Gandhiji ........... Advaita ......Women ..et all

[Guest guest]

Today, October 2nd , is the Day when the great apostle of peace and

non-, Mahtama Gandhi was born in a small place called Porbandhar,,

India.

 

What a coincidence that this month also happens to be the Holy

month of Ramadhan where devout muslims observe 'fasting' and offer

holy 'prayers 'for 30 days. In a few weeks time , Hindu devotees

will also be celebrating 'Navaratri, the festival of nine nights. So

side by side, both Hindus and muslims will be praying to the

Allah/Bhagwan Almighty for Peace , prosperity and Universal WEll

Being . What better way to celebrate this holy month of

RamadhAan /Navaratri than to recall the famous words of Mahatma

Gandhi who said " I believe in advaita, I believe in the essential

unity of man and for that matter of all that lives. "

 

Yes ! Advaita is not the monopoly of Brahmins or for that matter any

one group of people. It is a Universal Philosophy which is available

to everyone regardless of caste and gender , Anyone who has a love

for Truth ( philosophy) IS ENTITLED TO STUDY ADVAITA , THE NON-DUAL

TRUTH ! The only qualifications that are needed are a)the genuine

desire to Know the Truth and 2) Steadfastness of purpose.(

stithaprajna) Neither wearing the sacred thread nor putting on

the distinguishing Caste mark are necessary to pursue the study of

vedanta . Folks , we are living in the 21st century not in the dark

ages where man expoited man in the name of religion ! Truth and

Wisdom is not the monoploy of any one sect ( brahmins or so called

caste hindus ) VIVEKA LIES IN KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE

REAL AND THE UNREAL NOT IN DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN WHO IS A BRAHMIN

AND WHO IS NOT , WHO IS A MAN OR WHO IS NOT ? Gandhiji believed in

the Varnashrama dharma because he said " i do regard varnashram as a

healthy division of work based on birth. " but the same Gandhiji

also said " My varnashram refuses to bow the head before the

greatest potentate on earth, but my varnashram compels me to bow

down my head in all humility before knowledge, purity, before every

person where I see God face to face. "

 

We have a very interesting discussion going on in this group about

whether Women are entitled to study vedanta . Here is how Gandhiji

viewed women ! " Women are special custodians of all that is pure and

religious in life. " Gandhiji further maintained that " A woman's

intuition has often proved truer than man's arrogant assumption of

superior knowledge. " So much so , Gandhi surrounded himself with

the most powerful women in the Indian politics of those days -

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur , Sarojini naidu , Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya

etc etc

 

Read what Gandhiji said :

 

" My own opinion is, that just as fundamentally man and woman are

one, their problem must be one in essence. The soul in both is the

same. The two live the same life, have the same feelings. Each is a

compliment of the other, the one cannot live without the other's

active help. The division of the spheres of work being recognized,

the general qualities and culture required are practically the same

for both the sexes…..Woman is companion to man, gifted with equal

mental capacities. She has the right to participate in very minutest

detail in the activities of man, and she has an equal right of

freedom and liberty with him. She is entitled to a supreme place in

her own sphere of activity, as man is in his. This ought to be the

natural condition of things, and not as a result only of learning to

read and write. By sheer force of a vicious custom, even the most

ignorant and worthless men have been enjoying a superiority over

women which they do not deserve, and ought not to have. Many of our

movements stop half way because of the condition of our women. Much

of our work does not yield appropriate results…..Man and woman are

of equal rank, but they are not identical. They are a peerless pair,

being supplementary to one another; each helps the other, so that

without the one the existence of the other cannot be conceived, and

therefore, it follows as a necessary corollary from these facts,

that anything that will impair the status of either of them will

involve the equal ruin of them both. "

 

 

So , Guys - it is futile to even debate these old fashioned ideas

whether Women and non brahmins are entiltled to vedantic study !

Real advaita lies in avoding 'bigoted' thinking - A true Advaitin is

one who makes no distinction between man and man and man and woman !

 

" The truth is now and here. So it is everywhere. If it is not first

found now and here, it will be found nowhere else and at no other

time. " Atmananda Krishna Menon

 

An advaitin in all honesty cannot say " the vivekachudamani verse

(2) was o.k because it was suited to the Bharatavasha of those

days " but Advaita is beyond time and space ! It is sanatana

dharma not just Dharma of a few bigots .

 

Satyameva Jayate!