Skip to main content

WOMANHOOD - UNDERSTOOD OR MISUNDERSTOOD? (A Tribute to all the women out there)


Being born in this world is not easy and being born as a woman is definitely not easy and being a chaste woman and trying to live a principle-centered life is definitely, definitely not easy. The struggles a woman goes through being a wife, raising children and running a family is many times beyond comprehension and very often, overlooked. Running an empire is easier than running a family. But probably the biggest challenge of womanhood is in being understood. Every woman looks for some man to empathize with her struggles and see her side of the picture. But instead of being understood, she is more often than not, misunderstood and exploited by the stronger sex. 

One of the reason Lord Krishna appears in this world is to protect chaste ladies and teach a lesson to all those who try to exploit the innocent womenfolk. Krishna was born to help his helpless mother, Devaki who was being tortured by wicked Kamsa. Krishna cried seeing the suffering of Kunti Devi and stood by her at all times giving protection and solace to this devoted widow. Krishna married Rukmini who was being forcibly married to Sishupala even though she had absolutely no liking for him. He married the 16,100 girls who were rejected and shunned away by society for being touched by Baumasura. 

Probably Lord Krishna was the only one who found a fault in the otherwise faultless Bhismadeva and rebuked him for kidnapping Amba without her consent and thereby destroying her life. He was always there for Draupadi in all her difficult times, took a unique incarnation as her saree and personally took onus to do justice for all the atrocities done to her and to meet out befitting replies to all those who tried to exploit her. Lord Krishna cried alongside Subadhra, gave her a lot of love and stood by her side when she lost her only son, young Abhimanyu. He also empathized with the grieving Gandhari, the mother of the notorious, deceased Kauravas. He empathized with the wives of Duryodhana and the wife of Karna for He knew that they were innocent and had tried their best to give wisdom to their wayward and adamant husbands. The list can go on and on. But I think you get the point. 

Lord Krishna was one personality who understood the misunderstood and mistreated womenfolk and showed kindness and showered protection to them, reassuring them with His "Abhaya mudra". If the men follow the footsteps of the Lord in this regard, the world will be a much better place to live in because a world where women are mistreated and abused will always be filled with unlimited miseries and anxieties whereas the world in which women are respected and honoured will be filled with unlimited prosperity and happiness. That is the law of the Almighty. No one can break it; we can only break ourselves against it. Let men not make a mistake of considering the womenfolk to be weak because who can be weak with the strength of God personally protecting them.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KEEPING THE MUSIC ON...

Yesterday night while sleeping I played on some devotional Bhajans on my mobile in a very low volume. In the early morning while I was awake, all of a sudden the music stopped playing. As you guessed it rightly - the mobile got discharged and it switched off. I was thinking that my life is like this mobile, anytime it can get fully discharged and stop functioning. After all, our body is also a mechanical material device like a mobile. That the body is going to fall dead is a given fact. What is important is what we do with our short life?  I prayed to be like this mobile spending my life constantly chanting the glories of the Lord (the real music) till the last moment of my life - till the body switches off. Then our soul will be transferred to the spiritual kingdom where the music (chanting the glories of the Lord) is always on because the bodies there never ever switch off. Achyut Gopal Das
Post a Comment
Read more

A DEVOTEE OF SUBSTANCE

By changing our externals our internals is not going to change. By wearing dhoti - kurta, our desires are not going to change. By wearing a Vaishnava tilak, our desires are not going to change. Yes, the external appearance of a devotee is an important aspect of Bhakti and it does have some effect on our consciousness but it is not the all in all of being a devotee. The real challenge is to bring changes from within. Donning the dress of a devotee externally is difficult but not that difficult - the real difficultly is in donning the attire of a devotee internally because who we are is not a product of our externals but our internals. God doesn't see our externals, He is more interested in our internals. The world may be impressed with the externals but God is impressed only by the internals. A devotee is not a person of form but a person of substance. Our internals change not by changing our externals but by working on changing our internals. - Achyut Gopal Das
Post a Comment
Read more

SEEING THE WORLD FEELINGLY

In a play written by Shakesphere, King Lear asks Gloucester: "How do you see the world?".  Gloucester, who was blind answers: "I see the world feelingly." Shouldn't we also see the world and others with feeling of love and compassion. The problem is as soon as we become selfish and identify ourselves with our mind and senses, we disconnect ourselves from our own feelings and thereby we disconnect ourselves from the feeling of others too. This is when, we reduce people to mere commodity whose only purpose is to satisfy our selfish desires . Selfishness makes one insensitive to the needs and feelings of others. History is filled with stories of people like Ravan and Kamsa who didn't mind inflicting pain and suffering on people because of their own selfishness. In the Ramayana, there is the character of Queen Kaikeyi. When she became selfish and started to think of her own interests and enjoyment, she became so ruthless and hard-hearted that she coul...
Post a Comment
Read more