Why God referred to as He? Why the exclusion?

[Guest guest]

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Why is the Divine always referred to as " He " even when talking of Her

motherly qualities? And why are all devotees referred to as " he " ? As a

woman I feel excluded.

[Guest guest]

This is my humble opinion. Based on ur question.Sometimes the divinity is referred as He. Sometimes the divinity is referred to as 'She' also. It depends on the kind of the story from the puranas/vedas/upanishads/scriptures etc at that particular context. God/divinity is something which actually is formless/absolute/infinite. If we limit God as finite/he/she..then it is not actually what reality is. Realistically Supreme does not have any form or gendre. But since it is difficult to contemplate/meditate on the formless God, sometimes we choose some kind of personal form of God and once our mind merges in love with that form which we give (it could be either HE or SHE or IT or etc etc), then our personal form of God merges with that HIGHER reality. This is just as an example here. Let us say there is an ocean and water. Water is shapeless and colorless. and let us say..each one of us take the container (our own

container) and try to fill the water in that, then we can say that the water in my container takes the shape of my container and the water in ur container takes the shape of ur container. and if my container is transparente and colorful..my water looks like coloful eventhough in actual reality its colorless. Hence, each one of us, based on our own experiences, give that divinity/supreme a certain name/certain color/certain shape/certain etc etc. to understand that God in our own comformatbe way. But once we know that everything is that water and all the water from all the rivers join that ocean..similarly..all the names and all the the worship of all the names/forms/God's names/gendre/etc/etc/..reach that SUPREME God. In the Bhagavadgita chapter 9, verse 17: "Pitaham asya Jagataha mata dhata pitamaha,vedyam pavitram-omkaraha sama yajur eva ca" the meaning goes like this:" I am the father of this world,the

mother,the sustainer and the grandsire; the (one ) thing to be known, the purifier,(the syllable) Om, and also the Rig,the Sama and the Yajur also" here Lord Krisha says that HE is everything since God pervades everything and everywhere. Again, here I am saying that Lord Krishna says "HE" is everything.. the reason being in this story of Mahabharatha, In Bhagavadgita, the divinity is in the form of HE who is Lord Krishna. Here Lord is not just talking as Krishna who is the cowboy..he is talking as that SUPREME being for the common man to understand, we are having these things. Also, in every verse in Bhagavadgita..it does not say..'Lord Krishna said'..it says Lord Bhagavan said" This aspect of the 'BHAGAVAN' is at the most supreme level where there is no gendre/form/color and this supreme reality is not limited to anything finite in this world and not limited to any gender/religion too. and this SUPREME is beyond even

animate and inanimate things. Have a nice evening. Regards, Bharathi Astrid Lobo Gajiwala <asklobog wrote: -- Why is the Divine always referred to as "He" even when talking of Hermotherly qualities? And why are all devotees referred to as "he"? As awoman I feel excluded.

[Guest guest]

That is the problem Sister. You identify yourself with the body (female body, you being a female) and so you feel excluded. God is neither male nor female and usually God is referred as HE and at times SHE also.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna.

On 17 Apr 2007 13:46:05 -0700, Astrid Lobo Gajiwala <asklobog wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

-- Why is the Divine always referred to as " He " even when talking of Hermotherly qualities? And why are all devotees referred to as " he " ? As awoman I feel excluded.

-- Paritala Gopi Krishna

[Guest guest]

dear sir

Even though GOD is not in any gender HE is living with us a form of miracle . No one knows His form, in a millisecond he changes His form in different moods in our life. So GOD is in any form in our body according to our mood. To see GOD it is enough to see thy own self in our daily life.

Padmanaban

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happy momy Voltaire asked himself the same question. He also asked himself who was the first person who saw that God "was a man" (dic. philosophique) In my opinion all religions had excluded women, because of machism. (judeo-chrètienne)

regards Neli --------

Just a small thought related to the discussion:

Unconsciously, most of the time GOD is also referred as " I " by many (all?) of us, by saying I did this... I did that...

Check out Gita Verse 05-08.

Love all Serve all

Thanks,

Anandan.

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Gopi Krishna Paritala <paritalagopikrishna Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:24:20 AMRe: Why God referred to as "He"? Why the exclusion?

 

 

That is the problem Sister. You identify yourself with the body (female body, you being a female) and so you feel excluded. God is neither male nor female and usually God is referred as HE and at times SHE also.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna.

On 17 Apr 2007 13:46:05 -0700, Astrid Lobo Gajiwala <asklobog (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

 

 

 

 

-- Why is the Divine always referred to as "He" even when talking of Hermotherly qualities? And why are all devotees referred to as "he"? As awoman I feel excluded.

[Guest guest]

MahaMaya and Prakiti is female. Also ArdhaNarishwar.regardspandaGopi Krishna Paritala <paritalagopikrishna wrote: That is the problem Sister. You identify yourself with the body (female body, you being a female) and so you feel excluded. God is neither male nor female and usually God is referred as HE and at times SHE also. Love and Love alone.... P. Gopi Krishna. On 17 Apr 2007 13:46:05 -0700, Astrid Lobo Gajiwala <asklobog > wrote: -- Why is the Divine always referred to as "He" even when talking of Hermotherly qualities? And why are all devotees referred to as "he"? As awoman I feel excluded. -- Paritala Gopi Krishna

[Guest guest]

Wonderfully stated. For his Bhakta Prahlada, He came out of a pillar !!!. What more proof do we need? Whether God is He, or She, or It, or anything else is all dependent on the approach of the Bhakta. Our goal is to reach the Ultimate, whether It is female or male and let us concentrate only on That and That alone. Love and Love alone....P. Gopi Krishna

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Sri Krishna - Raadhey Raadhey

God is Sri Krishna

God is Smt Raadhey

Thy is both

Pray to thy to understand the meaning if this because thine beyond the anlysis of brain

So Hare(Raadhey ) Krishna

badri prasad taneja

---------- God is an Anglo Saxon word and the Christian term for a One, Male Supreme Being. Of course, no one can prove that such a Being (n.) exists. You are right to question this usage. Unfortunately, many others do not but simply repeat a something about which they have done little deep thinking. Many Hindus totally misuse this Christian word, thereby insulting both Christians and Hindus. Christians do not see God as female. Of course there are many confused Hindus who capitulate to Christians and there are many fundamentalist Hindus who do not mind misusing the term "God." Swami Param

Classical Yoga Hindu Academy

(message modified by Moderator)

---------- How does it matter to a sadhak whether god is he or she. We seem to be experts in raising non issues. The main and only issue should be how to achieve god. (FULL STOP). God is like soft butter and a true sadhak has the capability of moulding god into he or she as he may like. Since god is omni potent (sarva shaktiman), for the sake of his sadhak, he will take the form in which sadhak worships, be it human or animal or even insect.

ahdalmia

---------- "shivashankar. RAJIV" <rajivshiv wrote: Lord Krishna, In the Bhagawad Gita,

has reassured Arjuna that HE is present in everything, animate or inanimate, in every form, and a devotee can worship the Almighty in any form he or she chooses. This is the philosophy of the worship of an 'ISTHADEVATHA', when one can worship GOD in any form pleasing to the worshipper.To characterise the Divine as male or female is absurd. One who is beyond beginning and end, beyond life and death, beyond creation and destruction cannot be defined as male or female. If the worshipper 'sees' the Divine' as a female, GOD becomes SHE, and if the worshipper thinks of the Divine as a male, the pronoun is HE. The Divine can also be called IT, since divinity exists in EVERYTHING. A humble submission, for consideration and clarification. Shivashankar Rajiv

Pillai Padmanaban Krishnan <ambiusha > To: Subject: Re: Why God referred to as "He"? Why the exclusion?Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:04:55 -0700 (PDT) dear sir Even though GOD is not in any gender HE is living with us a form of miracle . No one knows His form, in a millisecond he changes His form in different moods in our life. So GOD is in any form

in our body according to our mood. To see GOD it is enough to see thy own self in our daily life.Padmanaban--------happy momy Voltaire asked himself the same question. He also asked himself who was the first person who saw that God "was a man" (dic. philosophique) In my opinion all religions had excluded women, because of machism. (judeo-chrètienne) regards Neli --------Just a small thought related to the discussion: Unconsciously, most of the time GOD is also referred as " I " by many (all?) of us, by saying I did this... I did that... Check out Gita Verse 05-08. Love all Serve all Thanks, Anandan. -------- Gopi Krishna Paritala <paritalagopikrishna > Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:24:20 AMRe: Why God referred to as "He"? Why the exclusion? That is the problem Sister. You identify yourself with the body (female body, you being a female) and so you feel excluded. God is neither male nor female and usually God is referred as HE and at times SHE also. Love and Love alone.... P. Gopi Krishna. On 17 Apr 2007 13:46:05 -0700, Astrid Lobo Gajiwala <