radhikara prema-guru, ami-sisya nata
sada ãmã nand nrtye nacaya udbhata
(Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 4.124)
Srimati Radharani is the guru of Krishna. Krishna himself states, “Radharani is my guru!” So those who say Vaishnavis cannot be gurus are not Krishna conscious. They have no realization!
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
Those who feel a rule must be passed against Vaishnavi gurus lack sama darsinah, they must therefore be acting only out of material ego (i.e. the desire to lord it over others as is seen with men in Middle Eastern countries). It would be enough to say that in a free association of devotees (supposedly ISKCON), those who wish to follow a Vaishnavi guru can follow, and those who don’t wish to follow are free to do what they want. No ruling is required. But Anti-VDG proponents are getting some sense gratification from this ahankara of being superior. It is a form of pratishta. Otherwise, they would just be happily chanting, doing seva, and bhajan and not be bothered with what other people (male or female) are doing. They want to introduce casteism by birth, not by guna (qualities and behaviour), which is a principle tenet of Mahaprabhu’s teaching, thus their idea is flawed. How else could Haridas Thakur (aka Mleccha Haridas) be given the glorious title of Nam Acharya!? The guru of us all!
So this is politics, not bhakti. Someone who has attained tattva darshan will not be concerned with such things (namely, the gender of who is imparting Krishna consciousness to others).
Every day in every ISKCON temple, by Srila Prabhupada’s order, the following verse is sung:
namo namah tulasi krishna-preyasi namo namah
radha-krishna-seva pabo ei abilashi
We are praying every day for Vrinda Devi to grant us divine service, but she cannot be our guru? Yamuna Devi cannot be our guru? The sakhis cannot be our guru? So this anti-VDG movement is a form of material consciousness, it cannot be divine consciousness.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prayed as follows:
nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ
Our highest aspiration is to serve the gopis!! This is the very purpose of ISKCON! So how can a female not be guru?!! And how can those who are leading the anti-VDG movement be said to have even a drop of spiritual realization?
In any case, the acharya is self-effulgent and cannot be hemmed in by any institution. Those who have been bestowed the responsibility by Guru and Gauranga of sharing transcendental knowledge will not be daunted by GBCs, ISKCONs, or any other such institutions.
Whoever is sincere will start their own institution, going door to door if necessary, and not be bothered.
radhikara prema-guru, ami-sisya nata
sada ãmã nand nrtye nacaya udbhata
(Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 4.124)
Srimati Radharani is the guru of Krishna. Krishna himself states, “Radharani is my guru!” So those who say Vaishnavis cannot be gurus are not Krishna conscious. They have no realization!
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
Those who feel a rule must be passed against Vaishnavi gurus lack sama darsinah, they must therefore be acting only out of material ego (i.e. the desire to lord it over others as is seen with men in Middle Eastern countries). It would be enough to say that in a free association of devotees (supposedly ISKCON), those who wish to follow a Vaishnavi guru can follow, and those who don’t wish to follow are free to do what they want. No ruling is required. But Anti-VDG proponents are getting some sense gratification from this ahankara of being superior. It is a form of pratishta. Otherwise, they would just be happily chanting, doing seva, and bhajan and not be bothered with what other people (male or female) are doing. They want to introduce casteism by birth, not by guna (qualities and behaviour), which is a principle tenet of Mahaprabhu’s teaching, thus their idea is flawed. How else could Haridas Thakur (aka Mleccha Haridas) be given the glorious title of Nam Acharya!? The guru of us all!
So this is politics, not bhakti. Someone who has attained tattva darshan will not be concerned with such things (namely, the gender of who is imparting Krishna consciousness to others).
Every day in every ISKCON temple, by Srila Prabhupada’s order, the following verse is sung:
namo namah tulasi krishna-preyasi namo namah
radha-krishna-seva pabo ei abilashi
We are praying every day for Vrinda Devi to grant us divine service, but she cannot be our guru? Yamuna Devi cannot be our guru? The sakhis cannot be our guru? So this anti-VDG movement is a form of material consciousness, it cannot be divine consciousness.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prayed as follows:
nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ
Our highest aspiration is to serve the gopis!! This is the very purpose of ISKCON! So how can a female not be guru?!! And how can those who are leading the anti-VDG movement be said to have even a drop of spiritual realization?
In any case, the acharya is self-effulgent and cannot be hemmed in by any institution. Those who have been bestowed the responsibility by Guru and Gauranga of sharing transcendental knowledge will not be daunted by GBCs, ISKCONs, or any other such institutions.
Whoever is sincere will start their own institution, going door to door if necessary, and not be bothered.
Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Jayate!!