Introduction
In June of 2026, Prāṇadā devī dāsī published a book titled Rishikas & Vaishnavis: Women as Gurus, wherein she presented a number of women who contributed to various areas of Vedic culture throughout history, along with some examples of those who acted as dīkṣā-gurus within the Gauḍīya sampradāya. In the fourth chapter, she makes the claim that it is a “myth that only a Vaishnavi of Jahnava Thakurani’s caliber, i.e., an eternally liberated associate of Sri Krishna or Mahaprabhu, can fulfill the role of diksha-guru”, and dedicates the rest of the chapter to refuting this myth by citing various examples of female dīkṣā-gurus from Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava history. This paper seeks to evaluate the efficacy of her refutation by addressing the question, “Are each of the female dīkṣā-gurus mentioned in the fourth chapter of Prāṇadā’s book sādhakas or non-sādhakas?”
The criteria by which we propose to determine whether or not the following personalities are sādhakas are primarily twofold:
- Descriptions of activities or events wholly impossible to be performed or experienced by sādhakas.
- Statements directly identifying them as non-sādhakas.
SP didnt put in his books this idea of woman as gurus
SP didnt do it although many wonderful vaishnavis were around among his disciples. Everyone in ISKCON is already playing the role of siksha gurus including matajis. The only thing is by the nature of the body, heading or leading men, to do spiritual admin.
Woman can be powerful when in the shelter of man.
Then why didn’t SP select a single Vaishnavi to be a ritvik guru? The ritvik gurus were supposed to become regular gurus after SP’s departure. But he never selected, even knowing that some of his daughters were more advanced than some of the men he chose to be ritvik guru. In Prabhupada’s time, no woman was a temple president, GBC members, zonal secretary, property trustee or BBT trustee. He deliberately kept his women away from all those posts, did he not? He did. And the reason is simple: women are not fit for independence.