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Feminist Mahadevi Dasi's Original Post

Mahadevi deleted this post from her fbok page. Most notable comment is made by Vrinda Setha the wife of Vishwambar Setha of the Mayapuri musical group. She reveals herself to be a supporter of the Women: Masters or Mothers ban.
Also pay attention to Haridas Thakur Das's (ACBSP) support of those females who wanted to ban the book. 



PraNAM Bana Bhatta prabhu (ACBSP) 24hr NAM KIRTAN mngr with ISKCON Vrndavana for glorifying Vaisnavis as Srila Prabhupada's significant "secret weapons"... during SB Class this morning in such a sincere manner.
Actually, just yesterday in the new Devotee Care office near the BGIS School, there was a fantastic, brilliant, incredible satsang of 25 empowered and notable senior Vaisnavis.
I felt so honored to be sitting amongst many of Srila Prabhupada’s sincere, intelligent, committed and humble Vaisnavis of ISKCON who have given their lives to Srila Prabhupada to push on his Mission, many of us for 40 years or more.
Grandmothers, mothers, daughters and grand-daughters convened to discuss, with all due respect...the personal disturbances and the global tumult in Prabhupada’s Society of Vaisnavis.... caused by the controversial information compiled in the newly published book entitled: Women, Masters or Mothers. You can google.
Unanimous agreement that IOHO, the mood of the book and the contents are not in line with how Srila Prabhupada raised us to be preachers.....There are references in the book that "weaving baskets" or making chapattis and babies is more suited for a Vaisnavi!
Swami said in one lecture, "A chaste woman would appreciate a burka."
The front book cover shows a Vaisnavi depicted in full-on military fatigues and even toting a MACHINE GUN with an aggressive face!!!... standing next to a Vaisnavi in saree who is holding a baby...what???
There are devotees selling this book outside our gate near ISKCON Vrndavana during the Kartik Festival.
Imagine showing such a cover of a book to Prabhupada who loves all of his Vaisnavis...AS THEY ARE:)
Prabhupada tells us to chant our 16 rounds, follow the regs, and just add KRSNA so that our natural devotional service will manifest. He appreciated so much his American, European and Western devi dasis and their bold spirit to push on his Mission.
The young male devotee outside the front gate selling these books certainly got an earful from all of us individually, as well as collectively...smile emoticon...He told us that women in ISKCON don't know how to behave and that's why this book had to be printed!!!
(I think he was in diapers when Ragatmika and I started the Anchorage, Alaska preaching center and distributed Prabhupada's Books in the Anchorage Airport for ten hrs a day:)
....And the book tells us all about our menustration periods??? From a sannyasi? We were all like with eyes rolling and shock flowing….like are you kidding?
We have been inspired by Prabhupada to push on his global Mission….and he encouraged us to be preachers.
And how come no one was telling us to weave baskets when our quotas were 500-1000 dollars a day....
60% of ISKCON Society’s devotee husbands have abandoned their wives and small children under 15 (many times whimsically for other women) and there are subtle indications in this book where such incidents are the woman’s fault?? OMK!!!
I would have loved to weave baskets and hang out in the kitchen, but when my devotee husband left us for another woman, I was too busy working 2 jobs to pay the bills and support my children.
At least they could have made the military outfit on the cover a bit more stylish and colorful :)…maybe pink, green or lavender with a nice sunhat, matching purse and shoes:) And where were the bead bags shown? Most Vaisnavis never go anywhere without bead bag.
Women: Masters or Mothers?…..Damn straight we had to somewhat master being a mother, grandmother, plumber, electrician, mechanic, pay the numerous bills, driver, gardener, help with the homework late at night, attend PTA meetings, shop for meals and make the lunches for school, cook, all around counselor, emergency doctor, on call 24 n 7…chant our sixteen, somehow or other and do some puja.and STILL after our children have grown up, we STILL are giving our daily efforts to serve Prabhupada and His Mission...
Yes, we had to somewhat master our senses to tolerate and serve our children unconditionally with love and dedication and STILL, Vaisnavis are so determined to serve Prabhupada’s Mission in one way or other.
What about telling us more about Prabhupada, Krsna, and devotional service, not subject to gender. What about following in the footsteps of how Prabhupada preached to Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis....as spiritually equal. And if we are truly your mothers or "matajis," then natural respect would follow as mothers are 1 of the 7 natural gurus.

There is a seminar planned to propagate this book in Vrndavana during Kartik. We have put forth a request that this book be carefully reviewed by the GBC. Hare Krsna and may we always take shelter of Srila Prabhupada, no matter what....
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Haripriya Devi Dasi It sounds like a disturbing piece of work & not uplifting to devotees who have sincerely given their lives to Iskcon. I absolutely support you mata, that such a book is not condoned
K.d. Devi Dasi What's IOHO?
Mahadevi Dasi In our humble opinion
Caitanya Dasi Men who hate women and want to squash them are behind such type of propaganda. They should read Yamuna devi's book and see the love, kindness, compassion and mercy that Srila Prabhupada bestowed upon his female disciples. So sad when there is so much hate from immature men towards their mothers.
Mahadevi Dasi maybe its not "hate" but a strong misperception and misconception of the Kindness and Knowledge that Prabhupada has so kindly given all of us...we mothers feel some sadness that some men are still doing this...minimizing the Bhaktivedanta purports of Krsna consciousness . We must not go there where "their" confusion goes...
K.d. Devi Dasi I am saddened to hear the circumstances... but very amazing to see this room full of empowered Vaisnavis. Ananta Koti Pranams to all of you Master Mothers heart emoticon
Mahadevi Dasi yes, it was powerful...wishing you could have been there!
Sujana Dasi Shocking! What ignorance! Everybody in the pictures looks disturbed. For sure Srila Prabhupada would not tolerate such garbage!
Sujana Dasi Good for Banabhatta Prabhu! He's so respectful and sincere and honest.
Srisa Dasi Carreras Always a challenge to serve and follow our beloved Spiritual Master Srila Prabhupada. Thank you for your association to all my God Sisters over the past 40+ years
Mahadevi Dasi wish you could have been there my dear Srisa Dasi Carreras and next time you come, book me into your schedule:)
Stritama Sherreitt OMK is right...yes too bad we weren't weaving baskets instead of bringing back the laxmi that built Mayapur and supported temples everywhere....he may have some good points but from what I see here he has gone too far and now we will all be called 'feminists' for not agreeing OMK Srila Prabhupada save us...save ISKCON heart emoticon
Girish Mukhiya Welcome at goverdhan at diwali and goverdhan pooja
Nagapatni Dasi It's disturbing to see this Talaban mentality threatening ISKCON's internal relations. It's so different from Srila Prabhupada's loving exchanges.
Pat Sharma Wow!...and the fight goes on......all the more incentive to take shelter of the Lord.....Meera Bai.....and what pray tell do they think of Her......Srila Prabhupada.....our glorious Father who sheltered and encouraged us......who was proud of us and accepted us...please give us strength and fortitude to continue always and ever in Your divine service
Bhumi Devi Dasi Haribol Mahadevi..... Who is selling this book and who wrote it? Who is the proposed workshop for.... women or men or a mix? I hate to rush to judgement based on one post on facebook.... but in that room full of women whom I respect, it must be serious.
Mahadevi Dasi My dear Bhumi Devi Dasi Because the cover of the book and some of the contents were disturbing devotees and our guests from around the world during Kartik in Vrndavana, including many younger devotees, we asked the book be removed and reviewed. We are trying to enliven, encourage and serve each other nicely during this Kartik celebration in Vrndavana...
LikeReply11 hrEdited
Bhumi Devi Dasi And all glories to Banubatta prabhu..... I was recently in North Carolina and I met Banu Batta's brother (Jagat Purusha) at the Sunday Feast and we spoke for a while. I mentioned what a pukka devotee BB is. He agreed, and he told me that he had moved to Vrndavana and was now in charge of the 24 hour kirtan. That is awesome!
Jenny Roberts Very sad indeed!
Vaibhav Patel Mahadevi Mata writes that brahmacari commented on the book stall that woman in ISKCON don't know how to behave.

I would like to remind Mahadevi Mata that her friend Prasanta Mata came on the stall and threw all the books off the stall (which also included Ramayana and many other books on Srila Prabhupada) and she even threatened brahmacaris to break his head. Is this a good behavior in your language and culture?

Mahadevi Dasi She felt so bad about that later...and you left out the part where she apologized and tried to rectify her reaction.
LikeReply1 hrEdited
Vaibhav Patel It was Srila Prabhupada who wanted that girls to should be taught to make chapatis. It is not Maharaj's invention. See the quote below of Srila Prabhupada (Conversation 10 July 1975). This has been included in the book.

We shall teach the girls two th
...See More

Mahadevi Dasi Yes, finally at 63, I'm learning how to make chappatis:).Preachers have been so busy trying to distribute Krsna consciousness in various ways that Prabhupada taught us...and still we take risks to preach. Thank you for appreciating all the innumerable services that the Vaisnavi preachers have accomplished for Prabhupada and his Mission...as we are:)
LikeReply1 hrEdited
Vaibhav Patel Mahadevi Mata writes that her husband left her and then she had to maintain kids along with her devotional service. The book proposes the solution to such problems that are rampant in Vaisnava society today. Maharaj has proposed how family stability ca...See More
Mahadevi Dasi Vaibhav Patel...It's unfortunate that you seem to have misunderstood my words and intentions...Devotees who know me can verify that I meant no dis-respect to the author (or you) . .I shared some personal facts and feelings on my personal fb pg with my...See More
LikeReply21 hrEdited
Vaibhav Patel Now, in the Manu-saàhitä it is clearly stated that a woman should not be given freedom. That does not mean that women are to be kept as slaves, but they are like children. Children are not given freedom, but that does not mean that they are kept as slaves. The demons have now neglected such injunctions, and they think that women should be given as much freedom as men. However, this has not improved the social condition of the world. Actually, a woman should be given protection at every stage of life. She should be given protection by the father in her younger days, by the husband in her youth, and by the grownup sons in her old age. This is proper social behavior according to the Manu-saàhitä. But modern education has artificially devised a puffed—up concept of womanly life, and therefore marriage is practically now an imagination in human society. Nor is the moral condition of woman very good now. The demons, therefore, do not accept any instruction which is good for society, and because they do not follow the experience of great sages and the rules and regulations laid down by the sages, the social condition of the demoniac people is very miserable.
Mahadevi Dasi You say above...."Nor is the moral condition of woman very good now." And the man? Why is morality a gender issue? In Kali yuga, we ALL have issues with morality in various ways....Our ISKCON history of 50 years proves that mostly the husbands were lea...See More
LikeReply16 minsEdited
Mahadevi Dasi Time to go for PRABHUPADA KATHA in Prabhupada's Library in Prabhupada's Home in Vrndavana...to HEAR how we can rise above dualities and try to understand the concept of "transcendental." What Prabhupada has given us is Transcendental Knowledge without so much basis/emphasis on gender; let us serve each other as aspiring, grateful servants of Srila Prabhupada...smile emoticon And again, if I have offended anyone, didn't mean to.
LikeReply54 minsEdited
Mahadevi Dasi HAHAHAH REALLLY taking advantage of expressing myself on "MYYYY" fb pg today, even while doing other services in between...smile emoticon KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE extra chanting during Kartik...
LikeReply16 minsEdited
Manikar Das Brahmachari

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Lion Sahu I never Count Bhaktivikas as preacher or Sanyasi ..We are Grihasta are far far better than him .. He is a Chinese military man
Shyamsundara Padmanabha Das This book is fully in accordance with Srila Prabhupada teaching based on Guru, Sadhu and Sastra. All devotee especially mataji kindly read this book first. Also Kindly go back to the Teaching of Srila Prabhupada through his books and Lectures. All this matajis seems to not understand the womans role in vedic culture. Kindly go through the teaching of Srila prabhupada through books and tapes first
Greg GuruKrsnadas Bechtol Are there 4 varnas just for men? I thought it read, 'human society', including women.

So you will find that Some women will.do different things acording to their varna.


But perhaps they are to assume their husband's varna? But not all women are married. There will always be exceptions, and we should respect and support them.

Theodore Tejiyas Jaffe Mahadevi dasi is making many very valuable points here as Vaibhava Patel. As some might know I am compiling a book on Srila Prabhupada and I am trying to present an all around presentation on him. I had many situations in which this topic came up and I...See More
LikeReply9Yesterday at 10:30
Veronica A Shinkman Yes, Vaisnavi dd, this is obvious. But his attitude is different than that...Its offensive, and that its being supported by sastra seems to make it slimmy...
LikeReply16 hrs
Caitanya Dasi Most of you are younger females, who did not go through the intense austerities in the early years of ISKCON. Women were basically forced to go out and "compete" with the men, engaging in book distribution. Women were not allowed to stay home and coo...See More
LikeReply713 hrs
Smara Hari Karnamrita Das prabhu, this is the issue I was discussing on the other thread.
LikeReply12 hrs
Vrinda Devi Sheth I support you Mahadevi 200%. You and the elder women in our movement have such a crucial role in creating a balanced view of what Prabhupada wanted for the women in his movement. Glad to hear you speaking strongly smile emoticon
LikeReply510 hrs
Vaishnavi Dasi Dear Caitanya Dasi, you are absolutely right! I also agree 200% as Vrinda Devi Sheth said! It was in no way my intention to imply any disrespect for any of you stalwart and exalted Vaishnavis. That is why I said that the men needed to step up to the ta...See More
LikeReply22 hrs
Haridasa Thakura Dasa Acbsp So ladies, I support you. When are you going bring out a book that gives the other side of the story? It's a long time coming.......
LikeReply32 hrs
Smara Hari Haridasa Thakura Dasa Acbsp, an excellent proposition. That is the manner with which topics are examined and refuted. It is befitting Vaishnava behavior and shows mature example.
LikeReply12 hrs

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