Cults & Society
 Department: Group Report
__________________________________________________
Featured Group Report

Hare Krishna: women
  
 
   
 
     

2/12

Participation, Protection and Patriarchy: An International Model for the Role of Women in ISKCON

Radha Devi Dasi

[continued]
The second benefit of International Law is that it allows us to create needed cultural variations in our practices.  ISKCON is an international organisation facing cultural variations in different regions of the world.  If we are going to be an effective organisation for all people, and for women in particular, then we have to be sensitive to cultural variations.  Shrila Prabhupada expressed this thought most easily and eloquently by saying we have to be attentive to time, place and circumstance.  International Law has already looked at these cultural variations, and created a way of allowing people some flexibility to tailor a policy to their particular region while maintaining a structure that keeps any adjustment from sacrificing underlying goals. 

I do not advocate that we take principles of International Law and replace our own philosophy with International Law. However, I contend that we can effectively use International Law to develop a model within which we can test our adherence to our own philosophy.  We have numerous written sources of religious principles, in addition to the examples implicit in the actual behaviour of Shrila Prabhupada.  It is our task to integrate this wealth of instruction into a coherent policy on women in ISKCON.  One part of our problem, particularly in our treatment of women, is that we have focused on one or two instructions, which have been taken out of context.  We have also used certain words arbitrarily without actually understanding what those words actually mean.  Finally, we have made sweeping statements as justification for our policies even though those statements do not reflect our actual activity.  Consequently, we need to revisit this issue of women’s participation in a thoughtful and rigorous manner. 

Law gives us the tools by which we can integrate numerous instructions on individual issues. Law also teaches us to define our terms and to test our rhetoric against our actions.  The need to accomplish these goals is particularly apparent when we examine the role of women in ISKCON.  Some of Shrila Prabhupada’s statements about women have been over-emphasized to the exclusion of other contrary statements.  As a result, our policies on women’s issues are imbalanced.  The particular nature of these misconceptions about women that we have developed in ISKCON is further developed later in this paper.    

1/12 < > 12/12

______________________________________________ ^
 

Cults & Society
 Department: Group Report
__________________________________________________
Featured Group Report

Hare Krishna: women
  
 
   
 
     

2/12

Participation, Protection and Patriarchy: An International Model for the Role of Women in ISKCON

Radha Devi Dasi

[continued]
The second benefit of International Law is that it allows us to create needed cultural variations in our practices.  ISKCON is an international organisation facing cultural variations in different regions of the world.  If we are going to be an effective organisation for all people, and for women in particular, then we have to be sensitive to cultural variations.  Shrila Prabhupada expressed this thought most easily and eloquently by saying we have to be attentive to time, place and circumstance.  International Law has already looked at these cultural variations, and created a way of allowing people some flexibility to tailor a policy to their particular region while maintaining a structure that keeps any adjustment from sacrificing underlying goals. 

I do not advocate that we take principles of International Law and replace our own philosophy with International Law. However, I contend that we can effectively use International Law to develop a model within which we can test our adherence to our own philosophy.  We have numerous written sources of religious principles, in addition to the examples implicit in the actual behaviour of Shrila Prabhupada.  It is our task to integrate this wealth of instruction into a coherent policy on women in ISKCON.  One part of our problem, particularly in our treatment of women, is that we have focused on one or two instructions, which have been taken out of context.  We have also used certain words arbitrarily without actually understanding what those words actually mean.  Finally, we have made sweeping statements as justification for our policies even though those statements do not reflect our actual activity.  Consequently, we need to revisit this issue of women’s participation in a thoughtful and rigorous manner. 

Law gives us the tools by which we can integrate numerous instructions on individual issues. Law also teaches us to define our terms and to test our rhetoric against our actions.  The need to accomplish these goals is particularly apparent when we examine the role of women in ISKCON.  Some of Shrila Prabhupada’s statements about women have been over-emphasized to the exclusion of other contrary statements.  As a result, our policies on women’s issues are imbalanced.  The particular nature of these misconceptions about women that we have developed in ISKCON is further developed later in this paper.    

1/12 < > 12/12

______________________________________________ ^
 

Cults & Society
 Department: Group Report
__________________________________________________
Featured Group Report

Hare Krishna: women
  
 
   
 
     

2/12

Participation, Protection and Patriarchy: An International Model for the Role of Women in ISKCON

Radha Devi Dasi

[continued]
The second benefit of International Law is that it allows us to create needed cultural variations in our practices.  ISKCON is an international organisation facing cultural variations in different regions of the world.  If we are going to be an effective organisation for all people, and for women in particular, then we have to be sensitive to cultural variations.  Shrila Prabhupada expressed this thought most easily and eloquently by saying we have to be attentive to time, place and circumstance.  International Law has already looked at these cultural variations, and created a way of allowing people some flexibility to tailor a policy to their particular region while maintaining a structure that keeps any adjustment from sacrificing underlying goals. 

I do not advocate that we take principles of International Law and replace our own philosophy with International Law. However, I contend that we can effectively use International Law to develop a model within which we can test our adherence to our own philosophy.  We have numerous written sources of religious principles, in addition to the examples implicit in the actual behaviour of Shrila Prabhupada.  It is our task to integrate this wealth of instruction into a coherent policy on women in ISKCON.  One part of our problem, particularly in our treatment of women, is that we have focused on one or two instructions, which have been taken out of context.  We have also used certain words arbitrarily without actually understanding what those words actually mean.  Finally, we have made sweeping statements as justification for our policies even though those statements do not reflect our actual activity.  Consequently, we need to revisit this issue of women’s participation in a thoughtful and rigorous manner. 

Law gives us the tools by which we can integrate numerous instructions on individual issues. Law also teaches us to define our terms and to test our rhetoric against our actions.  The need to accomplish these goals is particularly apparent when we examine the role of women in ISKCON.  Some of Shrila Prabhupada’s statements about women have been over-emphasized to the exclusion of other contrary statements.  As a result, our policies on women’s issues are imbalanced.  The particular nature of these misconceptions about women that we have developed in ISKCON is further developed later in this paper.    

1/12 < > 12/12

______________________________________________ ^