seeing through the eyes of scriptures
Women lib and sly fox women
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Comment by Paramananda das on January 9, 2011 at 6:52pm
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Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind Chapter 18: Diti Vows to Kill King Indra Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.18.40
ko 'tikramo 'nuvartantyāḥ
SYNONYMS
kaḥ — what; atikramaḥ — offense; anuvartantyāḥ — following; sva-bhāvam — her nature; iha — here; yoṣitaḥ — of the woman; dhik — condemnation; mām — unto me; bata — alas; abudham — not conversant; sva-arthe — in what is good forme; yat — because; aham — I; tu — indeed; ajita-indriyaḥ — unable to control my senses.
TRANSLATION
This woman, my wife, has adopted a means that follows her nature, and therefore she is not to be blamed. But I am a man. Therefore, all condemnation upon me! I am not at all conversant with what is good for me, since I could not control my senses.
PURPORT
The natural instinct of a woman is to enjoy the material world. She induces her husband to enjoy this world by satisfying his tongue, belly and genitals, which are called jihvā, udara and upastha. A woman is expert in cooking palatable dishes so that she can easily satisfy her husband in eating. When one eats nicely, his belly is satisfied, and as soon as the belly is satisfied the genitals become strong. Especially when a man is accustomed to eating meat and drinking wine and similar passionate things, he certainly becomes sexually inclined. It should be understood that sexual inclinations are meant not for spiritual progress but for gliding down to hell. Thus Kaśyapa Muni considered his situation and lamented. In other words, to be a householder is very risky unless one is trained and the wife is a follower of her husband. A husband should be trained at the very beginning of his life. Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (Bhāg. 7.6.1). During the time of brahmacarya, or student life, a brahmacārī should be taught to be expert in bhāgavata-dharma, devotional service. Then when he marries, if his wife is faithful to her husband and follows him in such life, the relationship between husband and wife is very desirable. However, a relationship between husband and wife without spiritual consciousness but strictly for sense gratification is not at all good. It is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.2.3) that especially in this age, Kali-yuga, dām-patye 'bhirucir hetuḥ: the relationship between husband and wife will be based on sexual power. Therefore householder life in this Kali-yuga is extremely dangerous unless both the wife and husband take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind Chapter 18: Diti Vows to Kill King Indra Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.18.41
vacaś ca śravaṇāmṛtam
SYNONYMS
śarat — in the autumn; padma — a lotus flower; utsavam — blossoming; vaktram — face; vacaḥ — words; ca — and;śravaṇa — to the ear; amṛtam — giving pleasure; hṛdayam — heart; kṣura-dhārā — the blade of a razor; ābham — like;strīṇām — of women; kaḥ — who; veda — knows; ceṣṭitam — the dealings.
TRANSLATION
A woman's face is as attractive and beautiful as a blossoming lotus flower during autumn. Her words are very sweet, and they give pleasure to the ear, but if we study a woman's heart, we can understand it to be extremely sharp, like the blade of a razor. In these circumstances, who could understand the dealings of a woman?
PURPORT
Woman is now depicted very well from the materialistic point of view by Kaśyapa Muni. Women are generally known as the fair sex, and especially in youth, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, women are very attractive to men. Therefore a woman's face is compared to a blooming lotus flower in autumn. Just as a lotus is extremely beautiful in autumn, a woman at the threshold of youthful beauty is extremely attractive. In Sanskrit a woman's voice is called nārī-svara because women generally sing and their singing is very attractive. At the present moment, cinema artists, especially female singers, are especially welcome. Some of them earn fabulous amounts of money simply by singing. Therefore, as taught by Śrī CaitanyaMahāprabhu, a woman's singing is dangerous because it can make a sannyāsī fall a victim to the woman. Sannyāsa means giving up the company of women, but if a sannyāsī hears the voice of a woman and sees her beautiful face, he certainly becomes attracted and is sure to fall down. There have been many examples. Even the great sage Viśvāmitra fell a victim toMenakā. Therefore a person desiring to advance in spiritual consciousness must be especially careful not to see a woman's face or hear a woman's voice. To see a woman's face and appreciate its beauty or to hear a woman's voice and appreciate her singing as very nice is a subtle falldown for a brahmacārī or sannyāsī. Thus the description of a woman's features by KaśyapaMuni is very instructive.
When a woman's bodily features are attractive, when her face is beautiful and when her voice is sweet, she is naturally a trap for a man. The śāstras advise that when such a woman comes to serve a man, she should be considered to be like a dark well covered by grass. In the fields there are many such wells, and a man who does not know about them drops through the grass and falls down. Thus there are many such instructions. Since the attraction of the material world is based on attraction for women, Kaśyapa Muni thought, "Under the circumstances, who can understand the heart of a woman?" Cāṇakya Paṇḍitahas also advised, viśvāso naiva kartavyaḥ strīṣu rāja-kuleṣu ca: "There are two persons one should not trust — a politician and a woman." These, of course, are authoritative śāstric injunctions, and we should therefore be very careful in our dealings with women.
Sometimes our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is criticized for mingling men and women, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness is meant for anyone. Whether one is a man or woman does not matter. Lord Kṛṣṇa personally says, striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrāste 'pi yānti parāḿ gatim: whether one is a woman, śūdra or vaiśya, not to speak of being a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya, everyone is fit to return home, back to Godhead, if he strictly follows the instructions of the spiritual master and śāstra. We therefore request all the members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement — both men and women — not to be attracted by bodily features but only to be attracted by Kṛṣṇa. Then everything will be all right. Otherwise there will be danger.
Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind Chapter 18: Diti Vows to Kill King Indra Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.18.42
añjasā svāśiṣātmanām
ghnanty arthe ghātayanti ca
SYNONYMS
na — not; hi — certainly; kaścit — anyone; priyaḥ — dear; strīṇām — to women; añjasā — actually; sva-āśiṣā — for their own interests; ātmanām — most dear; patim — husband; putram — son; bhrātaram — brother; vā — or; ghnanti — they kill;arthe — for their own interests; ghātayanti — cause to be killed; ca — also.
TRANSLATION
To satisfy their own interests, women deal with men as if the men were most dear to them, but no one is actually dear to them. Women are supposed to be very saintly, but for their own interests they can kill even their husbands, sons or brothers, or cause them to be killed by others.
PURPORT
A woman's nature has been particularly well studied by Kaśyapa Muni. Women are self-interested by nature, and therefore they should be protected by all means so that their natural inclination to be too self-interested will not be manifested. Women need to be protected by men. A woman should be cared for by her father in her childhood, by her husband in her youth and by her grown sons in her old age. This is the injunction of Manu, who says that a woman should not be given independence at any stage. Women must be cared for so that they will not be free to manifest their natural tendency for gross selfishness. There have been many cases, even in the present day, in which women have killed their husbands to take advantage of their insurance policies. This is not a criticism of women but a practical study of their nature. Such natural instincts of a woman or a man are manifested only in the bodily conception of life. When either a man or a woman is advanced in spiritual consciousness, the bodily conception of life practically vanishes. We should see all women as spiritual units (ahaḿ brahmāsmi), whose only duty is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then the influences of the different modes of material nature, which result from one's possessing a material body, will not act.
The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so beneficial that it can very easily counteract the contamination of material nature, which results from one's possessing a material body. Bhagavad-gītā therefore teaches, in the very beginning, that whether one is a man or a woman, one must know that he or she is not the body but a spiritual soul. Everyone should be interested in the activities of the spirit soul, not the body. As long as one is activated by the bodily conception of life, there is always the danger of being misled, whether one is a man or a woman. The soul is sometimes described as puruṣa because whether one is dressed as a man or a woman, one is inclined to enjoy this material world. One who has this spirit of enjoyment is described as puruṣa. Whether one is a man or a woman, he is not interested in serving others; everyone is interested in satisfying his or her own senses. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, provides first-class training for a man or a woman. A man should be trained to be a first-class devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and a woman should be trained to be a very chaste follower of her husband. That will make the lives of both of them happy.
Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind Chapter 18: Diti Vows to Kill King Indra Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.18.46
ditir uvāca
yāni ceha niṣiddhāni
SYNONYMS
ditiḥ uvāca — Diti said; dhārayiṣye — I shall accept; vratam — vow; brahman — my dear brāhmaṇa; brūhi — please state;kāryāṇi — must be done; yāni — what; me — to me; yāni — what; ca — and; iha — here; niṣiddhāni — is forbidden; na — not; vratam — the vow; ghnanti — break; yāni — what; uta — also.
TRANSLATION
Diti replied: My dear brāhmaṇa, I must accept your advice and follow the vow. Now let me understand what I have to do, what is forbidden and what will not break the vow. Please clearly state all this to me.
PURPORT
As stated above, a woman is generally inclined to serve her own purposes. Kaśyapa Muni proposed to train Diti to fulfill her desires within one year, and since she was eager to kill Indra, she immediately agreed, saying, "Please let me know what the vow is and how I have to follow it. I promise that I shall do the needful and not break the vow." This is another side of a woman's psychology. Even though a woman is very fond of fulfilling her own plans, when someone instructs her, especially her husband, she innocently follows, and thus she can be trained for better purposes. By nature a woman wants to be a follower of a man; therefore if the man is good the woman can be trained for a good purpose.
Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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See also SB 9.14. to 48
Canto 9: Liberation Chapter 14: King Purūravā Enchanted by Urvaśī Bhaktivedanta VedaBase:Śrīmad Bhāgavatam9.14.36
urvaśyuvāca
SYNONYMS
urvaśīuvāca—Urvaśīsaid;mā—donot;mṛthāḥ— give up your life;puruṣaḥ—male;asi—are;tvam— you;māsma—donot allowit;tvā— unto you;adyuḥ— may eat;vṛkāḥ— the foxes;ime— these senses (donot be under the control of your senses);kvaapi— anywhere;sakhyam— friendship;na— not;vai— indeed;strīṇām— of women;vṛkāṇām— of the foxes;hṛdayam— the heart;yathā—as.
TRANSLATION
Urvaśīsaid: My dear King, you are a man, a hero. Don't be impatient and give up your life. Be sober and don't allow the senses to overcome you like foxes. Don't let the foxes eat you. In other words, you should not be controlled by your senses. Rather, you should know that the heart of a woman is like that of a fox. There is no use making friendship with women.
PURPORT
CāṇakyaPaṇḍitahas advised, viśvāso naivakartavyaḥstrīṣurāja-kuleṣuca: "Never place your faith in a woman or a politician." Unless elevated to spiritual consciousness, everyone is conditioned and fallen, what to speak of women, who are less intelligent than men. Women have been compared to śūdras and vaiśyas (striyo vaiśyāstathāśūdrāḥ). On the spiritual platform, however, when one is elevated to the platform ofKṛṣṇaconsciousness, whether one is a man, woman,śūdraor whatever, everyone is equal. Otherwise,Urvaśī, who was a woman herself and who knew the nature of women, said that a woman's heart is like that of a sly fox. If a man cannot control his senses, he becomes a victim of such sly foxes. But if one can control the senses, there is no chance of his being victimized by sly, foxlike women. CāṇakyaPaṇḍitahas also advised that if one has a wife like a sly fox, he must immediately give up his life at home and go to the forest.
(Cāṇakya-śloka57)
Kṛṣṇaconscious gṛhasthas must be very careful of the sly fox woman. If the wife at home is obedient and follows her husband inKṛṣṇaconsciousness, the home is welcome. Otherwise one should give up one's home and go to the forest.
hitvātma-pātaḿgṛhamandha-kūpaḿ
(Bhāg.7.5.5)
One should go to the forest and take shelter of the lotus feet ofHari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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