asa[e] vad; female guru ... guru-tattva; female guru

ASA - Sriman Basu Gosh Das, thank you for the letter:

One point that really grounds us in the discussions of racism, feminism, nationalism in ISKCON is that first we want to distinguish who is Kanistha, Madhyama or Uttama Adhikari in the discussion. If we are talking with/about an Indian, black, woman devotee then we want to know if s(he)it is Kanistha, Madhyama or Uttama Adhikari.

Other point is that Diksa is for us a very [Daivi] Varna-ashrama Dharma position, so if a woman is doing it, then it must be under the protection of her father, husband, grown up son.

Especially for such a role, the Guru must be proper example of an initiated devotee.

When a we think of her in a public relation, it must be obvious to us who is her protector.

For example, Mother Urmilla Devi Dasi, Mother Narayani Devi Dasi, Mother Rukmini Devi Das, are all Gurus to us.

Yet it is not obvious to us under whose protection they are acting in our institution. As a Sannyasi we would really only want to communicate with them under the glance of their protectors. ... Mother Uttama Devi Dasi of the Grhasta Vision team is so much under the protection of my friend, her husband, Partha Das, that I feel communicating with one is communicating with the other... Make any sense?