Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

looks like they feel shy hehe

Rameshvara: No. Im just saying that it is a little difficult if they wear their dhoti.
Prabhupada: No, dhoti, I dont say. You have nice coat-pant. I dont say that you have to... I never said that. You have adopted it. (laughs) I never said that "You put on dhoti." But those who are sannyasis, brahmacaris, their dress is different. But it doesnt require that one has to become a sannyasi.

Conversation 11 January 1977

I like dhoti and kurta, the way dhoti is helping not identifying with body, like pants, but I rarely put it on, cause I live far away from temple. I think helps to remember Krishna in a direct and practical way.

Actually metaphysically the dhoti or sari are interesting because they do not have a fixed shape or form. They are not giving another designation to the body like a pant. They are covering the body but at the same time they are removing designation from it because there is no shape that it is giving to the body. The dhoti or sari is just a way to cover the body, it is not a fixed form on the body. Hmm, maybe I should go wear one then.

hehe. You caught yourself.
But come on, if the building is on fire and you have to run what are you going to use, a dhoti or pants?

I like wearing sari specially when I have time, its a nice ritual, but to have to put it on when you are in a hurry...

Indian women tend to give sari up under the influence of Western(ized) media.
On the other hand, more and more women in Czech Republic (and possibly elsewhere in West) are into saris.

When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn... :)

Dhotis and bicycles are a bad combination.

(unless you like ripped grease stained dhotis)

(and occasionally falling off your bike)

:)

I never got used to that dhoti etc. Im born in a western body and therefore its dressed in western clothes, that feels natural. Dovetailing everything in Krsnas service, why not the western clothes?

I love wearing dhotis and tilaka and do it as much as possible...while shopping, riding the bus, going to the temple, etc...even though I live outside the temple. I find that many people are interested in Indian culture and sometimes they will come up to me and ask questions about Krsna where otherwise, if I had simply been wearing karmi clothes, they wouldnt have. I actually dislike wearing karmi clothes and only do it in situations when I have to. Here in Hawaii it is pretty easy to wear a dhoti all the time, though. People are culturally aware and the climate is also favorable.

-Amara

There was a devotee giving a lecture once in a temple (forgot where). He said: "Okay. Everyone who is not wearing a dhoti or saree cannot be here." Can you believe that it was a full room. And after he said that there were only three or four people left!!

That seems so strange to me! Just recently, a GALVA member told me he had to leave a temple in Germany because none of the devotees there would wear dhotis--not even in the kitchen or on the altar! I realize Srila Prabhupada told us in the beginning that we were not required to wear dhotis, but isnt it much better when we do?

-Amara

Oh, in a similar vein...about a year back I went to the Honolulu temple for the grand arrival of H.H. Jayapataka Swami. He had just arrived and hadnt been to Hawaii in many years. I was shocked to see that all of his disciples were dressed in grungy-looking karmi clothes, as was the temple president. In fact, I was the only one who had bothered to put on a dhoti, and I was only the Maharajas Godbrother--not a disciple!

anyway you know how it is supposed to be, right prabhu?