Laxmimoni : Every once in a while Pishima would go to Prabhupada’s room in Vrindavan and she would never go alone. She would grab another woman and take them with her. Even if there were other people in the room she still would never go by herself. She had a whole procedure where she would wash your hands with Ganga jal or Yamuna jal, depending on whether she was in Vrindavan or Mayapur, before taking you into Prabhupada’s room. On one occasion when I got the honor of accompanying her into Prabhupada’s quarters, Srila Prabhupada was speaking about how in Vaishnav culture you can always tell a person’s position by the way they dress. He was saying for example, the brahmachari wears saffron cloth and the sannyasi also wears saffron, but because he doesn’t have the piece in the back, you can tell he is a renunciate. The married woman wears sindur in the part of her hair and a widow is wearing white cloth. Then he said something about how a woman who parts her hair on the side, “That is another thing.” Then he said, “But our devotees they always dress simply.” So one mataji, one of my God-sisters said, “But Prabhupada, what happens if your husband gives you very nice silk saris? Aren’t you supposed to wear them?” Prabhupada’s response was, “You should wear them when your husband is around. Otherwise who you are trying to impress? Krishna is not impressed by silk saris.” So she made a face and Prabhupada saw that. He kind of said with his eyes, “What’s the problem?” Prabhupada then said, “Men should treat all women as mother“, and again she kind of scowled. So Pusta Krishna Prabhu, then maharaj, was there. He said, “Prabhupada, I think that statement, “Whenever I think of sex life I spit on it “, I think they think it means “Whenever I think of women I spit on it“. He said, “They call them mother but they don’t treat like mother.” Prabhupada thought for a second and said, “First let them become free of sex desire, then let them spit.” So that was also very strong.
Prabhupada wanted us to be seen as mother, not just called mother. If you are from New York, you know being called mother is not a very respectful term. There’s another word that goes with it. But when Prabhupada said, “Mother“, he really wanted us to be treated like a mother and how a person in Vedic culture treats their mother is reverential. Having that feeling would make peace. It would make everything worthwhile. Prabhupada treated us that way all the time. And so there was never conflict. We never felt bad about anything.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint – Volume 4 by Siddhanta Dasa
