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HSC role of women
Balasubramaniam santhanam <santhan@ee.gatech.edu> writes:
>> Shankara did not write Lalita Sahasranamam.
>Sorry about the mistake. Point is it contains 1008 names of
>the godess (feminine attributes of the paramatma). I would
>appreciate it if you could give me the name of the author.
Namaste Balasubramaniam. See below for Lalita Sahasranama, which
contains 1000 names of Lalita.
>> The hindu religion may hold the women in high esteem {and say it
>is not being practiced today etc}, but women are not allowed to recite
>vedas, or learn vedas. Nor do the major sampradayas (atleast the Shankara)
>accept them as sanyas.
>Here I do not agree. Here is why
>Who is not allowing them to do these things.
>2) Do these scriptures in anyplace say that women should not do those things.
>If there is a decree from the Lord that women cannot say these things then
>the religion can be blamed (as far as my knowledge goes there is not such
>decree or statement).
As far as my knowledge goes there is such a decree. To my knowledge,
women (and all other not twice-born) are not allowed to recite vedas, perform
yajnas etc. I can only think the actual references may be found in
mima.nsa, dharma suutras etc. I remember reading them from a five volume book
a long time back. Maybe other knowledgable netters like Vidya can clarify this.
>Does Shankara anywhere say that women should not recite the vedas
>or take up sanyasa?
Again, based on my knowledge Shankara does say non-twice-born
people should not recite the vedas. I will try to find the exact reference
for you. Maybe other netters can remember it in a flash. The only
reference I can think of now is that Shankara condemns Shudra listening
to, reciting etc any part of the Vedas is I.3.9 of brahma suutra bhasya
and quotes from both Smirti and Shruti to support this contention.
Were any of the primary disciples of Shankara women ?
>5) To say that the religion does not allow women to recite is plain false.
>This is like the statement "Christianity endorses slavery" or
>"Islam endorses terrorism".
Please don't compare and contrast. I made only the first statement.
How many women have you seen reciting vedas or performing shraddas (ceremonies
for the dead etc). You say these were due to man made laws. Maybe so.
>It is true that a lot of improvement can be made in regards to women's rights
>but is grossly unjustifiable to scapegoat these problems and blame the
>Hindu religion for all our own doings.
I am not blaming all the troubles on religion. In fact, all this
in my opinion are individual responsibilities.
---------------------------------
This introduction deals with the background on
lalitaasahasranaama (the puraaNa etc) and the importance of
Shri Chakra, the diagrammitical form for meditation
(only a brief description is provided here since it
has been extensively described by Adi Shankara in the text of
Saundaryalaharii). The Shri Chakra suitable for meditation can
be found at
<a href=http://www.hubcom.com/magee/tantra/shriyan.htm>Yantra</a> and
<a href=http://www.scn.org/tl/anvil/stereo/sriyantra.html>Yantra-S</a>
The complete transliterated text, and the text in Devangari may be
found at
ftp://jaguar.cs.utah.edu/private/sanskrit/sanskrit.html
Among the 18 puraaNas, brahmANDa-purANa is well known for the
extolation of Lalita. It explains in detail the appearance of
the Goddess Lalita to save the world from the clutches of the
demon bhaNDAsura. There are three important sub-texts in this
purANa.
The first of these texts is Lalitopaakhyaana, consisting of 45
chapters and is found in the last section of the purANa. The
last five chapters are especially well known. They extol the
greatness of the Divine mother, the significance of the mantra
of the goddess (shoDashAksharii-vidyA), the various mudras and
postures to be practiced, meditations, initiations etc., and
the mystical placement of the deities involved in Shri Chakra.
The next text is the lalitaa trishati in which 300 names of the
goddess is featured. There is a well known commentary on this
work by Adi Shankaraachaarya.
The third text is the celebrated Lalitaa sahasranaama, which
consists of 320 verses in three chapters. The first chapter is
51 verses, and relates that the 1000 names of Lalitaa were
recited by various devatas as commanded by the goddess herself.
This chapter also explains that the verses are in anushhTup
chhaNDaH(metre known as anushhTup)
and that the deity Lalita is invoked in three kUTas
(vaagbhava, kAmarAja, and shakti). The second chapter of the
text contains the thousand names of the goddess in 182 1/2
verses (which is transliterated below). The third and final
chapter is 86 1/2 verses long and enumerates the benefits
accrued by reciting these one thousand names of the Goddess.
This is mainly to encourage people to recite the names with
concentration to achieve, if not anything else, a peace of mind.
Lalita trishati and lalitaa sahasranaama are dialogues between
the sage Agastya and the god Hayagriva\footnote{Pronounced as hayagriiva}.
Hayagriva is the
incarnation of VishhNu who assumed the form of a horse
to kill a demon by the same name. Agastya was a
sage of great renown, who is immortalized as a star in the
celestial heavens(one of the seven Rishi-s, saptarshhi or Ursa Major).
He is the patron saint of Tamilnadu being a
founder of a system of medicine called Siddha, and also having
drunk the whole ocean in his kamaNDalum. According to yAska's
Nirukta, Agastya is the half-brother of the great sage,
VasishTha.
The story of the meeting of Agastya and Hayagriva is
given in the lalitopaakhyaana and is quite interesting. Agastya
was visiting several places of pilgrimage and was sad to see
many people steeped in ignorance and involved in only sensual
pleasures. He came to kAJNchi and worshipped kAmAkshI and sought
a solution for the masses. Pleased with the devotion and his
caring for the society, Lord VishhNu appeared before Agastya
and provided the sage Agastya with the solution of `curing' the
worldly folk from ignorance. He explained that He is the
primordial principle, and the source and the end of everything.
Though He is above forms and guNas, He involves himself in
them. He goes on to explain that a person should recognize that
He is the pradhhAna (primordial) transformed into the universe,
and that He is also the purushha (conscious spirit) who is
transcendental and beyond all qualities(guNa-s) and forms. However to
recognize this, one has to perform severe penance,
self-discipline etc. If (since) this is difficult, Lord VishhNu
advises that the worship of the goddess will achieve the
purpose of life, given as liberation from bondage,
very easily. He points out that even
other Gods like Shiva and Brahma have worshiped the goddess
Tripuraa. VishhNu concludes his discourse saying that this was
revealed to Agastya so that he (Agastya) can spread the message
to god, sages, and humans. VishhNu requests Agastya to approach
his incarnation, Hayagriva and disappears from Agastya's
sight.
Agastya approaches Hayagriva with devotion and reverence.
Hayagriva reveals to Agastya that the great Goddess, lalitaa,
is without beginning or end and is the foundation of the entire
universe. The great goddess abides in everyone and can be
realized only in meditation. The worship of
goddess is done with the lalitaa sahasranamaa (1000 names) or
with trishati (300 names) or with ashhTottaranaama (108 names) or
with Shri Chakra (diagrammatical form for meditation).
In tantra shaastra, each devi/deva is worshipped as a mantra,
and yantra. Shri Chakra is used to represent the divine mother
diagrammatically. It denotes how the power of a small point in
the centre of the Shri Chakra transforms itself into a series
of triangles, circles, and lines. One can meditate on the Shri
Chakra itself knowing the significance of the triangles and
circles. These forms respresent the various transformations of
the Reality. One can realize that the universe has evolved through
the undifferentiated consciousness and has eventually
become the universe as
we know it. The recitation of sahasranaama and trishati are
used in the worship of Shri Chakra. The correspondence
between Shri Chakra as a yantra and the fifteen letter mantra
of the goddess (paJNchadashIvidyA, pronounced panchadashiividyaa)
is achieved by carefully studying the Shri Chakra which is
constructed using the symbolism of the three kUTa-s and the
significance of the fifteen letters of the shrIvidyA. It is
said that if meditation on Shri Chakra is not possible,
recitation of the sahasranaama with utmost devotion
would confer the same benefits, perhaps in longer time-frame.
The sahasranaama also mentions how to meditate on the various
centres of consciousness (chakras) in one's body. Kundalini, meaning coiled
up, ordinarly resides in the muladhaara chakra, at the base of spine,
and when it rises
to the sahasraara chakra at the top of the head, one becomes
aware of the ultimate reality.
Before reciting the sahasranaama, it is advised that
the divine mother be meditated upon according to the dhyaana
shloka-s, given in the beginning of the text.
May the Divine Mother guide us in our every action and thought,
and may She confer upon us the greatest gift of all, moksha,
the liberation.
