Stable Marriage or a Stepford Wife?

[Guest guest]

> How can a

> person following (or attempting to follow) vedic standard exploit women?

 

>From the Mahabharata:

 

Sri Bhishmadeva said,

 

"Women, O king, should always be adored and treated with love. Where women

are treated with honour, the gods themselves are propitiated.

Where women are not respected, all acts become fruitless. If the women of a

family are mistreated and thus indulge in grief and tears, that family soon

becomes extinct.

Those houses that are cursed by women meet with destruction and ruin as if

scorched by some Atharvan rite. Such houses lose all their splendour. Their

growth and prosperity ceases.

Manu made over women to men for their protection, saying that they are weak

and fall easy prey to the seduction of men, being simple and disposed to

accept the love that is offered to them...

Women deserve to be respected. The virtue of men depends upon women. All

pleasures and enjoyments depend entirely upon them. Serve and adore them,

bending your will before them.

The begetting and nurturing of children, and the accomplishment of all acts

necessary for the needs of society -- all these depend upon women.

By respecting women you are sure to acquire the fruition of all endeavours.

The Princess of Videha has said in this regard, 'Women have no other

religious duty than to satisfy their husbands -- no sacrifice, shraddhas or

fasts are prescribed for them. By serving their husbands with respect and

obedience they can conquer heaven.'

In childhood the father protects her, in youth her husband and in old age

her son. Never is a woman free.

Women are the deities of prosperity. He who desires affluence and prosperity

should always honour them. By cherishing women, Goddess Laxmi is cherished,

and by afflicting them, Goddess Laxmi is similarly afflicted."

 

MB Shanti Parva, Ch.46 (Anushasana Parva)