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Being able to cook nicely is the first qualification of a wife.

Nara-Narayana : In 1969 the first Gita came out which was edited by Rayrama and there were some questions about it. Prabhupada had been in correspondence with Hayagriva who was living in New Vrindavan and Hayagriva had mentioned something about thinking he might want to get married. Prabhupada told him, "Well you're twenty-seven, better to get married before thirty if you're going to get married because after thirty marriage is not so pleasurable." That was pretty much the end of it and then he called Hayagriva to come from New Vrindavan to talk about the Gita and various other subjects. We were all upstairs in Prabhupada's apartment on Hayworth Street at that time. Shyama dasi, who transcribed the Nectar of Devotion and also cooked for Srila Prabhupada, was also there. During one meal Prabhupada was relishing her very nice subjis and Prabhupada turned to Hayagriva and said, "Well, do you like the prasadam?" Hayagriva who was a very tense and quiet guy said, "Yeah, it's good, yes." So Prabhupada looked at him and smiled urbanely and said, "Being able to cook nicely is the first qualification of a wife." Hayagriva nearly started choking on his food, staring at Shyama dasi. Shyama dasi's hands were trembling and she nearly dropped the pot of prasadam. I was sitting there with my mouth open as was everybody else. Everyone was staring at Srila Prabhupada and all of a sudden it dawned on us that he just dropped a bombshell. Hayagriva gradually recovered his composure. Shyama dasi was blushing through her gopi makeup and everybody was totally astonished. But Prabhupada had said the first qualification of a wife is that she can cook nicely. From that point onward I began to realize that the home art of cooking is the key to Krishna consciousness family life. A woman who is a devotee and pulls out frozen dinners made by Stouffers is not quite spreading the movement in a way that will be remembered by her grandchildren.


Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 4 by Siddhanta Dasa