“Gender Justice, Dignity of Women and the Views of Swami Vivekananda”

“Gender Justice, Dignity of Womenand the Views of Swami Vivekananda”

2013

[Research Paper presented at the ICCR, MEA, Government of Indiasponsored International Conference, held at Buenos Aires, Argentina,between 8-12 October, 2013]Title : “Gender Justice, Dignity of Women and theViews of Swami Vivekananda”AbstractBy: Prof. Dr. Santishree. Dhulipudi. Pandit 1

“There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women isimproved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.” - SwamiVivekananda

Swami Vivekananda is seen as a modernizer of the Hindu way oflife, a reformer who made it relevant to contemporary times. Hestrode like a colossus across the Indian renaissance. As one ofthe greatest metaphysicians of the Vedantic School of thought ofIndia, the idea of Swami Vivekananda, although conceived severalyears ago, is still relevant. As the greatest interpreter ofVedantic philosophy, he was the first great Hindu of modern timewho made persistent and relentless efforts to realize the dreamof the universal propaganda of Hindu religion and philosophy.

From the point of a political philosopher, Swami Vivekanandacannot be termed as one like that of Western politicalphilosopher, like Hobbes or Rousseau, since he was not a system-builder in the field of political thought. However, like a Stoic,he was relentlessly engaged in teaching, preaching and followingthe path of ‘karmayoga’. Unlike many theologists of India, Swami

1 Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ganeshkhind, University of Pune , Pune – 411007, Maharashtra, India. Email – [email protected][I am highly indebted to my Research Scholar, Dr. Rimli Basu for her invaluable inputs for providing and preparing the background of this research paper]

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Vivekananda preached patriotism, unity of India, the true meaningof freedom, and above all the dedication of oneself to‘karmayoga’. Thus, in order to understand the social evolution ofIndia, ideas of Swami Vivekananda is inevitable. Some of hisideas also acts as the solution to some of the most pressingproblems of India.

On one of the most sensitive topics of gender justice and dignityof women, the ideas of Swami Vivekananda is not only relevant,but also most feasible. The theory of gender justice pivotsaround three domains: capabilities, livelihoods, and empowerment/agency.Gender inequalities incidentally is a matter of reality, sincethere is less favourable economic and political environment forpromoting equality today than that, which existed ten years ago,despite the remarkable gains for women during this period. Ingeneral, international experience with gender main-streaming hasnot been positive. Despite some important advances, feministaspirations for social transformation remain unfulfilled.

In this context, this paper will seek to address gender justiceand dignity of women from the contextual perspective of SwamiVivekananda, India and the world. *********************************INTRODUCTION

“There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women isimproved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.” - SwamiVivekananda

Dignity of women seems to be the hallmark of internationalrelations today. The offshoot of which, in terms of internationalpolitics, is human security, human development, etc. There is awidespread recognition at present of the importance of gender indevelopmental research. This is reflected in the growing

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prominence of gender strategies for development institutions andtheir programs, the emergence of compelling approaches for gendermainstreaming, and the development of indicators for trackingperformance. Transformative interventions that address the socialnorms and power relations causing disparities in resources,markets and technologies also are needed, along with innovativeorganizational change processes and activities that ensure thatgender integration becomes part of standard agricultural researchin development practice. Encouraging critical awareness among menand women of the consequences of the inequalities embedded withingender roles, norms and the resulting distribution of resources.Such transformation in gender roles and social norms lies at thecore of innovative strategies to improve household well-being.

As one of the rare Social Reformers of India, Swami Vivekanandaenvisaged the future of India through ‘education’, which isreiterated through the famous poem by Nobel laureate KabiguruRabindranath Tagore, “Where the mind is without fear and the headis held high…”2 Swami ji understood that the essentiality ofnation building lies in the proper structurization andimplementation of an ‘education system’, which must continue forlife in one form or other. In essence, thus, Swami ji visualizedthe philosophy of education in its cultural context. His approachwas holistic in nature, encompassing the physical, material,intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual spheres of anindividual. Hence Education is a holistic development of a humanbeing.

Nineteenth century India produced a number of eminent men andwomen who with their exceptional intellect and wisdom enricheddifferent aspects of Indian life. The most important among themwas Swami Vivekananda who in a short span of life, which lastedless than forty years, stirred the entire country as none had

2 Rabindra Rachanabali (West Bengal Govt centenary edition) v.1 p. 894. Theoriginal poem was written in the Bengali language and was translated by thepoet himself and included in the Nobel Prize in Literature-winning Gitanjali in1912.

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done before. His love for his mother-land and compassion for themasses made him a legend in his lifetime. Hundred and elevenyears have elapsed since Swami Vivekananda went to his rest, andevery year that passes is bringing fresh recognition of hisgreatness and widening the circle of appreciation, especiallyamongst the youth. That itself shows the relevance of Swami ji’sideas in the modern times. He was indeed not a saint in thetraditional sense of the term; he was a saint in action, a modernsaint, who was against shunning the scientific and materialisticoutlook. He did not believe in renunciation of the world but inmaking it a better place to live in with dignity for everyone.The whole life of Swami Vivekananda was that of a saga with hisrelentless efforts towards this direction. ‘Arise, awake and stop not tillyou have reached your goal’ was the mantra that the Swami imparted tohis countrymen [read India]. The goal he set forth before them[Indians] was not only the achievement of political freedom butalso social and economic emancipation. Unlike other saints, hedid not offer prayers to the Almighty for his own salvation butsought salvation of the poor and therewith emancipating himself.In the poor he found his God and referred him as ‘Daridranaryana’.He decided to dedicate his life in the service of his ‘Narayana’who was helpless, oppressed and suppressed since ages. ‘May I beborn again and again and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the onlyGod that exists, the only God that I believe in, the sum total of all souls…my God thepoor of all races…Him worship, the visible, the knowable, omnipresent; break all otheridols.” 3

Swami Vivekananda was a towering spiritual personality whoawakened the slumbering Indian consciousness with his soulstirring vision of a dynamic spirituality. He is often viewed asthe patron saint of modern India and many great figuresacknowledged their debt to the life and works of SwamiVivekananda. He combined ancient wisdom with modern insights, byspreading his profound message of interfaith harmony. In hiswritings, he explains how religion and science are notcontradictory to each other, but are in fact, complementary. He3 Complete Works, LXXVIII.

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is widely credited for being a major force in the revival ofHinduism and bringing it to the status of a major world religion.Swami Vivekananda felt that Hinduism, with its openness, itsrespect for variety, its acceptance of all other faiths, is onereligion which should be able to spread its influence withoutthreatening others. At the Parliament of the World’s Religions,at Chicago, exactly almost 120 years ago he articulated ‘liberalhumanism’ that lies at the heart of his creed. In his own words,“I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance anduniversal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept allreligions as true. I am proud to belong to a country which has sheltered the persecutedand the refugees of all religions and all countries of the earth. I am proud to tell youthat we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came tosouthern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple wasshattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which hassheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation.” He wenton to quote a hymn, which he remembered from his formative years at school: “As thedifferent streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in thesea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies,various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee”.4 The ancientHindu doctrine preached in the Gita also in fact echoes the sameidea: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men arestruggling through paths which in the end lead to me.”

Swami Vivekananda in fact denounced the fact that “sectarianism,bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have longpossessed this beautiful earth”. His confident belief was thattheir death-knell had sounded was sadly not to be borne out. Buthis vision – summarised in the Sanskrit credo “Sarva DharmaSambhava, all religions are equally worthy of respect” – is, infact, the kind of Hinduism practised by the vast majority of theHindus in India, whose instinctive acceptance of other faiths andforms of worship has long been the distinctive hallmark ofIndianness, not merely in a narrow religious sense, but in abroader cultural and spiritual sense too. Swami Vivekananda made4 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’s opening address to the World’s Parliament of Religions, Chicago, USA, 11 September, 1893

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no distinction between the actions of Hindus as a people(embodied by their grant of asylum, for instance) and theiractions as a religious community (visible in their tolerance ofother faiths): for him, the distinction was irrelevant becauseHinduism was as much a civilisation as a set of religiousbeliefs.

In another speech at the same Chicago World convention, SwamiVivekananda set out his philosophy in simple terms: “Unity in varietyis the plan of nature, and the Hindu has recognised it. Every other religion lays downcertain fixed dogmas and tries to compel society to adopt them. It places before societyonly one coat which must fit Jack and John and Henry, all alike. If it does not fit John orHenry, he must go without a coat to cover his body. The Hindus have discovered thatthe Absolute can only be realised, or thought of, or stated through the relative, and theimages, crosses, and crescents are simply so many symbols– so many pegs to hangspiritual ideas on. It is not that this help is necessary for everyone, but those that do notneed it have no right to say that it is wrong. Nor is it compulsory in Hinduism. TheHindus have their faults, but mark this, they are always for punishing their own bodies,and never for cutting the throats of their neighbours. If the Hindu fanatic burns himselfon the pyre, he never lights the fire of Inquisition.”5

It is the Hindu culture and the Vedanta philosophy on which theideas of Swami Vivekananda on women are positioned. The “Hinduideal of woman’ is the very idea of woman , which he evolved forIndia. According to the Vedanta philosophy, men and women and allbeings are divine in their essential nature. Men and women havebeen endowed by nature with the organic capacity to enquire intoand realize this great truth. Men and women have equal access toeducation. Hindu culture views all social evolutions as theprocess of truth into the texture of human relationships. Thisview of Hindu culture provides the values of freedom, equalityand the dignity and the sacredness of the human personality. Asper the Vedic philosophy, men and women are essentially the everpure, ever free, ever illumined Atman, the sexless Self.Associated with body and mind, this Atman becomes conditioned asmale and female. In the realization of manhood of man by man and5 Ibid.,

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the womanhood of woman by woman, in the context of the equalityof the marriage relationship, Hindu culture recognizes asignificant experience of spiritual education. It points out thatthere is no real independence in this sphere for either man orwoman: here interdependence is the law; it alone leads tohappiness and fulfillment for both. But true interdependencecannot come if man is free and woman unfree. To elaborate this inthe words of Gandhi, “woman has as much right to shape her own destiny asman has to shape his and rules of social conduct must be framed by mutual co-operation and consultation”6 towards realizing true interdependence.

He exclaimed: ‘Ye ever trampled labouring masses of India! I bow to you.’ ‘I do notbelieve in a God or religion which cannot wipe the widow’s tears or bring a piece ofbread to the orphan’s mouth. However, sublime may be the theories, however well spunmay be the philosophy—I do not call it a religion.’ And ‘I call a Mahatma [great soul]whose heart bleeds for the poor, otherwise he is a duratman [a wicked soul].’7Lamenting over the helplessness of the poor people, he said: ‘Ohmy heart ached to think of what we think of the poor, the low in India. They have nochance, no escape, and no way to climb up. The poor, the low, the sinner in India haveno friends, no help, they cannot rise… They sink lower and lower, every day, they feel theblows showering upon them by a cruel society… They have forgotton that they too aremen.’‘Our aristocratic ancestors went on treading the masses of ourcountry under foot, till they became helpless, till under theirtorment the poor people nearly forgot that they were humanbeings. They have been compelled to be merely hewers of wood anddrawers of water for centuries, so much so that they are made tobelieve that they are born as slaves…’ Admonishing thearistocracy for their false pride in birth and ancestry, theSwami said: ‘However, much you may parade your descent from Aryan ancestorsand sing the glories of ancient India day and night, and however much you may bestrutting in the pride of your birth, you, the upper classes of India, do you think you arealive? You are but mummies thousand years old… and it is you who are the real walkingcorpses… you represent the past tense… you are the void, the unsubstantiated

6 Sharma, Radha Krishna. Nationalism, Social Reform and Indian Women, Patna: Janaki Prakasan, 1981.p. 49. 7 Ibid.,

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nonentities of the future. Denizens of the dreamland, why are you loitering anylonger?... why do you not quickly reduce yourself into dust and disappear in the air.’8

Blaming religion for the pathetic state of the poor, the Swamiboldly declared: ‘…No religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and thelow in such a fashion, as Hinduism.’ He also castigated the priest forgiving too much emphasis on spirituality and shunning materialcivilisation. He said: ‘We talk foolishly against materialcivilisation. The grapes are sour. Even taking all thatfoolishness for granted, in all India there are say a hundredthousand really spiritual men and women. Now, for thespiritualisation of these, must hundred millions be sunk insavagery and starvation? How was it possible for the Hindus to beconquered by the Mohammedans? It was due to theignorance of thematerial civilisation. Even the Mohammedan taught them to weartailor-made clothes.’‘Material civilisation, nay, even luxury, isnecessary to create work for the poor. Bread! Bread! I do notbelieve in God who cannot give me bread here, giving eternalbliss in heaven.’ And ‘first bread, then religion. We stuff themtoo much with religion when the poor fellows have been starving.No dogma will satisfy the craving hunger.’

One of the major contributions with which the Swami is widelycredited is for having leveraged his position as a spiritualleader effectively, to revolutionise the traditional image ofsannyasins in India. He made social service an integral part oftheir lives. Although a formal shape to his ideas was given byhim in 1897, all his activities from 1886 onwards helped preparethe ground for introducing so radical a change. When he came tothe South of India, it is said that he travelled by foot fromErnakulam to Kanyakumari, during December 1892. At Kanyakumari,he meditated on the “last bit of Indian rock”, which we now knowas the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, and meditated for three days,and took the resolution to dedicate his life to serve humanity.The event is known as the Kanyakumari Resolve of 1892. It was atthis juncture in his life that the Swami pondered over his8 Ibid.,

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experiences of observing the miseries of the poor in the variousparts of the country, which culminated in his ‘Vision of OneIndia’. The idea as to how to render service to the poor wasfamously written by Swami ji in a letter from America:“At Cape Comorin, sitting in Mother Kumari’s temple- I hit upon aplan: We are so many sannyasins wandering about, and teaching thepeople metaphysics-it is all madness. Did not our Gurudeva oncesay, ‘An empty stomach is no good for religion?’ That these poorpeople are leading a life of brutes is simply due to ignorance.Suppose some sannyasins, bent on doing good to others, go fromvillage to village, disseminating education and seeking invarious ways to better the condition of all down to the caṇḍāla-can’t that bring forth good in time?… We, as a nation, have lostour individuality, and that is the cause of all mischief inIndia. We have to give back to the nation its lost individualityand raise the masses…”

Swami Vivekananda’s assessment of the social problems of Indiawas realistic, rather than academic, largely owing to the factthat he wandered all over the country for years, with a fewfollowers behind him and a begging bowl in his hand. He connectedwith the common man. Initially, after the passing away of hisGuru Sri Ramakrishna, he had thought of going on a pilgrimage tothe holy places like Varanasi, Ayodhya, Vrindavan, and theAshramas of Yogis in the Himalayas. However, after a couple ofyears spent on such visits, he turned his gaze to the commonpeople for whom the only reality in life was their struggle forsurvival.

What bothered Swami Vivekananda even more than the povertyitself, was the gulf between the rich and the poor, between thestrong and the weak, and further, the ugly sight of the strongdealing a death-blow to those who are comparatively weak. “Thisis our native land”, he often bemoaned, “where huts and palacesexist side-by-side.” Such was the dichotomy of our times, that itseemed inconceivable to him that we could have unity andbrotherhood, which are preconditions for national greatness.

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Born, as it were, a disunited mob, we could not combine. Alongwith such oppression of the masses, he also voiced his oppositionagainst the manner in which women were kept, in conditions ofservile dependence on men, which made them “good only to weep atthe slightest approach of mishap or danger”. These dissensionspained Swami Vivekananda, all the more, because they were beingadhered to in the name of religion. “A girl of eight is marriedto a man of thirty and the parents are jubilant over it. And ifanyone protests against it, the plea put forward is that ourreligion is being overturned”, he lamented. Of the many anglesfrom which the social problems of India could be analysed, heplaced the greatest emphasis on the religious and spiritualperspectives. Therefore, the Swami laid the foundation of theRamakrishna Mission, a philanthropic, volunteer organisation towork alongside the Ramakrishna Math. The Mission bases its workon the principle of ‘karma yoga’, the path of selfless, altruisticservice propounded by him. Ever since its inception, they havestayed true to their motto of “Atmano mokshartham jagad hitaya cha”,which translated from Sanskrit means ‘For one’s own salvation, and for thegood of the world’.

Thus, like the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, Swami ji,specified the aims of education as, ‘creation of self’;‘formation of character’; ‘development of personality’; ‘serviceof mind’; ‘promotion of universal brotherhood’, etc for nurturingthe individuals to reach their fullest bloom. Furthering hisideas in line with the spiritual ideas, he re-iterated that thereshould be coherence of education and training of the mind. Infact, Swami ji has touched almost all the aspects of education,with special emphasis to education of women.

CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL GENDER JUSTICE Contemporary discourses on gender justice have many differentstarting points: philosophical discussions of human agency,autonomy, rights and capabilities; political discussionsinvolving democratisation and citizenship; and discussions in the

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field of law about judicial reform and practical matters ofaccess to justice. Across these debates we find the sameunresolved dilemmas: can absolute and universal standards be setfor determining what is right or good in human social relations?How should the rights of the individual be offset against theneeds of the family, the community, the ethnic 'nation' or theterritorial state?9 . What is the appropriate role for the stateand the international community in promoting gender justice?

Gender justice is often used with reference to emancipatoryprogrammes that promote women's rights through legal changes andwomen's interests in social and economic policy. However, theterm is seldom given an accurate definition and is too often usedinterchangeably with notions of gender equality, gender equity, women'sempowerment, and women's rights, which makes it difficult to pindown. Any concrete definition of gender justice is based on aspecific political ideology, a set of convictions about what is'right' and 'good' in human relationships, and how thesedesirable outcomes may be attained. Conventions about women'ssubordination to men and the family are often rooted inassumptions about what is 'natural' in human relationships. Theseperspectives on women's rightful subordination are legitimated bysocially and legally embedded views on propriety. It is notsurprising, therefore, that concepts of gender justice that seek toenhance women's autonomy or rights are contentious and provokestrong debates. But this is not the only reason they arecontroversial. Different understandings of the means forachieving gender justice also impose competing roles and expectationson national and international actors. Therefore, on the one handthere is an implied minimal role for the state as a guarantor ofbasic liberties, whereas on the other there is space for aninterventionist role

9 Eisenberg, Avigail/Spinner-Halev, Jeff (2005) (eds.): Minorities withinMinorities. Equality, Rights and Diversity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP

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Current discussions on the issue of social justice areincreasingly employing the model of inter-sectionality, whichtries to explain and demonstrate how different forms ofdiscriminations overlap and intersect and thereby produce‘marginalized’ subject positions who are vulnerable to powerstructures in a very specific way10. Herein power is understoodto have multiple sources and to take many forms even as thesediverse forms of power interact, manifesting themselves incontext-specific ways to produce particular con-junctures ofoppression. This model helps challenge uni-dimensional,essentialist notions of power and violence and facilitates torethink the issue of resistance.

An intersectional approach unfolds how gender justice includesunique elements that go beyond related concepts of justice inclass or race terms, which complicate both its definition andenactment. First, women cannot be identified as a coherent groupalong with other sets of marginalized people such as ethnicminorities or socially excluded immigrants. Gender cuts acrossthese and all other social categories, producing differences ofinterests—and conceptions of justice—between women. Second,unlike any other social group, relationships between the womenand men in the family and community are a key site of gender-specific injustice, and therefore any strategy to advance genderjustice must necessarily also focus on power relations in the'private context'. Third, patriarchal social relations producedin the private sphere pervade most economic, social and politicalinstitutions. Indeed, the term gender justice provides a directreminder of this problem of institutionalized bias by promptingus that justice itself, in its conception and administration, isvery often gendered, responding to a patriarchal standard derivedfrom the domestic arena.

10 Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1995): "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality,Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women." In: Dan Danielson/KarenEngle (Hg.): After Identity: A Reader in Law and Culture. New York: 332-54.

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Thus, as a cursory re-evaluation of the main contemporaryperspectives on gender justice shows, there is considerable disputeon key elements regarding the issue of gender justice. The debateaddressed questions of minimum standards or levels of resourceaccess by women; the cultural bias entrenched in notions ofchoice, agency and autonomy; the types of public policy needed toaddress and rectify gender injustices; and the locus ofresponsibility for addressing gender injustices. To elaborate: Itis difficult to set the standards of gender justice against which wecan assess whether social arrangements are gender-just or gender-unjust. The dilemma of whether absolute standards be set foruniversal application or should standards be appropriate tospecific cultures and economic contexts remains unresolved.Further unanswered questions are: How can key elements of notionsof gender justice such as self-efficacy or agency be quantified? Areconcepts of rationality, choice and autonomy 'Eurocentric'? Theseare highly contested issues relating to debates in the legalfield about the relative merits, relevance, and viability ofabstract, impartial and formal legal systems, versus localizedand informal legal systems immersed in community norms that aremore directly meaningful to and acknowledged by common people.

What becomes clear despite the controversy is that there is moreto gender justice than equal treatment, whether of women and men, orof different vulnerable women. Liberal remedies for inequalitysuch as the lengthening of civil and political rights tomarginalized groups do not produce equal levels of politicalparticipation and even less equal economic rewards for men andwomen, even when they have matching levels of human capital(educational qualifications and health status) and equal labour-force participation. That has prompted demands for affirmativeaction or reverse discrimination policies to compensate forhistorical exclusion. This raises debates about how farprinciples of justice must take into account human differences,debates about the gendered biases embedded in political andmarket institutions that limit women's capacities to profit fromequal opportunities, or even 'unequal' special access privileges.

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Debates about the role of public authorities in addressinginequalities in the private sphere are relevant here, as aredebates about the obligations of states to protect rights bytaking 'negative' steps (prevention of violence) as opposed to'positive' measures (specification and provision ofentitlements). The issue of equal outcomes as opposed to equalopportunities also relates to debate about 'substantive' versus'procedural' democracy and about the status of distinctionsbetween economic and social rights versus civil and proceduralrights. Where resources are scarce, basic welfare goods that arecritical for the achievement of gender justice—such as basiceducation and health care, child care, or social security—may notbe fundable from a poor country's own resources. If there is(ever) agreement on an international standard of human rights andgender justice, will this call for a basic global standard ofwelfare services? Will gender justice demand institutions thatreach across borders, linking an account of gender justice to oneof transnational economic justice? And last but not least, howcan feminist politics be meaningfully transversal?

As Nira Yuval-Davis puts it: "Transversal politics might offer us[…] a way for mutual sup-port and probably greater effectivenessin the continuous struggle towards a less sexist, less racist andmore democratic society, an agency within the continuouslychanging political, economic and environmental contexts in whichwe live and act"11.

The Global Gender Justice Coaltion’s12 approach is fourfold. Byexamining the issue of gendered justice from the aspects of law,media, religion, and context, GGJC tackles these issues at thegrassroots level for women, children. .By virtue of Law; to identify, understand, and, where necessary,to promote legislative reform of laws and customs that on the

11 Yuval-Davis, Nira (1997): Gender & Nation. London: Sage, p. 132.

12 www.iccwomen.org

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basis of sex, gender, or sexual difference discriminate againstor prevent anyone’s access to:

- health, healthcare, and bodily safety- literacy, education at any level, or professional

preparation in any field or vocation;- employment and full, equitable economic participation; and

family life- To advocate for legal, fair access, opportunity, inclusion,

and safety in all institutions for all people, especiallythose who present with a gender, sex, or sexualitydifference.

- Through Media :- To research, understand, and employconstructive uses of media as a tool for education,especially of women and girls.

- To research, understand, and employ constructive uses ofmedia as a tool for education about women, LBQTQ & DSD.

- To research, analyze, and critique uses of media that maycontribute to ideologies and practices that promoteinjustice, exploitation, and discrimination in any form onthe basis of gender or sexual difference.

- Through Religion:- To promote the religious education ofwomen and girls for the special aim of empowering females toknow what their religious traditions say to and about them.

- To promote general religious education for the special aimof disclosing traditional, and often severely biased,religious claims and practices concerning women.

- To promote general religious education for the special aimof disclosing traditional, and often severely biased,religious claims and practices concerning persons with asexual difference.

- To promote theological dialogue about the potentialrevisioning of women’s, --

- Through Contextual Epistemology:- To understand, expose, andresist the tidal forces of culture, belief, law, andpractice that have historically denied women education onthe basis of philosophical and religious claims about

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women’s moral, intellectual, volitional, or ontologicalinferiority.

- To understand, expose, and resist aspects of culture,belief, law, and practice that have historically deniedwomen opportunities for economic participation, self-determination, and the means to care for themselves andtheir families.

- To understand, expose, and resist any cultural, legal, orreligious practice that harms women’s bodies, exploitswomen’s physical or intellectual work, silences women’svoices, or denies women the full spectrum of opportunity andbeing that is afforded to men.

- To understand, expose, and resist all cultural, legal, orreligious practice that endangers, injures, silences,erases, or discriminates in any way against anyonepresenting with a gender or sexual difference.

- To promote within every cultural context new possibilitiesfor equal, fair, and safe treatment of all persons,regardless of gender or sex.

THE IDEAL OF WOMANHOOD IN INDIA“The idea women, in India, is the mother, the mother first andthe mother last. The word woman calls up to the mind of theHindu, Motherhood; and God is called Mother”13. While detailing the idea of true women, Swami Vivekanandasuggested that the women should be made ambitious through a goodsystem of education, which can only made a strong appeal forraising the status of women along with that of man. He felt thatit was much against the ancient ideal of India that women werenot given enough opportunities for self-development. It is thus,in ideal consistence with the Advaita Vedanta Hindu philosophy.Swami Vivekananda wanted Indian women to have an education thatwould create “great fearless women – women worthy to continue thetradition of Sanghamitra, Lila, Ahalya Bai and Mira Bai – women13 Complete Works: Vol.8: Lectures and discourses: Women of India . p.57

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fit to be mothers of heroes….” In this respect, he reminded hiscountrymen that ancient India had produced women philosophers andscholars like Maitreyi and Gargi, and was capable of producingsimilar characters again, with proper education for women. As oneof the pioneering leader of ‘resurgent India’ Swami Vivekanandachampioned India’s ancient glory, above everything else, isperhaps understandable. While, on the one hand, he rejects areligion that cannot ‘wipe the widow’s tears’, on the other, heis less eloquent about allowing women to receive ‘moderneducation’ that could empower them to be assertive themselves,without having to be just chaste and loyal to their husbands.Likewise, while he admired Western (American) women and wasimpressed by ‘the social dignity and status’ they enjoyed, healso spoke of their femininity as being ‘outlandish’. He observed“every American woman had far better education than can beconceived of by the majority of Hindu women. Why cannot we havethe same education? We must”. He however went on to say, “…morality and spirituality are the things for which we strive. Ourwomen are not so learned, but they are more pure”.

Swami Vivekananda believed that the first manifestation of God isthe hand that rocks the cradle. In fact in few civilizations wefind a cow giving milk, the earth bearing grains, a tree bearingfruit and the mother tending babies being revered equally asmanifestation of God , like in the Indian civilization. Swami jiquite boldly asserted that in the West woman was treated as wifewhile in the East she was treated as the mother. Thus, he triedto draw a distinct line between materialism and spiritualism inthe treatment of women. “The best thermometer to the progress ofa nation is its treatment of women.”, he said. It shows thevision of Swami Vivekananda for a nation to progress. In fact,his words are equally important to the contemporary East as withthe West. He refers to the Vedanta Philosophy and quotes from theBooks how women were treated by Hinduism.

Swami Vivekananda thus favoured gender-equality. Vivekanandafirmly believed in the equal rights and opportunities for women

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in perfect consonance with the Indian view. As a matter of fact,it is today considered as one of the strongest phenomena in thehistory of the mankind, that India, which, since time immemorialhad honoured woman as shakti incarnate, the living embodiments ofthe Universal Supreme Mother, could even think it fit, to deprivethem of their legitimate birth rights to education, freedom.property and what not, as bracketed with Shudras (Nari-Sudra)14.However, such a strange thing really happened in India and thatis why Swami Vivekananda linked the downfall of India with thedegradation of condition of woman. However, at that time, therewas no feminist movement, but Vivekananda supported their causedeclaring that though outwardly there may be difference betweenmen and women, in the real nature, there is none15.

Gender is not as straight forward a concept, as many believe. Itis distinct from sex, the physical and physiological featuresthat differentiate females and males, on biological differences.The personality traits of ‘masculinity’ or ‘femininity' are alsodetermined on the basis of cultural, psychological and behavioraldifferences in addition to the biological difference and islargely based on ideology16. Gender is a social construction ofthe specific characteristics, norms and behaviours associatedwith being female or male in any specific social context. It isbased on primarily two factors, genetic and socialconditioning17.So it can not have a universal application. R.Delmar has explored another dimension of gender politics. Hesays, “If the origin of family constituted an achievement, it wasthis that it asserted women’s oppression as a problem of history,rather than of biology, a problem which is the concern of14 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VII, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1989, p. 224.15 Talks With Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 2005, p. 332.16 Shoma A. Chatterji, Women In Perspective, Essays On Gender Issues, p. 40. Itis natural that degrees and definitions of ‘masculinity’ or ‘femininity’ differfrom time to time and from place to place and from group to group.17 Leena Chawla Rajan, Empower Women, An Awakening, Radha Soami SatsangBeas, Beas, 2010, p. 11.

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historical materialism to analyse and revolutionary politics tosolve”18. In fact, the earliest religious texts of Hindus showfreedom for women. It is clearly stated in the Rig Veda that awoman is free to choose her life partner. “Bhadra vadhur bhavati yatsupesa Swayam sa mitram vanute jane cit”19. Swami Vivekananda too stronglyheld that in ancient India, those alone worship god who worshipwomen as the manifestation of God. In the tenth chapter of the Rig Veda,comes a peculiar hymn, for the sage is a woman, and it is dedicated to the one God whois at the background of all these gods. All the previous hymns are spoken in the thirdperson, as if someone were addressing the deities. However, this hymn takes adeparture: God (as the Devi) is speaking for herself. The pronoun used is ‘I’. ‘I am theEmpress of the Universe, the Fulfiller of all prayers.’ This is the first glimpse of women'swork in the Vedas, officiating as priests. A good portion of the Vedic literatureproceeded from the mouths of women. It is recorded with their names and teachings20.As practically it was not so and perhaps that is why Indiansbecame slaves, miserable and dead. However, Vedantic India does notonly advocate equality between the sexes but always speaks of theabsolute superiority of women as mothers. A mother means thecentral point of whole worldly life. As our honoured books say,“A mother excels over a thousand fathers in glory”21. Swami Vivekanandaadmitted this fact that in our sacred books there are manypassages which condemn women as offering temptation. But thereare also passages that glorify women as the power of God. Andthere are other passages which state that in that house where onedrop of a woman’s tear falls, the gods are never pleased and thehouse go to ruin. Drinking wine, killing a woman and killing aBrahmin are the highest crimes in the Hindu religion. “But here Iclaim the superiority of these Hindu books, for in the books of other races there is onlycondemnation and no good word for a woman”22.

18 R. Delmar, Looking Again at Engel’s Origin of Family, in J. Mitchell and A. Oakley, The Rights and Wrongs of Women, Penguin, 1976, p. 287.19 Rig Veda x: vii:xii.20 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume IX, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1999, pp. 192-93.21 Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Volume, Replacement of Numeric Publisher Codes, Calcutta, 1963, p . 402.22 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume IX, p. 196.

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In 1839, Mahesh Chandra Deb spoke to the ‘society for theacquisition of general knowledge’ about the daily life of youngmarried women. Suffice is to say that every man who has carefullyexamined the condition of Hindu women cannot help pitying thebenighted and miserable situation in which they were placed.Notwithstanding all their kind attention, their pious and dutifulconduct, their submissive behaviour towards their husbands, theyfrequently meet with severe scolding and are even sometimescruelly punished from ungrounded jealousy or a tyrannical whim23.For contemporary women, this perception of the past has led to anarrow and limiting circle in which the image of Indian womanhoodhas become both a shackle and a rhetorical device thatnevertheless functions as a historical truth24. Swami Vivekanandapostulated that the idea of marriage in religion is for the weak.They who find themselves complete, what is the use of theirmarrying? And those that marry, they are given one chance. Whenthat chance is over, both men and women are looked down upon ifthey marry again; but it is not that they are prohibited. It isnowhere said that a widow is not to marry. The widow and widowerwho do not marry are considered more spiritual25. Men, of course,break through this law and go and marry; whereas women--theybeing of a higher spiritual nature, keep to the law. Forinstance, our books say that eating meat is bad and sinful, butyou may still eat such and such a meat—mutton. But do not judgetoo harshly of Hindu men. Whenever in India a custom becomesrigid, it is almost impossible to break through it--just as inyour country, you will find how hard it is to break through afive day custom of fashion26. However, at that juncture of Indian23 See Mahesh Chandra Deb, A Sketch of the Conditions of the Hindu Women in the Awakening in the Early Nineteenth Century, (Goutam Chattopadhyay ed.), Progressive Publishers, Calcutta, 1965, pp. 89-105.24 Uma Chakravarty, Whatever Happened to the Vedic Dasi: Orientalism, Nationalism and a Script for the Past, (Kumkum Sanghari and Sudesh Vaid ed), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial India, Kali for women, New Delhi, 1980,p. 28.25 Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda In The West New Discoveries, HisProphetic Mission, Volume II, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 2000, p. 412.26 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume IX, p. 197.

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history, Swami Vivekananda pointed out two great evils in India -trampling on the women and grinding of the poor27. The uplift ofthe women and the awakening of the masses must come first andthen only any real good can be about for our country28. Accordingto Swami Vivekananda, there should be no hesitation in applyingthe full panoply of Western analytical methods to the science ofreligion29.

As a renaissance figure, Swami Vivekananda’s contributions to thenational life of India extended beyond religion and spiritualitywith which his name is perhaps most associated. He identifiededucation, fitting with India’s culture, as the way to rejuvenateIndia’s national life. He was conscious of the low socialposition Indian women occupied, and emphasised education as thepathway to women’s emancipation. His prescription for women’seducation however was one that encouraged them to value ‘chastityand purity', more than any other aims of education. While some ofhis ideas are controversial, he was in many ways ahead of histime in recognising the many deficiencies of India’s nationallife and Character. He was fearlessly scathing in criticisingthem and constructive in seeking solutions to them.

VIVEKANANDA’S INFLUENCE

Viewed in the light of contemporary thought, Swami Vivekanandawas actually an epoch capsule into a life span of less than fortyyears updating his mother country to fight against all kinds ofsocial evils. ‘Equilibrium’ and ‘synthesis’ were the watchwordsof Swami ji. Contemplation and devotion to duty were unified inhis personality. He had gone deep into the social and politicaldecline of India and attempted to prescribe a workable formula toeradicate all social inequalities. The awakening and liberationof modern India as viewed by him was a stage for the realizationof universal love and brotherhood. He gave his fellow brethren,27 Swami Vivekananda, Our Women, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 2005, p. 49.28 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VI, pp. 489-90.29 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume I, p. 312.

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a dynamic gospel of supreme fearlessness and strength. Hemercilessly denounced the arrogance and sophistication of theupper classes of Indian society. He was one of the great thinkersin India to offer a sociological interpretation of Indianhistory.

Vivekananda realizes that mankind is passing through a crisis.The tremendous emphasis on the scientific and mechanical ways oflife is fast reducing man to the status of a machine. Moral andreligious values are being undermined. The fundamental principlesof civilization are being ignored. Conflicts of ideals, mannersand habits are pervading the atmosphere. Disregard for everythingold is the fashion of the day. Vivekananda seeks the solutions ofall these social and global evils through education. With thisend in view, he feels the dire need of awakening man to hisspiritual self wherein, he thinks, lies the very purpose ofeducation.

Another important aspect of Swamiji’s scheme of education iswomen’s education. He realizes that it if the women of ourcountry get the right type of education, then they will be ableto solve their own problems in their own way. The main objectiveof his scheme of female education is to make them strong, fear-less, and conscious of their chastity and dignity. He observesthat although men and women are equally competent in academicmatters, yet women have a special aptitude and competence forstudies relating to home and family. Hence he recommends theintroduction of subjects like sewing, nursing, domestic science,culinary art, etc which were not part of education at his time.

Ideally, thus, the ideas of Swami Vivekananda have been atreasure for people across the world. In the backdrop of his150th birth anniversary, it is imperative that one looks at hisocean of knowledge to seek more clarity. Even though he lived acentury ago, some of his views are applicable to the malice ofmodern India more than any other era. No doubt, Swami Vivekananda

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was a visionary. Regarding women empowerment the progressiveagenda that Vivekananda had put forward towards women of thattime is quite well-documented. In his own words, he says "Thatcountry and that nation which doesn't respect women will neverbecome great now and nor will ever in future." This relentlesspursuit of his to treat both genders with equality is evidentthrough most of his discourses. The increase in educationstandards among females is triggering them to ask questions andconfront the patriarchal nature of social systems which havediluted the equal space that women were offered even in ourancient scriptures. In this context, Swami Vivekananda's messageof greater education and equality for the female is pertinentespecially with his visionary thinking of making femaleempowerment the benchmark for the measurement of any society'sgrowth. The works of Vivekananda are more than 100 years old.Within this time span, the world has changed much in relation totechnology and scientific development. Despite such massiveprogress, the words of Vivekananda resonate so energeticallyamidst the reader even today. He thunders "Arise, Awake and stop not tillthe goal is reached". He even talks about a broader vision for Indiawith progressive values in an interview published in the 'TheHindu' in 1897. A leader with a level of sky level optimism, hiswords resonate a sense of exuberance and positivism even amonghis least ardent followers. Swami Vivekananda had the raredistinction to challenge intellectually and with reason, hisspiritual renaissance. This was a rare quality since reasoningcomplex spiritual understanding to the common man is not easy byany means. The arguments had a scientific outlook to it, hadreason, it had debate and it won over individuals neither byforce nor brutality but by sheer intellectual superiority andsound reasoning. In a time where reason is the mantra for anybelief system, his works could provide a broader scientific andlogical understanding of the goals of spirituality and religionas a whole. The positive vibe and optimistic zeal in his wordsare even more magnified when it is viewed in the context of theparochial modern world, and espe3cially when India is strivingfor an exclusive Indian identity. One of the biggest traits of

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Vivekananda's legacy is his firm belief in an Indian identitywhich is inclusive and encompasses the various religions andmultiple cultures across the country. This is a dire need in asociety which is by and large still in a colonial hangover withregards to its glorious history and its prosperous past. To putit bluntly, the younger generation post liberalization is at oddswith the rich heritage that it hears "once in a while". The wordsof Vivekananda would provide the much needed impetus and clarityin the minds of the younger generation which is bursting tosucceed yet is in a confused state about its own past.Vivekananda's works would indeed instill a matter of pride andaura around our heritage and provide a well chartered outidentity that the younger generation craves so much for.

CONCLUSION

The exposition and analysis of Swami Vivekananda’s ideas ofgender equality and women empowerment brings to light itsconstructive, practical and comprehensive character. He realizesthat it is only through education that the uplift of women ispossible. To refer to his own words: Traveling through manycities of Europe and observing in them the comforts and educationof even the poor people, there was brought to my mind the stateof our own poor people and I used to shed tears. When made thedifference? “Education” was the answer I got.’

He states it emphatically that if society is to be reformed,education has to reach everyone-high and low, because individualsare the very constituents of society. The sense of dignity risesin man when he becomes conscious of his inner spirit, and that isthe very purpose of education. He strives to harmonize thetraditional values of India with the new values brought throughthe progress of science and technology.

Swami Vivekananda advocated liberty as the first condition ofgrowth. The worship of the Goddess, reverence for the motherland,and a commitment to female education and improving the status of

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women became the triple vow of the modern man. Vivekanandaregarded most of the contemporary social reform programs asinadequate. Change was essential but not throughreliance on Western concepts. It must come from the people,guided and educated by the intelligentsia30. According to ParthaChatterjee, Indians pursued science, technology, rationaleconomics and western political forms while regarding the home asthe source of true identity that needed protection andstrengthening, not transformation31. Instead of calling theHindus ‘heathens’, ‘wretches’, ‘slaves’, say, “So far your workis wonderful, but that is not all. You have much more to do. Godbless you that you have developed this side of woman as a mother.Now help the other side--the wife of men”. It is not that theHindus had not those ideals, but they could not develop them32.‘It is wrong, a thousands wrong, if anyone of you dares to say ‘Iwill work out the salvation of this woman or child’. I am askedagain and again, what I think of the widow problems and what Ithink of the women questions. Let me answer once for all. Am I awidow, that you ask me this non-sense question again and again?Who are you to solve women's problems”?33 “Total freedom andindependence is the symbol of total womanhood”, Vivekanandabelieved.34

Swami Vivekananda knew quite well that total liberation meansphysical, mental, social and spiritual freedom. Unless a person,man or woman, learns to cultivate a sense of freedom from thebiological demands of the body, the thousand cravings of themind, and an unobstructed feeling of the essential divinitywithin, there is no freedom for an individual. He wanted to

30 Tapan Raychaudhary, Europe Reconsidered, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1988, p. 338.31 Partha Chatterjee, The Nationalist Resolution of the Women’s Question, Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, pp. 238-39. 32 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume IX, pp. 197.33 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume III, p. 246.

34 Sankari Prasad Basu, Vivekananda-0- Samakalin Bharatvarsha, Volume III, p.279.

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combine the breadth born of American freedom and the depth andintensity of Indian spirituality for the women of India tomorrowwho would be women of towering spirituality, and outstandingachievements, combining the finest and noblest of the old and thenew35. The definition of the term ‘liberation’, however, changesfrom society to society and from time to time. The perspective oflooking at liberation of women creates conflicts andcontradictions within women themselves, creating a society wherea few women are considered to be representative of theirrespective nations, while millions of others lead oppressive,ignorant and humiliating lives. Indian woman is no exception tothat, rather is a classic example of this jarring anomaly36. Asstrong advocate of equality of womankind, Swami Vivekanandarecommended even Brahamcharya irrespective of sex though thisstage is difficult to follow and exist with it even, in a highlyliberal society37. But he said that self control is equallyneeded by all. He further said, “My whole ambition of life is toset in motion machinery which will bring noble ideas to the doorof everybody and then let men and women settle their fate”. Inthis respect, he even criticized Buddha, whom otherwise he holdsin highest esteem, who put the Bhikhshuni Sangha under the controlof the Bhikshu Sangha38. He further said, “When you will realizethat all illuminating truth of the atman (Soul), then you willsee that the idea of sex discrimination hasvanished altogether, then only you will look upon all women asthe veritable manifestation of Brahma39.

35 Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Admirers, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, 1964, pp. 202-04.36 Shoma A Chatterji, Women In Perspective, Essays on Gender Issues, p. 21.

37 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VII, p. 214.

38 Santwana Dasgupta, Social Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, The Ramakrishna Institute of Culture, Kolkata, 2005, p. 438.39 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VII, p. 220.

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Thus, Women are the pillars of a house, worshipped in temples andthe planet is called ‘Mother Earth’40. Men are stronger, butwomen are more powerful (In Hindu society, women are called‘Shakti Swaroop’, meaning Goddess of Power). Strength and power aretwo different aspects. Strength persists in body, while power isa mental attribute. Women are the prestige of any house. SwamiVivekananda glorified motherhood, “The mother is the God in ourfamily. The idea is that the only real love that we see in theworld, the most unselfish love is in the mother-always suffering,always loving. And what love can represent the love of God morethan the love, which we see in the mother? Thus the mother is theincarnation of God on earth to theHindu”41.

Swami Vivekananda differentiated the West and the East on theground that in the West, every woman other than a mother is awife. But in India, every woman other than a wife is a mother’.In the western home, the wife rules. In an Indian home, themother rules. If a mother comes into a Western home, she has tobe subordinate to the wife; to the wife belongs the home. Amother always lives in our homes: the wife must be subordinate toher. If you ask, “What is an Indian woman as wife”? the Indianasks, “Where is the American woman as mother?42 You never hear ofa mother cursing the child, she is always forgiving. Manychildren have been wicked, but there never was a wicked mother.Every incarnation worshipped Mother in public or in secret, orhow could he have got energy?43 The Motherhood of God was more inVivekananda’s mind thanFatherhood. That is why he remarked, when someone in the Westasked Vivekananda why he became a monk, “Why should I marry whenI see only the Divine Mother in every woman”?44

40 Leena Chawla Rajan, Empower Women, An Awakening, p. 2.41 Spretnak Charlene, Politics of Women’s Spirituality, Anchor Books, New York, 1982, p.202.42 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VIII, p. 57.43 Letters of Sister Nivedita, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, p. 221.

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There is no country other than India, no society other than theHindu society that has been more moral. Correlating the wholeculture to few occasional incidences, which are criminal acts,would be absolutely wrong, diverting and intentional towardsdefaming the highest value society of the world”45.

In his Christian glorification of the Motherhood of God,Vivekananda wrote: “Jehovah’, ‘Jesus’ and the Trinity aresecondary: the worship is for the mother-She, the mother, withthe child Jesus in her arms. The emperor cries ‘Mother’, thefield-marshal cries Mother’, the soldier with the flag in hand,cries ‘Mother’,...the seaman at helm cries ‘Mother’,. Thefisherman in his rags cries ‘Mother’, the beggar in the streetcries Mother’....Everywhere is the cry ‘Ave Maria’; day andnight, ‘Ave Maria’, ‘Ave Maria.”46 It is nearly 150 years sinceSri Ramakrishna worshipped Mother Kali. Today Kali is equated tothe infinite creative power within “every woman. A feminist JudyGraham writes, “Woman can create; that is the power. Man can onlycontrol”47.The mid-nineteenth century India saw women, the great motherpower, shackled and degenerated to mere ‘child producingmachines’, She was denied the power to read the Vedas, the Gita, orrecite the Gayatri and even Om! In a Smriti called Dharma Sindhu,occurs a discriminatory verse, which asks the women not toworship Shalagrama and Shivalinga. Women could worship from a

44 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume III, p. 472. To his disciples atHousand Island Park he told: “The worship of even one spark of Mother in ourearthly mother leads to greatness. Worship Her if you want love and wisdom”. 45 Swami Vivekananda, Women of India, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, 2004,pp.35-36.46 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume V, p. 506.47 Spretnak Charlene, Politics of Women’s Spirituality, p. 265. Another feminist BarbaraStarrett writes “The mind acts its thoughts through intensity. This iscreativity, and it is unlimited in its possibilities. It is the eternalintensity of becoming, of expanding, and breaking through boundaries, of thesoul's hungerto know, to create, and to transform.....It is the Kali within us”.

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distance without touching the Shalagrama and Shivalinga.48 After theadvent of Sri Ramakrishna these traditions have been exploded.Ramakrishna was the first incarnation of God to have a woman ashis guru.49 And he had his first vision of Christ not on theCross but on the lap of Virgin Mother Mary. Ramakrishna will beremembered as the son of Mother, just as Jesus is remembered asthe son of Father. Sister Christine wrote that for weeks andmonths, Vivekananda would be buried in thought, creating andrecreating the splendid image of the Indian woman of the future.The liberty, the dynamism and efficiency, and even the purity ofHoly Mother Sri Sarada Devi overwhelmed him. At the same time theundying historic images of Sita, Savitri, Damayanti, Ahalyabaiand Padmini, fascinated him even more.50 Would a combination ofthe western spirit of independence, freedom, and dynamism withIndian austerity, purity and chastity in woman's life bepossible? He knew it would be possible. Swami Vivekananda had avery great respect for Sita of the Ramayana and he was nevertired of indicating her as the very ideal of Indian woman. Moderngirls may think this ideal of Indian woman, rather old fashionedand unsuitable for the modern age. But really Sita was a verymodern girl - firm, courageous, self-dependent and yet she was atypical Indian woman. All the Indian ideals of perfect woman havegrown out of that one life of Sita. Swami Vivekananda was of theopinion that every Indian Women should strive hard to be a Sitain the truest sense of the term.51

Swami Vivekananda in fact, took the initiative which not evenLord Buddha dared to do. He saw the weakness of body-consciousness behind Western chivalry. "Why should I help you?”he told a Western woman disciple. “That is chivalry and don't yousee that chivalry is only sex? Don't you see what is behind all

48 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume V, p. 229.49 Christopher Isherwood, Ramakrishna and His Disciples, Advaita Ashrama,Kolkata, 2001, p. 99.50 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VI, p. 494.51 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume III, pp. 255-56.

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these attentions from men to women?52 ‘To Nivedita, Vivekanandasaid that if he could conquer India with his ideas, with fivehundred monks within fifty years, with five hundred nuns he couldconquer the same India within a few weeks. Today his words haveproved true. Following the footsteps of Sarada Devi and SisterNivedita, hundreds of women all over the world are coming forwardwith a combination of 'the mother's heart and the hero's will,' acombination of the purity of Holy Mother and the dynamism of Raniof Jhansi or Joan of Arc.’53

In reality Swami Vivekananda neither favoured the discarding ofthe ancient customs in toto, nor accepted these customs as such.Every social custom, old or new, is to be judged strictly onmerit and merit alone. For him, the reform is self-reform. But,everywhere under the Sun you find the same blending of the goodand the bad. So we need not trouble our heads prematurely aboutsuch reforms, as the abolition of early marriage, the remarriageof widows and so on.54 As a matter of fact, so called socialreformers and workers ordinarily assume a superior attitude, asif it is they who are really leading the poor, the ignorantmasses to salvation. He was against this attitude and tookspecial pains to warn all against it repeatedly in all cases.Women were to be the beneficiaries of the actions of the men, notactors on their own behalf. Women became symbolic, not only ofall that was wrong with cultural and religious life, but also ofall that was worth preserving.55 Swami Vivekananda was the firstsocial reformer , who was bold enough to speak the plain truthwithout any fear of criticism or applause. If you do not giveopportunities to one to become a lion, no wonder, that he willbecome a cunning fox. Women are Shakti or power but that Shakti is

52 Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Admirers,p.198.53 Swami Jitatmananda, Swami Vivekananda Prophet and Pathfinder, SriRamakrishna Ashrama, Rajkot, 1998, p. 254.54 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume III, p. 246.55 Gail Minault, Gender, Language, and Learning- Essays in Indo-MuslimCultural History, p. 65.

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being used for bad purposes alone. The reason for that is thatmen are oppressing them. So, they are like vixen only. But whenthere will not be any more oppression, then, they will surelybecome lioness.56

It is in the transformation of man through moral and spiritualeducation that he finds the solution for all social evils.Founding education on the firm ground of our own philosophy andculture, he shows the best of remedies for today’s social andglobal illness. Through his scheme of education, he tries tomaterialize the moral and spiritual welfare and upliftment ofhumanity, irrespective of caste, creed, nationality or time.However, Swami Vivekananda’s scheme of education, through whichhe wanted to build up a strong nation that will lead the worldtowards peace and harmony, is still a far cry. It is high timethat we give serious thought to his philosophy of education andremembers his call to every-body-‘Arise, awake, and stop not tillthe goal is reached.’

In the late nineteenth century with increased urbanization andthe growth of new professions associated with colonialdomination, work was increasingly separated from the home.Paralleling this change was the establishment of new educational,religious and social institutions and theerosion of traditional household activity. Some of the girlsstarted attending educational institutions, social gatheringsunrelated to family affairs, and new religious ceremonies. These‘new women’ as they were called, were part of modernizingmovement which sought to modify gender relations in the directionof greater equality between men and women.57 Regarding solutionsto women's problems, Swami Vivekananda said, “Our right ofinterference is limited entirely to giving education”?58 Hestates very clearly that women must be put in a position to solvetheir own problems in their own ways and our Indian women are as56 Swami Vivekananda, Bharatiya Nari, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1957, p. 99.57 Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India, p. 28.58 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VI, p. 448.

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capable of doing so as any in the world. Sometimes he questioned,“In matters concerning women, who are you? Who are you to solvewomen's problems? Are you the lord God that you should rule everywidow and every woman? Hands off! They can solve their ownproblems”.59

Swami Vivekananda saw lack of education as the fundamental causeof the downfall of women from the high Vedic tradition. He sawremedy too in education. Education that will give strength and itmust include the development of an ideal character.60 But whatkind of education, especially woman's education? SwamiVivekananda realized that it is the worship of Uma Kumari, theDivine Mother, the embodiment of all power, should be in the girlstudents. And this education would, in time, bring out the purestand the strongest in all women, her infinite mother.Sister Christine wrote, “Some of us believe that if SwamiVivekananda's ideas regarding the education of woman are carriedout in true spirit, a being will be evolved who will be unique inthe history of the world. As the woman of ancient Greece wasalmost perfect physically, this one will be her complementintellectually and spiritually -a woman, gracious, loving,tender, long-suffering, great in heart and intellect, butgreatest of all in spirituality”.61

In the material world, you need a male psychology to be one upover others in the market place, to be successful in the ratrace. But, in the realm of religion and spirituality, it is justthe opposite. Here you have to become natural. Nature isfeminine. The powerful Sun comes and knocks at your door andwaits patiently outside waiting for you to open the door. Greatmasters are feminine. Buddha is feminine, Jesus is feminine. Itwas Friedrich Nietzsche who first pointed out that Buddha andJesus are feminine. He meant it as criticism though. But it is a

59 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume V, p. 159.60 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume V, p. 81.61 Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Admirers,p.210.

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compliment of superlative quality. It is the greatestappreciation because from being aggressively masculine theybecame hosts; they became open and vulnerable to existence.62

There is no tool for development more effective than theempowerment of women, uttered Kofi Annan, former SecretaryGeneral, United Nations. Woman empowerment means empowering womento be free in developing their potential according to theirability, which was denied to them in the past just because oftheir gender Vivekananda believed that following these new idealsof education, a race of 'Supermen' and 'Superwomen' would mergein future who could combine perfect freedom with perfectauthority.63

Swami Vivekananda desired woman social workers who would workconsistently, unselfishly, in full spirit with the doctrine ofKarma. He even wished to start Math for women. According to him,such Maths for women will solve a double purpose. First, thesetraining centers will be forBrahamcharnis or dedicated women workers who will live the lives ofself-sacrificing nuns, serving all. Secondly, these will alsoserve as schools for girls, who will be taught the secular andspiritual matters by these dedicated women workers. Then theycan, at will leave the Math or stay back.64 It will help them gaincourage, confidence and self-respect and will liberate themfrom the sense of dependency and a life of subservience. He wasvery much hopeful that India can shine with her pristine glory62 Satjit Wadva, Live Like a Woman, in Woman, Many Hues Many Shades, p. 59.63 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VIII, p. 274.64 Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Volume, p. 409. Swami Vivekananda had great respect and honour for women. In London when a Christian scholar in a seminar stood up and started saying that womankind has no soul. Swami Vivekananda retorted that I had read the holy Quran twice and no where it is written like that; rather it is written that womankind has same soul as men. After the seminar, someone asked Swami Vivekananda why you interfered as this question was between Christianity and Islam. Swami Vivekananda repliedwith anger that it was the cause of women. I cannot tolerate insult towards women. If any scripture says so, I do not consider that scripture even holy. Emma Calve- a world fame personality of her times, after meeting Swami Vivekananda, wrote in her diary that today I saw a man who walks with God.

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only when the women of our land are given good education toenable them to handle modern problems, without discarding ourprecious heritage.

Swami Vivekananda was actually the greatest synthesizer of evertime. He wanted to remove the evils of the society by giving re-orientation to politics, sociology, economics and education.Swami Vivekananda laid stress on education as a powerful weaponfor this change. As an educationalist he believes in absolutevalues which have to be realized by a good system of education.Education should be the preparation for life. It should develop afeeling of nationalism and international understanding, it shouldleads to the development of character and make individuals self-dependent. Today there is a deterioration of cultural ethics andstandards. The supreme need of the hour is to counteract thisemotional, moral and cultural collapse. Only a process of a goodsystem of education can bring about a healthy political andsocial life. Swami Vivekananda stands for this and his message isfor all time.

Finally, Women must find strength from within. They need todiscover their power and the truth that they are the Creator’smost beautiful gift to mankind. Education for the female shouldhave religion as its centre. Then only one will look upon womenas the veritable manifestation of Brahman. This is howRamakrishna had this idea of divine motherhood in every woman, ofwhatever caste she might be, or whatever might be her worth. Ifthe women are raised by opening girls’ schools in every village,then they by their noble actions will glorify the name of thecountry. Then culture, knowledge, power, and devotion will beawakened. Educated women will instill a fresh light in thefamily. They will be the prime initiators of awakening of thenext generation.

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Note: Dr. Rimli Basu , Research Scholar, C/O Prof. Dr.Santishree. D. Pandit, Department of Politics and PublicAdministration, University of Pune has provided the backgroundresearch of this article.

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Select Bibliography Butler, Judith (1990): Gender Trouble. New York/London:

Routledge. Cooper, Davina (2004): Challenging Diversity. Rethinking

Equality and the Value of Differ-ence. Cambridge: CambridgeUP.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1995): "Mapping the Margins:Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence AgainstWomen." In: Dan Danielson/Karen Engle (Hg.): After Identity: A Readerin Law and Culture. New York: 332-54.

Eisenberg, Avigail/Spinner-Halev, Jeff (2005) (eds.):Minorities within Minorities. Equality, Rights and Diversity.Cambridge: Cambridge UP

Goetz, Anne Marie (2007): "Gender Justice, Citizenship andEntitlements: Core Concepts, Central Debates and NewDirections for Research". In: Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay andNavsharan Singh (eds.): Gender Justice, Citizenship, and Development. NewDelhi: Zubaan.

Phillips, Anne (2005): "Dilemmas of gender and culture: thejudge, the democrat and the po-litical activist", in: AvigailEisenberg & Jeff Spinner-Halev (eds.): Minorities within

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Minorities. Equality, Rights and Diversity. Cambridge:Cambridge UP, pp. 113-134.

Saunders. Kriemild (2002): "Introduction. Towards aDeconstructive Post-Development Criti-cism", in: KriemildSaunders (ed.): Feminist Post-Development Thought. RethinkingModernity, Post-Colonialism and Representation. London/NewYork: Zed Books, pp. 1-38.

Yuval-Davis, Nira (1997): Gender & Nation. London: Sage Pravrajika Brahmaprana, "Swamiji and His Western Women

Disciples," Prabuddha Bharata (May 1989) Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda (1961. Third edn.

Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1983),: reminiscences of IdaAnsell.

Marie L. Burke, Swami Vivekananda in the West: NewDiscoveries, 6 pts. (Third edn. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama,1983-87): His Prophetic Mission, 2 pts. (1983-84); The WorldTeacher, 2 pts. (1985-86); A New Gospel, 2 pts. (1987).Hereafter cited with subtitles only. Present reference is toNew Gospel, I, 389-90.

Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda in the West- New Discoveries, Volume VI,Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, 1973,

Sister Nivedita, The Master As I Saw Him (1910. Twelfth edn.Calcutta: Udbodhan Office, 1977).

Brahmaprana, "Swamiji and Women Disciples," ; PropheticMission, I, 486.

Svami Bibekananda, Patrabali [in Bengali] (1977. Fifth edn.Kalikata: Udbodhan Karyalay, 1987), p. 120: Vivekananda'sletter (March 19, 1894). .

Swami Vivekananda, Letters of Swami Vivekananda (1940. Sixthimpression. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1986), pp. 54-55(letter # 24). Hereafter cited as Letters.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 8 vols. (MayavatiMemorial edn. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1990), VI, 248-49:Vivekananda's letter to Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri (1894).

Complete Works, VII, 474-75: Vivekananda's letter toManmathanath Bhattacharya (September 5, 1894). .

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Prophetic Mission, I, 416: Vivekananda's lecture at theDetroit Opera House (March 11, 1894). Emphasis in original.

Prophetic Mission, I, 98: Vivekananda's address at areception organized by Mrs. Potter Palmer of Chicago(September 14, 1893). Emphasis in original.

New Gospel, I, 272: "The Women of India." Even though Mrs.Hansbrough replied to the woman "No, I haven't found thatout yet," she herself, on her own admission, was oftensubjected to violent verbal abuse by the Swami. "He oftenscolded me," she wrote. "He was constantly finding fault andsometimes he could be very rough. _Mother brings me fools towork with,' he would say; or _I have to associate withfools!' This was his favorite word in his vocabulary ofscolding." In fact Vivekananda could be extremely unkindwith that vocabulary. Once he told her: "You are a silly,brainless fool, that's what you are." New Gospel, II, 28.

Svami-Shisya Sambad [in Bengali] (Ninth edn. Rpt. Kalikata:Udbodhan Karyalay, 1400 B.E. [Bengali Era]), p. 250.

World Teacher, I, 61: report of Swamiji's lecture in BostonDaily Globe (March 24, 1896).

Complete Works, V, 413: "Sayings and Utterances." Prophetic Mission, I, 22: report in the Framingham Tribune

(August 25, 1893). (letter # 20): Vivekananda's letter (August 20, 1893). Robert P. Goldman, "Transsexualism, Gender, and Anxiety in

Traditional India," Journal of the American OrientalSociety, CXIII, 3 (1993), 375-76.

Complete Works, VIII, 57-58: Vivekananda's lecture "Women ofIndia" at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena (January 18, 1900).

Ramchandra Datta, Srisriramakrishna ParamahamsadeberJibanbrittanta [in Bengali] (Seventh edn. Kankurgachhi, 1357B.E.), p. 151 cited in Shankariprasad Basu, "Nibeditar_Dhrubamandir'," Svami Lokeshvarananda, ed. Shatarupe Sarada[in Bengali] (1985. Sixth printing. Calcutta: RamakrishnaMission Institute of Culture, 1989), p. 143 n. 9.

Svami Purnatmananda, ed. Smritir Aloy Svamiji (SvamiBibekanander Sannyasi-Shisysaganer Jibancharit) [in Bengali]

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(1396 B.E. Fourth edn. Kalikata: Udbodhan Karyalay, 1398B.E.), p. 185: reminiscences of Shachindranath Basu.

Complete Works, III, 468: report in the Daily Gazette(August 29, 1893). This is a highly misleading, eveninaccurate, statement. There is no report on his everassociating with eating, drinking, gossiping women and thushis observation reveals nothing but his stereotypical imageof an educated and enlightened woman common among theBengali bhadralok class.

Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonialand Postcolonial Histories (Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress, 1993), p. 135.

CW, V, 23: interview with Vivekananda published in thePrabuddha Bharata (December 1898).

Master As I Saw Him, p. 239. CW, IV, 479-80: "Modern India." CW, III, 256: Vivekananda's lecture "The Sages of India" at

Victoria Public Hall, Madras (February 11, 1897). Master As I Saw Him, p. 239. Patrabali, pp. 192-93: Vivekananda's letter to

Ramakrishnananda (September 25, 1894). 43CW,V, 466-67: "East and West." The Swami's anatomical

observations are as fantastic as are many others in thisremarkably benighted and prejudiced (but most popular inBengal) essay.

Prophetic Mission, I, 444-45: report of the Swami's lecturein the Detroit Evening News (March 25, 1894).

Sankari Prasad. Basu, ed. Letters of Sister Nivedita, 2vols. (Calcutta: Nababharat Publishers, 1982), I, 128:Nivedita's letter to Josephine MacLeod (May 11, 1899).

Complete Works, III, 302: Vivekananda's lecture "The Futureof India," Harmston Circus Pavilion, Madras (February 14,1897).

Letters, p. 450 (letter # 225): Vivekananda's letter (August27, 1901).

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Patrabali, p. 60: Vivekananda's letter (June 15, 1897).50CW, V, 86: Vivekananda's letter to Alasinga Perumal (July1, 1895). Emphasis added.

Prophetic Mission, I, 34: unpublished article by Mary TappanWright, wife of the Harvard professor John Henry Wright.

His Eastern & Western Disciples, The Life of SwamiVivekananda, 2 vols. (Fifth edn. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama,1979-81), II, 354.

Cited in Tapan Raychaudhuri, Europe Reconsidered:Perceptions of the West in Nineteenth Century Bengal (Delhi:Oxford University Press, 1988),

Patrabali, p. 198: Vivekananda's letter to his monasticbrethren (September 25, 1898).

Mahendranath Datta, Srimat Saradananda Svamijir JibanerGhatanabali [in Bengali] (Calcutta: The Mahendra PublishingCommittee, 1355 B.E.), pp. 66-67.

Letters, p. 351 (letter # 157): Vivekananda's letter (July9, 1897). The Swami's idea of the world as a vicious mayaruns counter to his preaching of Practical Vedanta thaturges humanitarian service for the welfare of the poor andthe downtrodden. He is also blissfully unaware of a logicalcontradiction when he exalts motherhood of women butsermonizes against marriage! 61New Gospel, II, 48.

Complete Works, VIII, 415: "Future of India." Complete Works, VIII, 415: Vivekananda's letter (July 25,

1897). Emphasis in original. Sister Nivedita, Notes of Some Wanderings with the Swami

Vivekananda, ed. Swami Saradananda (Authorised edn.Calcutta: Udbodhan Office, 1913), pp. 97-98. See also WorldTeacher, I, 230.

Sailendranath Dhar, A Comprehensive Biography of SwamiVivekananda, 3 vols. in 2 pts. (Madras: VivekanandaPrakashan Kendra, 1975-76), I, 34.

Smritir Aloy Svamiji, p. 296 n.1: reminiscences of PriyanathSinha.

Sankari P. Basu & Sunil B. Ghosh, eds. Vivekananda in IndianNewspapers, 1893-1902 (Calcutta: Basu Bhattacharyya & Co.,

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1969), p. 77: Dr. Beall's Journal article was reprinted inextenso in the Amrita Bazar Patrika of Calcutta on February20, 1897.

Patrabali, pp. 35-36: Vivekananda's letter to PramadadasMitra (March 3, 1890).

Mahendranath Datta, Londone Svami Bibekananda [in Bengali],3 vols. in 2 pts. (1338-45 B.E. Rpt. Calcutta: MahendranPublishing Committee, 1391-92 B.E.), I, 93; CW, VI, 446:Vivekananda's letter to Sister Nivedita (March 2, 1898);Romain Rolland, The Life of Vivekananda and the UniversalGospel, tr. E.F. Malcolm-Smith (Tenth impression. Calcutta:Advaita Ashrama, 1984), p. 6 n.3., p. 85 n.2.

Mahendranath Datta, Srimat Bibekananda Svamijir JibanerGhatanabali [in Bengali], 3 vols. (1331-33 B.E. Fifthprinting. Calcutta: Mahendra Publishing Committee, 1393-95B.E.), I, 49, 61, 85, 135, 165.

Prophetic Mission, I, 282 (see also pp. 278-84). Pravrajika Prabuddhaprana, The Life of Josephine MacLeod:

Friend of Swami Vivekananda (Dakshineshwar: Sri Sarada Math,1990), p. 217.

Reminiscences of Vivekananda, p. 228: reminiscences of MissMacLeod.

Life of Josephine, p. 136. R. Rolland, "Journal 1915-1943," Inde (1960) cited in ibid.,

pp. 208, 210. Complete Works, VIII, 317: Vivekananda's letter to the Hale

sisters (July 26, 1894). Complete Works, V, 21: Vivekananda's letter to Alasinga

(November 2, 1893). The phrase "inly-pleased" is borrowed from Vivekananda's

description in the Chicago Advocate (September 12, 1893)cited in Prophetic Mission, I, 87.

Master As I Saw Him, p. 32; Reminiscences of Vivekananda,pp. 148, 171: reminiscences of Sister Christine.

Cited from the original manuscript of Nivedita's diary(expurgated from the authorized edition of her Notes of SomeWanderings) in Rita Rudra, "Swami Vivekananda's Concept of

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Man" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Claremont GraduateSchool, 1974), p. 194. Since 1972, this diary has beendeposited in the Bangiya Sahitya Parisad Library, Calcutta.

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“Gender Justice, Dignity of Women and the Views of Swami Vivekananda”

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