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About Ladies from Srila Prabhupada

Dear Sisters and Mothers,

Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Let's share here the notes of Srila Prabhupada  concerning Ladies in ISKCON from His audio lectures, books, letters, videos.

They may be about the health of Ladies, Vaishnava etiquette, Great Vaishnavis in the past, Ladies at the house....

Whenever You find and listen such like lectures or find something while reading His books please share here also so that other Matajis also could get benefit!

The style of writing:

--the quot it self and
--the source: for example, BG, 10.39


Thank You very much!

Your humble servant,

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Replies

  • Hare Krishna, mataji!

    I agree that husband and wife should be together always. But, nowadays, what if husband works outside and leaves his wife at his place or her place? Thats not encouraged, right? What to speak of with kids?

    what should wife do in such circumstances?

    Your servant

  • Volunteer

    Kashyapa Muni's instructions to his wife Diti:

     

    Kasyapa Muni said: My dear wife, to follow this vow, do not be violent or cause harm to anyone. Do not curse anyone, and do not speak lies. Do not cut your nails and hair, and do not touch impure things like skulls and bones.

    -----------------------------------------

    Kasyapa Muni continued: My dear gentle wife, never enter the water while bathing, never be angry, and do not even speak or associate with wicked people. Never wear clothes that have not been properly washed, and do not put on a garland that has already been worn. 

    --------------------------------------------

    Never eat leftover food, never eat prasada offered to the goddess Kali [Durga], and do not eat anything contaminated by flesh or fish. Do not eat anything brought or touched by a sudra nor anything seen by a woman in her menstrual period. Do not drink water by joining your palms. 

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    After eating, you should not go out to the street without having washed your mouth, hands and feet. You should not go out in the evening or with your hair loose, nor should you go out unless you are properly decorated with ornaments. You should not leave the house unless you are very grave and are sufficiently covered. 

    PURPORT
    Kasyapa Muni advised his wife not to go out onto the street unless she was well decorated and well dressed. He did not encourage the miniskirts that have now become fashionable. In Oriental civilization, when a woman goes out onto the street, she must be fully covered so that no man will recognize who she is. All these methods are to be accepted for
    purification. If one takes to Krsna consciousness, one is fully purified, and thus one remains always transcendental to the contamination of the material world. 

    ---------------------------------------------------

     You should not lie down without having washed both of your feet or without being purified, nor with wet feet or with your head pointed west or north. You should not lie naked, or with other women, or during the sunrise or sunset.

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    Putting on washed clothing, being always pure and being adorned with turmeric, sandalwood pulp and other auspicious items, before breakfast one should worship the cows, the brahmanas, the goddess of fortune and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 

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    • Hare krishna mataji...Please explain this..."never enter the water while bathing"

    • Volunteer

      for example there is water in the pot from which we get water and shower into our body. But if we put our hand into that water water is considered as contaminated. 

      What to speak of entering into it with whole body.

      We can take bath entering into water of the rivers but not in the water which is in a pot. 

      Your servant,

  • Volunteer

    TEXT 42
    TEXT
    na hi kascit priyah strinam
    anjasa svasisatmanam
    patim putram bhrataram va
    ghnanty arthe ghatayanti ca

    TRANSLATION
    To satisfy their own interests, women deal with men as if the men were most dear to them, but no one is actually dear to them. Women are supposed to be very saintly, but for their own interests they can kill even their husbands, sons or brothers, or cause them to be killed by others.
    PURPORT
    A woman's nature has been particularly well studied by Kasyapa Muni. Women are self-interested by nature, and therefore they should be protected by all means so that their natural inclination to be too selfinterested
    will not be manifested. Women need to be protected by men. A woman should be cared for by her father in her childhood, by her husband in her youth and by her grown sons in her old age. This is the injunction
    of Manu, who says that a woman should not be given independence at any stage. Women must be cared for so that they will not be free to manifest their natural tendency for gross selfishness. There have been many cases,
    even in the present day, in which women have killed their husbands to take advantage of their insurance policies. This is not a criticism of women but a practical study of their nature. Such natural instincts of a woman or a man are manifested only in the bodily conception of life. When either a man or a woman is advanced in spiritual consciousness, the bodily conception of life practically vanishes. We should see all women as spiritual units (aham brahmasmi), whose only duty is to satisfy Krsna. Then the influences of the different modes of material nature, which
    result from one's possessing a material body, will not act. The Krsna consciousness movement is so beneficial that it can very easily counteract the contamination of material nature, which results from one's possessing a material body. Bhagavad-gita therefore teaches, in the very beginning, that whether one is a man or a woman, one must
    know that he or she is not the body but a spiritual soul. Everyone should be interested in the activities of the spirit soul, not the body. As long as one is activated by the bodily conception of life, there is always the
    danger of being misled, whether one is a man or a woman. The soul is sometimes described as purusa because whether one is dressed as a man or a woman, one is inclined to enjoy this material world. One who has this
    spirit of enjoyment is described as purusa. Whether one is a man or a woman, he is not interested in serving others; everyone is interested in satisfying his or her own senses. Krsna consciousness, however, provides
    first-class training for a man or a woman. A man should be trained to be a first-class devotee of Lord Krsna, and a woman should be trained to be a very chaste follower of her husband. That will make the lives of both
    of them happy. 

  • Volunteer

    The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (9.23):
    ye 'py anya-devata-bhakta
    yajante sraddhayanvitah
    te 'pi mam eva kaunteya
    yajanty avidhi-purvakam
    "Whatever a man may sacrifice to other gods, O son of Kunti, is really meant for Me alone, but it is offered without true understanding." The demigods are various assistants who act like the hands and legs of the
     Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who is not in direct touch with the Supreme Lord and cannot conceive of the exalted position of the Lord is sometimes advised to worship the demigods as various parts of the Lord.
     If women, who are usually very much attached to their husbands, worship their husbands as representatives of Vasudeva, the women benefit, just as Ajamila benefited by calling for Narayana, his son. Ajamila was concerned with his son, but because of his attachment to the name of Narayana, he attained salvation simply by chanting that name. In India a husband is still called pati-guru, the husband spiritual master. If husband and wife are attached to one another for advancement in Krsna consciousness, their relationship of cooperation is very effective for such advancement.

    Although the names of Indra and Agni are sometimes uttered in the Vedic mantras (indraya svaha, agnaye svaha), the Vedic sacrifices are actually performed for the satisfaction of Lord Visnu. As long as one is very much attached to material sense gratification, the worship of the demigods or the worship of one's husband is recommended. 

  • maral mathaji....please accept my humble obeisences...this is a very nice idea...i think it gives well knowledge to every women....thanks for blessing me....

    hare krishna....

  • Volunteer
    Diti replied: My dear brahmana, I must accept your advice and follow the vow. Now let me understand what I have to do, what is forbidden and what will not break the vow. Please clearly state all this to me.
    PURPORT
    As stated above, a woman is generally inclined to serve her own purposes. Kasyapa Muni proposed to train Diti to fulfill her desires within one year, and since she was eager to kill Indra, she immediately agreed, saying, "Please let me know what the vow is and how I have to follow it. I promise that I shall do the needful and not break the vow." This is another side of a woman's psychology. Even though a woman is very fond of fulfilling her own plans, when someone instructs her, especially her husband, she innocently follows, and thus she can be trained for better purposes. By nature a woman wants to be a follower of a man; therefore if the man is good the woman can be trained for a good purpose.



    Shrimad Bhagavatam, Canto 6, Ch 18, txt 46
  • Volunteer

    For example:

    The wife of King Puraïjana was lying on the ground because she was neglected by her husband. Actually the woman must always be protected by her husband. We always speak of the goddess of fortune as being placed on the chest of Narayana. In other words, the wife must remain embraced by her husband. Thus she becomes beloved and well protected. Just as one saves his money and places it under his own personal protection, one should similarly protect his wife by his own personal supervision. Just as intelligence is always within the heart, so a beloved chaste wife should always have her place on the chest of a good husband. This is the proper relationship between husband and wife. A wife is therefore called ardhangani, or half of the body. One cannot remain with only one leg, one hand or only one side of the body. He must have two sides. Similarly, according to nature's way, husband and wife should live together.

    Srimad Bhagavatam 4.26.17 Purport  

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