Page 20 - Powerful Feminine Qualities

worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I
preserve what they have.” (Bg 9.22) He had a doubt, which he expressed, “How is it that the Lord Himself will come
and deliver the goods? Oh, it is not possible. He might send some agents." He could not believe that the Lord would
personally serve His devotee. He reasoned that the Lord would certainly send the goods through one of His servants.
He decided to change the words “vahamy aham, I bear the burden and deliver,” to “I send some agent who delivers”.
After the change in text, the Brahmana went to take his bath. Two beautiful young boys came to his door carrying a
large quantity of first class raw ingredients to cook an opulent feast. The brahmana’s wife welcomed them in the
absence of her husband. The boys addressed the brahmana’s wife. “Dear Mother, your husband has sent these
foodstuffs to you for preparing a nice feast.” She was enchanted by their attractive and humble appearance and
behavior. She said, “Oh my husband is very cruel to overburden you to carry such a huge amount of foodstuffs. He is
not kind.” One boy said, “Oh I did not want to carry such heavy burden, but he struck me with his cane. Here, just see,
there is a swollen mark on my body.” The wife was shocked. She said, “My husband is supposed to be very gentle.
How has he become so cruel?” Then she said, “My dear boys, you please enter my house.” They hesitated due to fear
that the Brahmana might come and continue to chastise them. She insisted, “No, no. You sit down and wait while I
cook a very nice feast for you.” After they ate to their full satisfaction, they excused themselves and left.
Later, when the Brahmana returned from his bath, he saw that his wife was eating. The general custom is that the
women of the house eat only after the husband and guest. He was somewhat surprised, but before he could inquire,
the wife addressed him. “Acarya, you have become so cruel now.”
The Brahmana was taken aback. “Oh, what do you mean?” She related how two very attractive and sweet boys
brought a large quantity of opulent foodstuffs to prepare a feast. She faulted her husband for asking the young boys to
carry such a heavy load of food by themselves although they protested that they did not want to carry so much. When
one of the boys remonstrated, she said that her husband beat and chastised him. The Brahmana became emotional
and denied doing such a thing. The wife went on to describe how enchantingly beautiful the boys were.
The Brahmana realized that Krishna came to his house to deliver the foodstuffs to demonstrate that the Lord does
personally serve His devotee out of affection. The Brahmana thought, “Because I thought that God does not deliver
personally, therefore He has delivered these goods. I cut the phrase ‘vahamy aham’ which means ‘I bear the burden
and deliver,’ and changed it to ‘I send some agent who delivers.’ Therefore Krishna showed the cane mark on His body
to demonstrate how my change of the two words was actually a wound on His body because the Bhagavad-gita
represents His eternal words and they are non-different than Himself.” This is the kindness of the Lord!

How women can protect themselves
The number one quality to protect women in society and to keep them always properly situated in their position as a
chaste daughter, chaste wife, chaste mother, chaste grandmother, etc., is shyness, lajja. This is the best way for
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women to avoid attracting lusty men. Bhismadeva explains in Srimad Bhagavatam, 5 Canto, 6 Chapter, 4 Verse and
Prabhupada further elaborates on this in a lecture he gave in Vrindavan on November 26 , 1976. He explained the
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meaning of pumshcali. It means ‘an unchaste wife’.
He said, “‘Not that every woman is unchaste.’ There are many examples. The character of women is not a
generalization, but there is a chance, if they are not controlled. If they are not properly educated, there is a chance of
becoming pumshcali. There have been many instances for women being attracted by a paramour. She has killed even
her own son, or her husband. There are cases. So Bhismadeva also advised that the shyness of women, lajja – it is a
Sanskrit word- is a control system. If you break that shyness, then there will be disaster. That is the control valve
naturally given in Vedic culture. In addition, a woman’s shyness is actually her beauty. We have practical experience
and command. We have practical experience in our life. One day my friend, Dinanath Misra, and I were sitting in the
corridor of his house. One sweeper woman wanted to come to the corridor, but she was very shy. She had her head
covered. Although she was carrying her broomstick and a bucket, she was waiting, because we were sitting on both
sides of the corridor. She was feeling a little shy to enter the house by passing through us. When we saw her hesitating

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