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Women: Masters or Mothers? offers powerful solutions to the
problems we face as a spiritual institution. It is a must-read
for every member of our ISKCON Society. If we simply ignore
this book as irrelevant or fanatical, our tendency as a religious
movement will no doubt be to adopt the spirit of modernism,
thus inviting calamity upon our spiritual progress, both
individually and collectively. If we thus loosen our standards
and degrade from being the powerful, pure and dynamic force
that Śrīla Prabhupāda groomed us to be, how can ISKCON
survive?
Purity is the force that keeps our movement thriving and
growing. Impurity, which can be traced to deeply rooted
attachment and adherence to Western social behaviors, is an
opposing force that can lead us to degradation.
Śrīla Prabhupāda warned that we should keep ourselves free
from the impurities of materialistic culture. If we give in to
the cultural norms of a degraded, failing society, what will be
ISKCON’s destiny? William Ralph Inge’s chilling admonition
can be taken a step further to read, “That religion which
marries the spirit of today will be a widow tomorrow.”
Mālyahārī-kuṇḍa Devī Dāsī (KRKS)
Almviks Gard (Rural community), Sweden
Despite Śrīla Prabhupāda and our previous ācāryas explaining
clearly why daiva-varṇāśrama-dharma is of great importance
for devotees and ISKCON as a preaching movement, there is still
sometimes some confusion as to how it should be introduced,
what aspects are of more or less importance, the speed at which
we should endeavor to establish it and so on. The dharma of
women, strī-dharma, is unfortunately often brushed aside as
something of lesser importance — or even totally neglected