Women: Masters or Mothers? is refreshingly dif ferent in that it makes us halt and review the direction our movement is taking and the path that we, its individual members, are treading. His Holiness Bhakti Vikāsa Swami appears to have delved deep into the recesses of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mind and instructions before coming up with a searchlight to show us the way ahead.

I was raised in America and came of age during the rise of the women’s liberation movement and the sexual revolution. Luckily, I was too young to participate in all those so-called newfound freedoms, but unfortunately they did have an effect on my consciousness. I came across Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings quite late in my life, but it was not hard for me to see that Śrīla Prabhupāda was presenting the Absolute Truth. I could easily see that Kṛṣṇa had...

I read the book, Women: Masters or Mothers? and really appreciate Mahārāja producing such a publication. Śrīla Bhakti Vikāsa Swami has presented a realistic view of todays culture through his divine and realized knowledge. He made the point in the book that everyone should respect women and also gave the way for women to be respected in society. In the modern age women suffer due to the cruelty and brutality of some of the members of society.

How do we continuously keep Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ISKCON on the right track being loyal to the aim that he as the founder-ācārya had set for our movement to save the entire human society? HH Bhakti Vikāsa Swami gives a clear and unambiguous answer to this question in his book Women: Masters or Mothers?

What is our nature, role and responsibility as women? How can we be successful and happy? The book Women: Masters or Mothers? gives us the answers. Bhakti Vikāsa Swami presents Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings with respect to this topic in a condensed and clear way.

Women: Masters or Mothers? explores all the significant features of a woman’s life and her role, and gives the authorized Vedic viewpoint on them supplemented by pertinent quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda and śāstra. One of the instructions that I found striking in this book is how a wife should submissively serve her husband with dedication in all situations.

After attaining the best possible education and getting a so-called good job in the medical field, I realized that my life was nothing but a series of serious mistakes, one after another in the search for material sense gratification. My entire thought process changed after I seriously started hearing and reading the teachings of His Holiness Bhakti Vikāsa Swami Mahārāja and realised that a confused upbringing and the search for material sense gratification is spoiling the women of this...

This book discusses all the important aspects of a woman’s life, such as marriage, childbirth, education, and career, and provides the authorized Vedic perspective on them, being full of relevant quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings and theśāstras. It encourages open-minded readers to question their own preconceived notions and the fact that today’s society largely rejects traditional culture, which was superior, as primitive and exploitative.

Dear Ladies, The choice is yours. The modern society is going in the wrong direction at a very high speed, and those women who want to escape from degradation can escape by following the guidelines in this book. Women in the modern age especially need such guidance, because this is now not available to us from any other source. By imitating the Western and materialistic lifestyles, the degradation among Indians is now even worse than that among Western people.

This book makes no apologies for its stand on rules and roles. The controversial topic of the female-bodied soul is ongoing; one should understand it carefully, because it’s not about putting down females but def ining the use of the bodily machine for elevation. Even for the male-bodied there are def ined rules according to one’s duty. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness neither is put down, yet for both male or female a role is def ined within certain parameters, the aim being elevation...

Women: Masters or Mothers? is a detailed study of the past and present position and situation of women throughout the world. The book compares the modern-day condition of women in general to how things were some years ago in various cultures around the world, and not just in India. Anyone with an open and unbiased outlook, can see on reading the book, that life was much happier then and people were much more content. Mahārāja gives detailed explanations on...

I thank Mahārāja for taking the time and effort to write this book for the benefit of all the members of ISKCON who want to follow Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings and make them the only goal of their lives. I welcome the publication of Women: Masters or Mothers? by His Holiness Bhakti Vikāsa Swami. Being categorized as an ‘educated Western woman’ and being thus conditioned in that way, I was not even aware that for years I was unconsciously competing with...