The Glory Of Womanhood

19 April 1996, Sai Shruti, Kodaikanal, TN

Published English.

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(path of action) is a beautiful flower. (path of devotion) is a raw fruit, (path of wisdom) is the ripened fruit with all its sweetness within. Without the flower, you cannot have the fruit. A raw fruit naturally leads to a fully ripened fruit. So, (action) is the basis of (wisdom).

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Women Are Capable Of Tendering Good Advice Women are very intelligent. They have a deeper understanding of religion and spirituality. If man wants to perform a religious ceremony, he will always consult the women in the house. If the husband wants to complete an important work successfully, he cannot do it without the cooperation of his wife. If he does not consult his wife first, the work undertaken by him will not be successful. Even if the husband is bad, his wife should give him good advice. She should act as a minister to tender sagacious counsel to her husband. was the wife of . As we all know, was a wicked man. It was because of the advice of that he was able to live for such a long time. She always counselled him, “, you have pride because you think you have physical strength, knowledge of scriptures and power. But if determines to curse you, you will be reduced to ashes. Therefore, know the power of women and behave properly.”

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Women Uphold The Prestige Of The Family If man wants to perform , his wife should sit with him. Similarly, his wife should participate in all acts of charity that man performs. King considered the truth as most important. When he gave in charity his entire kingdom to Sage , his wife was with him. Otherwise, he could not have been able to perform this great act of charity. So, a wife is called (better half of the husband). Not only that, it is the woman who maintains the reputation of the family. That is why she is called (wealth of the house). Man may earn money, but it is the woman in the house who upholds the prestige and dignity of the family. It is she who cooks and serves food to everyone in the house. That is why she is called or wealth. Wealth is not only currency notes. Wealth does not consist of only money; it consists of good health, good qualities, purity and cleanliness also. Virtue is wealth, health is wealth, bliss is wealth, purity is wealth. All these are different forms of wealth. As a woman has all these qualities, she is known as . She always upholds the dignity and respect of the family as she has the quality of speaking sweetly and softly. In ancient times, if the husband was talking to another man in the drawing room, she would be in another room. It is the woman who upholds the respect of the family in this way.

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Women Are Endowed With Great Power Of Discrimination Another great quality of the women is their (intellect). Women are more intelligent than men. They have better concentration and perform all tasks in a better way. Men have their discriminative ability only with regard to their job. But it is only women who act intelligently in all situations. For example, both men and women drive scooters, motorcycles and cars these days. Ask the police department who get involved more often in accidents. There are not many accidents when women drive. What is the reason? The reason is that women have better concentration. Not only that. You go to any university and enquire. Mainly it is the girls who score first class and first-rank. For , both men and women are the same, but if you really see, this is the true situation (laughter and applause).

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Women Have The Qualities Of Peace And Humility Women have the quality of peace. They maintain the peace of the family in spite of many problems they face due to some relatives. They quietly suffer within themselves but do not show outside to save the name and respect of the family. Men have inflated egos because they work in an office and earn money. Even though women also work and earn money, they do not have this kind of ego. They are always humble. Sometimes women also quarrel but they are mostly quiet and peaceful. The courage of man depends on the strength of his wife at home. Men only pretend that they are courageous, but women are actually more courageous than men. Many women occupied high posts in several countries. was the Prime Minister of India for 15 years. Similarly, a woman was the Prime Minister of U.K. In also the Prime Minister and President were women. So, women have immense courage to lead and protect their countries.

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While the father earns money and maintains the family, the mother nurtures the children, keeping in view their education and behaviour. It is mainly due to their mother’s influence that children come up in life. All over the world, it is women who are powerful. There is nothing that they cannot do with their inner power. It was due to the tender care of that and attained greatness. became God as He was born to .

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Spiritually speaking, all are females in the world. God only is (male). In a way, the entire world is a girls college. When a drama is played in the girls college, the king, queen, ministers, servants, etc., are female, though they don the dress of a male as per their role. In this world, food, sleep, hunger and fear are common to both men and women; both eat, cry and harbour desires. The differences lie only in the body.

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In order to show the qualities and capacities of women and showcase the difference between men and women, once enacted a drama. posted a watchman at the main gate of and asked him, “See that no woman enters .” One day when came to the gate, she was refused entry by the watchman. When she asked him the reason, the watchman said that women were not permitted to enter . Then said, “ belongs to all, belongs to all.” She asked him, “Who are you and why are you here”? The watchman replied, “I am a man. That is why I am here.” then said to him, “It is your imagination that you are a man. In this world, there are no men; all are women only. God alone is a man. He is the . All others are the creation of God, the . The entire universe is and God is the only .”

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The whole world symbolises womanhood. Therefore, one’s country is called motherland and the earth is called (mother earth). All bodies have taken birth from mother earth. Mother is important for all, and motherly feelings are supreme which ensure the welfare of the family, society and country.

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Mother’s Love Is Most Sacred Once Sage went to King and asked for his help in the performance of a he was conducting. He told that demons were creating hurdles in the performance of this ritual and asked him to send his sons and to safeguard the . He added that he had the power to kill these demons but could not use it as violence was prohibited in the performance of the sacred ritual. felt sad because and were of tender age and they had no experience of warfare. then told that and were highly divine who prayed to the Mother Goddess first and their father afterwards. When thus convinced , and followed . While going with the sage, they paid respect to their mothers first, their father next and the sage afterwards. Why this order? It is so because it is the mother who gives birth and nurtures the child with extreme tenderness. She keeps awake day and night when her child has any illness. She will not eat food when her child has a fever. Such sacred love is found only in the mother. The mother takes care of the child with tenderness and gives intense love to the child.

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It is a mistake to consider that women are fit for only inferior work. In modern times, both men and women go to work and earn money. So, they employ a cook, a driver and other servants for household work. But the salaries of the servants employed by them usually exceed the earning of the wife. If the wife gets a salary of two thousand , the salary of the servants is three thousand . This is like eating more pickles than the meal. Thus, the expenditure becomes more than the income. On the other hand, if the housewife remains at home, she will be able to take care of all the household matters. As the housewife goes to her job, the entire family is disturbed. Listen to this point carefully. The housewife cooks the food for the family with love and purity.

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Food Influences The Thought Process Of Man The states three types of the purity of food: the purity of the cook, the purity of the process of cooking and the purity of the material. The person who cooks the food should not only have outward cleanliness but purity of heart also. Similarly, the vessel in which the food is cooked should be clean. The material used for cooking should also be clean and pure. The vegetables and other materials used for cooking should be in good condition. It is an ancient practice in Bharat that the food is offered to God by chanting the food prayer:

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( is the ladle as well as the oblation. He is the sacrificial fire as also the sacrificer. And finally, is the goal of one who is engaged in the act of sacrifice.)

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When one chants this prayer, the food becomes pure as (sanctified food). Then all the defects in the food are removed. We may not know what type of material is used in the preparation of the food. We may also not know the thoughts of the cook who prepared the food. The purity of the food is thus ensured through prayer. Nowadays, the husband and wife quarrel on the dining table. One says yes, the other says no. What is the reason? One reason for this type of disturbance is the impurity of the cook who is more concerned with his salary than the welfare of the family.

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Once there was a businessman in who lost his wife at the age of 60. As there was no one to take care of his family, he felt very sad. He had an aged clerk who worked in his business establishment. The clerk had a 16-year-old daughter who had lost her mother. The businessman asked him to give his daughter in marriage to him. The clerk was a greedy man and wanted money. So, he performed the marriage of his 16-year-old daughter with the 60-year-old businessman. The girl was very sad and cried day and night. As she was motherless, she was married to an old man. The husband is after money, the wife will always follow . The girl realised that all this had happened because she had no mother. The businessman usually came late from the office at night. One day, the girl decided to end her life due to loneliness and grief. As the businessman did not return home till 10 o’clock at night on that day, she thought that was the right time to commit suicide and end her life instead of spending all her life in misery. So, she jumped into the river and ended her life. On the 10th day of the death of his wife, the businessman served food and sweets to the inmates of an in . There was a young renunciant in this who used to meditate every day. Normally, he could meditate well but that evening he felt disturbed when he sat for meditation because he saw a young girl crying while he meditated. The renunciant sat in meditation again at night but saw the same girl again. He could not sleep the whole night and tried to know what mistake he had committed that he was unable to meditate. Somehow he spent that night.

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The next day, he went to his and told him how he was disturbed in his meditation. The said, “You must be having bad thoughts. That is why you were having such an experience.” The renunciant told his that he had no bad thoughts. The meditated for some time and asked him, “What did you eat yesterday”? The renunciant then told his that he had partaken of the food that was served by a businessman in the . When the made enquiries, he came to know that the food was served as part of the ritual on the death of the businessman’s young wife who committed suicide because she could not bear the suffering due to her marriage with an old man. So, the young renunciant in the was disturbed in his meditation because he had eaten the food that the businessman served. Hence, we should not eat whatever food is offered to us. Since then the young renunciant of the stopped eating food offered in feasts by others and became content with whatever food was cooked and served in the .

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Develop Devotion For God Therefore, it is necessary to eat pure and sanctified food by offering it first to God. Where is God? God is within you. When you recite the prayer to offer food to God, He replies from within, “Oh mad man! I am present within you as (digestive fire).” God is present everywhere at all times. He is in you, above you, below you and all around you. You are God; your heart is the altar of God. Love is His Form. Bliss is His food. You speak about energy. Many people ask Swami, “Swami! Wherefrom do You get energy? You eat so little.” I tell them, “I do not get energy. I am energy. Energy is a form of Divinity.”

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Do not consider women as of little value. A house without a woman is like a forest. When the woman is present in the house, it is "for rest". Give due respect to women and take care of their needs and comforts. If a woman sheds tears, wealth and prosperity will not remain in that home. Therefore, do not cause suffering to any woman. A woman is the embodiment of love and devotion. At the level, there is no difference between a man and a woman since the same is present in them. Both are the creation of God.

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( brought His Discourse to a close with the , “…”)