- 1 week ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00If marriage is such a structure that pulls them back into being dependent on someone else, on another family,
00:06where exactly does educational income stand finally?
00:09Oh, she'll say, I am a woman in bondages, constraints, limits within the household.
00:17And this one will say, I am a woman with wings, flying free, educated, but still, I am a woman.
00:23Since she is a woman, she will be a wife to somebody.
00:29But why? Why necessarily? How does that happen? You help me with that. What's that?
00:34In general, they might have put aside the materialistic shackles, but what about the shackles in the mind?
00:40If the first thing you say about yourself is, I am a woman, and that must not be accepted.
00:46Feminism, etc. are just ideologies. They do not address the very root of bondage.
00:53You can be a very furious feminist, yet a woman inside, and then your feminism is just womanly feminism, and
01:01that doesn't amount to much.
01:02The wound is there, and you are bandaging it. Without healing the wound altogether, you just keep decorating it with
01:09colorful bandages.
01:17Acharya Ji, we as medical professionals often come across women who, when asked about, say, their medical history or even
01:26menstrual details,
01:27are baffled and refer to their husbands or in-laws for decisions or to take their decisions.
01:33My sister, during her residency in gynecology, met patients on a daily basis, like this, who would simply say,
01:40and will not be able to recount what their test reports were, what their…
01:46The patient would say that.
01:47Yes. Or what their results were, what their present condition is.
01:52So, in such a society where perhaps it's not the lack of intelligence or education,
01:58what truly does freedom or independence for women mean?
02:02And if marriage is such a structure that pulls them back into a…
02:09Pulls them back into being dependent on someone else, on another family,
02:16where exactly does education or income stand finally?
02:21Education helps, but not by much.
02:27Income liberates, but again, not by much.
02:33Yes, obviously, all these are factors that contribute to the woman's welfare.
02:42You must have a fair legal system.
02:47You must have provisions for due security.
02:53You must have adequate representation in the legislatures, right?
02:58And you must have the right FLPR number.
03:01Women must be present in the workforce, right?
03:05You must have all these things.
03:08They are necessary, but not sufficient.
03:15Any number of women, highly educated, coming from top-notch schools and colleges,
03:30even in professional streams, coveted vocations,
03:44ones, they are still just refined versions of the model you narrated.
03:56See, what a tragedy.
04:01Here, you probably could imply that the woman is coming from a rural background,
04:08is not educated, does not even have a bank account of your own, of her own.
04:14Therefore, she is dependent on the male members and others, right?
04:20So, you wanted to imply some kind of correlation or causality.
04:26She is in bondage because of lack of education and lack of financial independence.
04:36That's the link you want to establish.
04:38Yes, that link does exist, but that link does not explain everything.
04:44There is much more to it.
04:46You have women coming from IIT background, IIM background.
04:51You have women coming from maybe even your own prestigious institution
04:56or the Ivy League institutions abroad.
05:00You have women coming from all these places.
05:04And those women, inwardly, you'd be shocked and surprised,
05:10are still versions of the story you narrated.
05:16How does that happen?
05:18Now, they have education, they know the world,
05:23they have already earned a lot,
05:25and yet, they are psychologically unfree.
05:31How does that happen?
05:35Yes, they have put aside illiteracy.
05:41They have put aside financial dependence.
05:45Right?
05:47They live in relatively liberal and emancipated societies.
05:52Yes.
05:54Yes.
05:56They have also put aside the usual kind of dogma and superstition
06:01and the very obvious load of tradition.
06:08All that they have put aside.
06:11They speak differently.
06:13They wear differently.
06:15They walk differently.
06:19But there is still one thing that they have not put aside.
06:23You help me with that.
06:25What's that?
06:28So, is the conditioning...
06:29So, is the conditioning...
06:29They have put aside the saree.
06:30Right?
06:32Now, they are in the corporate attire.
06:36So, that's gone.
06:38They are not wearing even the usual traditional symbols like bangles, let's say.
06:46So, that too has been put aside.
06:49Right?
06:49They don't speak the rural rustic kind of vernacular.
06:55They have picked up English.
06:59So, there is a lot that they have discarded.
07:02But still there is one central thing that they are carrying.
07:10Yeah, but let her come with it.
07:16So, in general, they might have put aside the materialistic shackles.
07:20But what about the shackles in the mind?
07:23Have we been able to put them aside?
07:27So, the stuff of mind has largely been replaced.
07:33Largely.
07:35So, the rural housewife keeps thinking of the next meal, what to cook, how to serve.
07:46And where are the kids and is their laundry done?
07:51And, you know, that's the usual content of the mind there.
07:55And when you talk of the so-called liberated woman in a metro,
08:02the stuff of mind too has changed.
08:04She is thinking of other things.
08:06And yet, something very central has not changed.
08:10Maybe she is thinking of the next party or the next promotion in her office.
08:17Mind's surface, this one is thinking of the next Ramlila.
08:21And will I be able to attend that?
08:24Will my in-laws grant me permission to watch that?
08:30And that one is thinking of the next Hollywood release.
08:35The woman in the metro.
08:36She is thinking of other things.
08:37What's up on Netflix next?
08:39Fine.
08:41So, the stuff of mind is not much the same.
08:44Yet, something central remains the same.
08:48What's that?
08:53You put these two side by side.
08:57And you would not notice much in common.
09:03From appearance, to language, to concerns, everything would appear different.
09:13Yet, I insist, something has remained unchanged.
09:18What's that?
09:23Acharya Ji, is this because that's how the nature made us?
09:26Men and women are dependent on nature.
09:28No, no, no.
09:29I'm not talking about the physical organs.
09:31No.
09:31No.
09:32Not the physical organs.
09:34Like, a corporate woman, a daughter of a rich man.
09:39Like, he has a wife who is housewages and don't much literate.
09:44If she is stuck at midnight somewhere, she will still call her husband.
09:49And the daughter, corporate daughter, working in the corporate culture.
09:53You're assuming a lot.
09:54You're assuming a lot.
09:55You're assuming that the woman is a wife.
09:57You're assuming that the husband will definitely come over and save.
10:01You're assuming that being a woman means being helpless in the middle of the night.
10:07You're assuming a lot.
10:11If I am a woman, obviously I would be stuck out somewhere and feel helpless at midnight.
10:17That's an assumption.
10:18That's an assumption.
10:24What's still remaining within her, in spite of all the external changes,
10:30the dress has changed, the food has changed, the language has changed,
10:33even the ideology has changed.
10:34The one in the metro might be a staunch feminist holding so-called very progressive views
10:44and yet something remains unchanged.
10:48What?
10:54Now, it's so obvious that you don't want to mention it.
10:59I'm a woman.
11:03She is the rural one.
11:06I'm the urban one.
11:08Yet, I am a woman.
11:13She remains identified with the body and the gender.
11:24The gender remaining, a very primary identity and as long as that remains, bondages will remain.
11:36Physicality cannot be challenged.
11:39That is sexual.
11:41That is biological.
11:43That's anatomy.
11:44You cannot change it.
11:45And there is no need to challenge it.
11:47But gender
11:50is a construct.
11:52Gender comes to you by way of conditioning.
11:55Right?
11:57And it is a part of gender
12:02to take yourself as your body.
12:05I am a woman.
12:07Oh, she will say,
12:08I am a woman in bondages, constraints, limits,
12:15within the household.
12:17And this one will say,
12:18I am a woman with wings.
12:22Flying free, educated,
12:25empowered.
12:25But still,
12:28I am a woman.
12:31That's...
12:32And as long as that remains,
12:38the final shackles have not been challenged.
12:42All change will remain superficial.
12:47In fact,
12:48the woman will become
12:49a double load carrier.
12:53She will carry the burden of modernity
12:56while simultaneously carrying
12:59the burden of her womanly identity.
13:03She will be doing double shifts.
13:07I am a modern woman.
13:08So, I will do everything
13:10that modernity demands of me.
13:12At the same time,
13:14I remain
13:15a woman
13:16at the core.
13:18Therefore,
13:19therefore,
13:21all that
13:22that comes with that identity
13:25has to be maintained
13:27and serviced.
13:33Why must the human being
13:37be so closely identified
13:40with her body?
13:42Why not human
13:43rather than a woman?
13:47Why must physicality
13:49be so central
13:50to her existence?
13:51The same question
13:52we can ask about
13:53the man as well.
13:54But that's not the topic
13:55right now.
14:00Why must
14:01the sexual aspect
14:04of the anatomy
14:05be so overwhelming?
14:09Why can't she take herself
14:12as consciousness
14:15rather than the body?
14:17You remember how we closed
14:19the last discussion?
14:20Who am I?
14:21I am the one who
14:23knows,
14:24sees,
14:26understands,
14:26bodho aham.
14:36Classically,
14:36again,
14:37returning to that,
14:39you don't simply say
14:40brahmasmi.
14:43That's the final statement
14:45of liberation.
14:47Let's like the dying breath
14:49of the ego.
14:51Brahmasmi.
14:52Much before that,
14:54you start with
14:55naham dehasmi.
14:58I need not be identified
15:00with the deha,
15:02the body.
15:05and you are
15:07not empowered,
15:09not emancipated,
15:11not liberated.
15:13If the first thing
15:15you say about yourself
15:16is,
15:17I am a woman.
15:20You have started
15:22with a lot of burden.
15:24How can the journey
15:24be light now?
15:26It's a huge burden
15:30to have your first
15:31identity
15:32as physical.
15:36Right?
15:37And if that is there,
15:38then the woman-ness
15:40will not leave you.
15:45You can decorate it,
15:46you can replace
15:47one part with the other,
15:49you can paint the walls.
15:52But you know,
15:54the prison will remain
15:55the same
15:56with the new paint
15:57and the new wallpaper.
16:02Who am I?
16:03I am a...
16:04woman.
16:06Liberation from woman-ness
16:11has to be the first thing
16:15because that is the place
16:17from which
16:18all other bondages
16:20arise.
16:23is no point keeping
16:25the source intact
16:28and trimming the branches.
16:32The woman-ness
16:34is the root
16:35of bondage.
16:38the other things
16:39and the other things
16:39that you see.
16:43Discrimination
16:43at workplace
16:44and many,
16:45all the other things
16:46that you see.
16:47Demand for dowry.
16:49You know,
16:52the unequal representation
16:53of women
16:54at institutional level,
16:56be it academic institutions
16:57or corporate boardrooms
16:59or legislatures,
17:01all these things
17:01we know of,
17:02women hold just
17:03three or four percent
17:05of global property.
17:07We know of all these things.
17:10They are
17:11all products
17:16of a fundamental
17:18cause.
17:21First of all,
17:22that cause
17:23has to be addressed.
17:27Cause is,
17:28I am the
17:29woman.
17:30The moment you say
17:31I am the woman,
17:34you have
17:36entered
17:36something dangerous.
17:39calling yourself
17:40a female
17:41is alright.
17:42That is a purely
17:43physical description.
17:45I am a female.
17:45That's fine.
17:47The moment you say
17:47I am a woman,
17:48the definition
17:49takes you
17:53into the
17:54lanes
17:55and bilanes
17:57of history.
17:59And you have
18:00quagmires there.
18:01You sink there.
18:04Because the woman
18:05is a mental construct.
18:08It's a
18:09socio-historical
18:10thing.
18:12Female
18:13is
18:14prakratik,
18:14natural.
18:15Fine.
18:16Homosomes,
18:17female.
18:18Fine.
18:20But a woman
18:21is a man-made
18:22definition.
18:25You say
18:26female lion,
18:28lioness.
18:30Do you ever
18:30say
18:31lady lion
18:32or this lion
18:33is a
18:34who lion?
18:36you don't say
18:37that, right?
18:38That's a
18:38man-made
18:39construct.
18:40Female is
18:41alright.
18:42Female is
18:42alright.
18:43Woman-ness
18:44is not
18:45alright.
18:51Having a
18:52body
18:53is fine.
18:55Who can
18:55argue for
18:57or against
18:57that?
18:58but having
18:59concepts
19:00related to
19:01the body
19:02is
19:02a totally
19:04different thing
19:04altogether.
19:07I'm a
19:07female.
19:08That's fine.
19:08But being a
19:09female has a
19:10certain meaning.
19:12That's called
19:13woman-ness.
19:15You get this.
19:17I have a
19:17female body.
19:18Fine.
19:19But having a
19:20female body
19:21means a
19:22certain narrative
19:23starts rolling.
19:24That's
19:26woman-ness.
19:27And that
19:27must not be
19:28accepted.
19:30Not be
19:30accepted.
19:31And that
19:32narrative
19:33is very
19:34powerful.
19:35It will
19:35eat you
19:36up.
19:38The
19:39narrative
19:39says
19:40since you
19:41are a
19:41woman
19:41obviously
19:43you will
19:44feel
19:44attachment
19:44towards
19:45certain
19:45things.
19:48Obviously
19:48being a
19:49mother is
19:49very
19:49important.
19:52You
19:53saw how
19:54your friend
19:54came up
19:55with a
19:55story.
19:57In that
19:58story not
19:59only did
20:00you not
20:00have a
20:01female you
20:02even did
20:03not have a
20:03woman.
20:04You rather
20:04had a
20:05wife.
20:07That's the
20:07power of the
20:08narrative.
20:09Since she
20:10is a
20:10woman she
20:11will be a
20:12wife to
20:12somebody.
20:15But why?
20:18Why
20:18necessarily?
20:22do you
20:23get this?
20:24Who am I?
20:26I am a
20:26human being.
20:27And that's
20:28enough.
20:28That's
20:29enough.
20:29I am a
20:30human being
20:30and the
20:31body belongs
20:32to a
20:32particular
20:34sexual type
20:35which is
20:35fine.
20:37And nature
20:38is known to
20:38produce not
20:39just two but
20:40even more than
20:40two types
20:41which is
20:41fine.
20:42Any of
20:43those types.
20:44I am a
20:44human being.
20:47And the
20:48moment you
20:49see that,
20:50the moment
20:51you disown
20:55the woman
20:56concept,
20:58it's really
20:59liberating.
21:01Really
21:02liberating.
21:03Otherwise,
21:04in spite of
21:05all your
21:06education,
21:07all your
21:07knowledge,
21:08all your
21:09money,
21:10you'd still
21:11find yourself
21:12handicapped.
21:14and you'll
21:15keep wondering
21:16why.
21:17And then
21:18the only
21:19plausible answer,
21:21even if a
21:22fake one
21:23would be,
21:24you know,
21:25that's how
21:25life is
21:26for a
21:28woman.
21:28She has
21:29to be
21:30subordinated.
21:33What can
21:34I do?
21:34That's what
21:35nature has
21:35done to me.
21:36Nature
21:36produced me
21:38this way,
21:39therefore I
21:39have to
21:40live a
21:41little
21:41submissively.
21:43Therefore I
21:43have to
21:44think in
21:45particular ways,
21:46therefore I
21:46have to
21:47accept certain
21:47boundaries,
21:48because that's
21:48what nature
21:50wanted of me.
21:51No, that's
21:51not what nature
21:52wanted of you.
21:53That's what
21:54woman-ness
21:55wants of you.
22:04The popular
22:05concepts of
22:06liberation,
22:09they don't run
22:10very deep.
22:13Feminism,
22:14etc.
22:14are just
22:15ideologies.
22:17They do not
22:18address the
22:19very root
22:20of bondage.
22:24You can be
22:27a very
22:28furious feminist,
22:30yet a woman
22:31inside.
22:34And then your
22:35feminism is just
22:36womanly feminism.
22:38And that
22:39doesn't amount
22:39to much.
22:50Can you think
22:51of all the
22:52stories that
22:52come with
22:53woman-ness?
22:54Very obvious
22:55stories.
22:57Since you
22:57are a woman,
22:59across the
23:00world, across
23:00cultures,
23:03you ought to
23:03have long
23:04hair.
23:05You ought to
23:09all four of
23:10us probably
23:11cleared the
23:11same entrance
23:12exam, no?
23:13Wearing the
23:13same appearance,
23:16studying the
23:17same courses.
23:19Out of these
23:20four human
23:21beings, how is
23:22it that two
23:22are carrying
23:23long hair?
23:25Two are
23:25longer in
23:27height is
23:28fine.
23:29That is
23:29prakritic,
23:30natural.
23:32But how is
23:33it that two
23:35of the four
23:35human beings,
23:36I don't
23:37know, I
23:37don't know
23:38anatomy.
23:39I don't
23:40know, all
23:41that is
23:41hidden in
23:41the clothes.
23:43I'm just
23:44looking at
23:44what is
23:44visible.
23:45How is it
23:46that two
23:47human beings
23:47are carrying
23:48long hair?
23:49I'm not
23:50against long
23:50hair, I
23:51want to have
23:51them myself,
23:52just that
23:52nature is
23:53not allowing
23:53it anymore.
23:57But how
23:58is it that
24:00two human
24:01beings almost
24:03compulsorily hold
24:04long hair?
24:05That's
24:06woman-ness.
24:11How is it
24:11so that two
24:12of them
24:14probably can
24:15afford to
24:16raise their
24:17voice?
24:18But the
24:19other two
24:19are much
24:20more likely
24:20to remain
24:21soft-spoken?
24:23That's
24:24woman-ness.
24:25That's not
24:25found in
24:27other species.
24:27species.
24:30The
24:31behaviors do
24:32not vary
24:33so much
24:33in the
24:35other species
24:35in nature.
24:36Do they?
24:37No?
24:41Lions.
24:44Lions.
24:45They are
24:46just
24:48more or
24:48less passive
24:49security
24:50providers
24:54to the
24:55pack.
24:56The
24:57hunting is
24:57done by
24:58the
24:59lioness.
25:01They are
25:02not soft-spoken.
25:03Are they?
25:06But how
25:07is it so
25:08that among
25:09human beings
25:10the woman
25:11is necessarily
25:12soft?
25:16Soft
25:17in voice,
25:18soft in
25:20expression,
25:21soft in
25:22emotion,
25:23soft to
25:23touch.
25:25How?
25:27That's
25:27woman-ness.
25:30And what
25:31does culture
25:32do?
25:33It
25:33accentuates
25:34the woman-ness
25:35by glorifying
25:36it.
25:38Look at
25:39her.
25:39She is so
25:40soft.
25:41Because she
25:42is a
25:42mother.
25:43Because she
25:44is a
25:44wife.
25:45Oh,
25:45because she
25:46is a
25:47woman.
25:48So it's
25:49cultural.
25:50It's
25:50man-made.
25:52Do not
25:52accept it.
25:54If you
25:55remain a
25:56woman,
25:56any kind
25:57of liberation
25:58will simply
25:59be some
26:00kind of
26:02dressing up.
26:03The wound
26:04is there
26:04and you
26:05are bandaging
26:05it.
26:07Without
26:08healing the
26:09wound
26:10altogether,
26:11you just
26:12keep
26:12decorating it
26:14with colourful
26:14bandages.
26:16Doesn't
26:17sound intelligent,
26:17does it?
26:18colourful
26:20bandages,
26:21entertaining
26:22bandages,
26:23expensive
26:24bandages.
26:26The
26:27bandage
26:27with
26:29bold
26:30liberation
26:31written on
26:32it.
26:32I am
26:33liberated.
26:35Does that
26:36help?
26:37No.
26:47Acharya Ji,
26:47with your
26:48permission,
26:48may we
26:48move on
26:49to the
26:49next
26:49segment?
26:50Oh,
26:50this was
26:51going
26:51very
26:51nice.
26:54But yes,
26:55we'll have
26:55to move
26:55on.
26:58Thank you
26:58so much.
27:11Just
27:11download
27:12Dachira
27:12Prasanthya
27:12and there
27:13you go
27:14to the
27:14community
27:15section
27:16and you have live testimonials streaming in at the rate of one every five minutes.
27:23I am seeing lives change in thousands if not millions.
27:27Every day in front of my own eyes, we are doing it.
27:30We have actually done it.
27:45Exclusive conversations with Acharya Prashant, access to the vibrant Gita community, wisdom exams, curated news, audio books, quotes, and much
27:56more.
27:57Search Acharya Prashant on Google Play Store or Apple App Store and download now.
Comments