12-23-2005, 01:28 AM
Sundar ji,
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shankara does not 'clearly' say women are disqualified from Realization. He does not even hint that they wont be liberated. Because Liberation is not body centric.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You are right that Shankara does not clearly say that women are disqualified from Realization. However, it is also clear that Shankara does feel that maleness is in some ways superior to femaleness.
Actually I am not angry with Shankara. He was very young when he wrote these commentaries. I am sure I had and probably still have many prejudices. It is just an unfortunate fact that since Shankara is undoubtedly the father of medieval Hinduism, his commentaries have adversely influenced social attitudes.
Gangajal
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shankara does not 'clearly' say women are disqualified from Realization. He does not even hint that they wont be liberated. Because Liberation is not body centric.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You are right that Shankara does not clearly say that women are disqualified from Realization. However, it is also clear that Shankara does feel that maleness is in some ways superior to femaleness.
Actually I am not angry with Shankara. He was very young when he wrote these commentaries. I am sure I had and probably still have many prejudices. It is just an unfortunate fact that since Shankara is undoubtedly the father of medieval Hinduism, his commentaries have adversely influenced social attitudes.
Gangajal