By: H.H. Bhakti Vikasa Swami

Several devotees have asked why the title of Women: Mothers or Masters? has been changed to "Mothers and Masters," and why the cover design has been changed.

These changes were made before the ban was removed. The reasoning was that certain detractors much objected to the title and the cover, so, rather than waste time and energy in defending the title and cover, I simply changed them. Let those who would object do so about the contents of the book, and then we will have something substantial to discuss.

The title "Mothers and Masters" is deliberately ambiguous. Does "masters" refer to men or women or both, or maybe to just some women or men? What would be the best title is of course subjective, but the change was made to attempt to somewhat pacify objectors, who were powerful enough to enact a GBC ban.

The title and cover are not as important as the message of the book, which is unchanged. The ban and the response to it has got many devotees reading the book, including it seems many GBC members.

I have received many letters about this book and the ban. Here is a sample from one of them;

"When I was a teenager one of my favorite musicians made a new album. Album was of poorer quality than the previous ones so it didn't sell well. However, it contained a controversial song. Soon after the media started talking against it and called for its ban. I even remember seeing a 30 minutes debate bout it at prime time CNN.

After all that the album sales skyrocketed by 600%. 🙂

So congratulations on your book ban, and the lifting of it. I'm deeply thankful to the GBC for a free worldwide advertisement. One maharaj recently told in a private conversation, "I''ll publish a new book soon. I hope GBC bans it to promote the sales." :)" 

Many thanks to all the devotees who have stood by me throughout this bizarre episode (which is not over yet), specially those who publicly objected to the ban. And very special thanks to the Sampradaya Sun for giving coverage.

This is a time of much churning within ISKCON. Let us hope that, as in the churning of the milk ocean, although poison was first produced, eventually many good things came out and finally there was nectar.