Parvati is perpetually asking her husband about spiritual matters, everything, and the husband is replying. That is the duty of husband, and that is also the duty of wife. Wife should get enlightenment from the husband, and she should give service. The husband is well situated; she is not discomforted, always looking to the comfort of the husband. And it is the duty of the husband to enlighten the wife always. Therefore husband is accepted as guru, pati-guru. In India, when a woman speaks of her husband, she says pati-guru, “my husband-master,”pati-guru. And it is not the system, Vedic system, to call the husband by name, as in the Western country the husband is called by his name. No. Out of respect, the wife does not call the husband by his real name.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture about Mayavada Philosophy — May 17, 1976, Honolulu