Women's intelligence

Women's intelligence

There’s a new fashion that is to say that women are less intelligent then man. Here I’d like to show what the scriptures say about it. In a certain way, it is indeed said that most part of women usually have a very soft heart. That might be aproblem because many times they can put their heart and feelings before theirintelligence or sense of discrimination. This is not exactly a lack ofintelligence, but a purity of heart that is dangerous for the person in adegraded world like the one we live in. In this way, pure creatures like womenand brahmanas should always be taken care of, so that they can be protected fromevil persons. There’s no question that the brahminical class is the mostintelligent class of the society (we are not speaking here of people who arebrahmanas because were born in family of brahmanas, but we are talking aboutreal brahmanas, with the brahminical qualifications). Similarly, the fact thatwomen are pure or, many times, innocent, or that they have to be protected, hasabsolutely nothing to do with a lack of intelligence. Sarasvati, the goddess ofintelligence is a woman!
“Agnihthram Tatachar swamy points out a specialVedic term : Purandhi, and explains its significance . According to the VedAs ,women are more intelligent than men (i.e) she is a purandhi. (…) By that term ,Women's superior intelligence is indicated.”*
Being aware of the capacity ofthe girls, the families and teachers used to train them just as they used totrain the boys. That was according to the Atharva Veda, which says that girlsshould be trained as students before entering marriage life. “Girls should trainthemselves to become complete scholars and youthful through Brahmcharya and thenenter married life.” **
The Atharva Veda also says: “Oh woman! You are thekeeper of knowledge of all types of actions (karma).” “Oh woman! You knoweverything. Please provide us strength of prosperity and wealth.” and “Oh woman!Utilize your vedic intellect in all directions of our home!”.
In the sameVeda it is also stated: “Women should take part in the legislative chambers andput their views on forefront.” And from the Rg Veda we have: “O men and women! Ascholarly woman who has practiced or teaches one, two or three Vedas or fourVedas and four upavedas, along with grammar, etymology etc and spreads knowledgeto whole world and removes ignorance of people is source of happiness for entireworld. A woman who studies and teaches all parts of Vedas brings progress to allhuman beings.” So, the idea that women can’t study the Vedas is just a modernnon-sense. Actually, they should not only study it, but also teach it, althoughwe see that in many spiritual societies nowadays women are not allowed to preachor teach.
According to The Rg Veda, women can say: “My destiny is as gloriousas the rising sun. I am the flag of my home and society. I am also their head. Ican give impressive discourses. My sons conquer enemies. My daughter illuminatesthe whole world.”
So, as we see, women from vedic age don’t think ofthemselves as poor non-intelligent creatures. They know their importance notonly for their family but also for their society. They are the had. So, theyhave intelligence and give directions. Their importance is not only to staybehind men obeying their orders. They say they can give impressive discourses.Of course they are not locked at home just cooking and cleaning, otherwise, thatstatement would make no sense. They are free to speak for many people and theyare impressive, so they have knowledge to cause that impression. Their sonsconquer enemies, but their daughter illuminates the whole world. Their daughtersare not burdens that are killed in the womb or who are less important then theirsons. No! They illuminate the whole world!


*SriPedia - http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/cgi-bin/kbase/Vedas/Women’
** Agniveer – Womenin Vedas - http://agniveer.com/vedas/women-in-vedas/

http://deviwoman.blogspot.com/

www.iskconbr.multiply.com

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                  • Volunteer

                    It is said in Vedas that a man should never be alone with another woman other than his wife, not even sister, mother or daughter.

                    When men and women allowed to mix in a society, the society will start to crumble, With high divorce rates and children growing up without father or mother.

                    In societies where women are not accepted to mix freely with men, like in India, although its changing, there is hardly any divorce rate. Very few out of wedlock children to be taken care of, by the government, where the government plays the father role protecting the women, like in America. You may not be aware of this, but there is a class of women who continue to have out of wedlock babies every 3 years so they can continue to receive checks and depend on the government.

                     

      • This is a very interesting discussion. I don't remember hearing anyone in our movement saying women are clearly superior before. I'm not offended, and I agree that women are stronger in some ways than men. The issue of women seen as sudras is irrelevant, as in this age everyone is of a sudra nature. I think the statements about women as less intelligent in the Gita and Srimad Bhagavtam do not refer to a difference in cognitive faculty, but to the fact that at that time 99 percent of women were housewives who did not concern themselves much with philosophy and scriptural study. Therefore, at that time, women as a class were less educated in scholarly fields than men, and such generalizations could be made.

        But also, there are many types of intelligence, and men and womens psychologies are fundamentally different. Women's brains have much more connections between the two sides of the brain, which means their logical side and their creative, imaginative side are more closely linked, whereas men can only be either emotionally sensitive or impartially logical, and cannot use both at the same time to the same extent. Thus women are often much better at understanding things in a relationship, expressing themselves, practical things, and being sensitive to others feelings, while men have different strengths, such as being more independent, having a better grasp of complicated, abstract topics, the ability to make harsh judgements while suppressing their emotions, etc. And of course, in todays world gender roles have been bent so much that nothing we say about women or men will be universally valid.

        We often speak about how the feminine aspect of God, Radharani, is controlling Krsna. Although it is Krsna who is independent, and Radharani eternally serves Him, still She controls Him in so many ways. And also, even in the spiritual world, there is sporting rivalry between the gopas and gopis. So i think ultimately we should not be concerned about this, since the basic ABC of our philosophy is that we are not 'men' or 'women', but we are the Jiva. And as Sarvopama Prabhu concluded, both genders are equal in spiritual life, which is supposed to be our main concern.

        I apologize for my assertiveness. I am still a very young man, and maybe I am wrong, but this is something I have thought about for a long time. Please correct me if I made some mistakes, I welcome fresh ideas...
        • I am a wonan and I certainly concern myself with scriptural study and the study of philosophy. :)  In fact, I enjoy both very much!
    • And... I wholeheartedly agree with you Sarvopama prabhu! I have always thought women actually superior to men in any area that actually counts!
  • hare krishna, this is really a eye-opener article bcoj i, too, believee that women belongs to shudra category as i read in Bhagvad Geeta, where women were put in the category of lowest species. and i want to thank Sarvopam Dasa guru who started discussion on this article which really make me more confident.
    • Volunteer

      Seriously, in Bhagavadgita, women are put in a category of lowest of species?

      You will not progress spiritually if you disrespect the scriptures.

      Unlike some of the western cultures, where women are treated as toy (pornography), made to wear pants and put work as a slave (yes baby, you are liberated and equal so go to work),  instead of treating her like a mother, where she gets to be with her children.

      Come to United states, if you want to meet some of your lowest of your species.

      Recently a talk show host asked an audience of women,"How many of you really think you need a man" Only 2 percent lifted their hands. He was making a joke, saying that , if I asked the same thing to the men, 100% of the hands will go up. Now that's where our Indian civilization is heading. True, why will women need men if they are cheated into thinking that they are equal to man and so they should get a job instead of enjoying life with children.

      One has to tread the spiritual path extremely carefully. If you commit offenses you will not progress.

       

      • I'm sorry, but that is offensive to me.  I don't have children, and could not have them if I wanted to, due to a medical condition.  Many women can't or do not wish to have children for various reasons. One of those reasons is that they choose to be celibate.  What do you say to that?
        • Volunteer

          Sorry if I offended you Kara mataji, in Vedic culture all women must be treated as mothers.

          If I were you, I would consider the medical condition as a blessing and serve Krishna by performing Sankirtana in the streets everyday.

           

           

          • Apology accepted. :)
        • Volunteer

          I know one woman who married a man and they both lead a celibate life. Great devotees, both of them. They both agreed to such arrangement before they got married, so they could serve Krishna instead of children. That way she will not be bothered by other men now that she is married.

          Such intelligent women are rare. Hope you are one of them...:)

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