MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.Wednesday,Apr 4 2007, 11:00:25 AM(Last updated: Thursday,Apr 5 2007, 08:28:22 PM)
Recently, there had been much uproar over the entry of a woman into the Holy Shastha temple at sabarimala and a lot of blame game went on as to who was actually responsible for the ‘mishap’. For ages, young women have been denied entry to the Shastha temple at Sabarimala.There is a wonderful story behind the establishment of the temple and the ‘Ayyappa’ who resides there is a Brahma Chari Now, who is a Brahmachari?
In India,’Brahmacharyam’is one of the four stages of life. One avoids all thoughts of lust and greed and during this period his mental horizon widens. He has true love for all the beings on earth and has a sense of disattachment towards everything prevails in his mind.
India is a blessed land which has given birth to Brahmacharis like SriRamakrishnaparamahamsa, Swami Vivekananda etc. SriRamakrishnaParamahamsan saw GoddesssShakti-theMother Herself in every woman. He saw the Mother in the pariah woman, the Brahmin woman, in a young girl, and even in the whores of Kolkatta. It is incomprehensible that a Brahmachari should whine and weep if a woman touched him-unless he saw her just as a woman -her skin and flesh and that, his mental horizons weren’t wide enough to see the Mother Herself the divinity in her who had come to him with tears and her bundle of troubles and worries.
Hinduism is a unique religion. You can’t point out a single person as the founder of this religion.Hinduism just refers to the way of life that people in India once led.
Hinduism has certain unique principles like -’Tatvamasi’ .It means that ‘You are the supreme’-The God Himself. The Parabrahma or the Greater soul fills up this universe. The human soul is like an extract from this Greater soul. This Atman, which prevails in every body, is pure of all evils and is sexless. So that ends up all the differences between the sexes, and the notion that there is an advantage in being a man and a certain disadvantage in being a woman. And it is greatly unfortunate that such a high level of discrimination of sexes should exist in a country like India, where such magnificent theories had been in the run for ages.
As Swami Vivekananda proclaimed in his ‘Address at the World’s Parliament of Religions’, this religion has taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance. But over ages, this religion has fell into the hands of priests who have degraded this great religion into mere shopkeeping, and bundled it up into a set of rituals and customs. They have turned this wide religion into a watertight compartment. They try to sell everything –even moksha, and they themselves forget the ideals of this ages old religion.
Ideal Brahminhood is long lost in India. Hinduism must free itself from the tight grips of the priests who fatten upon the fears and ignorance of the masses. Hinduism has the concept of a Loving God and it abhors fear. God is a servant at the feet of His Bhakta-this is the Hindu ideal;of the love of God.
There isn’t a thing like public worship in India. Hinduism urges people to worship their ‘Ishta’ in their own environs. It is the same Omnipresent Brahman that manifests itself in each individual. Only the external garb -the body varies. It isn’t really God’s wish or intention that women should not be allowed into the temple. It was a carefully designed rule put in by some clever, cunning person, adding holy stories around it, thus enwrapping the entire thing in a mystic cover so that few would dare break it or even think in the contrary.
It is high time that we stopped this distorted version of Hinduism circulating among the masses today, undermining the morale of a large section of our society. Let’s bring back the true concept of this ages old great religion, which has contributed much to the world, rather than breaking each other’s heads over baseless issues, which even the God Himself, might not matter. Let’s do away with uncaring, narrow-minded shop keeping and the orthodox sexist views, which adulterates our religion.

DO GIRLS HAVE TO LOOK LIKE PLAYBOY BUNNIES?

The other day my 3-year-old cousin paid me a visit. We met after a long time and she had a lot of questions to ask me.
My! We really talked and played a lot. She was full of questions on everything, the things on the showcase, the books, she even told me a few stories.
Later that day when I got a break, I put the TV on and I saw a movie. The movie wasn’t worth a penny but it was a hit in Kerala at the time it was released. The heroine aged at around 18 is a very docile young woman. She is very frightened, unsure and doesn’t question anything at all.
It left me thinking. I compared my 3-year-old cousin with that 18-year-old character in the movie.
My cousin is active, is inquisitive, laughs aloud and in total she is full of character.
Will she grow up to be like that 18-year-old passive girl? You feel like shaking her up and breathing some life into her.
That 18-year-old girl has lost her soul in the process of growing up. Is this case something applicable just to her or is this something in general?
I think it is general. Most of the girls are so. They learn to suppress themselves, they learn to accept and obey.
There are certain stereotypes for women. Just turn the T.V on and have a look at the ads and the songs.
No matter what the women is, a doctor, teacher, journalist or a housewife she has to look like a playboy bunny. However sure and stern she is at last she has to plop into the hands of man, like a blob of jelly.
The male lead in the songs would be fully dressed sometimes even with a coat on, whereas the woman would be clothed in the barest minimum.
Sometimes it seems as if it is an all boy’s world. Movies with all the modern racing cars, guns and violence and women clothed barely exposing their bodies.
As a young girl grows up these images keep on beaming onto her. You have to be beautiful, you have to be appealing.
They may talk about becoming doctors or scientists when they are young, but once they grow up they seem to put aside all that and all what they think is about their looks and appearance, about clothes, fashion and makeup.
They get targeted increasingly for their bodies. They grow more unsure of themselves .How can you be sure and confident about yourselves when you are unsure of your body itself?
If you are a bit stern in your job or character you are likely to b viewed as less feminine.
Slowly they tend to loose their souls and character and all the stress is on how you appear rather than what you are?
In the process we loose an active person who once took a wide interest in the world around her.
We come across many cases where girls are exploited by people even their near relatives.
So they face many restrictions and coupled with the stress on being appealing, they grow more and more unsure of themselves. They loose their confidence in themselves and they get reduced from being a person to just an aggression of hair, lips and the rest.
Let the parents not loose their daughters who once debated on issues with them, who lit up their homes with their laughter and in place have a passive, with drawn, unsure, diffident person, a shadow of the real self.
A girl needs a safe, secure place to grow up where she can be her real self. Let them not loose their souls and reduce themselves to just an aggression of several body parts, but see and value them as real persons both with soul and body.