Līlā

I wish to make a brief comment on the recent killing of 17-year old Lila Salter from Australia in Vṛndāvana. I do not know her or her family and this is not a judgement of them. They have my heartfelt condolences and sympathy in this time of grief. Nothing justifies her senseless killing. I want to say in general, though, that western girls and women are often ill-prepared when they come to India as Vaiṣṇava converts. It is said that Lila went around uncovered and approached Indian men directly, trying to promote her Guru's books, as this is being done in the west. Indian morale has it, however, that even public women do not approach unrelated men in a direct manner. Surely her intentions were lofty, but it shows that westerners have a lot to learn about matters like modesty, though they often do have higher spiritual knowledge than many born Hindus or even Vaiṣṇavas. The solution lies in a combination of segregation and education. Western women need to be educated in modesty and Indian men need to be taught that western women's open attitudes doesn't make them prostitutes, though western women should first learn modesty. It's their (the Indian men's) country, after all! Segregation helps avoiding disaster scenarios like this. Sādhu Bābā told me personally that Indians marrying westerners would be a cross-cultural disaster, and it usually is. One doesn't become Indian, let alone brahmin, simply by putting on Indian robes. If westerners who are new to India can learn a lesson from this, Lila's tragic death will not have been in vain.