Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Woman: Is she really to be kept away from?
Lot is said about the (supposedly) evil role of woman in influencing a man to lose his dharma and turn away from the righteous path and thus, spiritual path of liberation. Naturally, all the women of the modern world will despise Sanatana dharma, without ever thinking even for a moment about the truth in this aspect.
Sanatana dharma always recognized the need to have different paths for people at different degrees of spiritual progress. For the ordinary, the path of dharma was in four stages: Bachelorhood (Brahmacharya), Householder life of marriage & raising family (Gruhastha), retiring from the secular activities (Vaanaprastha - literally means heading towards forest) and renounciation (Sanyasa).
In the first stage the man is too young anyway and the emphasis is on learning.
In the second stage onwards, the woman is given significant position of partner in dharma, artha, kama. In the last stage, the spiritual progress would be such that the sex of the person is least important.
However, not everyone is ordinary. Some might go to renounciation stage quite early. These are the people who are going against the very fabric of body and its essential funtions. Naturally it is very essential to take care of the spiritual goals at all costs. Now, it is very well known that men are much more vulnerable to carnal attraction; they are 'visual' as against 'emotional' women. This can be easily seen by the differences in the reactions. If you are a man, just think of a woman in bikini and gauge your reactions. Just check with a frank female friend or relative about their reactions when they see a man clad in nothing but a loin-cloth.
In this regard, women are far more capable of spiritual progress than man. However, for them the regression occurs typically by emotional attachment. The scriptures warn amply against "Moha" (attachment), which is a significant danger in the path of sadhana.
There is a story about sage vyasa & his son Suka. Once young suka who used to roam about naked, as he was totally devoid of this worldly consciousness, passed by a river where some women were taking bath. The women were unperturbed and continued bathing. Vyasa came the same way a little later and immediately, the women rushed behind the bushes and clad themselves with clothes. Surprised by this, Vyasa asked the women why they felt embarassed when they saw a clothed old man but did not feel so when a naked young man passed by them. They replied "O great one! your son is beyond genders. He is only conscious of the all pervading Brahman, where as you have still not lost your feeling of man".
After this story, it is very apparent that women need not get upset when they see some sanyasins not talking to them or meeting them. They should feel compassion for them, for they are far away from Suka Maharshi!
Sanatana dharma always recognized the need to have different paths for people at different degrees of spiritual progress. For the ordinary, the path of dharma was in four stages: Bachelorhood (Brahmacharya), Householder life of marriage & raising family (Gruhastha), retiring from the secular activities (Vaanaprastha - literally means heading towards forest) and renounciation (Sanyasa).
In the first stage the man is too young anyway and the emphasis is on learning.
In the second stage onwards, the woman is given significant position of partner in dharma, artha, kama. In the last stage, the spiritual progress would be such that the sex of the person is least important.
However, not everyone is ordinary. Some might go to renounciation stage quite early. These are the people who are going against the very fabric of body and its essential funtions. Naturally it is very essential to take care of the spiritual goals at all costs. Now, it is very well known that men are much more vulnerable to carnal attraction; they are 'visual' as against 'emotional' women. This can be easily seen by the differences in the reactions. If you are a man, just think of a woman in bikini and gauge your reactions. Just check with a frank female friend or relative about their reactions when they see a man clad in nothing but a loin-cloth.
In this regard, women are far more capable of spiritual progress than man. However, for them the regression occurs typically by emotional attachment. The scriptures warn amply against "Moha" (attachment), which is a significant danger in the path of sadhana.
There is a story about sage vyasa & his son Suka. Once young suka who used to roam about naked, as he was totally devoid of this worldly consciousness, passed by a river where some women were taking bath. The women were unperturbed and continued bathing. Vyasa came the same way a little later and immediately, the women rushed behind the bushes and clad themselves with clothes. Surprised by this, Vyasa asked the women why they felt embarassed when they saw a clothed old man but did not feel so when a naked young man passed by them. They replied "O great one! your son is beyond genders. He is only conscious of the all pervading Brahman, where as you have still not lost your feeling of man".
After this story, it is very apparent that women need not get upset when they see some sanyasins not talking to them or meeting them. They should feel compassion for them, for they are far away from Suka Maharshi!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
With apologies to none
Sanatana Dharma means ancient way of life. This was the way of life for Indians for thousands of years. Sometime in the recent history, it was called "Hindu Religion", probably by invaders. 'Dharma' got translated to 'Religion' by someone who did not understand the subtle differences. Over a period of time it got de-generated. Currently, it is the villain of the secularists, as "Hindutva" is a much maligned term. (With politicians and communal forces as your friends, do you need foes?)
This way of life did not lead to progress on the worldly side. Mostly, there are two types of reactions from the so called "educated" people on this aspect:
- India & its dharma are useless. Had Indians did not waste their time on dharma, they would have surpassed west in scientific & technological fields :-(
- India had discovered everything including airplanes, surgery (surprise!) and over a period of time secrets were lost :-)
From whatever I have gathered, both represent highly biased opinions, which are based on very very superficial analysis. Why so?
Indians were far ahead of others upto some point in history. When people in other parts of the world were still nomads, indians were already predicting eclipses based on the planetary observations! The important concept of zero was introduced by indians. Is it likely that such people did not have scientific temper?
The scientific temper of the ancient indians did not lead to one discovery after another leading to tech-world. Instead, they realised that no matter what is achieved in the realm of this world of objects, there was no lasting happiness. So,they paused and started seeking answers for very basic questions like "who are we? why are we here? what is the way of permanent happiness?".
The quest gripped them so much that they simply gave up worldy science.
The answers to these questions are beyond the five senses and intellect. A seemingly simple question "who am I?" has no answer in the realm of mind, apart from play of words.
The progress achieved on this front is tremendous. When one studies the scriptures of sanatana dharma, the modern psychology looks like kid-stuff. I strongly believe that after much ado about all the science, mankind will be forced to direct their enquiry in this direction.
Is the current model of progress & development most appropriate? Happy reflection!
This way of life did not lead to progress on the worldly side. Mostly, there are two types of reactions from the so called "educated" people on this aspect:
- India & its dharma are useless. Had Indians did not waste their time on dharma, they would have surpassed west in scientific & technological fields :-(
- India had discovered everything including airplanes, surgery (surprise!) and over a period of time secrets were lost :-)
From whatever I have gathered, both represent highly biased opinions, which are based on very very superficial analysis. Why so?
Indians were far ahead of others upto some point in history. When people in other parts of the world were still nomads, indians were already predicting eclipses based on the planetary observations! The important concept of zero was introduced by indians. Is it likely that such people did not have scientific temper?
The scientific temper of the ancient indians did not lead to one discovery after another leading to tech-world. Instead, they realised that no matter what is achieved in the realm of this world of objects, there was no lasting happiness. So,they paused and started seeking answers for very basic questions like "who are we? why are we here? what is the way of permanent happiness?".
The quest gripped them so much that they simply gave up worldy science.
The answers to these questions are beyond the five senses and intellect. A seemingly simple question "who am I?" has no answer in the realm of mind, apart from play of words.
The progress achieved on this front is tremendous. When one studies the scriptures of sanatana dharma, the modern psychology looks like kid-stuff. I strongly believe that after much ado about all the science, mankind will be forced to direct their enquiry in this direction.
Is the current model of progress & development most appropriate? Happy reflection!
