Is serving deities at our place in nuclear families by ladies during 4 days of menstruation allowed in ISKCON?

Question from Kamlesh Khurana –

Prabhupada quote:

According to the smarta vidhi, women cannot touch deity during menstrual period but the goswami viddhi allows. But it is better not to do it. One thing is that the seva can never be stopped for any reason. This also for the cooking.

Letter to Amshu – 74-08-13

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
A question from Anvesh Gurana Prabhu Is serving deity at our place by ladies during the 4th administration in nuclear families allowed in this country? Answer Actually Prabhupada would say we have to do the needful to keep the wheels moving it means that devotional service has to be performed whatever be the circumstances so if it is possible that someone else apart from the menstruating ladies can do the service of the deities that is preferable but when it is not possible then whatever is required our service to the lord should not be interrupted so there is Bhagavata Vidhi and Pancharatra Vidhi Bhagavata Vidhi is centered on chanting of the holy names and Pancharatra Vidhi is centered on deity worship so in general Bhagavata Vidhi is more focused on sound vibration and is less rule bound so we can hear anytime, we can chant anytime so even if we have not taken bath because of sickness or because of circumstances still we can pick up the beads and chant our rounds chanting is most important on the other hand with respect to deities one has to observe more cleanliness and one has to take bath and be in a proper frame of mind in temple deities one has to even be dharma initiated before one can worship so in general it is important within Pancharatra Vidhi to follow as many rules as possible especially the rules which Vishalaprabhupada has given in his scorn are quite basic and fundamental they are Vishalaprabhupada did not make deity worship standards very high so the rules are quite simplified as compared to what the Pancharatra texts talk about and this is also valid because in general practice of spiritual life is very limited and the lord mercy says that he always wants you to keep himself accessible to others so therefore the simplification of the rules in Pancharatra is valid because that is in tune with the mercy of the lord and value done now specifically with respect to this particular situation as I said the rules for deity worship is stricter than the rules for hearing and chanting so as much as possible one can try to follow the rules but when it is not possible that means when there is nobody else to do the deity services then the important thing is that we have invited the lord to our house and we do not want to serve him so we have to continue our service so at that time and situation physically the body is considered to be impure and that is why in traditional joint families the women would not often even engage in activities like cooking for the whole family, leave alone doing religious activities like serving the deity and this is not just superstition it is not just physically the body is unclean physical uncleanness is associated with certain higher forces that also affect our consciousness and our capacity to serve but still if there is no uncleanity then the vishalaproka the deity worship and the service to the lord should go on and that is why um serving the deities but allowed vishalaproka specifically asked this question in a letter and I have posted this letter in answer also letter to Amshu, 74-0813 so according to Prabhupada is saying, according to smartha vidhi that is the traditional standards, women cannot touch deity during menstrual period the goswami vidhi allows so the goswami’s have taken the traditional rules and regulations and have integrated them with the bhakti scriptures and presented them in a way that is suitable to karma but it is better not to do it, so he is recommending the standards be followed whenever it is possible but then he also says one thing is that the seva cannot be stopped for any reason also for the cooking if it is possible to avoid, well and good but if it is not possible, the service should go on so vishalaprabhupada wanted to make sure that consciousness remains accessible for everyone and according to some traditional rules women during their period should not even go to the temples vishalaprabhupada asked this question he said that they should not go to the temple to participate in the deity worship during their period but when in mayapur, in the early days the matajis were doing various services ropa told him, you can definitely come to the temple for attending the temple participating in the temple programs but should not do deity worship in the temple, because the temple there are other people who can do the deity worship at that time at home that option is not there so the needful has to be done