There
is NOT ONE SINGLE mantra in entire Vedas that prohibit Yajna for women.
http://agniveer.com/woman-foundation-of-knowledge/ (with quotes from Vedas )
EXTRACT:
Rigveda
1.146.3: The Yajamaan (performer of Yajna) and his wife are two cows and the
fire of Yajna is the calf.
Rigveda 1.72.5: Scholars perform Yajna with their wives and
achieve bliss.
Rigveda 2.6.5: If mother and sister perform Yajna together, that
brings bliss.
Rigveda 7.1.6: The young woman approaches the fire with Havi
Atharvaveda 3.28.6: O wife, you have entered the world of Yajna.
Atharvaveda 3.30.6: All the members of family should perform
Yajna.
Atharvaveda 14.2.18: O woman, you should perform Yajna in
Grihastha Ashram.
Atharvaveda 14.2.25: O woman, perform Yajna with bliss.
Further, there is NOT ONE SINGLE mantra in entire Vedas
that prohibit Yajna for women.
Please note that Yajna here
does not mean merely Agnihotra or Havan, but all kinds of noble deeds. Vedas
simply do not differentiate on basis of gender or birth for conduct of any
noble deed.
And when women can do
Yajna, what stops her from reciting Vedic Mantras!
The restriction of women from Vedas or Yajna is an innovation of
medieval age whose only contribution to our society has been disaster and
slavery. It is a matter of shame that many revered representatives of Hinduism
still justify such perverted beliefs. But thanks to legends like Swami Dayanand
Saraswati who gave right interpretations of Vedas, we hear Gayatri Mantra sung
by women even in temples!
Feb 20, 2013 | by Dr. Satyapal Singh, The Police Commissioner,
Mumbai
Extract:
Shrikrishna is the only greatest personality whose character encompasses together all these diverse ideals. Dear readers, devotees of Krishna, let us take a pledge today, let us make a resolution that we will not allow even advertently any blemish to defame the noble life of that spotless, innocent, virtuous and realized soul. Let us follow the footsteps of the ideals of great people. Following are the words of Krishna
Extract:
Shrikrishna is the only greatest personality whose character encompasses together all these diverse ideals. Dear readers, devotees of Krishna, let us take a pledge today, let us make a resolution that we will not allow even advertently any blemish to defame the noble life of that spotless, innocent, virtuous and realized soul. Let us follow the footsteps of the ideals of great people. Following are the words of Krishna
yad
yad aacarati shresthas tat tad tad evetaro janah
sa yat pramanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate
sa yat pramanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate
Radha
and Gopis
Some poets from rhetoric
school and bhakticult accepted Lord Shrikrishna as a God, worshiped him,
adorned him as blind devotees and followers on one hand, and on the other the
Western scholars and their self esteemed, the so called Indian scholars, following
their footsteps merely depicted him in various ways with low level intentions
and sensual impulses. Shrikrishna to them was one who played in the group of
Gopis under the sacred name Rasalila, as one stealing the garments of the
women, the one engaged and indulging in youthful activities with the damsel by
name Radha, making uncourteous hideous gestures with dwarfed maiden Kubja.
The rhetoric school poets
wanted to hide their sensual impulses and writings from the indignation of
common people in the society. The blind and self titled devotees wanted to
escape themselves from the scornful attitude of common man towards them, their
selfish and voluptuous behavior or actions and their luxurious and lavish life
style made under the pretext of divine justification and conformation. The
Western scholars and others belonging to different religions than that of
Hindus, and not to speak of other pseudo scholars wanted to devaluate and bring
down the supreme Indian culture and Indian religion – a sort of burning example
for all. Thus they mutilated the very noble character of Lord Krishna into an
ignoble and scandalous one.
In the whole of Mahabharata,
there is no mention even of the name Radha. We first get glimpses of her, in
Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, ……..
Bankimchandra
Chattopadyaya, the author of “Anand math” who carried out research on Mahabharata
continuously for about 36 years and also composed thereafter the biography of
Shrikrishna, states that according to Mahabharata Shrikrishna had only one wife
namely Rukhmini – neither two nor four and of course not at all 16000. According
to Mahabharata immediately after getting married both Rukhmini and Shrikrishna
went to Badrikashrama and led a pious life there for 12 years. They used to
sleep on ground, ate only roots, tubers and fruits and observed strict
celibacy. Thereafter Rukhmini gave birth to the first child named Pradhumna. (Reference: Mahabharata, Book
10 (Sauptika Parva), Chapter 12, Verses 29 & 30 – Editor) It is sheerly
disgusting to stigmatize this noble character shown indulging in love-affairs
with and in romance with Radha and Gopis.
Extract from the article Vedic Theism - http://aryasamajvvpuram.org/articles/vedic-theism/
God – the Supreme Spirit is the most subtle topic of philosophy.
Faith in Supreme Power seems almost universal and encompassing the human life
from time immemorial. But unfortunately the concept of God has been blurred by
the fog of numerous wrong, perverse and sectarian notions. Consequently, today
we come across a variety of pictures, images and descriptions of God, which are
highly conflicting with each other and finally lead people towards sectarian
narrow-mindedness, bigotry, dogmas, superstitions, prejudice, skepticism,
atheism, frictions, wars, terrorism, dense materialism and a host of similar
other vicious and inhuman traits. That is why we also find among us many
persons lost in some sort of spiritual confusion and many of them have already
turned into either atheists or skeptics.
Just to harbour a faith in any so-called
theistic notion is obviously an easy task. Sometimes it may be merely an
intelligent recognition. But the most difficult venture is to divinize one’s
whole being according to the right principles of spiritual science. A true
spiritual person should desperately seek to know the ultimate truth of life and
set out for the realization of the Supreme as the ultimate destination of his
life. The true theistic attitude of a person needs to get fully manifested
through his way of life. There could be no doubt about the omni-presence of
God, but the question is that whether we are conscious of His presence or not.
Unless we have a reasoned faith in His presence, unless we are sincere in our
endeavor and unless our convictions are intense and grounded in truth, we
cannot say that our theism is genuine and rewarding. The true theism confers on
us joy, happiness, satisfaction, fearlessness and other divine powers; a
perfect sense to the spiritual dimension of our being. Moreover, it also
provides us sustenance, strength, solace and comfort in the moments of great
distresses, failures and disappointment, which occur almost to everybody when
one struggles to resolve the tangles plaguing one in the course of one’s daily
life.
Generally it is believed that to define is
to limit, and God being the most mysterious entity it is beyond the human
capacity to define Him or fully express Him in any human language. Even the
most consistent intelligent speculation or hypothesis may not be in a position
to guarantee the realization of God. God can be realized only with the help of
True knowledge, True actions and True meditation – the practice of Yoga with
total surrender. Hence mere logical propositions or linguistic symbols could
not be of much help in this matter. But this does not mean that the existence
of God is to be regarded merely based on any sort of speculation. The
speculations leading one towards theism should essentially be based on some
definite observations, thoughts, logic and wisdom.
In Vedic philosophy, liberation from the
worldly or material bondage and realization of the all pervading Divine spirit
has been regarded as the ultimate goal of the human efforts. The Vedas proclaim
that God is such a reality which can be apprehended and realized in the depth
of our inner being. The Vedic wisdom demands that the Reason and Spirituality
are to be well coordinated and well integrated. A true religion or philosophy
of life must necessarily address these two fundamental aspects: (i) Worldly
prosperity aiming for happy today, and (ii) Spiritual progress aiming for the
happier tomorrow. Nevertheless, for the second purpose one has to transcend
this vast visible and invisible world, this grand and wonderful manifestation
of the matter, and reach to the Universal Spirit under whose will and wisdom
the creation is made.
The Vedas teach us that the primordial root
of all true knowledge, and the objects made known by the true knowledge is the
Supreme God. Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati (1824-1883), the founder of the Arya
Samaj has rendered a great service to humanity by restating the Vedic concept
of God in the nineteenth century. He tried to emphasize that God has a
personality but His personality is not physical or human, it is spiritual and
divine. He is a spirit of spirit, the Spirit Supreme. Dayananda endeavored to
present an image of God which is not only consistent with the philosophy of the
Vedas and the spiritual vision of the Vedic seers, but it is also based on
analytical reasoning. The hymns of the Vedas unequivocally express the
conception of one Supreme Being. The Vedas being the Divine Revelation and the
oldest record available with the mankind have universal appeal for the people of
all countries and all times. On account of their universal character, the Vedic
concept of God also must be secular and acceptable and adoptable as a sure
guideline for the all thinking people of the world.
God being the Transcendental Reality, the
Innermost and Cosmic Being, any discussion related to Him deserves paramount
importance. In Satyarth-Prakash (Light of Truth), the world famous book
authored by Dayananda, the concept of Vedic theism has been beautifully
described in the most sensible way. Its seventh, eighth and ninth chapters
embody a systematic and comprehensive discussion on three highly philosophical
topics: God, Creation and Emancipation. The significance of true theism has
been explained there in a very straight forward fashion. A careful reading of
these three chapters of the Satyarth-Prakash make one fully convinced of the
fact that the Vedic concept of God is not a casual creed, rather it is highly
comprehensive in its application to human life; and is much subtler and deeper
spiritual as well as scientific content than the sects and cults ordinarily
known as monotheism and polytheism.
