Women Gurus in ISKCON: Unity in Diversity Now!

Recent signers:
Alyssa vanderburg and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

Whereas,

-        Srila Prabhupada said that women can initiate disciples;[1]

-        Some of Srila Prabhupada’s women disciples, now in their 70s, meet all GBC qualifications to initiate, and some devotees in the West aspire to take initiation from them and no one else;

-        The ISKCON Disciples Course teaches that aspiring disciples may accept the qualified diksa guru of their choice;

-        Generally, ISKCON leaders in India oppose women initiating while ISKCON leaders in the West favor it, and few if any have changed their views after twenty years of debate;

-        Thus in 2019 the GBC established a policy of ‘cultural sensitivity’ that allows individual regions to decide their own policies regarding women initiating in ISKCON;

-        Srila Prabhupada said success for ISKCON requires unity in diversity, allowing for cultural sensitivity on differing points of view in how to spread Krishna consciousness;[2]

-        Preaching in India necessarily differs from preaching in the West;[3]

-        For decades women have peacefully served as pujaris, temple presidents and GBCs in the West and not in India;

-        Nonetheless, some leaders in ISKCON India, against the guidance of seniors such as Jayapataka Swami and Gopal Krishna Goswami, recently declared that if women are allowed to give initiation anywhere in ISKCON they will stop cooperating with the GBC;

-        On Nov. 2, 2022, the GBC acquiesced to this pressure and proposed an additional three-year moratorium on women initiating anywhere in the world;

-         SABHA, the GBC advisory body comprised of ISKCON sannyasis, gurus, youth and representatives from every continent, opposed the GBC’s proposed moratorium by a vote of 28 to 4. The GBC then narrowly overruled this rare SABHA refutation of a GBC proposal.

Considering all this, I oppose any further delay and urge the GBC to stand by their wise policy of allowing women, especially Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, to initiate in ISKCON in areas of the world where their service is needed and supported.

(There's no need to donate! Please just sign. Your name--not your email--will be shown unless you indicate otherwise when you sign this petition. In the comment section, please indicate your country of residence and whether you are an initiated member of or a friend of ISKCON. Thank you).

 

References: 
[1] “Of course, because superficially, bodily, there is some distinction, so we keep women separately from men, that's all. Otherwise, the rights are the same. If the woman understands Kṛṣṇa consciousness perfectly, she can become guru.” (Srila Prabhupada Interview, 7/18/76)

Those girls [who are preaching Krishna consciousness] are not ordinary girls but are as good as their brothers who are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (CC Adi. 7.31-32) 

It is clearly declared here by the Supreme Lord that in devotional service there is no distinction between the lower and higher classes of people. In the material conception of life there are such divisions, but for a person engaged in transcendental devotional service to the Lord there are not. (BG 9.32)


[2] Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate to keep this institution together after I am gone. (Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta, 2.52) 


[3] A candidate for Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the Western countries should be taught about the renunciation of material existence, but one would teach candidates from a country like India in a different way. The teacher (ācārya) has to consider time, candidate and country. He must avoid the principle of niyamāgraha — that is, he should not try to perform the impossible. What is possible in one country may not be possible in another. (CC. ML 23.105)

For more reference information download "Did Srila Prabhupada Want Women Diksa Gurus?" at https://sites.google.com/site/eyeofthestormbooks/

 

3,123

Recent signers:
Alyssa vanderburg and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

Whereas,

-        Srila Prabhupada said that women can initiate disciples;[1]

-        Some of Srila Prabhupada’s women disciples, now in their 70s, meet all GBC qualifications to initiate, and some devotees in the West aspire to take initiation from them and no one else;

-        The ISKCON Disciples Course teaches that aspiring disciples may accept the qualified diksa guru of their choice;

-        Generally, ISKCON leaders in India oppose women initiating while ISKCON leaders in the West favor it, and few if any have changed their views after twenty years of debate;

-        Thus in 2019 the GBC established a policy of ‘cultural sensitivity’ that allows individual regions to decide their own policies regarding women initiating in ISKCON;

-        Srila Prabhupada said success for ISKCON requires unity in diversity, allowing for cultural sensitivity on differing points of view in how to spread Krishna consciousness;[2]

-        Preaching in India necessarily differs from preaching in the West;[3]

-        For decades women have peacefully served as pujaris, temple presidents and GBCs in the West and not in India;

-        Nonetheless, some leaders in ISKCON India, against the guidance of seniors such as Jayapataka Swami and Gopal Krishna Goswami, recently declared that if women are allowed to give initiation anywhere in ISKCON they will stop cooperating with the GBC;

-        On Nov. 2, 2022, the GBC acquiesced to this pressure and proposed an additional three-year moratorium on women initiating anywhere in the world;

-         SABHA, the GBC advisory body comprised of ISKCON sannyasis, gurus, youth and representatives from every continent, opposed the GBC’s proposed moratorium by a vote of 28 to 4. The GBC then narrowly overruled this rare SABHA refutation of a GBC proposal.

Considering all this, I oppose any further delay and urge the GBC to stand by their wise policy of allowing women, especially Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, to initiate in ISKCON in areas of the world where their service is needed and supported.

(There's no need to donate! Please just sign. Your name--not your email--will be shown unless you indicate otherwise when you sign this petition. In the comment section, please indicate your country of residence and whether you are an initiated member of or a friend of ISKCON. Thank you).

 

References: 
[1] “Of course, because superficially, bodily, there is some distinction, so we keep women separately from men, that's all. Otherwise, the rights are the same. If the woman understands Kṛṣṇa consciousness perfectly, she can become guru.” (Srila Prabhupada Interview, 7/18/76)

Those girls [who are preaching Krishna consciousness] are not ordinary girls but are as good as their brothers who are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (CC Adi. 7.31-32) 

It is clearly declared here by the Supreme Lord that in devotional service there is no distinction between the lower and higher classes of people. In the material conception of life there are such divisions, but for a person engaged in transcendental devotional service to the Lord there are not. (BG 9.32)


[2] Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate to keep this institution together after I am gone. (Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta, 2.52) 


[3] A candidate for Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the Western countries should be taught about the renunciation of material existence, but one would teach candidates from a country like India in a different way. The teacher (ācārya) has to consider time, candidate and country. He must avoid the principle of niyamāgraha — that is, he should not try to perform the impossible. What is possible in one country may not be possible in another. (CC. ML 23.105)

For more reference information download "Did Srila Prabhupada Want Women Diksa Gurus?" at https://sites.google.com/site/eyeofthestormbooks/

 

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Petition created on December 22, 2022