Women in Saffron

A while back, I was talking to a small group of devotees in the Temple room. Someone asked me what it was like when I lived in the Temple. As I was recounting a story, I happened to mention that I wore saffron. There was a brahmacari in the back of the group who started laughing. He was laughing so hard that he actually fell over. I asked him what was so funny and he said that he had never heard of a woman wearing saffron, thought it was hilarious, and actually didn't believe me.

I was upset, needless to say. I was upset that he had never heard about Srila Prabhupada's female disciples who were celibate monks, upset that our history was not passed down, upset that he would laugh at something so serious, and upset that he would think I was lying.

I joined the Hare Krsna Movement in 1971 in Fresno, California, USA. After being discouraged by so many movements--the anti-war movement, the resistance movement, the women's movement, union organizing--the Hare Krsna Movement was a breath of fresh air straight from the spiritual world. So many things were going on. There were Temples all over the world.

In Fresno I lived with four brahmacaris. While we had separate rooms, for the rest of the day we talked together, ate together, chanted together, everything together. We were all celibate monks--wearing saffron--and we were going to subvert the materialists and take them all back Home, back to Godhead! It was all so much fun.

Later on, when I moved to Los Angeles to be at a larger Temple, I continued to wear saffron. There was a kind of dress code in Los Angeles. Unmarried men and women wore saffron, married women wore yellow, and married men wore yellow or white.

The brahmacarinis lived in one room and we slept in our sleeping bags lined up like sardines-in-a-can. We shared one toilet and a shower with three shower heads. Most everyone wore saffron. Some wore printed saris, but they were expensive and hard to come by. Some just bought yardage at the fabric store and that worked just as well.

In the Temple room at this time, everyone stood wherever they wanted to in the room. Men and women stood next to each other during arotika, sat next to each other during class, and chanted japa together. We talked to each other outside the Temple room, too. Working side by side we cooked, worked in the office, did sankirtan, and did pujari work together. Everything was very egalitarian.

When the edict came down that we should stand on different sides of the Temple room, I was very distressed. I regularly chanted japa in front of Lord Jagannatha and now I was banished to the other side of the room! Men became very rude, because they were told they weren't supposed to talk to us. If the only person in the room was a man, who was I supposed to ask if I had a question?

So, back to our brahmacari at the beginning of this post. I explained to him that I joined the Hare Krsna Movement because I was very serious about self realization. I joined as a monk. Saffron was the perfect expression of that. I was initiated in a saffron sari and Srila Prabhupada made no comment about it. He gave me a very wonderful name--Satya devi. She is a wife of Krsna. As Her servant I look for the truth and serve Her as best I can. Jaya Prabhupada!

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