Prabhupāda:
- nityaṁ dadāti kāmasya
- cchidraṁ tam anu ye 'rayaḥ
- yoginaḥ kṛta-maitrasya
- patyur jāyeva puṁścalī
- (SB 5.6.4)
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, everything threadbare discussed, very practical, and absolute truth. There are social, political, religious. Everything is discussed very scientifically. So here the example is given of the woman, puṁścalī. There are three kinds of woman: kāminī, svairendrī and puṁścalī, according to śāstra. So they become, because . . . Just like children. They are innocent, and if they are given freedom they will be spoiled. Everyone knows it. If you don't give proper training to the children and allow him to do independently whatever he likes, that means that child is spoiled. Prāpte tu ṣoḍaśa-varṣe . . .
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has advised,
- lālane bahavo doṣās
- tāḍane bahavo guṇāḥ
- tasmāt putraṁ ca śiṣyam ca
- tāḍayen na tu lālayet
This is required. And Tulasī dāsa, he has also said . . . Tulasī dāsa is big poet in Hindi language. He has written the Rāma-carita-manas. His opinion . . . Not only his opinion; that is the Vedic opinion, that . . . He says, dhol gamar strī śūdra . . . paśu śūdra nārī, ei ei sab śāsana ke adhikārī(?). So this statement will not be very palatable to the Western girls. They want independence. In Chicago, when I was there, they talked about independence of the woman. They asked me question. So I replied, "No, womans cannot be given independence." So there was a great agitation against me. In many papers I was very much criticized. But actually it is the fact, because they are innocent, not so intelligent and . . . These are all practical. We may avoid discussing, but Bhāgavata is very open for discussing all subject matter. That is fact. We should not hide anything artificially. We must discuss the fact. Not only here, the mention it is, the Manu-saṁhitā. Manu-saṁhitā recommends, "A woman should not be given independence." For their interest they must be protected by father, husband and sons, because if they are polluted, they become very dangerous.