Generation Gap

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

Page 60

insult and indignity towards women!! Nowadays, the boys are very critical when selecting their potential spouse. They will comment on the woman's height, her looks, her build etc. I once heard a boy talking like this and I rebuked him for doing so. The fool! What audacity! I told him that at one time, his mother too was a bride to be. What kind of a man was he to insult women in this way?
I ask these young men, whether they think that these young women are cattle that they are inspecting them in this manner. People scrutinize cattle in this way. (P.480)
Do you know when these women will take their revenge for insulting them? Do you know what consequences you men will have to endure for your actions?
Currently there is an increase in the number of females and consequently their value has declined. This is all nature's doing. Now when will the results of men's actions come into fruition? It will be when there is a decrease in the female population and a surplus of men. It is when the women will be making a decision as to what kind of a husband they want. The women will ask for swayamwvar (a custom prevalent in India hundreds of years ago, when invitations would be sent to all the eligible young men by the father whose daughter was of a marriageable age, inviting them to present themselves at the reception of swayamvar. The girl would then place a garland of flowers around the neck of the suitor of her choice). At the swayamvar
there would be a hundred or so suitors for just one girl. They would come to the swayamvar all decked out in the finest of clothes. As they line up for her inspection, they twirl their moustaches in a gesture of confidence, each thinking to himself that he will be the chosen one. They incline their heads forward, as she walks along the ranks, but she passes them by without a second glance. She does this until her heart leaps at the sight of the man she feels attraction for and she garlands him. The others walk away with their heads downcast, looking hopeless and foolish. This is their repayment for their own past foolishness. (P.482)
Nowadays marriages are reduced to contracts of dowry. Love has been set aside and marriages have become a commodity of monetary dealings. The groom's parents will demand a dowry in exchange for their son's hand in marriage. The marriage is not allowed to proceed, until the demands are met. (P.486)
(18) THE SELECTION OF A HUSBAND
There is nothing but dependency in this world. No one is independent. No one is truly free. A father is not willing to let his daughter live at home forever, and he insists that she must get married. When she marries she has to live with her inlaws, who constantly nag and criticize her. She asks herself how she is going to deal with such a nagging mother-in-law. When she married, she only expected to gain a husband and not such a large extended family of in laws. (P.490)