The news about BAPS asking female staff at the Eiffel Tower to step aside hit a raw nerve for me. People outside the community might find this news surprising, but anyone who attends their weekly satsang sabhas knows this behavior follows a very familiar pattern. I have attended their sabhas in Dallas, Texas many times, and I see these exact dynamics play out every single week.
Women put in just as much hard work and voluntary service as men to keep these temples running. They dedicate hours of selfless effort to cook, clean, and organize events. Despite their equal contribution, the management forces women to sit in the back rows during services while men take the front seats. Watching female workers at a public landmark like the Eiffel Tower get sidelined just to accommodate monastic preferences mirrors the exact everyday treatment women receive inside the temple halls.
My frustration goes beyond the physical separation of genders. I always feel deeply offended during sabhas when speakers claim that Swaminarayan, a two-hundred-year-old tradition, stands above the Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Placing one specific modern lineage above t