[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: HSC and women
-
To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
-
Subject: Re: HSC and women
-
From: santhosh@iss.nus.sg (Santhosh Kumar)
-
Date: 7 May 1996 09:58:42 GMT
-
Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
-
Organization: Institute Of Systems Science, National University Of Singapore.
-
References: <ghenDqH8n7.7w1@netcom.com> <ghenDqntCA.LBJ@netcom.com> <ghenDqpwy6.Hsy@netcom.com> <ghenDqwrJr.GDn@netcom.com>
Balasubramaniam santhanam (santhan@ee.gatech.edu) wrote:
: >If the shudras and women are
: >incapable of attaining salvation and not worthy of salvation
: >then how is it that the saivaite saints obtained salvation.
:
: 1) This statement does not imply that you have said that
: women and shudras are incapable of attaining salvation.
: It is a comment on the attitude of shankara. If they are
: not worthy of reciting the vedas (they are walking crematorums and
: the likes..) then certainly they cannot be worthy of salvation.
:
As we know from history books, the society at the
time of Shankara was not have been respecting the women
as they should have been, hence some of his remarks
may have been influenced by such things, like untouchability.
The untouchability in those days was so bad that a person
of Sankara's intellectual calibre could not escape from
its clutches, but the moment he realised the mistake, he
corrected it, that is his greatness. Some of the lesser evils
probably would not have been corrected perhaps, but evidence
suggests that Sankara was not against women learning Vedas,
and moreover he respected women of high standing, eg. Ubhaya
Bharati, to whom Sankara first lost in the debate, later
she accepts him as her Guru.
:
: This does not mean that all his philosophies are incorrect. Point
: is that shankara is still capable of making mistakes (albeit rare).
: Analysis and reasoning of the philosophies is needed before accepting
: their truths and myths.
This statement should be accepted by every seeker. I would
consider religion as experimental and should be guided by
your own reasoning and experience, rather than blindly
depending on any scholar, even if he is Shankara. The works
of the scholars can of course guide us, but using them
blindly may be misguiding.
Regards,
Santhosh
