Bhagwan Shankaracharaya and women

[Guest guest]

Hari Om ramakrishna

 

Dear Devotees

 

Pranam,

 

Please note that 4 & 5 of Vivekchuramani by Bhagwan Sankaracharaya refer to man specifically as a male. Could someone please let me know if Bhagwan Sankaracharaya, like Lord Buddha before Him, did not approve of women seeking spirituality.

 

 

Adi Sankaracharya's

VIVEKACHUDAMANI

 

Translated by Swami Madhavananda

Published by Advaita Ashram, Kolkatta

 

1. I bow to Govinda, whose nature is Bliss Supreme, who is the Sadguru, who can be

known only from the import of all Vedanta, and who is beyond the reach of speech and

mind.

 

2. For all beings a human birth is difficult to obtain, more so is a male body; rarer than

that is Brahmanahood; rarer still is the attachment to the path of Vedic religion; higher

than this is erudition in the scriptures; discrimination between the Self and not-Self,

Realisation, and continuing in a state of identity with Brahman – these come next in

order. (This kind of) Mukti (Liberation) is not to be attained except through the well earned

merits of a hundred crore of births.

 

3. These are three things which are rare indeed and are due to the grace of God –

namely, a human birth, the longing for Liberation, and the protecting care of a perfected

sage.

 

4. The man who, having by some means obtained a human birth, with a male body and

mastery of the Vedas to boot, is foolish enough not to exert himself for self-liberation,

verily commits suicide, for he kills himself by clinging to things unreal.

 

5. What greater fool is there than the man who having obtained a rare human body, and

a masculine body too, neglects to achieve the real end of this life ?

 

Wah Guru Ki Fateh

Utpal Chakrabarty