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00:00Religion and culture are supposed to help one's whole life.
00:03That religion is associated with patriarchy and misogyny.
00:07Please tell me, as a woman, how should I look at religion?
00:10You have to ask yourself as women, what does religion mean to you?
00:14And just because religion has meant bad things to you,
00:18historically, I request you kindly do not discard religion itself.
00:22Religion is your best friend.
00:24If you have to discard, discard the rotten kind of religion.
00:27And religion is both the highest and the lowest.
00:29Vedanta is saying you have in you to lead a free and independent life.
00:35You have to make your choice.
00:37In some sense, you know, when it comes to this man-woman question,
00:40I have no issues in admitting that I am biased towards women.
00:43There are two persons and one of them keep facing more challenges throughout her life.
00:49Why should I not lean towards her?
00:51But to no avail.
00:52You lean towards women and they get afraid.
00:54Surely he intends to hurt.
00:55Oh, he is rough.
00:56If I become soft like you,
00:58How will I help you?
00:59How will I help you?
01:00How will I help you?
01:01How will I help you?
01:03Sir, as a woman, how should I perceive religion?
01:07Religion and culture are supposed to help one through a life.
01:11But I have practically seen that religion is associated with patriarchy and misogyny.
01:17Please tell me, as a woman, how should I look at religion?
01:22You see, the relationship between women and religion has been pretty interesting and mostly tragic.
01:40On one hand, religion, rather core spirituality, is the woman's best friend because it helps her be liberated from all that which oppresses her.
02:07And it tells her that no price is too big to be paid for liberation.
02:18The best help that self-knowledge and Vedanta extend to women is that they tell her that being a woman is not her primary identity.
02:30That body identification is the root cause of all kinds of suffering.
02:40And that if you can take your physical self and your mental conditioning lightly,
02:49then it will be very difficult for prakrati and society, even if it's a very toxic and patriarchal society, to enslave you.
03:07The woman can be enslaved only as long as she is body identified and socially conditioned.
03:18Vedanta is about the person gaining liberation from both of these.
03:23Body identification and mental conditioning.
03:28So, ideally, spirituality should be the woman's best friend.
03:38But practically, evidence has been rather mixed.
03:46In fact, evidence has been that religion historically has been on the side of the oppressors when it comes to women, oppressors of the women.
03:59The reason is that religion itself has not been well understood.
04:12Religion itself has been a victim of contamination.
04:22And when religion is contaminated, then religion becomes a tool towards exploitation of women.
04:35So much so, that a lot of very negative attitudes that you see existing towards women today,
04:47they are claimed to be sanctioned by religion.
04:54Right?
04:55So, as we were saying that the woman should continuously be dependent.
05:02That's an attitude that finds its source in some so-called religious books.
05:13And there are verses exactly to this effect.
05:17That let the woman never be independent.
05:23Not only that, there have been so-called books that have talked of the woman.
05:30As a very clearly inferior person.
05:40Some kind of a different species altogether.
05:43So, she is guilty of this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this.
05:48So many things are inferior and condemnable in her.
05:54And therefore, she does not merit responsibility or freedom or many other things.
06:03Now, what's the problem here?
06:04The problem here is that these two kinds of attitude towards women are actually coming from two kinds of different religions.
06:15There is a religion that uplifts women.
06:18That's called Vedanta.
06:20And there is a religion that oppresses women.
06:24That's your normal cultural religion.
06:28And whenever Vedanta will shine, one of its effects will be the emancipation and empowerment of women.
06:43Whenever the real religion will show up, it will help women and that will deeply frustrate the traditional kind of religionists.
07:02Because the difference is stark.
07:09Real religion, if I said the woman's best friend.
07:14And false religion, prevalent religion, mainstream religion is the woman's worst enemy.
07:21And it's very important to differentiate between these two kinds of religions.
07:36The tragic thing is, most women themselves follow the false kind of religion.
07:43They are aghast why I am talking to women and telling them that they are not baby producing machines.
07:53That it is not their fate to be firstly dependent on the father and then on the husband.
08:00But what I am saying is Vedanta.
08:05And the amusing thing is that what I am saying is probably not finding too much acceptance among women themselves.
08:17So now the question is, who should be blamed? Religion or women?
08:25Because when, you see, if you go to places where in the name of religion all kinds of nonsense is happening,
08:3480 to 90 percent of that crowd will be women.
08:41What to do?
08:44It is as if women themselves are hell-bent on proving that they do not deserve the real religion.
08:54All kinds of storytelling and nonsensical dancing and gossiping, all this in the name of religion,
09:02and you will find women very eager.
09:07But when Vedanta speaks truly in the favour of liberation of women,
09:12women themselves do not come forward to support.
09:15How can they support? They do not want to even accept the help.
09:19Because this help is expensive and demanding.
09:23Vedanta is saying, you have in you to lead a free and independent life.
09:30But the woman has become accustomed to support and crutches.
09:36When Vedanta tells her, you must live freely.
09:40Before you are a woman, you are first of all a consciousness.
09:46And consciousness is your first identity.
09:48When the woman is told all this, then she gets scared.
09:51Because patriarchy is not just about oppressing the woman.
09:57Patriarchy is also about giving her a safe nest.
10:01And the woman has become accustomed to that safe nest.
10:06Somebody is always taking care of me.
10:09I am not burdened with being a provider, a keeper, a protector.
10:16And all this has continued and it has made the woman internally very weak.
10:23And she has become so weak that today, even if the right religion comes to help her,
10:30she is probably not in a position to accept the help.
10:37It's a very strange thing.
10:39I think it's called the Stockholm Syndrome, right?
10:42When you fall in love with your oppressor, that's what has happened to the woman.
10:49You will be amazed.
10:50A lot of those who are criticizing me very sharply are women.
10:58I mean, how can you criticize me for something that I am obviously doing to help you and support you?
11:11Do you understand this?
11:15It's a very tragic thing that happens to those who are caged for long durations.
11:27Even if you open the door of the cage, they will now not want to fly away.
11:40They have become accustomed to the cage.
11:44They have discovered security within the cage.
11:53And outside the cage are challenges and competition.
11:58Freedom is not really free.
12:01Freedom comes when you pay the price.
12:07And we don't want to pay the price.
12:11Even men don't want to pay the price.
12:14But it breaks my heart when I find women content with their own encaged and miserable conditions.
12:28And to top it, you have told the bird that she is very respectable if she accepts the cage.
12:37And that's what she has done.
12:41She has become a respectfully caged woman.
12:45And if she flies out, the entire society will say, oh, look at her.
12:51There she is, the slut.
12:53And the woman does not want to be called that.
12:55And why does she not want to be called that?
12:57Again, that's a social value that's been embedded into her.
13:00You must remain respectable.
13:02Let nobody talk harshly to you.
13:05So boys, they slap each other and abuse each other and nobody minds.
13:11But if you say one harsh word to a woman, she doesn't forget it.
13:17She says, you know, speak politely to me, mind your language.
13:22This kind of attitude simply means that she becomes very controllable.
13:26Whenever you want to control her, just threaten her with abuses.
13:29And she will become so terrified that she will relent.
13:33She will surrender.
13:37If you want independence, you must be prepared to take abuses.
13:45Let them call you a whore, a slut, someone of loose character and whatever else they have to.
13:51Let them throw all these things at you.
13:53Fine.
13:54I am a slut.
13:55That's okay.
13:59But you have been turned into some kind of a goddess.
14:04A goddess who must be respected.
14:06And you say it is a part of our culture that we respect women.
14:10And the woman says, yes, I am respectable.
14:14I am respectable.
14:15And if somebody is insulting me,
14:20then no, no, no, I will not take that path.
14:23The fact is that the path of freedom is necessarily a path where your oppressors will insult you.
14:32Why will they not?
14:33Think of it.
14:35You are running away from their captivity.
14:38Will they worship you?
14:39Will they praise you?
14:40They will obviously throw abuses at you.
14:43And you have to be ready to accept all that.
14:47And you have to be ready for hardships.
14:50But again in that, the woman's softness has been venerated.
14:56So she is told you remain soft.
14:59Now if she remains soft, how will she face the hard challenges of life?
15:03But you say the woman's glory lies in her softness.
15:07Look at her, how soft her emotions are.
15:10Look at how soft her cheeks are.
15:12Look at how glorious her long hair are.
15:17With all these things.
15:18How will you survive the challenges of real life, real society?
15:22Please tell me.
15:24All the time if your hair are so long.
15:26All the time you are taking care of just your hair.
15:29How will you fight battles with such long hair?
15:31I am using hair as a symbol.
15:37Not really that I have something against.
15:42But please understand.
15:44Her subjugation is so total, so complete.
15:49That it has become very difficult to liberate her.
15:53So much so that in the name of liberation, she starts doing awkward things.
15:59Instead of accepting real liberation, in the name of liberation, she starts doing very childish things.
16:09I am liberated.
16:11So I will expose my body.
16:13No, it is okay.
16:14You expose your body.
16:15It is your body.
16:16But that is not called liberation.
16:19And all that is just a very childish tactic to avoid real liberation.
16:25Because you want to avoid real liberation.
16:27So you are opting for that liberal kind of liberation.
16:35You know of these liberals.
16:37They think liberation lies in running around naked.
16:41Again, I have nothing against running around naked.
16:43Please do that.
16:46My point is that is not liberation.
16:50That is not liberation.
16:51So, it is a very moot question.
16:52You see, you have to ask yourself, as women, and I am glad I see a lot of women here.
17:06You have to ask yourself, what does religion mean to you?
17:10And just because religion has meant bad things to you, historically, I request you kindly do not discard religion itself.
17:23Religion is your best friend.
17:25If you have to discard, discard the rotten kind of religion.
17:28And religion is both, the highest and the lowest, mind you.
17:34Religion is your highest possibility and your lowest state as well.
17:42Religion has given the world both the things.
17:46If you look at the highest figures we have had, they are religious.
17:48They are religious.
17:49And if you look at the worst acts that we have done, they too have been done in the name of religion.
17:57Religion is the highest and religion is the lowest.
18:00You have to make a choice.
18:02Which religion do you want to choose?
18:07And I assure you, when you will choose the right religion, you will face abuses.
18:12Just as I do, everyday.
18:13The thing is, I am not a woman.
18:19It's for you to face those abuses.
18:21Why must I keep facing them on your behalf?
18:24And for how long can I do that?
18:30And when I face abuses on your behalf, and I look around, I do not find too many women coming around to support me.
18:38Not that I need your support, please. I am here to support you.
18:41I don't need your support.
18:43But just as, just as assessment, just as a yardstick of how successful my work is.
18:51When I look around, I do not see women really rising.
19:01All kinds of superstitions.
19:03Who is supporting them? The women.
19:05And who is the victim?
19:06What kind of self-destructive attitude is this?
19:16What is this?
19:17Women.
19:28Women.
19:30Do you know that it is established?
19:34I am talking of bad religion.
19:35And it is such a dirty statistic.
19:45I hate to, I hate to look at it.
19:47The more religious a person is, the more uneducated he is likely to be.
19:55The more religious a person is, the more poor he is likely to be.
20:01Uneducated, poorer, and also the more uneducated a person is, the more is the number of children he is likely to have.
20:16Religion should have been the highest in our life.
20:18Instead, this is what religion has become.
20:22It has become so bad, that no intelligent person now wants to look towards religion.
20:29They all feel proud in declaring that they are atheists.
20:34If a person has some wits, some sense, very quickly he starts declaring, no God, no religion, for me I am simply an atheist.
20:47Whereas the thing is that religion is the very nectar of a life.
20:53Without religion, how will you ever be liberated?
20:57Without true religion, without true religion, that is spirituality, that is self-knowledge.
21:03How will you ever attain the highest in life?
21:07How will you ever realize your potential, your purpose?
21:11But because of this all pervasive bad religion, even genuine spirituality has become untouchable.
21:21And it always, it always mesmerizes me that how can a victim of something be a supporter of that same thing?
21:37How will you ever attain the most sort of man-woman question?
21:38What happens then?
21:39How will you manage your potential?
21:49In some sense, you know, when it comes to this man-woman question,
21:52In some sense, when it comes to this man-woman question, I have no issues in admitting that
22:08I am biased towards women. And I have my reasons. Why should I not be? There are two persons
22:21and one of them keeps facing more challenges throughout her life. Even if those challenges
22:30come in form of security and comfort and conveniences, still they are challenges because they prevent
22:36her from recognizing, realizing her true final potential. Why should I not lean towards her?
22:45But to no avail.
22:54You lean towards women and they get afraid. Surely he intends to hurt. Oh, he is rough. If I become
23:12soft like you, how will I help you?
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