desired activities

[Guest guest]

> > For clarification--I did *not* suggest that a divorced lawyer woman was

> > engaging in "desired" activities, but rather activities that are not in

> > accordance with her varna and ashrama at all. Desired activities, in

> > either the spiritual or external realm, are in accordance with one's

> > general categories of duties in that realm. Rather, I gave such a woman

> > as an example of someone whom we may not be able to engage externally in

> > a way that would

> be

> > most conducive to hers and the society's welfare, but at least we can

> > engage her in spiritual duties, and help her to offer to external

> > actions to Krsna

> in

> > whatever way possible. Hopefully we will raise our daughters so as to

> > avoid such situations.

>

> Dear Urmila, I beg your pardon. It still hasn't been established what

> "desired activity" means with regards to it being a subdivision of

> prescribed duty. You have presented it as being something a person wants

> to do that is not sinful, not whimsical, and that is in line with his or

> her psychophysical nature/varna. So, is "desired activity" something that

> clearly falls within one's occupational duty? You here explain the lawyer

> woman doing is not engaging in "desired activity". So what is the

> classification for such activity? Whimsical? Emergency? Is she performing

> vikarma? Is there a scriptural reference elaborating on desired activity

> the way it is briefly presented in the Gita?

 

 

Very good points.

 

 

 

>

> > As far as a woman's varna being determined by her father--there are many

> > places in the scripture where a man's varna is "determined" by birth,

> > but really these are simply cases where the person's quality

> > corresponded to that of the father, which is true for most people,

> > especially in a society where men and women of the same caste married

> > each other and performed rituals to attract a like-minded son or

> > daughter.

> >

> > Yes, a woman *should* mold herself to her husband, and the parents

> > should

> make

> > that easy by choosing a husband of the same varna. Especially a woman

> > should not marry a man of a lesser varna.

>

> So you are saying a woman's caste is not determined by her father or

> husband? In your paper on the topic of women and varnasrama, you write:

>

> "From studying Vedic marriage arrangements we learn that the qualities

> that distinguished a woman's varna existed before her marriage. The

> husband didn't determine a woman's varna. Rather, she married someone in

> the same varna in which she was naturally situated by quality and work.

> Devahuti, for example, "had good character and was well-qualified;

> therefore she was searching for a suitable husband just befitting her."

> (SB 3.22.9) A woman's varna could not be ascertained by that of her father

> (birth) because "one can become fit for a certain type of activity by

> qualification, not by birth." (SB 5.4.13)

>

> Would you please explain, with reference(s) from Srila Prabhupada's

> teachings, how a Vedic woman would have already been situated in the

> "work" or karma of a brahmana or ksatriya before marriage. Please also

> show how a girl's and woman's caste is anything other than her father's or

> husband's?

 

 

This is a very good point Mother Sita makes. Varna=Guna+Karma. A woman may

have Guna but not the associated karma of any varna. Hence for Urmila to say

that a woman had Varna is not in accordance with the definition of Varna

given by Lord Krsna in BG 4.32.

 

 

Shyama