Consider the following comment by Prabhupāda on the custom of bathing in rivers by girls and women.
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows: “It is an old system among Indian girls and women that when they take a bath in the river they place their garments on the bank and dip into the water completely naked. The portion of the river where the girls and women bathe was strictly prohibited to any male, and this is still the system. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, knowing the minds of the unmarried young gopīs, awarded them their desired objective. They had prayed for Kṛṣṇa to become their husband, and Kṛṣṇa wanted to fulfill their desires.”
We know that Krishna provided a way of expiation to Gopis for the act. And it is a well-known truth that bathing without clothes is discouraged in sanathan dharma.
So, I got doubt about the bolded statement by Prabhupāda as it infers that girls and women following the old system are not performing sadachara.
How to understand the comments by Prabhupāda? Are there any other such statements from scriptures depicting such an old system?
