Holy Mother and Women Empowerment

Yatha agne dahika shakti Ramakrishne sthita hi ya

Sarva vidya swarupam tam Saradam pranamamyaham

I bow down to Sarada, the embodiment of all knowledge, who is the power of Sri Ramakrishna, and resides with Him, like the power of burning in the fire.

            This subject, “Holy Mother and Women Empowerment” appears to be a contradiction in words; at least this is what the modern feminists and advocates of women empowerment will say. According to them the Holy Mother is a typical example of a perfect victim of the patriarchal society and the exploitative value system the male dominated society has thrust upon women. The Holy Mother was never allowed to go to school in childhood. If ever she tried to read, books were snatched away from her. She was married at the age of five and had to live in a small room with no toilet facilities, and had to cook for, and serve her husband. She had no freedom even to move about, lived in virtual captivity and poverty all through her life and suffered in various ways. The male, by extolling her values of modesty, forbearance and suffering is simply perpetrating the same values for all women. This, the Feminists will say, is the very technique by which women are subordinated by men.  To this I shall answer only by quoting what Sister Nivedita, who can be considered, by all standards, a fully empowered woman, said about the Holy Mother: “To me it has always appeared that she is Sri Ramakrishna’s final word as to the ideal of Indian womanhood.” And she goes on to suggest that she might well be the ideal of the new order of things!

            I shall begin by explaining, in brief, the modern concept of empowerment, a  term, which has for more than a decade been  widely used in relation to women. Today, one hears this term much more often than terms like ‘women’s welfare’, ‘upliftment’, ‘development’ or ‘awareness raising’. Obviously, empowerment is about power, and about changing the balance of power. In every society, there are powerful and powerless groups. Power is exercised in social, economic and political relations between individuals and groups.

            Power itself can be simply defined as control over resources and control of ideology. The resources over which control can be exercised fall into five broad categories: physical resources (like land, water, forests); human resources (people, their bodies, their labour and skills); intellectual resources (knowledge, information, ideas); financial resources (money, access to money); and the self (that unique combination of intelligence, creativity, self esteem and confidence). Similarly, control of ideology means the ability to determine beliefs, values, attitudes – virtually, control over ways of thinking and perceiving situations.

            If we accept this definition, then it is clear that woman in general, and poor women in particular, are relatively powerless because they do not have control over resources, and hence little or no decision-making power. Yet the decision made by others effect their lives every day.

            The strategies suggested by the Feminists are, education, training, employment, political action, changing the mind set of women, through education, with the help of activists, Women organizations, NGOs etc. The Indian women have also not remained unaffected by these Feminist Movements. However, in waking up to the feminist storm raised by their western sisters, they committed the grave folly of following those glamorous leaders without giving enough thought to its relevance to their own culture and the problems which are of a very different nature. In the strategy of the western model of empowerment, for example, there is no place for empowerment through motherhood and through spirituality.   

             Commenting upon the present Feminist movement Swami Vireswaranandaji Maharaj  has said:

            A great change is coming all over the world in the outlook of women. Women in the West have tried to refute the ancient view that the sexes are differently equipped, and therefore have different functions to perform in social and national life. They have competed with men in all spheres of life and to a great extent successfully, though it is questionable whether this has really made them happier. Indian women too are changing their outlook and are not satisfied with a life purely in the domestic sphere—the home, which has been their main preoccupation for centuries, though there have been some notable exceptions to this. They claim freedom to live a fuller life. There is much justification for this revolt of women. Their position in society is not at all what is desirable and it goes without saying that their participation in various fields of national life should be welcome. But in the excitement of this new adventure our women should not lose what is best in them. It is to emphasize this, our ancient heritage that the great drama was enacted at Dakshineswar.

Women’s Empowerment as Motherhood

              In India women have always been honored as Mothers. In Chandi it is said that the Divine Mother Goddess, resides in all beings as Mother. It is also said there that all women are the embodiment of the Goddess herself. The Indian scriptures also say that gods reside where women are honoured, and all undertakings fail where they are not honoured.

            In spite of such lofty sentiments, India neglected the women and did injustice to them. This is not the case in India alone, but all over the world. It is but natural that as a reaction a feministic movement and demand for greater empowerment of women must arise. The present Feministic Movement, unfortunately is on the masculine style and pits women against men in a confrontation, with deleterious effects for the society in general and family life, especially for the physical and mental health of the children, in particular. Divorces, breaking down of families, one-parent families etc. cause great shock and trauma to the children. Even the exponents of Feministic Movement have been disillusioned by the direction it has taken. The only solution is the Indian – that of honouring and empowering women as mothers. Swami Vivekananda has said that the West has risen to the height of success and glory by worshipping women as mistress; to what greater glory would India attain if she worshipped women as mother? But for this, first of all we must stop treating women badly and learn to respect them

            Indian culture has always maintained that a woman attains highest fulfillment in being a mother, Once, Indira Gandhi, the Ex Prime-Minister of India, was asked when she was at the height of her glory, what was the happiest moment in her life. Indira Gandhi replied, it was the day she became a mother!

           

Women’s Empowerment and Swami Vivekananda

A hundred years ago, Swami Vivekananda had said, “India’s two national sins are the neglect of the masses and the neglect of the women”. India has suffered foreign subjugation for centuries due to these two great sins and it is regretted that even today they are persisting in some form or the other. Although some thing has been done in the sphere of women’s education and other means of their upliftment, the gender-based crimes on women are continuing.

            Swami Vivekananda has further said that just as a bird cannot fly with only one wing; its both wings must be intact and equally strong, similarly, no nation can rise without the equal and harmonious development of its men and women both. As a matter of fact, Swami Vivekananda laid greater stress on the education and uplift of women than of men. He would say,” First there be monastery for the mother and her daughters (I.e. Holy Mother Sri Sarda Devi and her women disciples) and then father and sons (i.e. Sri Ramakrishna and his male disciples).  

            Swami Vivekananda was of the firm opinion that women can solve their own problems without the intervention of men; only they must get proper education. Once, when some one asked him about the solution of the problems of Indian widows he had replied,” Am I a widow that you are asking me this question?” He again said, “Who are you to solve women’s problems? Are you the Lord God that you should rule over every widow and every woman? Hands off! They will solve their own problems.”

            There is touching little incident in the life of Swami Vivekananda. While in U.S.A., to attend Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893, Swamiji was put up with one Mr. Leon. Mr. Leon’s grand-daughter, a little girl of 5-6 years, would play with Swami Vivekananda, who used to tell her Indian folk tales. Once, Swamiji asked her to show him her school books. The little girl ran to her room and brought the books, and showed them with great enthusiasm to Swamiji. But she was taken aback when she saw Swamji becoming sad on looking at the books. She asked why was he sad. Did he not like the books? Swamiji consoled her and said that the books are indeed good. Unfortunately such books for the education of Indian girls were not there in India, and this was the cause of Swamiji’s sadness. Indeed, so keen Swamiji was for the education of Indian women that he inspired Miss Margaret Noble of England to follow him and come to India for the same purpose. Miss Noble later became known as Sister Nivedita and started a school in Kolkata for the education of girls.

Empowerment of Women by Sri Ramakrishna

            It is likely that Swami Vivekananda got a hint, at least, of the need for women’s empowerment, from his great teacher and Guru Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna’s uniqueness among the great prophets and incarnations of the world lies in the fact that he paid the highest honour to women in general, whom he considered as so many manifestations of the Divine Mother he adored.

            He accepted Bhavatarini Kali of Dakshineshwar, a female deity, as his chosen ideal, and accorded her his heart’s devotion throughout his life. He preferred to address God by the loving name “Mother”. So great was his fascination for God as mother that even after attaining unity with the supreme non-dual reality, Brahman, at the height of Advaita Vedantic realization, he continued to remain a child of the divine mother.

            Next Sri Ramakrishna accepted Bhairavi Brahmani, a saintly lady of high spiritual attainments, as his Guru and practiced the disciple of the tantras under her guidance. He had the greatest regard for his own mother. To avoid hurting her feelings, he took Sannyas secretly and did not put on the ocher robe, the external mark of a Sannyasin. More over once while in Vrindaban, he had almost decided to live the rest of his life there, but he returned to Dakshineshwar when he remembered his mother and realized what a source of grief this would be to her otherwise in her old age.

            Sri Ramakrishna also taught his disciples to honour women. Once, Hari (later Swami Turiyananda) a monastic disciple in making, said to his guru, Sri Ramakrishna that he hated women. This attitude on the part of monks-in-the making in India is not unusual, for, they must be very vigilant in observing their basic vow of celibacy. In  orthodox monastic circles the saying is prevalent that a woman is the gateway to hell. However, when Sri Ramakrishna heard Hari’s statement, he rebuked him and said that he wouldn’t be able to escape the snares of women if he hated them. He must respect them as the embodiments of the Divine Mother.

            Special mention must be made of Sri Ramakrishna’s relationship with Sri Sarada Devi. He took great pains to see that she was not inconvenienced in any way while living with him at Dakshineshwar. He went to the extent of worshipping her as the divine mother, an attitude which he maintained throughout his life. He also invoked the power of the divine mother in her. He carefully and painstakingly trained her for the fulfillment of her future mission and felt greatly assured at the natural flowering of universal motherhood in her. There are instances where the Holy Mother refused to abide by the injunctions of Sri Ramakrishna and asserted her right to follow the instinct of motherhood. Once she fed more chapaties than prescribed to Baburam, one of the spiritual aspirant and a young disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. When Sri Ramakrishna objected, the Holy Mother did not agree with him and said that feeding came under the jurisdiction of the mother. She was even willing to take the responsibility of the spiritual growth of the disciples. On another occasion she had handed over the food plate of Sri Ramakrishna to a lady of impure character. When Sri Ramakrishna asked her to promise never to do it in future, she did not, saying that she won’t be able to refuse anything if addressed as Mother. Naturally Sri Ramakrishna was happy to observe the natural flowering of motherhood in her.

            Sri Ramakrishna empowered the Holy mother in his own unique way. Certainly he did not try to teach her the three R’s. He had little faith in them and had himself rejected them in his own turn. And yet he empowered, not only the Holy Mother but others like the servant boy Latu and the drunkard Girish Ghosh in a much superior way. This was by installing faith and confidence in them. He saw divinity in all as distinctly as we see humanity, and so he acted accordingly with great love and respect towards all without ever hurting them. He, for example, never uttered a harsh word to the Holy Mother. If ever he felt that she might have felt hurt by his actions, he immediately apologized.

            Secondly, although he did not endeavour to teach the Holy Mother the three R’s, he did train her in secular matters: How to conduct according to time place and situation, what precautions to take while boarding a train, how to put a wick in a lamp and scores of other matters. She was trained carefully and meticulously by him to shoulder the arduous responsibility of taking spiritual care of numerous disciples later.

Empowerment through Spirituality

            Sri Ramakrishna had totally rejected intellectualism because he well knew that spiritual excellence was infinitely superior to intellectual excellence. He by his life and teachings amply demonstrated that spirituality or spiritual unfoldment was the birthright of each and every human being. It is no wonder then that he took great pains to empower the Holy Mother through spiritual training. One has to pass through rigorous discipline for spiritual unfoldment, which the Holy Mother did under the guidance of Sri Ramakrishna. The result was that she became a dynamo of spiritual power, which radiated through her being.

            Finally, just before entering into mahasamadhi, he clearly commissioned her to provide peace, solace & guidance to suffering humanity immersed in the mire of ignorance. This was empowerment through bestowal of responsibility.

            Sri Sarada Devi survived Sri Ramakrishna by 34 years. The reason she gave for her long widowhood is significant. She said that Sri Ramakrishna looked upon the whole living universe as a mother looks upon her children. To demonstrate, to nourish and to give fullest expression to this attitude, she was left behind as it were. If we consider Sri Ramakrishna as an incarnation, we must also consider Holy mother Sri Sarada Devi as an extension of the incarnation, nay, an incarnation in herself, the first woman incarnation. For 34 years she demonstrated what a woman incarnation looks like. We are so used to think of the divine consorts of incarnations as their Shakti that we never think that God can incarnate as a woman—more precisely a Mother—too. Today women of the world can feel proud that God is feminine and incarnates as feminine, as mother. What can be greater empowerment that this?

            One of the most important purposes of Sri Ramakrishna’s advent is to teach mankind to love and worship God as mother. Although mother worship was prevalent in India even before his appearance, Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother demonstrated the love of God as mother, towards their children -- the whole living universe, particularly humankind -- and through their own humanity made it easier for us to approach God as mother. Although there was enough femininity and motherliness in Sri Ramakrishna, he had after all a male body. Indeed all the incarnations of God we know of, were males. How would the manifestation of God be if he incarnated as a female? One is inclined to believe that in this incarnation, this was demonstrated  through the Holy Mother.

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The Holy Mother and Women’s Empowerment

             The Holy Mother was extremely bashful. She never appeared in public and was so soft-spoken that it was difficult to listen to what she said. She was not learned and yet her spiritual attainments were so great and her common senses so sharp that she became virtually the uncrowned queen of the Ramakrishna Mission. The great Swami Vivekananda, Swami Saradananda, the then General Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission and other swamis consulted her for major problems and never went against her wishes. Her commands were final and were obeyed implicitly. Swami Vivekananda wanted to introduce animal sacrifice during Durga Puja at the Belur Math, but it was the Holy Mother who ruled that this must not be done. Again, Swami Vivekananda wanted to sell away the newly acquired land and buildings at Belur Math, for meeting the expenditure of relief works, then in progress. It was the Holy Mother, who prevented it by saying that Swamiji had no legal or moral authority to do so, since the Math belonged to Sri Ramakrishna. Besides, the Math was not meant to be expended only in carrying out one relief work. Hundreds of such welfare activities would be carried out in future. This cannot be done if Math was sold.

            Those days were the days of struggle for Indian independence. Some revolutionaries, however, had given up their earlier associations and inspired by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, joined the Ramakrishna Mission. This gave wrong signals that the mission was supporting and protecting the revolutionaries. The then Viceroy of India, Lord Carmichael, in his Durbar speech at Dhaka, once made some derogatory remarks against the Ramakrishna Mission, which created a crisis- situation for the Mission. It was proposed that the revolutionaries, who had joined the mission, must be expelled to prevent the ire of the British Government. Swami Saradananda, the General Secretary, consulted the Holy Mother on this issue, who said that since those who had joined the Mission had given up all revolutionary activities, they must not be expelled. She further advised Swami Saradananda to personally meet the Viceroy and explain the whole situation. This was done with favorable results. The Viceroy withdrew his derogatory remarks officially.

            There are two instances where the Holy Mother prevented the mal-treatment of women by men. Jogy was the head of the group of palanquin bearers and often carried the Holy mother in his palanquin when she travelled to or from Jayrambati. He was physically strong and at times beat his wife in a drunken state. Once, his wife complained to the Holy mother. Jogy was summoned and the Holy mother warned him never to beat his wife in future. She also blessed the couple that they may have a son.

            One summer evening mother was telling her beads at Udbodhan overlooking an open space across the road where some labourers lived in huts. In one of them a man was beating his wife mercilessly. The mother’s Japa stopped and though she was noted for her soft spoken voice which could hardly be heard at a distance, She stood up holding the railings and scolding the man at the top of her voice said “You wretch, Are you going to kill your wife outright? What a pity.” The man was out of control due to extreme anger but a look at the Holy mother acted like a charm on him. He lowered his head and moved away.

            The Holy Mother’s concern for the ill treatment of women is also evident in the case of Sindhu Bala. There were two Sindhu Balas. Under the suspicion of involvement in subversive activity, the police wanted to arrest one of the Sindhu Balas. But owing to the identity of names, they first took into custody the wrong Sindhu Bala together with one more woman. She was in family way. The police treated the women inhumanly and made them walk a long distance. When the Holy Mother heard this news, her whole frame shook in indignation and she cried out, “Is this the act of the Company (Government). If it is so it will not last long. Was there no man there to give some slaps to the police and snatch away the girls?” When later the news of their release was conveyed to her she was pacified and said, “Had I not heard this news, I would not have slept tonight.”

            The Holy Mother deeply grieved over the extreme poverty which many women in the villages had face. They did not even have cloth enough to cover their bodies. When Holy Mother learnt of such cases, she would weep bitterly and pray for the exit of the British who were responsible for such a situation.

            It is heartening to find that the Holy Mother did not always propagate marriage for girls. When a mother approached the Holy Mother to induce her daughter to marry, the Holy Mother replied: “Is it not a misery to remain in life long slavery to another and always dance to his tune?” She advised the mother that her daughter should not be forced to marry against her wish. To another mother she advised to admit her daughter in the school of sister Nivedita. When a grown-up girl of an orthodox Brahmin family was asked not to attend school, the Holy Mother replied promptly that education would make the girl useful not only to the family but also to the society.

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Influence of the Holy Mother in initiating welfare activities for women:

            Under this head, at least three institutions can be mentioned, whose inauguration and working was deeply influenced by the Holy Mother: The Ramakrishna Sarada Math, the Saradeswari Ashram of Gauri Maa and Sister Nivedita’s school for girls.  The latter two were started during the Holy Mother’s life time.  Although it was Swami Vivekananda who had inspired Miss Margaret Nobel to come to India for women’s education, she (later Sister Nivedita) was deeply influenced by the Holy Mother.  Mother’s presence in her school was hailed as a divine event.  The holy Mother too envisaged keen interest in the school and encouraged Nivedita profusely.

            The very name of the Saradeswari Ashram, started by Gauri Maa at the instance of Sri Ramakrishna, testifies to the influence of the Holy Mother on it.  The Holy Mother often visited the Ashrama and was virtually worshipped by Gauri Maa and the inmates of the Ashrama.  Durga Puri Devi, the second in command was an initiated disciple of the Holy Mother and was deeply influenced by Her spiritually.  She has also written a beautiful life of the Holy Mother.

            The Ramakrishna Sarada Math, of course, was started much later.  But its foundation, by way of the training and inspiration of its pioneers was laid by the Holy Mother. Sarala Devi, who later became the first president of the Sarada Math, by the name Pravrajika Bharatiprana, was a disciple of the Holy Mother.  The Holy Mother is the presiding deity of the Sarada Math and continues to inspire and guide by her benign celestial presence.

 Conclusion

           

            Sri Ramakrishna’s method of empowerment was unique—the spiritual. The soul has no sex, whether encaged in a male body or the female body. Hence every one is eligible to empowerment through spiritual enfoldment. This we see in the highest degree in the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, and carries a message for all women By their spiritual awakening, if even one among the women became a knower of Brahman, then by the radiance of her personality thousands of women would be inspired and awakened to Truth and great well-being of the country and society would ensue. Said Swami Vivekananda: “Ultimately, when the mind is wholly merged in the homogeneous and undifferentiated Brahman such ideas as this is a man or that is a woman do not remain at all.”

            Although this method of empowerment is open to all women, not all women, in actuality can attain to such spiritual empowerment. For such women, the Holy Mother has demonstrated empowerment through motherhood. But to be the mother of just one or two of one’s own children is not what is meant by motherhood. It has to be universal motherhood.

             Again, not many can attain to such a widened or enlarged motherhood. Such women need education--women making character building assimilation of ideas. The Holy mother was a great advocate of this.

            Let me conclude by quoting C.T.K. Chari from Sri Sarada Devi the Great Wonder:

            A tentative question posed by Sister Nivedita who regarded Sarada Devi as Sri Ramakrishna’s final word as to the ideal of Indian womanhood, can be answered only by a dialectical reconciliation of extremes. The Holy Mother was not only the last of the Old Order(of Indian Women), she was also the beginning of a New Order. Old and yet new; that is always the paradox of great mystics. ... ‘They do good by what they are, rather than what they do.’ Great and imperishable as the deeds of Sarada Devi are, she should be remembered not for what she did, but for what she was: Radiant and Triumphant Womanhood beyond creeds of the world.