women as leaders

It is not uncommon to listen to a nice speech from educated Indians (especially Indian men) regarding the exalted position of women in their culture. They say that women are the basis of the society, the role of the mother is the most important in the world, and they cite the feminine qualities like softness of speech, kindness, gracefulness, etc. Many like to stress the importance of respect and honor women… as far as they are very passive, submissive, soft, and understanding enough to never even speak against any of their misdeeds. They say the family is a woman’s responsibility, since the success of a marriage depends on her alone – that means, her capacity to tolerate all misbehavior with a smile on her face and keep her chastity and submission no matter what the man does. That is just slavery (not very well) disguised as respect.
The so-called traditional people say that the man is the head and should give directions and make the decisions for the family (usually the excuse is to “protect” women, as if they were stupid and could not decide by themselves). In that context, I wonder what is the meaning of the text from the Athravaveda Samhita, Part 2, Kanda 27, sukta 107, sloka 5705: “The sun god follows the first illuminated and enlightened goddess Usha (dawn) in the same manner as men emulate and follow women.” If, according to the tradition, women should follow men, what does this text mean exactly?
Maybe we can search for something more… clear. Let’s see this one, from the Atharva 14.1.61: “Hey bride! You shall bring bliss to all and direct our homes towards our purpose of living”. So does she should bring bliss to all through the obedience of everyone’s order? No. She should bring bliss by directing the family toward the purpose of life. Krsna says in the Bhagavad Gita that among women, He is the intelligence, since intelligence is a feminine quality – let’s remember that the personification of wisdom is not a God but a Goddess, Sarasvati. The wife, dharmapatni, is supposed to lead the husband in the spiritual path; as representative of Laksmi she should take care of the finances; as a daughter-in-law, she should be treated with the highest respect (for example, according to scriptures, in a feast, the firsts who should be served are the sages, the guests, the kids, the pregnant women, and the daughter-in-law); and according to the Atharva Veda, as we can see in this example, women should guide the family in general.
From the Rg Veda also, we have:
I am the banner
I am the head
I possess excellent eloquence;
My husband co-operates with me
And follows my will.

I don’t know much ready the so-called traditional people from India or the so-called followers of vedic culture are to follow… vedic culture!
I am also not preaching some kind of old feminism. But as I always like to remember, Shiva and Parvati are half and half of the same body. And it is half of each side, not superior half and inferior half.

women's intelligence

There’s a new fashion that is to say that women are less intelligent then man. Here I’d like to show what the scriptures say about it. In a certain way, it is indeed said that most part of women usually have a very soft heart. That might be a problem because many times they can put their heart and feelings before their intelligence or sense of discrimination. This is not exactly a lack of intelligence, but a purity of heart that is dangerous for the person in a degraded world like the one we live in. In this way, pure creatures like women and brahmanas should always be taken care of, so that they can be protected from evil persons. There’s no question that the brahminical class is the most intelligent class of the society (we are not speaking here of people who are brahmanas because were born in family of brahmanas, but we are talking about real brahmanas, with the brahminical qualifications). Similarly, the fact that women are pure or, many times, innocent, or that they have to be protected, has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of intelligence. Sarasvati, the goddess of intelligence is a woman!
“Agnihthram Tatachar swamy points out a special Vedic term : Purandhi, and explains its significance . According to the VedAs , women are more intelligent than men (i.e) she is a purandhi. (…) By that term , Women's superior intelligence is indicated.”*
Being aware of the capacity of the girls, the families and teachers used to train them just as they used to train the boys. That was according to the Atharva Veda, which says that girls should be trained as students before entering marriage life. “Girls should train themselves to become complete scholars and youthful through Brahmcharya and then enter married life.” **
The Atharva Veda also says: “Oh woman! You are the keeper of knowledge of all types of actions (karma).” “Oh woman! You know everything. Please provide us strength of prosperity and wealth.” and “Oh woman! Utilize your vedic intellect in all directions of our home!”.
In the same Veda it is also stated: “Women should take part in the legislative chambers and put their views on forefront.” And from the Rg Veda we have: “O men and women! A scholarly woman who has practiced or teaches one, two or three Vedas or four Vedas and four upavedas, along with grammar, etymology etc and spreads knowledge to whole world and removes ignorance of people is source of happiness for entire world. A woman who studies and teaches all parts of Vedas brings progress to all human beings.” So, the idea that women can’t study the Vedas is just a modern non-sense. Actually, they should not only study it, but also teach it, although we see that in many spiritual societies nowadays women are not allowed to preach or teach.
According to The Rg Veda, women can say: “My destiny is as glorious as the rising sun. I am the flag of my home and society. I am also their head. I can give impressive discourses. My sons conquer enemies. My daughter illuminates the whole world.”
So, as we see, women from vedic age don’t think of themselves as poor non-intelligent creatures. They know their importance not only for their family but also for their society. They are the had. So, they have intelligence and give directions. Their importance is not only to stay behind men obeying their orders. They say they can give impressive discourses. Of course they are not locked at home just cooking and cleaning, otherwise, that statement would make no sense. They are free to speak for many people and they are impressive, so they have knowledge to cause that impression. Their sons conquer enemies, but their daughter illuminates the whole world. Their daughters are not burdens that are killed in the womb or who are less important then their sons. No! They illuminate the whole world!


*SriPedia - http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/cgi-bin/kbase/Vedas/Women’
** Agniveer – Women in Vedas - http://agniveer.com/vedas/women-in-vedas/