A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE
You may play the various roles of a mother, wife or daughter, but above all do not forget the responsibility you have towards you as a woman, says SMITA JAYAKAR
Ihonestly have never understood why a special day should be there to celebrate a day where people have to be reminded that women need to be treated respectfully. To treat another person respectfully should come to everyone naturally, be it a man or a woman. Don’t you think so?
Let’s analyse this a bit further. In the universe there are three main female embodiments of nature which we disregard and disrespect. One is Mother Nature. We all know what we have done to nature, cutting trees, use of plastic which we throw in the sea. We are aware of what has happened to the ozone layer because of how disrespectfully we have treated nature. The oxygen we breathe also comes from nature, we don’t even care about that. Then comes Mother Earth, we owe our entire existence to Mother Earth. Whatever we have with comes from Mother Earth, and how we abuse her. What surprises me is we don’t even realise that our existence itself is at stake, and we continue to behave the same way.
Third most important female embodiment is Goddess Lakshmi. We certainly can’t live without her can we? I don’t know how many of you know this Lakshmi is a small girl, not like what we see in pictures with golden coins flowing through her hands. She feels hurt, abused, insulted. A lot of us don’t know how to treat wealth. I have seen people flick money. A lot of money is used in a wrong way for wrong things. If we cannot respect these three main embodiments, how can you respect your mother, wife, daughter, sister or any other woman, who are living female embodiments?
Women are also to be blamed to a large extent for this. All of us have male and female energies. Somewhere this balance is gone off. Suddenly women have started to behave like men, started thinking that they can also do what men can do. They can also earn, support the family, manage on their own. Don’t get me wrong here, I am also a working woman. But the point I am making is women are doing this to prove a point to their husbands that they can manage without them. I am totally against breaking relationships. I agree that women have to be economically independent but please do not do this to show one-upmanship.
Men, on the other hand, have not understood women at all. A woman's body is like a temple. If you look at her as an object which can be used and abused, you have failed the test. When I say we have to respect the female embodiments of this planet, I don't mean you have to fall at your wife’s feet, or give in to her tantrums. To understand a woman, men need to go beyond her body. Just like when we go to a temple, we need to walk, climb, etc till we reach the sanctum sanctorum.
Similarly we have to go deeper to understand a woman, and when you reach the core all you will see that she only sacrifices for you, to get your love and respect, just like the deity in the temple. Ever since creation, men know that a woman is very powerful. She is the Shakti. So that they may not get more powerful than the men, they have started suppressing women, and women have given in to that.
If a woman realises that she is the Shakti and if she awakens the Shakti in her, she can transform the world. But not by fighting and picking her bags and walking out. She has to do this respectfully. A woman can change her family and her mother’s family also. Besides why do we forget that if the Divine has given us this boon or vardaan, that she can bear a child, bring life on this earth, which only proves how powerful she must is. She has two souls inside her when she is pregnant. What a boon that is.
Women need not fight for their rights. It is just a realisation of the power they have. I am saying all this through my own experience. All of us need an inner transformation. Most people live life on a materialistic plane. They lead a very superficial life. There is no self inquiry. That is the reason why we treat others in the way we do, whether it’s a man or a woman, everyone wants to be treated with understanding and respect.
History shows all great women are supported by men, not disrespected. I am at this stage in my life because my husband and sons supported me all throughout till date, and vice-versa. We are all interdependently arising. No one can be successful without the support or help of the other.
The earlier we understand this the better our lives will be. Men dominate women because we allow them to do so. It’s it your choice not to allow them to do so. I repeat not by fighting or by creating disharmony, but by empowering your strengths. I can help you in this if you wish or ask you guru if you have one, or you can ask for Divine help.No one is helpless on this planet.
Everyone can get help provided you realise you need help and then ask for it. My suggestion is, your inner journey has to start. The soul is hungry for you. Just as the body needs food, and mind needs thoughts so your soul needs to be heard, to be connected, we do not listen to that voice. For that you also need to awaken your inner world.