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HSC and women
I wrote :
>>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
Since I have the book, I can quote from I.3.38 of brahma sutra
bhashya of Shankara translated by Swami Gambhirananda page 233.
'By the smriti he is debarred from hearing, studying and acquiring the
meaning of the vedas. The smriti mentions that a sudra has no right to
hear the vedas, no right to study the vedas, and no right to acquire the
meaning of the vedas and perform the rites. As for probhition of hearing
we have the text 'Then should he happen to hear the vedas, the expiation
consists in his ears being filled with lead and lac [Gau. Dharma sutra 52].'
'He who is a Sudra is a walking crematorium. Hence one should not read in
the neighbourhood [sic] of a Sudra [Vasistha, 18]. ..... Then there is
the chopping off of his tongue if he should utter the vedas and the
cutting of the body to pieces if he should commit it to memory [Gau.
dharma sutras, 12.4]........'
It is also my understanding that Shankara says that only Brahmins
can become sanyasis in his bhashya of brh. up. 3:5.1 and 4:5.15
Giri
