A small thread dealing with the views of Kanchi Parmacharya on working women. The great acharya compares this modern day reform with shastra-vachana.
When the marriage of girls got delayed and they had to stay at home doing nothing, the parents wondered why their daughter should not study, go to work and start earning.
The money would also come in handy when the girls were to be married.
The money would also come in handy when the girls were to be married.
Thus started the practise of women going to work.
At first the parents felt a little embarrassment or a sense of shame about doing something they thought to be improper, that is depending on the daughter's own earnings for her marriage expenses.
At first the parents felt a little embarrassment or a sense of shame about doing something they thought to be improper, that is depending on the daughter's own earnings for her marriage expenses.
They were also worried and fearful about the girls being exposed to various risks and temptations. But, in due course, this worry and fear vanished.
Also the parents came to think that there was no need to feel awkward about their daughters going to work.
Also the parents came to think that there was no need to feel awkward about their daughters going to work.
According to the Puranas, even Raajaṛṣis like Janaka were worried that their daughters stayed at home without being married.
They felt so uncomfortable as if they were carrying fire inside them.
They felt so uncomfortable as if they were carrying fire inside them.
At first we felt sheepish that our women went to work. But, by and by, we learned to accept it. Now we take it as an advance, a step forward in out civilization.
Parents have thrown all sense of responsibility to the winds and are not worried in the least about their daughters going out to work and, indeed, they take pride in it.
Out dharma has indeed sunk to such low depths.
Out dharma has indeed sunk to such low depths.
"That women are working is great step forward. A great injustice done to them in the past has been undone", proclaim the reformists.
My own view is that no injustice was ever done to women in the past.
My own view is that no injustice was ever done to women in the past.
I would go to the extent of saying that, if at all any injustice was done, it was to men. You may be amused by this remark but let me explain.
A male, after his student-bachelorhood, graduates to the stage of the householder. He has now to perform many duties and rituals like aupaasana and a number of other saṃskaars with the ultimate objective of finding release from worldly existence.
A woman attains the same goal by dedicating herself to her husband and to do so is to go beyond all the saṃskaars performed by a man.
Though reformists think this to be an injustice done to women, to me it appears that the shaastras favour women more than they do men.
Though reformists think this to be an injustice done to women, to me it appears that the shaastras favour women more than they do men.
I tell you why.
How does a man realise himself? He has to perform many religious works; he has to learn the Truth and feel it inwardly through nididhyaasna. In this way alone does he erase his mind.
How does a man realise himself? He has to perform many religious works; he has to learn the Truth and feel it inwardly through nididhyaasna. In this way alone does he erase his mind.
A pativrata doesn't need such difficult saadhana, such ardent and intense practise, to reach the same goal and all she has to do is to surrender to her husband.
By respecting the wishes of her husband such a wife obliterates not only her own desires (the cause of bonds in the world), but all feelings of honour and dishonour and all ego-sense.
In this way, she comes close to stilling her mind.
In this way, she comes close to stilling her mind.
When the mind is utterly dedicated to another person in an attitude of surrender, should it not be close to being blotted out? Is there any "promotion" for a woman higher than this?
A woman exalted by inner purity occupies a position far higher than another who earns a promotion in her office. This is how many a woman in the history of this land won powers far greater than those earned even by the sages.
According to Thiruvalluvar, if such a woman says, "Let there be rain', it will rain, it must rain. If she says to the sun, "Don't rise", it will not rise.
Such a woman can retrieve her husband from the clutches of death.
Such a woman can retrieve her husband from the clutches of death.
Our shaastras, our traditions, give these women a place more elevated than a sage or deity.
We see from Puranas that a woman of such character can transform even Tridevas into little children by the merit of her will.
We see from Puranas that a woman of such character can transform even Tridevas into little children by the merit of her will.
Shaastras speak about how a woman may rise to true heights of glory and how she is enshrined in a temple and worshipped.
They do not ever condemn her to an inferior position. It seems to me that it is the reformists who do so by preventing her from achieving such heights.
They do not ever condemn her to an inferior position. It seems to me that it is the reformists who do so by preventing her from achieving such heights.
If marriage is one of the many saṃskaars to render a man pure, for a woman it is the single saṃskaar that gives her the ultimate fruits of all saṃskaars.
Now the essence of this saṃskaar is cast away and what remains, the refused, is retained.
Now the essence of this saṃskaar is cast away and what remains, the refused, is retained.
Marriage and the householder's stage of life are not meant for carnal pleasure alone. They constitute a path for liberation.
If this truth is understood people will appreciate that the role assigned to women by the shaastras is just and proper.
If this truth is understood people will appreciate that the role assigned to women by the shaastras is just and proper.
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