If a case of illicit sex between a man and an unmarried woman were brought before Prabhupada, he never blamed the woman. He said it is the man’s fault because the man is supposed to be strong and intelligent, and that a woman naturally and innocently follows a man.
Can you please provide a reference for this?
–Anonymous
Mahatma Das: When a sexual falldown between a leader in our movement and a brahmacarini took place, Srila Prabhupada made the comment about it being the man’s fault. I don’t know if this is recorded on the database. I am only referencing this from memory of this incident and how it was explained to us at the time. We were told that Srila Prabhupada responded by putting the blame primarily on the man.
This does follow the shastric (scriptural) statement that cows, women, brahmanas, children and elderly people are not to be punished but protected.
Similarly, in one class the children were making noise and they were asked to leave by a senior devotee and Srila Prabhupada said that in this room there are only brahmanas, children, women, and elderly people so no one here is to be faulted.
And this meant the kids didn’t have to leave.
The general idea is that a woman follows a man, so if a man allures a woman into something improper, he is held accountable. Of course, this doesn’t mean a woman will not suffer negative consequences in her life, or should be irresponsible, but still the blame primarily falls on the man because he is supposed to be the leader.
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