There’s a new fashion that is to say that women are less intelligent then man. Here I’d
like to show what the scriptures say about it. In a certain way, it is indeed
said that most part of women usually have a very soft heart. That might be a
problem because many times they can put their heart and feelings before their
intelligence or sense of discrimination. This is not exactly a lack of
intelligence, but a purity of heart that is dangerous for the person in a
degraded world like the one we live in. In this way, pure creatures like women
and brahmanas should always be taken care of, so that they can be protected from
evil persons. There’s no question that the brahminical class is the most
intelligent class of the society (we are not speaking here of people who are
brahmanas because were born in family of brahmanas, but we are talking about
real brahmanas, with the brahminical qualifications). Similarly, the fact that
women are pure or, many times, innocent, or that they have to be protected, has
absolutely nothing to do with a lack of intelligence. Sarasvati, the goddess of
intelligence is a woman!
“Agnihthram Tatachar swamy points out a special
Vedic term : Purandhi, and explains its significance . According to the VedAs ,
women are more intelligent than men (i.e) she is a purandhi. (…) By that term ,
Women's superior intelligence is indicated.”*
Being aware of the capacity of
the girls, the families and teachers used to train them just as they used to
train the boys. That was according to the Atharva Veda, which says that girls
should be trained as students before entering marriage life. “Girls should train
themselves to become complete scholars and youthful through Brahmcharya and then
enter married life.” **
The Atharva Veda also says: “Oh woman! You are the
keeper of knowledge of all types of actions (karma).” “Oh woman! You know
everything. Please provide us strength of prosperity and wealth.” and “Oh woman!
Utilize your vedic intellect in all directions of our home!”.
In the same
Veda it is also stated: “Women should take part in the legislative chambers and
put their views on forefront.” And from the Rg Veda we have: “O men and women! A
scholarly woman who has practiced or teaches one, two or three Vedas or four
Vedas and four upavedas, along with grammar, etymology etc and spreads knowledge
to whole world and removes ignorance of people is source of happiness for entire
world. A woman who studies and teaches all parts of Vedas brings progress to all
human beings.” So, the idea that women can’t study the Vedas is just a modern
non-sense. Actually, they should not only study it, but also teach it, although
we see that in many spiritual societies nowadays women are not allowed to preach
or teach.
According to The Rg Veda, women can say: “My destiny is as glorious
as the rising sun. I am the flag of my home and society. I am also their head. I
can give impressive discourses. My sons conquer enemies. My daughter illuminates
the whole world.”
So, as we see, women from vedic age don’t think of
themselves as poor non-intelligent creatures. They know their importance not
only for their family but also for their society. They are the had. So, they
have intelligence and give directions. Their importance is not only to stay
behind men obeying their orders. They say they can give impressive discourses.
Of course they are not locked at home just cooking and cleaning, otherwise, that
statement would make no sense. They are free to speak for many people and they
are impressive, so they have knowledge to cause that impression. Their sons
conquer enemies, but their daughter illuminates the whole world. Their daughters
are not burdens that are killed in the womb or who are less important then their
sons. No! They illuminate the whole world!
*SriPedia -
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/cgi-bin/kbase/Vedas/Women’
** Agniveer – Women
in Vedas - http://agniveer.com/vedas/women-in-vedas/
http://deviwoman.blogspot.com/
www.iskconbr.multiply.com
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Women's intelligence
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sarvopama dasa ACBSP on -
Women are much smarter than men. In the first canto of the Bhagavatam Srila Prabhupada even says they are more powerful 1.27.9. There's the time Narada Muni asks Mother Satyabhama what it's like to be the queen of Krishna. Her answer shows just how superior women are and there are even sociological studies supported by regular experiments that prove it.
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Permalink Reply by Sarvopama dasa ACBSP on
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I was curious to see whether or not anyone really read any of these posts at all, so I left the last post sort of hanging in midair. Either no one is interested in the question Narada Muni asks Queen Satyabhama or possibly they're put off by the idea that modern mundane sociological studies could verify her statements.
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Permalink Reply by Dipti Naik on -
i just saw ur posts prabhuji and am curious to know more abt this particular story. with gr8 reluctance i had finally come to accept that women are shudras but ur post kinda makes me happy..(proves how i am still very much attached to the bodily concept of life) long way to go for me
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Permalink Reply by Sarvopama dasa ACBSP on
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OK, Dipti, I'm glad you're asking because this is one of my favorite examples that tells us something about the difference between men and women. Narda Muni asks Queen Satyabhama what it's like to be the wife of Lord Krishna. She responds something like this, "Yes, sure, I'm the queen of Krishna who is Lord and Master of all the universes and the Supreme Being. However, I know the names of every servant here in the palace and the names of all their family members and there's not a paisa that goes in or out of here that I don't know about." Along with this there is also a standard sociological experiment that is carried out fairly regularly in Soc. departments in colleges and universities and brings the same result every time. They put thousands of people in a room, one at a time and have them sit there about ten minutes. The room is decorated and set up to look like a typical room in any house. After they've been in there for the required amount of time, they're taken to another room where they're asked to sit at a table and write down everything they can remember from the previous room. The men tend to draw a blank, "There were four walls and a door?" The women, on the other hand, fill up the whole page with remembered details and sometimes even ask for another sheet. Men and women are definitely different. Women are materially brilliant by comparison. If a man has no spiritual potency, he stands to lose big time.
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Permalink Reply by Dipti Naik on
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Thank you for the nice example Prabhuji.It is indeed encouraging to read a positive note on women as opposed to the generalised negativity seen so often here.( no offence intended towards anythng- just my sentiment here)
I have a confusion in mind- In kaliyuga- everyone is supposed to be a shudra unless the person proves otherwise by taking up Bhakti of the supreme Lord Krishna irrespective of whether one is a man or women. then is it right to generalise & call women shudra's in this age? recently saw a cartoon illustration showing a boy and a girl holding hands-the boy had an innocent smile while the girl has a cruel crooked smile.in my limited exposure to this world i have seen men doing far worse thngs and the picture can be reversed in majority cases.
i have great respect for brahmacharis and sanyasis and understand that contact with women is detrimental to their spiritual life.and i also accept the sub-ordinate position of women as per the vedic system but this kind of gross negative representation disturbs me.
i guess my thoughts are foolish and fully depict my neophyte stage in Bhakti but feels good to share
plz forgive my offences and pray for me to transcend over such disturbances so that i can progress in my spiritual life
Hari Hari
YS
dipti
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Permalink Reply by Sarvopama dasa ACBSP on
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Materially there is no contest. The woman is far superior. Therefore if the man has no spiritual potency, he will be no match for her or anyone else for that matter. The men are throwing away their ojas and then wonder why the women have no respect for them.
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Permalink Reply by Bhagavan acarya dasa on -
We are all eternal servants of God. Somehow or other we have fallen into this miserable material world. We must learn to appreciate and respect all God's creatures, whether they are materially above or below us. Women should always be respected and protected by men, not insulted and shunned. Look how much Srila Prabhupada's female disciples have helped to spread Krsna consciousness. How could anyone think that they are less intelligent?
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SevakPermalink Reply by Shravan on -
Bhagavan Acarya Dasa said, "How could anyone think that they are less intelligent?"
Srila Prabhupada, Chanakya, and so on.
Do you know how many mataiis keep their husbands from joining sankirtana group thinking that this is yet another activity that will keep her husband from serving her.
Perhaps it would have grown even more had they not kept their husbands and on the other hand encouraged them to perform Sankirtana, the 1st Instruction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu
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Permalink Reply by Caitanya Mahaprabhu (das)LOK. on -
Hare Krishna, dear Sarvopama prabhu.
Please accept mu humble obeicances. All glorie to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Gurumaharaja.
Dear Sarvopama prabhu, very nice ,this one of your examples.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu said in the Caitanya Caritamrta that women and men are equal on the spiritual platform.
Haribol.
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SevakPermalink Reply by Shravan on -
It is a good idea to explain what it means by less intelligent.
We are definitely not talking about man's superiority over women's ability to code in c++ or solve complex math problems.
Prabhu, would you be kind enough to explain what Prabhupada meant when He said women are less intelligent, less intelligent are also, men who are Sudra (someone having a job/receiving a pay check) and Dwijabandhu (man fallen from Brahmanical activity)
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Permalink Reply by nimmi on -
hare krishna, this is really a eye-opener article bcoj i, too, believee that women belongs to shudra category as i read in Bhagvad Geeta, where women were put in the category of lowest species. and i want to thank Sarvopam Dasa guru who started discussion on this article which really make me more confident.
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