Sacred Thread & Diksha Guru: The Ignored Rule — ISKCON India Bureau G.S. Responds to Hridayananda Maharaj
Watch the Full Video: Sacred Thread & Diksha Guru: Ignored Rule — ISKCON India Bureau G.S. Responds to Hridayananda Maharaj
Introduction
In this significant discourse, His Grace Basu Ghosh Das, currently serving as the General Secretary of the ISKCON India Governing Council (the Bureau) and Regional Secretary for Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, responds directly to recent videos by his senior godbrother, His Holiness Hridayananda Maharaj, on the contentious topic of women diksha gurus.
As a founding member of the ISKCON India Scholars Board, established in 2013 specifically to address the issue of women diksha gurus, Basu Ghosh Prabhu brings decades of institutional experience and scriptural study to this discussion.
Video Summary
The Core Issue: Sacred Thread and Diksha
Basu Ghosh Prabhu opens with a pointed anecdote about Srila Prabhupada’s sannyasa guru, Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Maharaj, who once asked his elder brother (who had abandoned his sannyasa dress to become a Babaji): “Where is the dress that Guru Maharaj gave you?” He draws a parallel to Hridayananda Maharaj’s own departure from wearing traditional Vaishnava dress, tilaka, and neck beads, asking him this same question.
Scriptural Evidence Presented
The speaker systematically presents multiple references from Srila Prabhupada’s teachings that establish the connection between the sacred thread (yagnopavita sanskara) and diksha:
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Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.17 Lecture (September 22, 1972, Los Angeles): Prabhupada states that women cannot be elevated to the platform of goodness and therefore “brāhminical symbolic representation is given to the man, not to the woman.”
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Sannyasa Initiation Lecture (March 16, 1976, Mayapur): “So guru is the post given to the sannyasis, to the brahmaṇas. Without becoming a brahmaṇa, nobody can become a sannyasi, and sannyasi is supposed to be the guru of both all the ashramas and all the varnas.”
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Srimad Bhagavatam 3.24.40 Purport: “A woman is not supposed to take sannyāsa. So-called spiritual societies concocted in modern times give sannyāsa even to women, although there is no sanction in the Vedic literature for a woman’s accepting sannyāsa.”
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Srimad Bhagavatam 4.12.32 Purport: Prabhupada clarifies that while there is generally no difference between siksha guru and diksha guru, Suniti, being a woman and specifically Krishna’s mother, could not become Dhruva Maharaj’s diksha guru.
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Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 1.46 Purport: “The duty of the spiritual master is to initiate a disciple with the sacred thread ceremony.”
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Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 15.108 Purport: Diksha is defined as the process involving the sacred thread ceremony.
The Varnashrama Foundation
Basu Ghosh Prabhu emphasizes that in all four Vaishnava sampradayas (Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, and Vishnu Swami), women serve as guru-patnis (wives of gurus), not as diksha gurus themselves. He notes that even goddesses like Sarasvati and Lakshmi do not wear the sacred thread, whereas Vishnu and Krishna do.
The speaker addresses the argument regarding Jahnava Devi, clarifying that while she may have given hari-nama, she herself followed varnashrama principles and did not wear the sacred thread.
Addressing Ideological Concerns
Basu Ghosh Prabhu identifies what he perceives as feminist ideology influencing certain positions within ISKCON. He notes Prabhupada’s repeated clarification that while men and women are equal on the spiritual platform, varnashrama dharma operates on the material platform where distinctions exist.
He warns against sahajiyism, pretending to be on the topmost spiritual platform when one is still a sadhaka, and emphasizes that establishing varnashrama was central to Prabhupada’s mission, citing Srimad Bhagavatam 9.10.50.
Conclusion
The speaker calls upon viewers to study Prabhupada’s purports with a “dispassionate mind” and discover for themselves that Prabhupada never intended women to serve as diksha gurus, as diksha is fundamentally connected to the brahminical initiation and sacred thread ceremony, which was never given to women.