Subject: [Fwd: The Defense of Draupadi] From: Yramvortep@aol.com [Text 1880155 from COM] From Maharani dasi: As I am away at college in New York, I am somewhat out of the Vaishnavaloop, so I was probably as shocked as anyone else when I heard about therecent exposure of the "GHQ" group of swamis and high-profile maledevotees. I, probably like everyone else who's heard this, have my piece tosay regarding these so-called leaders and holy men who call women (everywoman is their mother) whores, witches, and niggers. I was raised in the ashram at Gita Nagari, and before bedtime, myteacher, Satya, would read us the Mahabharata. In the temple room at GitaNagari (I don't know if it's still there) was a painting of Draupadi beingsaved from Dushashan by Krsna. I think every male devotee in ISKCON woulddo well to remember that story. Draupadi was lost by Yudhisthira in a game of dice, and Duryodhana, thewinner, ordered his brother Dushashan to drag in Draupadi (who had onceinsulted him), and disrobe her in front of the entire assembly of Kurus,including Bhisma, Drona, King Dhritarastra, Karna, and the one hundred Kuruprinces. Draupadi ran to and fro, pleading to all of these greatpersonalities for help, while the rascal Dushashan chased her, trying tograb her sari. Not one of these great personalities, including GrandfatherBhisma, of the twelve most pure devotees in history, came to her aid. NotDrona, a brahmana and the guru of Duryodhana and and most of the otherprinces present;not Maharaja Dhritarastra, who's court it was; not Karna, who was a greatand charitable soul, and who also had the most to gain by acting like areal kshatriya. No one in that entire assembly of kings uttered one peepto protect the honor of a woman. Then Draupadi turned to the one, the onlyone, that she could depend on for justice. We know who it was. Lord Krsnasaved her miraculously from defamation. But what happened later toBhisma, Drona, Karna, Duryodhana, and his hundred brothers? We know that, too. Bhima and Arjuna, Draupadi's husbands, fulfilledtheir vows and took the lives of Duryodhana, Dushashan, and the Kauravaprinces. Arjuna also killed Bhisma, and Drona was killed by Draupadi'sbrother. All of these men were ultimately killed because of their failureto protect Draupadi. That is how she fulfilled her destiny to destroy thekshatriya race. I find it very easy to draw parallels between the insult ofDraupadi and the insult of the wonderful women devotees (and who was alwaystaught to belive that we are not this body?). The men who have insultedthem will undoubtedly be punished, maybe not by Bhima (luckily for them),but somehow. But the people who should be most concerned are the Bhismas,Dronas, and Karnas of our movement. Each of these men was destroyed by his silence, by his failure to defendDraupadi in her hour of need, by his failure to stand against the demonDuryodhana. The male devotees of our movement must not let this lesson gounlearned. Even the great Bhisma, the beloved Grandfather Bhisma, puredevotee of Krsna, was ultimately destroyed by his failure to do his duty toprotect a woman. So, too, can the most pure devotee of our movement bedestroyed (not necessarily killed), by his failure to stand up against theinsult and defamation of these devotees of Lord Keshava. As a girl who wasalways moved to tears by the plight of Draupadi, I speak to all the maledevotees who still have righteousness in their hearts when I ask them totake a stand against these rascals, not for the sake of the women, even,but for their own good. We may not have Bhima and Arjuna to defend us, butwe have a protector who imbued their arms with only a minute portion of Hisstrength. I urge the wonderful devotees in male bodies to speak up forthe women who have been grossly defamed, as you would defend your mother,for it is she that is being insulted thus, and I advise the devotees infemale bodies to follow in the footsteps of Draupadi. Take shelter underthe lotus feet of Govinda, the primeval Lord. He will defend us, as He didDraupadi. EDITORIAL, Dec 2 (VNN) - Basu Ghosh wrote: "But we were 'censured' in thewords of a Mataji who has assumed the 'moral high ground' and have indeedbeen condemned by several, without anything more then their subjectiveopinions." Hare Krsna dasi notes: Here is the response from Bir Krsna Maharaja, posted on Chakra: "It seems that VNN is falsely publishing some statement that the NA GBC hascensured members of the GHQ conference. The NA GBC has not censured anyone.Our only statement was the one you already published that abhorred some ofthe comments on the conference that were derogatory towards women. No onewas specifically pointed out." "There are many innocent members of that conference who have no fault. Soplease clear this up. I am not able to sign onto the web right now as I amtraveling, so if you could check out VNN to see what nonsense theypublished and deal with it, I would be most grateful." Hare Krsna dasi comments: First of all, VNN may have its own faults, but it was I who posted thestatement on our conferences with the header "GBC Censures GHQ conference."So if that is a blame-able offense, then I should take the blame, not the VNN. But secondly, I must admit that I am puzzled by the statement: five star hotel in Estoril"There are many innocent members of that conference [GHQ] who have no fault." 1. According to the Vaisnava standards taught to use by Srila Prabhupada,women should always be protected -- but here we have a group of menobviously conspiring to ruin the reputations of a group of women. And sofar as we know, not one single member stepped forward to say, "Prabhus!Stop! It is wrong to conspire to attack these women in this way. This isnot proper Vaisnava behavior." 2. According to the standards we have been taught by Srila Prabhupada thefirst offense of the Holy Name is to blaspheme the devotees who havededicated their lives to propagating the Holy Names of the Lord all overthe world. If one hears a devotee being blasphemed, there are severalchoices: to defeat the blasphemer with strong arguments, to leave suchassociation, or to commit suicide. It is striking that among all thoselisted as participants of the GHQ conference, including 5 ISKCON sannyasis,only one person, Danavir Maharaja, has strongly dissociated himself fromthem *and* condemned their mood. As far as we can tell *no other member ofthat conference* defeated the blasphemers, or left their association in atimely manner (or killed themselves, which of course we would not expect). THEREFORE: My question is: In what way are many of the members of the GHQconference innocent? |