Question: My question is related to my future life. Very soon I am going to get married. My would-be life partner does not know anything about the Hare Krishna movement. I do not know how to tell her about it. She is very fond of listening to film songs. I am not sure how to divert her to Krishna conscious life. Please help me how can I tackle the situation.
Answer by Romapada Swami: My suggestion would be that you VERY gently and gradually introduce your prospective wife to your Krishna consciousness, your personal appreciation of its uplifting impact in your life. Then communicate to her about your convictions, your devotional practices and the principles you would like to commit yourself to in a very straightforward yet pleasant manner. You could further discuss with her frankly about your own personal goals and aspirations and try to understand in turn her general expectations and how she feels about your spiritual commitments. The sooner you have such an open communication, the better it would be to help prepare her mind, as well as for you to accommodate her response, rather than to let it come as an unexpected surprise or to wait until it is too late, leaving either you or her disappointed and unprepared to accept the other’s reaction.
Of course, it would be wonderful if you find from your talks that she is also spiritually inclined and expresses some interest; but in any case it is not advisable to bear down upon her with numerous do’s and don’ts or force upon her something she is disinclined to do, provided she is favorable and has no major objections to the basic principles of a Krishna conscious way of life, such as your chanting, following the regulative principles, associating with devotees and leading a spiritually-centered life. In case there is such a major disagreement, it would do well to address them BEFORE you enter into this life-long commitment of marriage. If she is favorable in principle however, then there is room to change the other habits and inclinations in course of time; by your own good example and your cultivation of the vaishnava qualities as well as through association of devotees, she is likely to become naturally attracted to take up this wonderful way of life. I hope this is of help to you.
There are some questions about marriage in Krishna consciousness in Digest 111 and Digest 28.
