12-23-2005, 12:52 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I am actually surprised that you do not see the special position given to male body by Shankara. He even makes the claim that male body is a rarity which is of course NOT true. A human being has an equal chance of being a male or being a female.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Gangajal ji, I do not for a moment doubt that Sri Shankara stresses on the importance of being born human->male->brahmana->having access to vedas->understanding them->discriminating->Self-Realizing in that order. But nowhere has he said "clearly" that women cannot attain salvation. My reading of it is that it is much more difficult for someone not belonging to the category to attain liberation. There are always examples for the same.
Non-human = Gajendra Moksham. And also the Elephant that Janaka was riding (which was a Rshi who did not know the implementation of Gayatri Mantra.)
Non-Male = Uma. Shabhari is a prominent one, Kaaraikkal ammaiyaar comes to mind. There should be way too many than comes to mind.
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.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shankara stresses the importance of being a male in verses 2, 4 and 5. He says quite clearly that a male is foolish not to try for salvation. He is silent on the female of the species. Given this asymmetry what should I conclude?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
True, a man born rich, who prefers living the life of a wretched begger is foolish. A Swan that rolls around in the mud with pigs is sqandering it's 'beauty' away. Shankara's message here is for a student of a Gurukulam to not waste this opportunity that is a result of his own past Karmas. If one fits the above categories, and yet spends time watching 'kaun banega karorpathi' or 'amazing race' or 'apprentice', then there is no greater fool than he. This is the message.
I agree that he is silent on the female side. But I am not reading too much into his silence. (I however can empathise with your anger at Shankara as you perceive he is being prejudiced owing to the social thinking of his times.)
Gangajal ji, I do not for a moment doubt that Sri Shankara stresses on the importance of being born human->male->brahmana->having access to vedas->understanding them->discriminating->Self-Realizing in that order. But nowhere has he said "clearly" that women cannot attain salvation. My reading of it is that it is much more difficult for someone not belonging to the category to attain liberation. There are always examples for the same.
Non-human = Gajendra Moksham. And also the Elephant that Janaka was riding (which was a Rshi who did not know the implementation of Gayatri Mantra.)
Non-Male = Uma. Shabhari is a prominent one, Kaaraikkal ammaiyaar comes to mind. There should be way too many than comes to mind.
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.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shankara stresses the importance of being a male in verses 2, 4 and 5. He says quite clearly that a male is foolish not to try for salvation. He is silent on the female of the species. Given this asymmetry what should I conclude?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
True, a man born rich, who prefers living the life of a wretched begger is foolish. A Swan that rolls around in the mud with pigs is sqandering it's 'beauty' away. Shankara's message here is for a student of a Gurukulam to not waste this opportunity that is a result of his own past Karmas. If one fits the above categories, and yet spends time watching 'kaun banega karorpathi' or 'amazing race' or 'apprentice', then there is no greater fool than he. This is the message.
I agree that he is silent on the female side. But I am not reading too much into his silence. (I however can empathise with your anger at Shankara as you perceive he is being prejudiced owing to the social thinking of his times.)