New Practices

Loose hair is street culture.

Bound hair is aristocratic.

                                                                                                     ~Bhaktividyapurna Swami

My husband and I travel a lot. During Karttika-masa last year, we did a tour of Vrndavana and Mayapur. This time, I noticed more than ever before some new practices among devotees.

As we sat in Srila Prabhupada's samadhi mandir in Vrndavana singing the Lord's holy names with the matajis who regularly chant every day for Srila Prabhupada, one young woman came into the samadhi. She sat down with the other devotees, as if she were familiar with them and used to coming there. She was wearing a classy, opulent sari with a matching blouse. She was obviously accustomed to wearing a sari, as she was very expert in putting it on, and knew just how and wear to pin it so that she looked very pukka, very well-dressed. She had a bead bag, she wore tilaka, and everything looked normal like any Hare Krsna lady. The only thing abnormal was that her hair was almost completely loose! Granted that she had parted her hair in the middle, that's good. But her hair was pulled back ever-so-slightly just over her ears and secured by a couple of bobby-pins, and the rest of her waist-length, gorgeous blond hair was free to swing and fly wherever the wind happened to blow it.

Another time, I saw a mataji with her hair cut short.

And another.

And another. This has become very, very common.

Several times, I noticed ladies with their hair parted on the side. Once when Srila Prabhupada was explaining how in Vedic culture, you can tell the status of a person by how he dresses, he said that when a woman parts her hair on the side, it means she is a prostitute.

So on one hand, we see women devotees with long, loose hair, sometimes parted on the side, and on the other hand, we see women devotees with short hair. None of these hairstyles was approved by Srila Prabhupada. Ever since Srila Prabhupada left the planet, some of the women in ISKCON have been arranging their hair differently from how Srila Prabhupada asked us to wear our hair. Why is this? When I came to Krsna consciousness, I was told in no uncertain terms that ladies' hair was to be parted in the middle. Although I was born with a natural side-part, after hearing this, I trained my hair to part in the middle by daily parting it in the middle. It's as simple as that. The hair roots can be trained to part in the middle if we make the effort to train them.

And hair should be tied back in either a bun or a braid. When I was a very new bhaktin, I wore my hair in a pony-tail one day, and was immediately corrected by a merciful Godsister who told me that Srila Prabhupada said that wearing the hair like that was not acceptable. So what to speak of loose? And what to speak of chopping it off?

While we were there in the samadhi, another thing happened which gave me a start. I saw a woman step over her little son while he was offering obeisances. I was taught as a young bhaktin that stepping over people shortens your life and theirs. This may be one of those “Prabhupada says,” but nonetheless, I have heard it more than once.

In Mayapur, my husband and I saw several young couples walking around holding hands in public. That is not acceptable behavior for ISKCON devotees. Husbands and wives should keep their physical touching private, within their own homes. It should not be seen by the world. If you are not yet married, but just engaged to be married, even moreso should the physical touching be curbed, especially in public.

One night in Mayapur, there was a rip-roaring nagar-sankirtana winding its way around the campus.  When we saw the kirtaniyas, we were surprised. There was a beautiful young woman leading the kirtan. She was outfitted with a sound system to magnify her voice, and she was in front of a parade of devotees of both genders, including even a sannyasi! My husband and I looked at each other like, What's ISKCON coming to? This is not what Srila Prabhupada taught us. He taught that the women should be in the middle, protected between two groups of men, and that the men should lead the kirtan. Sannyasis, after all, should not hear a woman leading kirtan. The recording of "Govindam adi-purusam" is different, because Srila Prabhupada authorized it as a “concert” that was appropriate to play in all the temples during darshan arati. But in general, when there is nagar-sankirtana, a man should lead the kirtan, and the ladies should be protected in the middle.

Another topic is how some of the young ladies dress. Although I personally find gopi dresses and chudidars to be quite attractive and comfortable respectively, I don't know if Srila Prabhupada would have approved of them. I do know that he said that all his women followers should wear saris. Once, when a Godsister of mine who was wearing a long skirt was seen by Srila Prabhupada in that attire, he asked her, “What is this?” At least we do know that if a woman is married, she should wear a sari and cover her head.

Another thing I have been noticing is that some ladies are wrapping their saris in a way in which Srila Prabhupada did not approve.  He requested that we wrap our saris brahmana-style. 

This post is meant to help young devotees to understand the rules that we were taught as young newcomers, and it is offered with straw in my teeth. Srila Prabhupada gave us these rules to support our efforts to become Krsna conscious. By following them, we will not only help ourselves, but others as well.

All glories to all of you who are engaged in chanting the holy names of the Lord with enthusiasm and determination. May you all be blessed with continued spiritual strength and success. Hare Krsna.