our actual understanding of varanasrama's cultural manifestations, as well as the limits of our understanding of Srila Prabhupada's desires. Otherwise, we risk minimizing his significance and missing the richness of genuine spiritual culture. Babhru das Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9903/ET25-3417.html
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