The GHQ Conference After several months (and years) of carrying on a secretive dialogueabout the inferiority of women, a few letters from the GHQ conference came to light. The following letter was postedat Usenet in mid-November 1998. From: Shyamasundara (das) ACBSP (Florida Vedic College - USA) Date: 02-Oct-98 Subject: More strategy ------------------------------------------------------------ alberghi a SienaDear Maharajas and Prabhus, Please except my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Continuing on with Maharajas ideas about strategy and tactics: What exactly are our ultimate objectives? These objectives may go beyondthe next GBC meeting. Here is a list of some suggested objectives: 1) No women in leadership positions, this means in GBC, templepresidents, the GBC secretaries, ISKCON officers or spokespersons(such as in ISKCON communications which is heavily dominated by feminists). 2) Terminating the present Woman's Ministry. 3) The Grhasta Ministry should be an umbrella for the Woman's Ministry,no previous officers of Woman's Ministry to hold office in the GrhastaMinistry. This is in keeping with no women in leadership positions. 4) Feminist philosophy to be banned as materialistic, atheistic andmayavada. (We have to demonstrate this.) Any person advocating orpropagating feminism in any way, shape, or form to be considered asseriously deviating from Srila Prabhupada teachings, Vaisnava siddhanta,andVedic culture. They must resign all positions in ISKCON, and leave themovement. They can only return if it can be demonstrated that they areno longer infected with this pernicious disease. (This could bedemonstrated by writing a paper refuting feminism, and preaching vigorouslyagainst feminism.) 5) All ISKCON media such as COM, Hare Krsna World, ISKCON CommunicationsJournal, etc., censored for feminism. hotel rates Sorrento6) No temple shall host feminist meetings. 7) Women not allowed to give classes or lead kirtanas. (Unless there areno qualified men to do so, only then can they take up these services.) As I said these are only suggestions. As you can see they constitutemostly "Do Nots", and one "Do". To make it balanced several "Do's" should beincluded. Any ideas? . . . Your servant Shyamasundara Dasa In a Sept. 28, 1998, letter Shyamasundara lists the people who are in the conference, as well as thers who support antifeminist views.
Along with posting the conference correspondence at Usenet, a devotee named Ardhabuddhiposted an expose of the situation at the Vaisnava News website. The next day Ameyatma, one ofthe men listed above, posted his rebuttal: Excerpts from: Ameyatma, VNN, Nov. 20, 1998 Now, let me rebute some of the false alligations made by Ardhabuddhi das in his VNN article. He stated: "Originally organized [the GHQ conference] by Shyamasundara (the astrologer), the goal of this conference was to turn back the clock on the recent progress made by ISKCON Vaisnavis in their struggle to be recognized as individuals with the right to serve guru and Krsna according to their propensities." First, the conference was not originated by Shyamasundar. It was a collecitve idea. . . . Being that most of us are grhasta, that means we have so many children, and about 1/2 of them are girls. So, lets assume that we encourage that the young girls, our daughters, they should all become GBC, TP's, and other leaders of society. Then who will take care of their children? Who will become the mothers of society? Rather, Srila Prabhupad himself has often taught that a woman's prescribed duty is to become a chaste submissive wife. He instructed the female gurukula teachers that they are to teach the girls domestic services by their own examples. Woman, he said, are to churn butter, sew, cook, clean and learn to serve a husband. He even said once that Krsna Conscious women do not want to travel and preach like him, but they are satified cooking and cleaning. ERROR MSGSo, in light of the fact as to how Srila Prabhupad instructed us that we are to train our own daughters how to become submissive, chaste wives, mothers, and to learn all domestic household duties (he has said the duty of the wife is household duties, the man is to work in society, provide for his family), how does this relate to giving so many women leadership roles? It doesn't mean a chaste submiisive wife cannot preach, that she cannot serve Prabhupad and Krsna. But, there is a point of what is most beneficial for the society in the long run? Is it best to place many women in social leadership positions and thus encoarage young girls to also follow in their footsteps, or should such things be the rare exception, while the young girls are encouraged to follow chastity, dependence, submissiveness and other good qualities of motherhood? In my, and many other devotees study of these things, it has become very obvious that in order to establish Varnashram-Dharma, and in order to create a peaceful and organically functioning SOCIETY that motherhood and family must be protected, and separate social duties must be encouraged. Another similar philosophical point we have discussed on our conferences is this: In the Manu Samhita, as many times quoted by Srila Prabhupad, it is stated that women are NOT to be given independence. A woman is to always remain under the dependence of a father, husband or older son. She is not to act independently. And women are to be Protected by a man. There are many times Srila Prabhupad has quoted this. Thus, the question becomes how can a chaste female follower of Srila Prabhupad follow his teachings on this point, and yet take up the role of TP or GBC or other social leadership role? How is it that she is not independent, and still is dependent under a male authority, yet she is a TP or GBC? Or how is it that she is being protected by a man, when the position of TP or GBC is to provide protection for others. And how can a widowed lady or brahmacarini be properly protected and dependent on a man if her TP and her GBC are both women? To say that the GBC body has a male majority and that the woman is under the protection of guidance of a male GBC body is not sufficient. The post of TP or GBC means social leadership. Besides, what if the majority of the GBC became female devotees, as some have promoted, then where is their dependence and protection under a man. Besises,Prabhupad and shastra are very specific that a woman is to be under the protection and guidance of one specific man, her father, her husband or older son. So, how can a woman be chaste, set a high moral example for all others to follow, yet be in a social leadership role and also be dependent on the guidance and protection of a husband, father or son? If she is all of the above, then why is she artificially trying to act as if she is leader, when in actualily she is under the authority of her husband or other man? ERROR MSG So, we have also debated this topic and it is our conclusion, based on Shastra, based on the laws of dharma, based on how to best establish Varnashram-Dharma, that allowing and encouraging a number of women to take up such social leadership positions is not ultimately for the benefit of our society. It will only create more disturbance. I know there are many who will be upset with us for our strong convictions and realizations, but, our realizations are all based on shastra and logic. And the motive is not to suppress anyone, not to belittle or take away any one or any gender, but our whole concern and motive is to fulfill Srila Prabhupad's mission to establish Varnashram Dharma. Our sincere desire is to help educate others in the science of what is truly dharma, and what is ultimately best for Prabhupad's society. It is not to suppress anyone, but to uplift everyone. |