Less intelligent women and Vaiṣṇavīs as gurus, a follow-up

Śrila Prabhupāda occasionally mentions in his teachings the idea of women being less intelligent. What exactly does it mean?

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Śrila Prabhupāda occasionally mentions in his teachings the idea of women being less intelligent. What exactly does it mean? We understand there are different types of intelligence, such as IQ, emotional intelligence, verbal ability, and so on. What is the type referred to here?

He answers directly on SB 3.23.54:

“Generally all women desire material enjoyment; they are called less intelligent because they are mostly prone to material enjoyment.”

This purport goes to the center of the question. The Bhāgavatam defines real intelligence not as technical skill, social influence, or academic achievement, but as the urge to inquire into the Absolute Truth.

In this way, when the scriptures speak about someone being more intelligent or less intelligent, the central question is, how strongly is one inclined toward spiritual realization versus material enjoyment?

Real intelligence means to inquire about the Absolute Truth, using our human life to advance spiritually. Why are great sages like Śukadeva Goswami considered the most intelligent? The main point is that they know the goal of life.

The reason women are often considered less intelligent is that they are generally more attached to material life and sense enjoyment. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with intellectual capacity but with the use we give to it. Many women are quite intelligent, more intelligent than most men; the point is that often this intelligence is used to better enjoy their senses instead of spiritual realization.

That is why in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.32) Krsna puts the women together with the śūdras and vaiśyas, since these are the classes that are usually engaged in material activities and have little appetite for spiritual realization:

“O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth – women, vaiśyas [merchants] and śūdras [workers] – can attain the supreme destination).”

However, context is also important. When we say that a person is more intelligent or less intelligent, we are making a comparison with someone else. So, what about the men?

Men in Kali-yuga are also put together with the śūdras, and this happens for the exact same reason: more often than not, they also lack the intelligence to inquire about spiritual topics, preferring instead to pass their lives absorbed in material subjects. Many men have no better goal in life than to drink beer and watch football games.

The point is thus not so much about gender but the capacity of one to inquire about the absolute truth, understand spiritual topics, and apply this knowledge in one’s practical life, finding a way to cross the ocean of nescience.

That’s why Śrila Prabhupāda often said that his lady disciples had brains with “64 ounces,” giving the idea that he considered them as intelligent as their spiritual Godbrothers since both were properly using their intelligence to understand Kṛṣṇa.

Many women do a poor job in this regard, preferring to use their intelligence to find the best types of makeup and poses for their Instagram photos. However, most men don’t fare much better. That’s why the scriptures declare “kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ”: In the age of Kali, everyone is a śūdra. In this miserable age, everyone is in the same boat, and we all share the same basic deficiencies.

That’s an important point in the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and in the varnāśrama system in general: people should not be judged by the format of their bodies but by their qualifications. That’s what varṇāśrama is in its pure form, and that’s the philosophy that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu summarized when he declared, kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya; “A person may be a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra or a sannyāsī, but if he happens to be well versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa, then he is fit to become a spiritual master.”

Even in previous areas, brāhmanas and sannyāsīs would be rare. The brāhmana is the spiritual master of the other three classes, and normally only brāhmanas take sannyāsa. In previous eras, it would generally not be considered possible for a śūdra to be elevated to the position of a brāhmana. In our age, however, this becomes possible due to the potency of the holy names. Prabhupāda proved it practically by elevating many of his disciples from the chaotic position of a birth in the West to the position of bona fide brāhmanas and sannyasis.

Above that, even the position of a brāhmana is actually irrelevant. As Mahāprabhu declared, the true relevant factor for success in life is that one should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. If one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, other factors become irrelevant, since a pure devotee is automatically in the highest position, higher than an ordinary brāhmana or sannyāsi. Again, “A person may be a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra or a sannyāsī, but if he happens to be well versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa, then he is fit to become a spiritual master.”

In the Hari-bhakti-vilasa (Gaudiya Grantha Mandira edition), we find an interesting verse reinforcing this point, text 5.453:

iti |
ato niṣedhakaṃ yad yad vacanaṃ śrūyate sphuṭam |
avaiṣṇavaparaṃ tat tad vijñeyaṃ tattvadarśibhiḥ || 453 ||

Therefore, when prohibitory statements are mentioned in the scriptures, they are understood by those who know the truth as only applying to non-Vaiṣṇavas.

If one argues that all of this applies to men but not to women, we can gently guide him or her to Bg 2.13 and 18.20-21:

dehino ’smin yathā dehe, kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir, dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.”

sarva-bhūteṣu yenaikaṁ, bhāvam avyayam īkṣate
avibhaktaṁ vibhakteṣu, taj jñānaṁ viddhi sāttvikam

pṛthaktvena tu yaj jñānaṁ, nānā-bhāvān pṛthag-vidhān
vetti sarveṣu bhūteṣu, taj jñānaṁ viddhi rājasam

“That knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all living entities, though they are divided into innumerable forms, you should understand to be in the mode of goodness.
That knowledge by which one sees that in every different body there is a different type of living entity you should understand to be in the mode of passion.”

In conclusion, when we take such passages at face value, the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is very simple and inclusive. It’s quite progressive, we can say. The point is thus about recognizing qualified people and giving them facilities to use and expand their talents in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

When misused, however, Vaiṣnava philosophy can be easily converted into an oppressive system that resembles a form of caste system, where people are put down and discriminated against instead of being encouraged in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. That’s a phenomenon Śrila Prabhupāda referred to as “skin disease,” the incapacity of pseudo-transcendentalists in seeing beyond the constraints of bodily identification.

When this “skin disease” becomes prominent, intelligent men and women are forced to leave and find ways to practice spiritual life away from the so-called spiritualists who can’t see beyond the body.

Prabhupāda was very progressive in his implementation of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, breaking with many patterns and social norms considered standard in India at the time, giving second initiation to women, encouraging them to write articles, lead kīrtanas (up to today, in every ISKCON temple, we hear a tape of Mother Yamunā singing every morning), worship the deities, distribute books, live in temples, and so on. This is all extensively documented.

Many of these initiatives were criticized by his Godbrothers and others, but when later on he was asked if he would do something different, he said no. If he were to start again, he would have done exactly the same. This shows how these innovative ideas were the secret to his being able to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, creating a dynamic movement capable of spreading through the world, and shows how the reversal of many of these initiatives in the name of “Varnāśrama” or “traditionalism” took much of this potency away.

In his purport to CC Ādi 7.31-32, Prabhupāda speaks strongly on all these points, sharply rebuffing his critics. Many of these points apply exactly to challenges we also face nowadays.

“Here is an important point. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to invent a way to capture the Māyāvādīs and others who did not take interest in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. This is the symptom of an ācārya. An ācārya who comes for the service of the Lord cannot be expected to conform to a stereotype, for he must find the ways and means by which Kṛṣṇa consciousness may be spread. Sometimes jealous persons criticize the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement because it engages equally both boys and girls in distributing love of Godhead. Not knowing that boys and girls in countries like Europe and America mix very freely, these fools and rascals criticize the boys and girls in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for intermingling. But these rascals should consider that one cannot suddenly change a community’s social customs. However, since both the boys and the girls are being trained to become preachers, those girls are not ordinary girls but are as good as their brothers who are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore, to engage both boys and girls in fully transcendental activities is a policy intended to spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. These jealous fools who criticize the intermingling of boys and girls will simply have to be satisfied with their own foolishness because they cannot think of how to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness by adopting ways and means that are favorable for this purpose. Their stereotyped methods will never help spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore, what we are doing is perfect by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for it is He who proposed to invent a way to capture those who strayed from Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”

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