The Quintessence of Feminine Attire

           Mukunda appears in white robes, and Janaki

            wears a new red silk sari and heavy silver earrings.  The sari

                                  is Swamiji’s idea.  “Girls look very feminine in saris, no?" he says…

                                                             --The Hare Krishna Explosion, Part I                        

Men are visually inspired.  They are also visually stimulated.  The form of woman is very attractive to man.  Remember how Lord Caitanya said that even the wooden form of a woman can agitate the mind of a man?  The form of woman should therefore be covered properly in order to encourage all men to come to and to remain on the spiritual path.  A godly woman helps men remember God when they see her.

It is the duty of a chaste woman to keep herself dressed in such a way as to be attractive and encouraging to her husband, yet non-agitating to other men.  So how to achieve this?  The sari is the perfect type of dress to answer both needs. 

A sari is the classic example of a garment which compliments a woman's figure without unnecessarily causing the woman's form to create agitation in the minds of men.  When I was a young woman searching for direction in life, I happened upon a book called The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.  Later, after joining the Hare Krsna Movement, I discovered this same book in Srila Prabhupada's living quarters at the Los Angeles Temple.  I picked up Srila Prabhupada's copy.  Upon glancing through the book again, I noticed something I had missed on my first read-through.  I was not at all surprised to discover that in that book, my childhood idol, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was described as having worn a purple sari with a golden border.  

Back in my grade-school days, whenever friends came over after school and on weekends, we almost always played dress-up.  I usually chose to dress either like one of the Christian saints whom I had seen pictured in books or as statues in churches, or like a lady of royalty.  I wore full, floor-length skirts and a veil over my head.  I have often thought that if I would have owned a sari and had known how to put it on, I probably would have chosen to wear it, with the pallav of the sari covering my head.

My first "sari"

When I was fourteen, our Girl Scout troop joined with several other troops in our community to hold a potluck dinner.  We decided on a central location which offered a large hall with a stage at one end.  Tables and chairs were set up, and we girls were encouraged to help prepare whatever our families were to bring for the potluck.  Each troop planned a stage presentation as well, something with a Girl Scout theme.

Our troop chose to present the uniforms of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from participating countries around the world.  Each of us was given a choice as to which country we would like to represent.  I looked at the drawings of the different girls pictured in our Girl Scout Handbook.  All the costumes from the different countries had short skirts, except one.  My eyes lighted on the Girl Guide from India, who wore a sari.  Oh, how pretty she looked!  As soon as I saw her, my decision was made. 

Mom helped me wrap myself up in linens to approximate the look of a sari.  We struggled with sheets and safety pins, and although I did not look as pretty and graceful as the girl in the picture, we had done the best we could.  As I stood on the stage that night, looking out toward my smiling parents in the audience, I felt proud to be wearing a "sari," and consciously decided that I must someday acquire a real sari and learn how to put it on properly.

Women's dress significant

          Srila Prabhupada explains that in Vedic civilization, how a woman dresses helps others to identify her, to know her position in society.  "Vedic civilization does not allow a woman to be nicely dressed unless she is before her husband... Because if she, I mean to say, agitates the lusty desires of all others, that is not very good. So woman is allowed to dress herself very nicely when her husband is present. Otherwise she will not dress [nicely]. There are some restrictions. Proshita-bhartrikä. By the woman's dress, one will understand who is she—whether she is living with her husband, whether she is widow, whether she is unmarried, or whether her husband is out of home, or whether she is prostitute. The culture is so nice, simply by the dress one will understand that 'Here is a woman; her husband is not at home. Here is a woman; she is widow. Here is a woman; she is prostitute...Here is a woman, she is not married.' By dress, one will understand. That vermillion sign means she is married. When she is nicely dressed, oh, she has her husband at home. When she is in white cloth without any ornament, she is widow. When the simanta... What is called in English, simanta? This parting [part]. If it is not in the middle, it is in side, she is a prostitute. So woman should dress in such a way that man will understand. And not married, she will not have this veil. It must be open. So anyway, these are social customs in the Vedic civilization."  Everything has meaning in Vedic culture, even the way we dress. 

Eternal beauty secrets

The desire to wear long skirts and fix my hair in ways that are reminiscent of India were my natural inclination as a child.  It was very encouraging to encounter such traditional dress when I first met the devotees of Krsna in this life.  I am forever grateful to my dear friend Karunamayi (Bahulasva's wife), who took me under her wing when I first joined the temple in Los Angeles.  She patiently and kindly taught me how to wear a sari. 
             It’s an effort for me to put on a sari every day.  It takes several minutes to get dressed, and I'm a person who likes to do things quickly.  But I do it because Srila Prabhupada wanted his female followers to wear saris.  "This is the way our women should always look. No more jeans and dresses. They should always wear säris." (SPL 22, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami)  It's one of the austerities we ladies can perform to protect our men and enhance our own beauty and grace.  
             Now, when I look back on those little-girl days, those little-girl desires—long, bound-up hair, floor-length skirts and robes, veils over my head—I am reminded of India, even of the spiritual world, and of Srila Prabhupada who came to the West to re-teach us the eternal secrets of beauty and beautiful dress.