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.

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.