Prabhus and dreadlocks

Recently there was a ‘prabhu’-debate going on on the internet. Here's my two cents -

The title Prabhu is highly watered down and devalued - in śāstra it has been used only for the likes of Vyāsadeva and Sanātan Goswāmī, but I have heard devotees addressing dopy bhaktas, sly Vrindavan-shopkeepers and meat-eating lifemembers as Prabhu and I really dont think the honorific is meant for them. Nārada calling his own disciple Vyāsa 'Prabhu' (in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 1.5.5) is a special case, as what would you do if God Himself (or His literary incarnation) becomes your disciple? This does not set a standard for calling every Tom Dick and Harry ‘Prabhu’. Prabhu is really just for those – Vyāsadeva, Sanātan Goswāmī (called ‘Prabhu’ in Vilāpa Kusumāñjali, verse 6) and the other great ācāryas.


Returning to the topic of why Vaiṣṇavas have shaved heads - (though it is not prescribed in śāstra) - it has been the custom of the bābājīs for a few centuries, and the Gauḍīya Maṭh, founded in 1918, also introduced it for its brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs. For Iskcon, however, there have been more than just such customary reasons. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami wrote to Brahmananda on October 11, 1967:

"Regarding change of dress, I beg to inform you that every Krishna conscious person must be clean shaved, must have Tilaka on the forehead and other eleven places and must have the Sikha on the top of the head besides beads on the neck as usual. Rarely one can continue to keep beard but it is better not to keep it to distinguish oneself from the hippies. We must let the public know that we are not hippies''.

And to Kirtanananda October 16, 1967:

"They must continue to have robes and tilak and flags and they must distinguish themselves from the hippies."

Another letter:

"Up to date gentlemen are all clean shaved so if we do not keep long hair and dress ourselves nicely with tilaka, flag and beads on the neck, apart from our devotional service, then certainly we shall be distinct from the hippies."

Of course, Sādhu Bābā was a different type of sādhu and he wore long matted locks (jaṭās), which is a respectable appearance in India, but is a hippy appearance in the west. Unfortunately this has led to a misunderstanding in the western public that comes in contact with Sādhu Bābā - they tend to believe that, because of his appearance and some of his activities, he is the 'hip Guru' who will allow his disciples everything (unintentionally, Sādhu Bābā does have Osho’s looks). As a consequence I am repeatedly approached for dīkṣā by people who think Sādhu Bābā is some type of clean-out-drain, that will accept those whom no one else will accept. This is not the case. Long hair in the Indian context does not mean being dirty, unchaste, disrespectful, lazy and addicted to intoxicants. In January, 1982 I was in Nepal, witnessing the Shiva Rātri festivities there - sādhus wearing matted locks [jaṭās] slept naked in the snow – hardly comparible with the comfy lives of dread-locked hippies in the west, lying on their warm waterbeds with their illicit girlfriends. We are not responsible for westerners’ cultural conditioning of linking dreadlocks with hippyism. The four Kumāras had jaṭās millions of years ago. The Bhāgavata (3.8.5) states that they had matted locks, too – svardhunyudād ardraiḥ sva jaṭā-kalāpair - and they are the school-example of celibacy. Those who want to take shelter of Sadhu Baba must follow all the rules like in any other Vaiṣṇava school.