Vaisnava Dress is Ecstatic, Cool, and Sublime

Although for meeting the public and introducing our books we members of the Hare Krishna movement may wear ordinary clothing, dressing traditionally as a devotee in a dhoti for men or a sari for women along with tilaka (clay marking on the forehead) and tulasi neck beads is our standard attire.

One may wonder that since we are not these bodies, what do clothes have to do with awakening our dormant Krishna consciousness? It could be stated that what one wears is totally irrelevant for one's Krishna consciousness. After all one can be Krishna conscious in any type of clothing.

But Srila Prabhupada taught us that dressing as devotees is favorable both for our own Krishna consciousness as well as for our teaching the world society the science of Krishna consciousness. I have personally been dressing as devotee for the last 42 years, and I can confirm from my own experience that what Srila Prabhupada has taught us in this regard is absolutely correct. Vaisnava dress does in fact help us to remember who we are as the eternal servants of Krishna, and it also empowers us to speak more authoritatively as representatives of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this connection Srila Rupa Goswami has stated that if something is favorable for our Krishna consciousness, it is a mistake to give it up. Therefore Vaisnava dress should be worn by devotees as much as possible.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Ecstatically Arriving in Germany in a Dhoti 23 March 2006

Sankarshan Das Ecstatically Arriving in Germany in a Dhoti

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Question: Loving Krishna, Wife, and Family

I understand that true love can only be experienced when we give our love Krishna. What then is the position of our natural love for our wife and family?

Akur

Answer: Love Krishna, Love Everyone Perfectly

When you water the root of a tree all the leaves and branches get watered. Similarly, when you give all of your love to Krishna, your love is perfectly distributed to all living beings throughout the universe including your wife and family. Unless you give your love fully to Krishna, your love for wife and family will remain imperfect being tainted with selfishness. But when you totally give your love to Krishna you become perfect in selflessness and your love shines upon all living beings with absolute purity.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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