Men and Women are Different

There is some propaganda that the reason why there has always been about 2/3 men and 1/3 women in the ISKCON society is because Prabhupada has always been perceived as being prejudiced against women by saying that they are less-intelligent. They say, "Why are you discriminating against women and saying they are less-intelligent when nowadays there are female senators, ambassadors, lawyers and company directors".
My approach is that everything Srila Prabhupada said is true. If he said something, it is a fact, from a transcendental perspective, not from a material perspective.
He even underwent great public criticism in 1975, when he was visiting Chicago. One TV crew came to interview him as a result of this statement being publicized. Everyone on that TV crew was female. The interviewer was a woman, the cameraperson was a woman and all the technical team were women. So they were trying to make a statement. They were thinking that now, by the force of their presence, they could make Prabhupada change his view. And then they challenged him, “Do you actually think that women are less-intelligent?” And Prabhupada said “Yes”. They said “Why are you discriminating against women?” And Prabhupada said, “I am not discriminating. Nature has discriminated.”
He did not concede that by doing these jobs women had attained equality, because this simply requires education. In other words, Prabhupada’s estimation of intelligence is different from what the ordinary calculation of intelligence means. Yes, some intelligence is needed to do all these different kinds of jobs–to be a politician, to be an ambassador, to be a senator, or to be in the legal profession or to be a business person etc. That requires a certain kind of intelligence. But that’s not the criteria that Prabhupada was using when he makes this comparison between the intelligence of men and women.
Prabhupada defines intelligence in the Bhagavad-gita: “Intelligence means the ability to discriminate between spirit and matter.” That is intelligence. This other, ordinary functioning, this is just education. You learn things on the strength of your memory, your experience, and you do things.
“Actually from our point of view, everybody is a spirit soul. So we are all equal from that point of view. But at the same time we recognize that there are differences in bodies. So we make some adjustment for that. That’s all."
“Men and women are different - why? Because a man can’t become pregnant and a woman does.” It seems like a simplistic statement but when you get right into the details it’s actually a sutra. It’s very, very meaningful. It means biologically there are differences.
When women get stressed out they sit down together and they talk, that’s all. They talk, and they talk, and they talk. You put a group of women together, they love to talk. Why do they love to talk? It’s because there are biological reasons why.
‘Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus’, was written by John Gray, a practicing psychologist and psycho-therapist, after twenty years of practical experience. What’s the premise of it? That men and women are different. That this idea that men and women are all the same, it’s bogus. And the first example that he gives is that women like to talk and men like to fix things. That when a woman comes to a man when she is stressed out, she immediately wants to talk and the man listens and after a couple of minutes he says, "Well, why don’t you do this?” Or, “If you do that, then that will fix it". And then she yells at him, “You’re not listening to me!” Why? Because he’s trying to fix it, but she’s not, she just wants empathy, that’s all.
When women get together, they empathize with each other. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, they empathize with each other and then they all feel happy. It doesn’t matter if they don’t get a solution to the problem – they don’t want a solution to the problem in a lot of cases – they just want the release.
Whereas with men – testosterone inhibits the production of oxytocin. It stops it from being produced. That’s why when men sit and talk, they are not satisfied with just talk. They want solutions.
Men are introverted by nature and when a man goes into his ‘cave’ he should be allowed to stay there for some time, without being disturbed. When he comes out from his cave, then he will talk. So men and women are different and they should learn how to interact properly by understanding the differences in their natures. Men should be a bit more empathetic to their ladies when they want to talk - hear them, don’t try to fix things, just hear them that’s all, they want that release. And women should be a bit more respectful and not demand from the men that they sit and just talk when the man is actually in his cave, when he is in his more introspective or introverted period.
There is actually a new branch of medicine which is coming out that is gender-orientated. That some medicines work better for men than they do for women, and vice-versa; some medicines work better for women than they do for men. Although they are treating apparently the same disease, because there are some biological differences, the medicines don’t have the same effect.
So these are simple difference. But they also have implications in our understanding of how intelligence works. Because real intelligence as Prabhupada says, is the ability to discriminate between spirit and matter. To come to a solution. To fix the problems of material existence. To see that this material existence is one stressful situation after another.
How do you fix it? By discriminating between spirit and matter. By understanding that we are not this body, we are spirit souls. To find out what is beyond matter and then aim towards liberating yourself from the suffering of material existence.
So what Prabhupada was saying, is that the male’s biological and psychological structure is more suited to fixing those problems than the female's. The female has to actually battle against her own body and mind to be able to become detached. She has to fight against the ‘oxytocin’, fight against the ‘feel good’ reactions of her body and mind which don’t produce solutions. She has to fight against the tendency to just be happy in just talking and come to the platform of actually solving the problems. So women in general don’t like to do that. It is very difficult for them to become detached from the material world.
Srila Prabhupada however did say on quite a lot of occasions that "Yes, women are not as intelligent as men, but when a woman becomes a devotee, she becomes as intelligent as a man". That men and women in Krishna consciousness, their intelligence is the same. We are all handicapped by the fact that we have a material body. But still, if you take up Krishna consciousness seriously, then you have every chance, whether you are a man or a woman, of going back home, back to Godhead in this life if it is done seriously.
Hari Sauri Das

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.

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.

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

Today we will go through various studies to understand and appreciate Gender Differences between men and women. Our Creator - Lord Sri Krishna is Supremely wonderful. Understanding Gender differences is a great way to appreciate His creation and the thought behind it as well.

Men and Women have been created differently right from their physiology, to how they process information, to how they experience and express emotions all perfectly created to suit the role of being a man for men and for being a woman for women.

We will go through the data present in these links below:

CTW: Appreciating Gender Differences: Physiology

CTW: Appreciating Gender Differences: Social Behavior and Abilities

CTW: Appreciating Gender Differences: Emotions

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

We will also discuss how this difference in physiology affects decision making - we will see this from examples in shastra of Sita Devi, Sati and some other examples.

Celebrating True Womanhood(CTW)First Things First

Thank you all for making the choice to participate in this engaging discussion of "Celebrating True Womanhood". We are engaging in this dialog amongst the woman devotees of the seattle congregation- together we can understand these things, share our views and inculcate together the qualities of womanhood for ourselves and for the future generations.

As participants to the conference call we all are in agreement with the following:

• I am going to hear with an open mind

• Some of us may have had very difficult experiences at the hands of male authority or female authority in our lives- they may have abused their power and used the tenets of vedic wisdom about woman in a way that suits them. That would have brought about great anger in our minds and hearts . Some of us may still have vestiges of the same in our hearts. Every time we hear anything about "Women are subservient to men", "woman need to be protected" etc "woman must serve the husband, inlaws" our difficult past experiences come to haunt us, the anger comes forth. We are so overtaken by our experience that we block any good new information coming our way.
• We may criticize the standards - we push back, because we do not want to go through those difficult experiences again.. we either criticize the standards or never fully accept them
• From acceptance comes transformation
• I accept my conditioning
• On the other hand some of us maybe very attracted to standards- we hear and we want to immediately apply. some of us maye absolutely fine in picking up and applying new information while for some others there may can be sheer fatigue of acting at a platform they we are not at.
• In order to make progress towards the goal it is important to be compassionately aware of our conditioning and how far we are from the ideal state. This enables us to take a stepwise approach towards growth for the latter category.
• I am only competing with myself - my own last victory to become more in sync with my unique psychophysical nature and be of greater service to Lord Krishna. 
• I will work only on myself without having the expectation that someone else will change
• This call is not a place for male bashing, in laws bashing and feminists :)

Celebrating True Womanhood- starting Thursday Oct 17th over Conf/SKYPE 11:30am to 12:30pm

What it is to be a woman was not something we learned in a formal setting. It was something we picked up from observing our mothers, aunts and other ladies who touched our lives. They had picked their lessons from their mothers and aunts. In course of time the treasure of true womanhood has fast vaporized as the culture of all societies is changing from spiritual to material. Certain feminine virtues that were upheld even as close to a decade ago are now considered backward, orthodox and archaic. It can be very confusing to be a spiritual woman in these times as the spiritual and material cultures are diametrically opposite for they are based on opposite ideals. 

It is with great pleasure we invite all women to transforming discussions on the topic "Celebrating True Womanhood" . We will discuss over 9 to 10 sessions every thursday 11:30am to 12:30pm:

*The Nature of a Woman
*Appreciating Gender Differences
*The Vedic Society -Spiritual Culture- The Goal
*The Vedic Society -The Four Social Orders and the Four Social Classes
*The Vedic Society - The purpose of Marriage
*Women as Worshipable Mothers
*Other Aspects of a Woman's Role
*Understanding what other religions have to say about womanhood
*Functioning in Kali Yuga as a woman in the Bhakti tradition - bridging the gap between sastra and reality
*The gap between my consciousness and the consciousness of true womanhood
*Raising our boys and girls

It is important that we reconnect with the spiritual culture explained by the Gurus and acaryas, through the Bhagavad Gita As it Is and Srimad Bhagavatam. When we understand the goal and values of such a culture and how each person's individuality was properly engaged so that they could advance spiritually, we will come to appreciate a woman's role in the spiritual sense.

Each one of you is important to your family and society. Please join us, to deepen our understanding of the importance our role as a woman and Celebrate True Womanhood!!!

Please register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FF6Sz-d90hciRSXCeyPFDpXVcjv3gKA2D2Hbjigp_BY/viewform

Conf call details:
Dial-in Number: 1-213-342-3000 (West Coast)
Organizer Access Code: *2094581 (you must include the leading star key)
Participant Access Code 8016560

Skype Details:
Call me on navkishori.rns - I will add you.

The other Gopis want to know what it is about Smt Radharani that makes her so dear to Krishna

Sakhi Sanga Weekly Meetings

Vedic University Presents

SakhiSanga

Weekly ladies mid-day meetings:

- 9 session Discover Yourself course

- fun games - self care

- yoga - henna

- kirtans, devotional arts and lots of warmth!

 

Monday mid-day sessions , January 28th, Timings: 11:00am to 12:30pm
Venue:Bellevue@Foothill Commons
Note slight change in Venue:

852 136th Ave NE Apt 5-101
Bellevue, WA -98005
from the leasing office go west towards the dead end of the complex and you will see BLDG 5 around the corner

13702 ne 9th place Apt 11307,Bellevue WA 98075

Let us know if you need free child care.

Questions? info@vedicuniversity.net ,Follow us on : sakhisanga.blogspot.com
Ekta Gupta: 425 947 5724(H),425 753 3656(C)
Navakishori dd: 425 996 7079(H),425 894 2140(C)