Functioning in Kali Yuga as a woman in the Bhakti tradition - bridging the gap between sastra and reality

The atmosphere is charged with the material energy in Kali Yuga. Also Varnsharama and other support structures are not in place for women. How can a woman apply the principles of the Vedic tradition in such an environment? As many focus on what a women should do and should not do- we will also need to discuss how we need to give ourselves room within the framework- to grow individually and engage our uniqueness in the service of the Lord.The goal of the seminar is to not introduce rigid stereotypes- rather it is to understand ourselves and the Daivi Varnashrama system well enough so as to resonate with the principles at our individual frequencies. When an individual(woman in this case) feels safe and has enough room to grow and engage their uniqueness in Krsna's service they can grow by leaps and bounds in Their love and devotion to the Lord. We will address some questions here:

• Room to Grow:
• Sine there are many perplexities in Kali Yuga we need the help of self realized souls at every step of our lives so that we can navigate our lives perfectly enough to set the stage to go Back To Godhead
• Does not mean we allow the mind all it fancies
• Room to grow means under discussion with higher authorities we discuss the best course of action for ourselves.
• Lives have to be guided- because we on our own do not know how to go back to Godhead.
• Also guidance will be given in proportion to our receptivity, submission and surrender
• Some of us may have a certain type of conditioning that may cause us to not being able to stick to our dharma? We were raised to do extremely well academically and grow in our careers- having that mindset even if we are attracted to following the vedic principles it doesn't seem natural?
• • Honesty of where I am is extremely important- as we accept where we are we can take steps to make a transformation.
  • We need to introspect -
  •  Is what I am doing against the religious principles and regulative principles of human life- eg someone may want to be a bar dancer.
  • What effect will that cause on my consciousness and how will it impact my duties as prescribed by my higher authorities
  • On the other hand , immature renunciation will lead to problems. At the same time we cannot use "Gradual" "Do it slowly" " Do what you can" as a license to continue things that may not be healthy for our Krishna Consciousness.
  • Some of the following points are helpful:They have been excerpted from HH Romapada Swami's article linked here and here
  • "There are no hard and fast rules in molding one's life towards either model, but devotees are encouraged, without being coerced, to adopt these principles according to the degree of faith, conviction and realization that they personally have, their personal situations and in consultation with experienced devotees in matters of how to effectively apply this in individual situations."
  • "To the degree that we can adopt these time-tested and compassionate teachings of our previous acharyas and sages, to that degree we will benefit and also serve as beacons of real-world examples, thereby nurturing the faith of others in the effulgent teachings as being practical in today's active world."
  • "to prohibit or to promote to pursuance of a higher material education or career path; however, depending upon the qualities of a particular individual, it may be a much less optimal and fruitful option, compared to a thoughtfully pursued course of life that is based more closely on Vedic, Krishna conscious principles."
  • "Duty implies that it is prescribed by higher authority: the scriptures identify duties according to different natures of categories of persons, while spiritual master understands the nature and tendencies of a particular individual and thus prescribes work that they are most suited for, yet in a manner that will purify and elevate them. Although material duties by themselves are external and de-linked from Krishna, particularly so in the context of our modern technological society -- yet when worldly duties are under the sanction and direction of scriptures and spiritual authorities, it becomes easy to connect these activities to Krishna.

Take Charge of Your Emotions Dec 7th, Session Summary

Thank you all for your participation last week, your discussion enlivened the evening. We are not the only ones with difficult emotions :) that need to be processed.Last week we discussed the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviors . We connected it with the Bhagavad Gita verses 2.62 and 2.63 linked for your reference.


This week on Dec 7th we will discuss:
-  How we are trained to suppress emotions and numb ourselves in difficult situations
- The detrimental effects of suppressing our emotions to our health and to our future behaviors.
-  We will do exercises on learning how to connect with our feelings

By connecting with your feelings, you activate your buddhi (intelligence), to process your feelings. Without confronting your feelings, the buddhi, also known as the fire of mental digestion, cannot digest those feelings and we remain victims of our own feelings. Be open to learning what your feelings are telling you.

You can view Last Week's presentation at this link.

On Motherhood- an excerpt from a Book

We came across a nice passage about motherhood from the book Difficult Mothers: Understanding and Overcoming Their Power by Dr. Terri Apter


Relationship with the mother and how it influences other relationships over a lifetime.

• The way we see and value ourselves is influenced by her view of us. How we behave others to behave towards us is in part a function of early interactions with our closest family members
• Recent findings in brain science have deepened our understanding of a mother's pervasive influence. Our relationship with her becomes a model for all intimate relationships. It shapes the circuits of our infant brain- circuits that are used to understand and manage our own emotions and to read other people's thoughts and feelings. 
• In all observed cultures, in all recorded times, human infants engage intimately with the person who cares for them, and in all recorded times, in all observed cultures, the parents who introduces an infant to the interpersonal world of love and dependence is the a mother. A mother and baby lock together in a mutual gaze , each looking back to the other.This early prolonged eye contact is so important to the growing human brain that evolution has left nothing to chance. A brain stem reflex ensures that the baby turns to look at the mother's face.
  
• Until recently , so-called experts on babies advised parents that babies could not really see a mother and that babies had no concept of what a person was for many months or even years after their first all- absorbing introduction to their mother, but new findings show something very different. The areas of the brain that adults use to recognize and respond to faces are active from birth. from the moment a baby looks into his mother's face, he sees a person.He sees someone who expresses feelings and whose expressions show responses to him. This interaction triggers high levels of hormones that flood the infant with pleasure. These endogenous opiates are a healthy version of external opiates like heroin- that block pain and produce pleasure.They reward the infant as he engages in the primary lessons of vital interpersonal relationships. sight is not the only trigger for these pleasure inducing chemicals. Newborns orient their heads to the sound of their mother's voice, and they rapidly learn to recognize and follow its tone and rhythm.
• They stare longer at an image if it smells like their mother. The instinct a mother has to hold her baby on her left side(which is wired to the right side of the brain) facilitates right hemisphere to right hemisphere communication, the part of the brain that specializes in the emotional self. As she cradles the baby on her left side, she communicates with the infants right brain and the infant's behavior stimulates the mother's right brain.
• Even negative emotions of fear can positively stimulate a baby's growth, when the fight or flight system is activated, the rate of breathing increases, along with the heart rate and blood pressure, but as a mother soothes a troubled infant,he feels the ebb of negative emotions and has his first lessons in the crucial task of regulating his own emotions
• Mother's brain also undergoes changes- it is stimulated to
  
  new growth and learning as she engages with her infant. In response to infant's cries and laughter, the parent's brain activity reveals a special pattern. In addition, the complex brain structures that control our emotions the limbic system undergo structural changes as we engage in parenting behavior. These changes increase a mother's ability to pick up cues from the infant.
• As a mother and baby interact , each gets smarter. Each is engrossed by the sights and sounds and movements of the other, each is hunry to learn the other's language. Their mutual focus is so intricately coordinated that is has been defined as an elaborately flowing dance wherein the participating partners get to know themselves through each other. Human psychology as we know it begins in this primary relationship. A passionate and absorbing bond with his or her primary caregiver, who is almost always the mother, is the infant's first experience of loving and being one person in a loving pair.

What happens if a mother does not respond?
If the mother's face becomes frozen the baby becomes distressed. The baby seems outraged that his signals are ignored. It is not easy to soothe a baby who has experienced this interruption in the relational conversation.

Reference Point of Love

• These early interactions form a reference point for what each of us seeks in people we love, to be seen and understood. Children form many relationships with other relatives and with friends that impact on their lives, but the emotional signaling between infant and a mother forms the core sense of being a person with feelings who can communicate feelings to others
• A key experience of having a difficult mother , whether we are three months old or thirty years old, is of the negative of that positive eye to eye engagement. With a difficult mother , our efforts to shape our mother's view are constantly frustrated. we feel ignored, erased, annihilated. We doubt who we are and what we feel. Perhaps our signals are interpreted as bad or mean or selfish. We then inhabit a world of shame in which being known entails criticism and derision.
• Children work hard to make sense of their interpersonal experiences.
  
  "Who is reliable?" and "who offers me warmth and comfort and feeding?" and "whose touch and smell are associated with these?" are questions intrinsically related their survival. As the rudimentary sense of self and other person becomes more sophisticated, so do questions about their meanings:"what does that behavior indicate about me?" and "Does the person I am trying to communicate with understand me?" and "Do my feelings resonate with others?" and "Am I really communicating?"
• We continue to be particularly vulnerable to a mother's responses, even as we develop very different bonds with other people who see and discover us in different ways. for most parents and their children, the experience of belonging to each other has its ups and downs, but whatever the trip ups and scrapes along the way, the relationship is largely comforting, supportive and expansive.
• But what does it feel like to suffer more pain in a relationship than comfort and pleasure? what if those profound experiences of connection and embeddedness are so uncomfortable that, in reaching out for comfort and security, we are restricted and punished? what if we have to distrust ourselves or discount our own wishes or constantly police our thoughts and actions to gain comfort from the person we depend upon? when this dilemma shapes a son's or daughter's experience of a mother, I use the shorthand of a difficult mother to refer to a relationship that has many parts and many contexts and perspective.

Why the protest by women in being women and following their duties nicely? Why are there the impostor feminists?

• The consideration of who is higher or lower based on the Asuric Varnashrama has lead to the conception that cooking, cleaning, supporting the family from the background, being the leading light of the family, providing the nurturing care and love, encouragement to the husband and family members, and raising the next generation with proper spiritual values and culture is less important than everything else.
• Rather when we see the duties
• as a perfect vehicle for our advancement in developing love for Krishna
• as our service to Krishna
• as a responsibility He has entrusted upon us it keeps us happy and excited in doing our prescribed duties nicely
• When we get our sense of worth from the above the materialistic culture does not faze us- it does not shake us from the mode of goodness
• As Kali Yuga progresses a  woman may have to do duties apart from her prescribed duties as well but if she is situated with a proper understanding of the Daivi Varnshrama system she will not compromise on her prescribed duties as she understands their importance.

Mundane(Asuric) Varnashrama versus Daivi Varnashrama

In the previous post
Relationship between - Levels of Consciousness, Modes of material nature and Varna
we discussed how the type of consciousness we have influences the type of work we like to be engaged in.

We also discussed how Vaishnava is considered higher than the Brahmana.

In the table below we will see how Daivi Varnashrama is different from Asuri Varnashrama in the sense that everyone is aspiring for the pleasure of the Lord by the work they do whereas in Asuri Varnashrama one is motivated by their own pleasure.

Asuri Varnashrama	Daivi Varnasharama
Follow rules but without understanding it is for  the pleasure of Krishna	Following the rules and regulations of a particular varna with a clear goal i.e. to please Krishna
Therefore in Asuri Varnashrama Prana maya is better than the anna maya, the vaishayas are better than the sudras, ksatriya are superior to vaishyas, brahamanas are superior to the rest.	Everyone does things for the pleasure of the Lord and is trying to situate themselves at vijnana maya and ananda maya – one does not consider oneself or others higher or lower based on the varna. One is considered higher or lower based on the level of spiritual attainment of kanistha, madhyama and uttama and not what type of work they are doing- because all types of work is being done for the pleasure of the Lord. Everyone is respected because they are all engaged in pleasing the Lord as per the rules and regulations. Therefore a kirtan singer singing for the pleasure of the Lord is respected properly as a vaishnava as much as a temple cook or a preacher, whereas in the system of Asuric a performer is not considered on the same level as a brahmana as it is not being done for the pleasure of the Lord.
Under the garb of a particular so called higher varna they may exploit the lower varna	Exploitation is out of question as : Brahmanas are considered the head of the Lord, Ksatriyas the Arms of the Lord, the vaisyas are considered the belly of the Lord and sudras as the legs of the Lord. So one does not say that head of the Lord is better than the feet.
All four varnas have different culture in how they dress, eat, live. Therefore in the villages they used to have areas earmarked for particular varnas so that they could freely practice their culture without disturbing the other varnas	Vaishnava culture is common not different like the asuric as everyone is trying to follow the same culture in an attempt to go back to Godhead even if the service they do for the Lord maybe different.

If we can understand the difference between the two systems - then when we can make it work. If we want to follow daivi varnashrama but if we follow a rule just as its a rule and dont know its connection with Lord then what is the difference between us and the smartas-. Bec the difference between any situation in the material world is simply consciousness, nothing- your consciousness is Xcendental you are in the spiritual realm and if your consciousness is material you are in the material realm.
8.4 million species is based on consciousness and our posn in varnashrama is also based on consciousness.

Reference:

HH Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami Varnashrama Seminar 01- Brahmacarya

The Need for Varnashrama

The Need for Varnashrama

• The conditioned nature that the spirit soul acquires by its interaction with matter makes it very difficult for the soul to revive its eternal connection with the Lord. It puts the soul in the mode of ignorance - at that platform one does as one pleases further leading to an unregulated mind.

• The unregulated mind pushes one further in the mode of ignorance leaving hardly any scope for the soul to revive its eternal nature of servitude to the Lord.

• If we were transcendental  to the modes of material nature, we simply hear about the Lord and would become devotees immediately and would act on the transcendental platform. E.g Kumaras smelt the tulasi leaves from the Lotus Feet of the Lord and they become self realized. Sukadeva Goswami hears the pastimes of Krishna and he became self realized. We have heard Srimad Bhagavatam many times and have smelt tulasi leaves but many of us haven't become self realized. This is because of the conditioned nature- it takes some practice to change that. 

• Varnashrama Dharma helps us get rid of this conditioned consciousness- this is the most essential point of Varnashrama- all rules and regulations are simply to destroy the material conception we carry that is keeping us away from being situated in our eternal identity as servant of Krishna.

• Thus to elevate men from the animal status,to the mode of goodness the divisions of the four social orders and the four social classes are created by the Lord for the systematic development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Quotes from Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakur about Varnashrama Dharma

• Caitanya Siksamrita 249
• " First, it should be said that without taking proper care of body, mind, society and spirit, a person cannot perform the more elevated activities of bhakti. How can the seed of devotion, faith, awaken in the heart if a person dies prematurely, develops mental problems and never learns anything about spirit? And if a person gives up the rules of varnasrama and acts as he pleases, his physical and mental actions will be like those of a madman. He will be engaged in the worst sins. No sign of bhakti will be visible."
• Bhaktyaloka 216
• "The main purpose of varnashrama-dharma is this: By gradually following varnashrama-dharma a human being will become eligible to perform devotional service."
• Caitanya siksamrita
• "Though a person situated in the world may accept spiritual dharma, he does not give up the rules of mundane dharma, for the rules of varnasrama still assist him in supporting his body, mind and social environment. Being comfortable as a result of proper body, mind and surroundings, he is able to attain the eternal bliss of worshipping the Lord."

Varnashrama includes everyone
 Thus Varnashrama divides society into four natural groups based on the individual characteristics and dispositions.If one follows the rules and regulations of the group they belong to very sincerely - they are able to overcome the dictates of the mind and act from the platform of goodness versus acting from the platform of ignorance.

Relationship between - Levels of Consciousness, Modes of material nature and Varna

• Anna maya (Kama)
• Platform of the mind , the senses, anything we can perceive and deal with the senses- arts, science... and of course eating sleeping mating and defending
• For Sudra the platform of occupational activity is the senses because to do the arts you require the senses. Their situation is ann maya.(kama)
• Mode of ignorance
• Prana Maya(artha)
• Being able to understand that others also have life
• This means we have to be able to work with others- recognize others exist they have desires, needs, and our attempts to get our needs and desires met cannot conflict with others. 
• From this platform comes economic development, material justice- anything where one person has to deal with others.
• Vaishyas are in Prana maya- economics, justice- to make a government  road- this is prana maya- your trucks have to go down, to make all this kind of things is prana maya
• Mode of passion and ignorance
• Mana Maya-(dharma) platform of religious principles
• It also means jnana because there is knowledge- but this knowledge is the knowledge that the mind has affinity for.
• Because the mind likes following of this principles. Where we say mind is going crazy means there is no standard to connect it to, thinks anything - all social principles and rules and regulations are meant to keep the mind peaceful.
•  If we let the mind go a little bit- it runs away with the senses.
• By the social rules and regulations the mind is controlled.This is the platform of dharma.
• This is the realm of activity for the ksatriya
• Mode of passion
• Vijnana Maya- 
• We understand we are not the body we are the soul- this platform of the soul we view the the world- Brahma Bhuta platform- Brahmana level
• This is the bottom level of transcendence. We know we are the soul but do not know we are the servant of Krishna.
• Brahmana means that who knows brahmana.Brahman there are three levels-
• dvija- right to study perform vedic rites and sacrifices and learn the vedic knowledge. But he knows nothing. 
• Next level is vipra- one who has knowledge- he has studied vedic knowledge and has become expert- you also called them pandit 
• Mode of goodness
• Ananda Maya-
•  To know we are spirit soul and servant of Krishna. and we are trying to serve.
• This is the Vaishnava Platform- the third level of the Brahmana.
• Mode of transcendental goodness

Varnashrama - the culture of protection and inclusion for the growth of spiritual consciousness

 We will begin discussion on the topic of Varnashrama - the culture of protection and inclusion for the growth of spiritual consciousness.

We will go through this presentation :

Varnashrama and the Protection of women to discuss the following points:

• The Need for Varnashrama
• Relationship - Levels of Consciousness, Modes of Material Nature, Varnas
• Asuri(Mundane) Varnashrama versus Daivi Varnashrama
• Why the protest by women in being women and following their duties nicely? What are those feminists doing?
• Women's duties as per Daivi Varnashrama system 
• How they put them in a position of strength
• How their role is extremely important for the society
• Why are Women Protected?

Does it mean Vedic culture considers all men to be intelligent?

We read in the post an understanding of why there is an apparent contradiction in the scriptures about a woman's intelligence . Depending upon how a woman is situated she maybe a shelter of maternity or a shelter of sexuality in the human society.

Now does this mean that only women can succumb to the lower nature due to bodily identification and that all men are free from bodily identification? And that all men are intelligent?

Seeing through the lens of the Vedic Definition of intelligence that we discussed earlier anyone who is not able to discriminate between matter and spirit is considered of low intelligence.

Even if men in general have a better ability at rational thought- but if

they are inclined towards a material conception of life versus a spiritual one- then that is not the sign of an intelligent person.

The environment in Kali Yuga is full of various distractions- whether the soul is in the man's body or the woman's body one must remain very vigilant and work hard to progress in their spiritual life.
Examples of Bharat Maharaja and Ajamila are there in the Srimad Bhagavatam to show how a moment of inattention and also staying away from the association of devotees can throw one off the path of devotional service.

Since the dharmic principles that kept society in check have been lost- there is a dearth of examples of model behaviors of men and women around us. This calls for proper training of Boys and Girls and men and woman.

Addressing the apparent contradiction - Women are considered less intelligent vs a A Good wife means Good intelligence?

There are cases we see that women are more intelligent than men. But this statement cannot also refer to the soul because at the level of the soul because at the level of the soul both men and women are the same?

Where is this coming from if it is not related at the material level and not at the spiritual level?

Actually it is related at the interaction of material and spiritual level. As we discussed in a previous post that due to the Breakdown of Dharmic principles women as a class are left harmed. Although in many ways they are more free, they continue to be taken (even by themselves) as a sex object and to be used as a symbol for sexuality. The material-sexual atmosphere increases their material-sexual tendency and furthers them away from their devoted and loving nature. In fact, this transition between the higher nature of a saint/ mother/ nurturer to the lower nature of a prostitute/ seducer is rapid for women, since these are two aspects of their prakriti nature

Lower Nature:

• Mis-identification of the spirit with matter is much stronger when the spirit is entrapped in the women's body.
• To a large extent if the women is not spiritually minded her sense of self identity and self worth comes from the bodily form and therefore to understand that the self is not the body is that much more difficult.Women are more easily swayed to identify with their material body on account of its external beauty
• Another aspect of this misidentification is that the female body leads to a excess of emotionality as compared to rationality. 

That's why bodily identification increases sign of less intelligent.

• Women are less intelligent is not to restrict their capacities and potential and denigrate them  but to recognize that different bodies give us different limitations and endowment but to minimize the harm from the limitations and maximize the benefit from the endowments.The Social order in which women were primarily mothers and not allurers was standard in the Vedic Culture.

Higher Nature:

•  In Vedic Culture the role of maternity is emphasized over the sexuality. Shelters of maternity not sexuality when this is emphasized then the emotionality of women can be used to care for the family members especially the children . It can help them to grow, if the women can become a devotee then her emotionality can help her experience devotional emotions and pass them on to her children.
• So in this way, if women function as mothers primarily then whatever maybe the weakness of the particular body they have then the weakness doesnt harm them but it helps them and helps them help others. 

What goes on in modern society?

• In contrast modern society downplays and to some aspect denies the maternal aspect of women and it over hypes the sexual aspect of women. This leads to increase bodily consciousness among women and men.

Does Modern Society really respect women or does it dehumanize them as objects of pleasure?

• The modern society by treating women as sex symbols may give women more freedom and attention- but that doesn't lead to greater respect and security but it leads to greater insecurity and greater depersonalization. 
• When a women is seen just as a sex symbol then she is not seen as a person but as an object.
• When they are trained to be sex symbols when the sexual appeal decreases then the sense of self worth is lost- but if it is coming from her sense of identifying herself as a mother then a women cannot be a sex symbol throughout her life but she can always be a mother all her life. 
• That is why the maternal role of a mother should be emphasized and the sexual role she be minimized that is what is vedic culture does.
• The less intelligence is not to minimize women but to protect and cherish women so that their spirituality can be developed and cherished in a way that is beneficial to the full society and beneficial to themselves.

Does it mean Vedic Culture Considers all men to be intelligent?

References:

Why are women considered Less intelligent- Lecture by Hg Caitanya Carana Prabhu

A Woman's spiritual nature

The Breakdown of Dharma And How It Impacts Women?

Dharma (or a mood of service, commitment, and sensitivity to others) is designed to bridge and regulate the relationship between these two separate worlds of men and women, and make the cooperation between them conducive to spiritual advancement, until they reach full freedom from self-centeredness, or from the bodily identification of “I am a man”, “I am a woman”, returning back to the eternal spiritual nature – the prakriti nature.

When human culture deteriorates into a-dharma,

1. Sense Gratification becomes the ultimate goal of life 
1. When “doing whatever I like” becomes the central value, with competition and utilitarianism as a prime and respected incentive for action; or more philosophically, when the spirit of purusha becomes almost the exclusive ideal, it is only natural that the spirit of prakriti, of giving and love, is diminished and gradually disappears. 
2. the entire atmosphere becomes saturated with self-interest, hypocrisy, and callousness. 
2. Competition for masculine supremacy
1. The souls in the material world are by nature prakriti, or feminine, permeated with the spirit of purusha, or masculinity. That is to say, we are all egocentric here, trying to control and subordinate everyone else to our service, although our true happiness lies in service – in giving and in love
2. The masculine ideal is seen as guaranteeing the fulfillment of more pleasure, and therefore men and women – all compete for such masculine supremacy.
3. The result, of course, is imbalance, instability, lack of commitment, and insecurity. 
4. Due to the lack of connecting, bridging, and service – the feminine strength – or in a deeper sense, because of moving away from the spiritual ideal, the society, and even the nuclear family, turn from a supportive community into an aggressive and egocentric arena devoid of satisfaction.
3. Misuse of the principles of religion- Abuse of power
1. In such a state, the principles of religion are often used to justify egocentricity and even as a method for exploitation, abuse, and control of the strong over the weak – the weak gender. A woman is perceived as a means to satisfy the sexual needs of her husband and as mother for his children, in negation of all independence and freedom to fulfill herself beyond that. 
2. eg of inlaws, society elders. men and women exploiting the women because of the desire for purusha like supremacy
4. Struggle to free oneself from the burden of religious oppression
1. People want to enjoy freely, do what they like- they do not want to burden of regulative principles of religion guiding them and balancing them for they would have to sacrifice the demands of their mind
2. Decry, criticize the religious principles because of our own lack of desire to follow them!
3. The modern person defines himself or herself through the right for freedom – the freedom to fulfill oneself without the strict and confining laws of religion, the freedom to enjoy without fearing sin, the freedom to control one’s destiny, the freedom to explore the truth, and even the freedom to believe or not in the existence of God.
4. The feminist fight for women’s liberation takes part in the struggle of the entire modern world to free itself from the burden of religious oppression
5. The impact on women
1. In the strife of fanaticism and religious oppression vs. sexual freedom, women, as a class, are left harmed. 
2. Although in many ways they are more free, they continue to be taken (even by themselves) as a sex object and to be used as a symbol for sexuality. The material-sexual atmosphere increases their material-sexual tendency and furthers them away from their devoted and loving nature. In fact, this transition between “a saint and a prostitute” is rapid for women, since these are two aspects of their prakriti nature

Purusha And Prakriti And Its Imitation In the Material World

Spiritual World	Material World
Purusha Purusha is the male, the source, the center, the master, the enjoyer. Krishna- The Supreme  Personality of Godhead—who expanded Himself  into many for His ever-increasing spiritual bliss.	The male body represents the Purusha: Autonomous ,independent A man, due to his masculine nature, tends to define himself in terms of “I”, through personal career, security and status.  DOER: Kartaham iti manyate
Prakriti- Spiritual Conception She is feminine, symbolizing the feminine qualities;  she is dependent on the male-God, she exists for   His pleasure, she expands His pleasure, and  with her His pleasure rests.  She is defined  through Him,  without a separate independent  existence; she is the infinite number of individuals  (the souls) who have expanded from Him to exchange transcendental loving relations with Him. The Purusha is attracted to provide protection and shelter to prakriti, and she finds pleasure in serving Him.	Prakriti- Material Conception Female body represents prakriti – subordinate and defined by the Purusha.   A woman, however, tends to define herself more in terms of “mine”, of belonging – to the husband, the home, and the children.   For example, when she cooks, it is part of her domestic activities and an expression of her love. But when he cooks, he is a “chef”…
Radharani - The Supreme Prakriti Radharani: The superior prakriti, or the Lord’s  first  expansion for the purpose of pleasure, is embodied in  a perfect feminine figure, which is a transcendental  manifestation of the Lord’s pleasure-giving potency  (hladini-sakti, ananda, or by Her name, Sri Radha).  Therefore, in His supreme aspect of love, the Vedic  God is described as two, a man and a woman, or Radha and Krishna. Although one in their identity, they are eternally separated, in order to taste the sweetness of a loving relationship.	Durga Devi - Manifestation of Radharani in the Material World Sri Radha, who is the embodiment of spiritual love of God, expands herself into an inferior manifestation, the embodiment of the material energy, or Durga Devi, the goddess of matter. She allures the souls and invites them to come and enjoy her. In this way she binds them through the agency of sex, or the attraction between men and women, to material existence. Called maya - pleasure she offers is ephemeral and is factually filled with suffering.

The souls in the material world are by nature prakriti, or feminine, permeated with the spirit of purusha, or masculinity. That is to say, we are all egocentric here, trying to control and subordinate everyone else to our service, although our true happiness lies in service – in giving and in love.Want to gain control, 

• ahankara vimudhatma kartaham ii manyate- doership
• Over the resources of the material energy
• Over each other, for our own selfish pleasure.

For this reason our entire existence is characterized by a struggle for supremacy and power, and the existential law is that the strong exploit the weak. * Since we try to imitate here the divine play of love, along our karmic journey one of us sometimes assumes the role of the Purusha, the enjoyer, while another plays prakriti, the giver of joy.

Male and Female Principle in the Material World:

Since we try to imitate here the divine play of love, along our karmic journey one of us sometimes assumes the role of the Purusha, the enjoyer, while another plays prakriti, the giver of joy. 

• They are two kinds of natures, or ego, different from each other, and simultaneously, attracted to each other, and in a proper environment, also complementing each other.
• In any case, even though all of us are feminine souls (prakriti) with a masculine mindset (purusha), and although we all try to enjoy in the world as the master and as the center (and therefore repeatedly take birth after birth), in general it can be said that the male body is an imitation of the purusha principle and the woman’s body is an imitation of the prakriti principle. Hence, the nature of their activities in the world is different.

What is the Vedic Definition of Intelligence?

Vedas define intelligence with three components- memory, knowledge and realization about the difference between matter and spirit

In vedic literatures intelligence is described as having three components

• Memory
• Memory connected with hearing- hear subject matters and memorize.
• Knowledge
• Then we contemplate by that contemplation we gain knowledge , by performing service combined with this contemplation we get knowledge.
• Power of discrimination:
• The third stage then we get from knowledge is realization which is the power to discriminate.

   In Vedic Literature the power of discrimination is considered the highest.

 Within discrimination- the power to discriminate between matter and spirit - this is considered the most important.

The first two aspects of intelligence is addressed everywhere but no university addresses the discrimination between matter and spirit.Out of 14 branches of knowledge, 13 deal with material world the 14th branch deals with transcendence. Srimad bhagavatam deals with discriminating between matter and spirit.

Thus in the Vedic culture an intelligent person is one who can distinguish between matter and spirit.Intelligence begins by understanding that I am not the body I am the soul.

Reference:
BVPS 1997-10-10 Varnashrama Seminar-04 Brahmacarya - Mayapur - beginning of the lecture

CTW: Vedic Perspective on Gender Differences

Having understood in the previous sessions about gender differences at the physical and psychological level, we will attempt to understand through the philosophical world of the Vedas and the cultural world that is based upon it .At the end of this session we will be able to appreciate how the difference in the psycho-physical natures of men and women is thoroughly understood and acknowledged in the Vedic Culture. We will go through the following topics:

• What is the Vedic definition of intelligence?
• Purusha and Prakriti and its Imitation in the Material world
• Different egos, different bodies, different psychophysical natures- strengths and weaknesses
• The Breakdown of Dharma and how it impacts women
• A Woman's Spiritual Nature 

Taking into account the differences- the society is designed to engage men and women in their areas of strength in a manner in which they can complement each other.

• Varnashrama - the culture of protection and inclusion for the growth of spiritual consciousness

Also, many times we have read in the Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita that "Women are less intelligent" at the same time we read several examples right from the Bhagavatam about how a "Good wife means Good intelligence" and she increases the family's engagement in devotional service.Understanding the points above will also help us reconcile these opposites.

CTW: Appreciating Gender Differences: Strengths and Weaknesses for men and women

Even though all of us are feminine souls (prakriti) with a masculine mindset (purusha), and although we all try to enjoy in the world as the master and as the center (and therefore repeatedly take birth after birth), in general it can be said that the male body is an imitation of the purusha principle and the woman’s body is an imitation of the prakriti principle. Hence, the nature of their activities in the world is different.

They are naturally attracted to each other, like the purusha and prakriti. The man is attracted to the woman as a protector and a giver of shelter, and the woman is attracted to the man in the mood of love and service.

Intelligence of men and women

The most fundamental difference between a man’s body and a woman’s body is found in the structure of their intelligence and emotions. This fundamental difference (manifested in a different brain structure) is meant to enable their various roles in society. 

Two sides of the brain- one side deals with emotions, the other deals with the analytical aspects. Men work with one side and the other - never both they may switch back and forth but its always on one side Women both sides constantly work - emotions and senses are always connected to one another. There may be more emphasis for one side or the other

This gives strengths and weaknesses to both parties.

• Dealing with philosophy:
• • For the men their strength is if they look at something especially philosophical -they can look at it purely analytically  without emotion -and say this is right this is wrong- reject the wrong. 
  • Their weakness is if they are emotional they don't actually analyze the situation. they just see what is the emotion and they move in the realm of the mind and go that way. 
  • Therefore they will do so many things- take an ism, take an issue and completely take it up without thinking what gain or loss may come or they become interested in sense gratification and absorb themselves without thinking of the consequences.
• Nurturing Role:
  • Whereas women, we see their strength is in the mood of a mother, means in the mood of mother- then the emotions are running at the same time one can analyze what is the best situation for dealing and helping others. 
  • A woman is emotionally wise and intuitive, and consequently she is very practical, soft, mentally strong, and can connect and reconcile contradictions. 
  • This gives her strength in developing nurturing relationships and creating a loving home for the children and husband.
  •  In the realm of emotions they can see what is the proper thing to do. Like we can see in the realm of the house they can decide the furniture is like this , the colors are like this put this here , there, etc - that is their expertise.
• Dealing with Children:
• • Or we can see the child is crying-because of the emotions the natural affection is there at the same time women can analyse "oh the child is hungry, tired, something is bothering them."
• •  Men cannot do that. Because of their emotions they feel they should do something for the child, but in that emotional state they cannot analyze what is wrong. If they try to analyze it then they would think- "what would I do with this anyway- its crying, its wet- like that" that is the strength of women . 
  • The weakness for the women is then when trying to purely analyze a philosophical subject or a practical situation one gets caught between understanding the situation this is correct, this is the philosophy this is correct- but also the emotion "Oh but what about this, someone may say that, this one may feel this".
• Dealing with the outside world:
• • For the man, the senses and emotions are separate, enabling him to cope with the harsh and competitive world outside without being harmed. His intelligence can analyze, separate, and differentiate more efficiently, because it is less emotionally involved.
  • Because of this connection between her emotions and her intelligence, sometimes it is not easy for her to separate them when necessary, especially in contact with the aggressive and rough world. Because of her physically weaker body, she tends to feel unprotected when not surrounded by a loving atmosphere (therefore, when women are forced to go out into this situation, they usually close up and toughen themselves, harming their soft feminine nature).
• Dealing with Distress:
• • She needs compassion, someone to listen to her, and someone to share with, while he needs practical solutions (when he offers her his practical solutions while she is distressed, it only annoys her). The sequence of her conversation moves from one emotional point to another, she loves spending time in heart-to-heart conversations, and discussions about others and their emotional world fascinate her. The man, however, is interested in practical-intellectual discussions, and his conversation progresses in a logical sequence. She is sensitive to subtleties and responds to them, while he might not even notice them, etc…
• Advantage of a woman's emotional nature in devotional service
  • Prabhupada did say that women’s soft-heartedness is, indeed, an aid in their Krishna consciousness, and that men’s tendency toward hard-heartedness can be an impediment. While a male body gives an overall advantage to a soul seeking realization of Krishna, a female body has two advantages–the tendency to accept and follow authority, and soft-heartedness.
  • “As soon as soft-hearted people such as women hear those transcendental pastimes of Lord Krsna, they immediately become attracted to Him. Soft-hearted women and girls are therefore very easily drawn to the Krsna consciousness movement. One who is thus drawn to the Krsna consciousness movement and tries to keep himself in constant touch with such consciousness certainly gets the supreme salvation, going back to Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana.” (krishna Book, chapter 90)
  • Why are women considered less intelligent:
  • Of course, being soft-hearted can also cause problems (all material facilities have their concurrent dangers), so that it is precisely the soft-hearted nature of women that demands protection: “woman are considered less intelligent. In the Bhagavad-gita… Their heart is very soft. Just like children, their heart is very soft. But their intelligence is not very sharp. ..They can be molded by another intelligent man to the proper channel. Therefore they require guidance. They require guidance.” (lecture Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.43 — Vrndavana, October 3, 1976)

Dharma (or a mood of service, commitment, and sensitivity to others) is designed to bridge and regulate the relationship between these two separate worlds, and make the cooperation between them conducive to spiritual advancement, until they reach full freedom from self-centeredness, or from the bodily identification of “I am a man”, “I am a woman”, returning back to the eternal spiritual nature – the prakriti nature.

References:

Refer lecture and earlier part of the transcript here.

Dharma- The combination of matter and spirit

Comment by HG Urmila Devi Dasi  for the article “Women are Less Intelligent?”

Examples from Shastra: 

Sita Devi requesting Rama to give up weapons during their exile.

Kasyapa and Diti

Lord Siva and Sati

CTW: Appreciating Gender Differences: Emotions

Women are more likely to express their emotions 

• Men and women experience the same amount of emotion, but that women are more likely to express their emotions.  When measured with an affect intensity measure, women reported greater intensity of both positive and negative affect than men. Women also reported a more intense and more frequent experience of affect, joy, and love but also experienced more embarrassment, guilt, shame, sadness, anger, fear, and distress.
  
•  Experiencing pride was more frequent and intense for men than for women.[128] In imagined frightening situations, such as being home alone and witnessing a stranger walking towards your house, women reported greater fear. 
• Anger and Fear: Women also reported more fear in situations that involved "a male's hostile and aggressive behavior" (281)[128] In anger-eliciting situations, women communicated more intense feelings of anger than men. Women also reported more intense feelings of anger in relation to terrifying situations, especially situations involving a male protagonist.[133] Emotional contagion refers to the phenomenon of a person’s emotions becoming similar to those of surrounding people. Women have been reported to be more responsive to this.[134] 
• Women were found to be more facially expressive than men when it came to both positive and negative emotions. These researchers concluded that men and women experience the same amount of emotion, but that women are more likely to express their emotions
• Tear Glands: Women are known to have anatomically differently shaped tear glands than men as well as having more of the hormone prolactin, which is present in tear glands, as adults. While girls and boys cry at roughly the same amount at age 12, by age 18, women generally cry four times more than men, which could be explained by higher levels of prolactin.[73][139]
• Facial expressions: 
• In a study where researchers wanted to concentrate on nonverbal expressions by just looking at the eyebrows, lips, and the eyes, participants read certain cue cards that were either negative or positive and recorded the responses.
  
•  In the results of this experiment it is shown that feminine emotions happen more frequently and have a higher intensity in women than men. In relation to the masculine emotions, such as anger, the results are flipped and the women’s frequency and intensity is lower than the men’s.
•  Studies that measure facial expression by the use of electromyography recordings show that women are more adequately able to manipulate their facial expressions than men. Men, however can inhibit their expressions better than females when cued to do so. In the observer ratings women’s facial expressions are easier to read as opposed to men’s except for the expression of anger
• Amygdala :
• Women show a significantly greater activity in the left amygdala when encoding and remembering emotionally arousing pictures (such as mutilated bodies.)
• Men and women tend to use different neural pathways to encode stimuli into memory. While highly emotional pictures were remembered best by all participants in one study, as compared to emotionally neutral images, women remembered the pictures better than men. This study also found greater activation of the right amygdala in men and the left amygdala in women.
• On average, women use more of the left cerebral hemisphere when shown emotionally arousing images, while men use more of their right hemisphere. 
• Women also show more consistency between individuals for the areas of the brain activated by emotionally disturbing images.[144] One study of 12 men and 12 women found that more areas in the brains of women were highly activated by emotional imagery, though the differences may have been due to the upbringing of the test participants.[146] 
• Past events and Pain:
• When women are asked to think about past events that made them angry, they show activity in the septum in the limbic system; this activity is absent in males. In contrast, men's brains show more activity in the limbic system when asked to identify happy or sad male and female faces. 
•  In women, the limbic system, which is involved in the processing of emotions, shows greater activity in response to pain. In men, cognitive areas of the brain, which are involved in analytical processing, show higher activity in response to pain.[148] This indicates a connection between pain-responsive brain regions and emotional regions in women.

Mental Health
Men and women do not differ on their overall rates of psychopathology, however, certain disorders are more prevalent in women, and vice versa. Women have higher rates of anxiety and depression (internalizing disorders) and men have higher rates of substance abuse and antisocial disorders (externalizing disorders). It is believed that divisions of power and the responsibilities set upon each sex are critical to this predisposition. Namely, women earn less money than men do, they tend to have jobs with less power and autonomy, and women are more responsive to problems of people in their social networks. These three differences can contribute to women's predisposition to anxiety and depression. It is believed that socializing practices that encourage high self-regard and mastery would benefit the mental health of both men and women

Menstrual Cycle and Mood

• Researchers used MRI to study the brains of women who viewed a series of pictures and rated them as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This test was repeated at different stages of the women's menstrual cycles.
• In the early follicular stage of the menstrual cycle, no areas of the women's brains showed significantly increased activation while viewing the pictures. But during the midpoint of their menstrual cycle, when hormone levels were higher, the women had increased activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex and other areas of the brain involved in processing emotional information, the researchers found
• Predicting where woman are in their menstrual cycle based on behavior alone
• A very interesting study from the 1930’s by a physician and a psychologist puts it all into perspective. The physician monitored the hormone states of women while the psychologist observed their behaviors. What they found was that the psychologist could predict, with amazing accuracy, where the women were in their menstrual cycles, based on behavior alone.
• They found that during the first half of the cycle, before ovulation, the women’s emotions and behaviors were more focused on the outside world—on creating and contributing outside of themselves. During ovulation the women were more content, relaxed, and allowed more help and care from others. After ovulation, during the premenstrual phase when estrogen was lowest and progesterone highest, the women were more focused internally, on their own feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. 
• This study illustrates what we women have sensed for years: We feel, think, and even behave differently in accordance with the dialogue of our menstrual cycles.
• But this study also shows the wisdom of our female bodies. As author Christiane Northrup states, “I like to think of the first half of our cycles as the time when we are both biologically and psychologically preparing to give birth to someone or something outside of ourselves. In the second half of the cycles, we prepare to give birth to nothing less than ourselves”[4].
• Sure, our menstrual cycles can make our moods feel a little complicated. But if we learn about our body and listen to its wisdom, we will not only have the power to take charge of our emotional well-being, but we will appreciate the incredible power our beautiful female bodies possess."
• References : Emotions during Menstrual Cycle- womenshealth.about.com
  Emotions during Menstrual Cycle- Dr Christina Hebbert

Reaction to stress sending emotions in a whirl:
Reference: Women more prone to emotional stress than men 'because of sensitivity to hormone'

• Members of the fairer sex are more sensitive to a key stress hormone - with even small amounts sending their emotions into a whirl, research shows. 
• Men, in contrast, are relatively immune to even high amounts of the chemical.This perhaps explains why they often take a more laid-back view of potential crises - infuriating the women in their lives in the process.
• Researchers say the U.S. study could help explain the differences in the way men and women control their emotions.Women have higher rates of depression,post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety problems than men. The study focused on a stress hormone called corticotropinreleasing factor (CRF) which helps control the body's reaction to stress.
• CRF is known to play a role in human psychiatric conditions. Study leader Dr Rita Valentino, of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said: 'This is an animal study carried out on rats and we cannot say that the biological mechanism is the same in people. But researchers already know that CRF regulation is disrupted in stress-related psychiatric disorders, so this research may be relevant to the underlying human biology. This may help to explain why women are twice as vulnerable as men to stress-related disorders.
• In the study, brain cells of female rats were excited by doses of CRF that were too low to affect cells in male rats, the journal Molecular Psychiatry reports. Experiments showed that the hormone bound more tightly to brain cell proteins of stressed-out female rats, making them more sensitive to its effects. The male rats, however, were able to reduce levels of the protein, stopping the hormone from binding and reducing its effects on the brain.

Memory
The results from research on sex differences in memory are mixed and inconsistent, with some studies showing no difference, and others showing a female or male advantage.[80] Most studies have found no sex differences in short term memory, the rate of memory decline due to aging, or memory of visual stimuli.[80] Females have been found to have an advantage in recalling auditory and olfactory stimuli, experiences, faces, names, and the location of objects in space.[11][80] However, males show an advantage in recalling "masculine" events.
Also for females their memory is tied to their emotions hence they are able to recall events better than men.

CTW: Appreciating Gender Differences: Social Behavior and Abilities

• Verbal Abilities
• Women show higher performance levels on tests of verbal fluency. This may be because the female auditory cortex is more dense than that of the male. This difference and other sensory differences like it could be because of the sex hormones that impact the fetal brain during development
• Mathematical attitudes and effects
• Small difference , also could be due to difference on how the teachers percieve a boy vs a girl. Parents were, and sometimes still are, more likely to consider a son's mathematical achievement as being a natural skill while a daughter's mathematical achievement is more likely to be seen as something she studied hard for. This difference in attitude may contribute to girls and women being discouraged from further involvement in mathematics-related subjects and careers(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_human_psychology)
• Influenceability and Conformity(Peer Pressure)
• Woman conform more and may thus be more prone to peer pressure
• Aggression
• Males across race, culture, country , age
• Small Group Behavior
• Tasks that require task orineted behavior men performed better. Tasks that require social behavior for good performance women perform better. A women's interactive style helped increase group productivity. Men generated more solutions in same sex groups when working individually. General cultural sex roles are manifested in task group interaction as well- women were more socio emotional in their interaction whereas men where more engaged in active task behavior
• Leadership Behavior
• Women lead in a more democratic way and men do in a more autocratic way
• Non verbal communication
• Women more accurately interpret nonverbal, communication. In sum, based on a literature of hundreds of studies, it appears that women occupy a more nonverbally conscious, positive, and interpersonally engaged world than men do. women make greater effort to increase interpersonal comfort
• Empathy
• 
• Understanding and tracking relationships and reading others' emotional states was particularly important for women for tasks such as caring for children and social networking.Women perform better than men in tests involving emotional interpretation, such as understanding facial expressions, and empathy.
• Inter species empathy
• An international survey of 12 Eurasian nations (n>4000) was conducted between 2007 to 2008. The initiator and principle investigator of the survey, Dr Jenia Meng, found that females on average have a higher level of empathy with nonhuman animals than males. 

References:
Psychology of women: A Handbook of Issues and Theories
The Psychology of Women- Helene Deutsch
Sex Differences in Human Psychology
Sex Differences in Human Physiology
Emotions during Menstrual Cycle- womenshealth.about.com
Emotions during Menstrual Cycle- Dr Christina Hebbert