Ch 6. pt 2- SHRADDHA !

[Guest guest]

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Dear advaitins :

 

There is an interesting discussion on Shraddha taking place in this

forum. Did you know 'shraddha' is a feminine word just like Daya and

Karuna ? in fact, one of the names of Mother Lakshmi is 'shraddha' !

Manu's wife's name is also 'shraddha' - Yes! A HINDU WIFE IS ALSO

CALLED A DHARMA PATNI AND AN ARDHANGINI ! ( she is totally devoted

to her husband - she is part of Him - ardhangini and she is a

follower of dharma - dharmapatni! )

 

Michael-ji has really inspired me so much wthj his DEVOTIONAL POST ,

(FULL OF REVERANCE FOR THE MOTHERHOOD IN WOMEN) , I AM REPRODUCING

swami Vivekananda's viwes on women :

 

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON WOMEN

 

For Swamiji, a woman was an embodiment of

Shakti. So he said emphatically, "All nations have

attained greatness by paying proper respect to

women. That country and that nation, which do

not respect women, have never become great, nor

wit! ever be in future. The principal reason, why

your race has so much degenerated, is that you had

no respect for these living images of Shakti. Without

the grace of Shakti nothing is to be accomplished.

What do I find in America and Europe? - the

worship of Shakti, the worship of Power. Yet they

worship Her ignorantly through sense-gratification.

Imagine, then what a lot of good they will achieve,

who will worship Her with all purity, in a Sattvika

spirit, looking upon her as their mother ! I now see

it all. Brother, 'Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra

devatah'- 'The Gods are pleased where the women

are treld in esteem", says the old Manu. We are

horrible sinners and our degradation is due to our

calling women "despicable worms", "qateways to

hell", and so forth. Goodness gracious! The Lord

has said, "Tvam stri Tvam puman asi, Tvam Kumara

uta va Kumari"- 'Thou art the woman. Thou art the

man. Thou art the boy and the girl as well".

(Shvetashvatara Upanishad) And we on our part

are crying, 'Kena esha nirmita nari mohini' etc. "Who

has made the bewitching woman? Women, who

are the living embodiments of the Divine Mother,

whose external manifestations appealing to the senses

have maddened men, but whose internal

manifestations such as knowledge, devotion,

discrimination and dispassion make man omniscient,

of unfailing purpose, and a knower of Brahman.

'Saisha prasanna varada nrinam bhavati muktaye,

"she, when pleased, becomes propitious and the

cause of the freedom of man." Without propitiating

the Mother by worship and obeisance not even

Brahma and Vishnu have the power to elude Her

grasp and ettain freedom. If you do not raise the

women, who are living embodiments of the Divine

Mother, do not think that you have any other way to rise."

 

 

Swami vivekanda also said :

 

"In India the mother is the center of the family and our highest

ideal. She is to us the representative of God, as God is the mother

of the universe. It was a female sage who first found the unity of

God, and laid down this doctrine in one of the first hy mns of the

Vedas. Our God is both personal and absolute, the absolute is male,

the personal, female. And thus it comes that we now say: 'The first

manifestation of God is the hand that rocks the cradle'." (CW V.4

p.170)

 

 

Yaa devi sarva bhuteshu matru rupena snasithita !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- In advaitin, ombhurbhuva <ombhurbhuva wrote:

 

It's never wise to go against Mother!