Beards in Krishna Consciousness

A common question asked by many of our godbrothers is: What is the siddhanta on shaving? Well in this Chaitanya Charitamrta purport, Shrila Prabhupada gives the answer:

A bearded monk in orange robes — A yogi meditates on a mountain

bhadra karana tanre

ganga-snana karaila

sekhara aniya tanre

nutana vastra dila

SYNONYMS: bhadra karana -- making gentle; tanre -- him; ganga-snana -- bathing in the Ganges; karaila -- caused to do; sekhara -- Chandrasekhara; aniya -- bringing; tanre -- to him; nutana -- new; vastra -- clothing; dila -- delivered.

TRANSLATION: Chandrasekhara then made Sanatana Gosvami look like a gentleman. He took him to bathe in the Ganges, and afterwards he brought him a new set of clothes.

PURPORT: The words bhadra karana are significant in this verse. Due to his long hair, mustache and beard, Sanatana Gosvami looked like a daravesa, or hippie. Since Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not like Sanatana Gosvami's hippie features, he immediately asked Chandrasekhara to get him shaved clean. If anyone with long hair or a beard wants to join this Krishna consciousness movement and live with us, he must similarly shave himself clean. The followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu consider long hair objectionable.

>> Ref. VedaBase => Madhya 20.70