The Character Of Women Of Bharat  will be Character – Jewel of Woman 

Nowadays, the desires in us are on the excessive side. Anger increases such desires further. People who harbour desires and anger will only come to grief. What greater truth can I convey to you, good people, who are gathered here.

The place was the banks of river Yamuna. The atmosphere was peaceful and beautiful. One could hear the singing of the murali in the cool air. Radha entered the sand dunes with a pot in her hand. Having placed the pot on the ground, she began listening to the enchanting soft music of the murali and she stood stiff as a stick shedding tears of sorrow. After some time, she heard someone calling, “Radha, Radha.” Instantly she opened her eyes and looked all around. It was a place where there were no other human beings. She then sat down and told herself that there may be places where there are no human beings, but there can be no place where Krishna was not present. She decided that the call was from Krishna. She proclaimed, “What I could play; I have played, what I could sing; I have sung. From time immemorial, I undertook to play different parts, I had participated in different acts and now it is enough. I wore clothes that may be described as anger and desire. I also wore jewels that may be described as attachments and moha. I wore anklets that may be described as greed. I heard about the blame and blemish that came because of this. My mind also supported my actions and provided the background music to my drama. What may be described as company of some bad people sometimes, provided the rhythm and the beat. Attachment and ego have been keeping time. With so many ancillaries, my drama has come to an end. For some time I was performing my drama on water and at other times, I performed the same on the earth. These attachments and human foibles have been responsible for my inability to put my whole life at the lotus feet of my Lord. Like a parrot which runs to a cotton fruit thinking it to be a mango fruit and gets disappointed, I looked at these worldly desires and attractions, mistaking them for something good and wasted my life in disappointment. Krishna! It is enough, this drama of mine should now come to an end. I am requesting you to take my life and merge me in you. In earlier times, I used to take the name Dhara.

Now, I am called Radha.” This creation has three attributes. One is its feminine nature. In the word Stree, there are three letters Sa, Ta and Ra. Sa signifies sathwik guna and T a signifies thamasik guna. The third letter Ra is the symbol of rajasik guna. For a stree, the letter Sa is the first letter and the sathwik guna is thus the most essential. Forbearance, humility, and obedience are the three essential qualities that go with this guna. The next important one is the thamo guna. Fear, humbleness and shyness are qualities which are associated with this guna. Contrary to this, we see that where the sathwik and thamasik gunas should be present, features like courage, independence and the desire to take decisions freely are appearing. These features are to be found in some women and are becoming more pronounced in the Kali Yuga. In fact the Kali Yuga was just beginning at that time. She said that when the qualities of courage, freedom and independence of action are beginning to be seen in women, she would not like to continue living. Whereas for men, there is only one home, a woman has two homes. It is the duty of women to bring reputation to the house in which they are born and to hold high the honour of the homes into which they go. But the reputations of both the houses are being brought down to some extent because of independence of action among women. Krishna: it is unusual to refer to a woman as ‘abala’ or a weak person. This should not be interpreted by saying that she is always subservient to a man.

It should not mean that she is supreme only in the kitchen. The reputation of the entire home and even a whole nation depends on the women. However, in the background of the culture of Bharath, women have a specified place in certain rituals and in the giving away of some ceremonial gifts and it is in this background that they are referred to as being ‘abala.’ When Harischandara was giving away the kingdom, Chandramati had a role to play. While giving away gifts, the wife also should be a party to it. Otherwise, it will not be a good gift. She is therefore given a prominent place and described as Ardhangi. We will take another instance. When Ramachandra wanted to perform the Aswamedha Yaga, he could not do so, because Sita was not with him. They had to create a golden idol of Sita to satisfy the requirement of her presence. In that manner, whenever a Yagna is performed, according to tradition, the wife must also be sitting along with the husband and then only the ritual will be completed. In that context, the husband and wife are referred to as Somadeva and Somadevi respectively. Because of a situation, where such rituals cannot be undertaken by a woman alone, she has been referred to as an “abala”. One cannot interpret this word by saying that a woman is weak in regard to mental or physical stamina.

Divinity shines resplendently in the entire universe,
and the universe is encompassed by divinity.
There is an intimate and inseparable relationship
between God and the universe.
Listen to this truth, Oh valorous sons of Bharat!