Studies in Haribhadrasuri

Author(s): N M Kansara, G C Tripathi
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 95

An Advocate of Eve-Salvation
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a woman has no contradiction with this goal in any of the Agama texts, it proves, in the opinion of Haribhadra, that she may attain salvation. Argument 2: Woman has no qualifying symptoms for salvation Another argument was that she is not qualified for salvation because the qualifying symptoms do not appear in her, i.e. she is A-bhavya.
The main attack on this argument by Haribhadrasūri is as to why should the epithet A-bhavya is applied exclusively to women only? The symptoms would be’ (bhavya) do not appear in all the men and all man do not attain salvation. Then he poses the question whether there is any reasonable ground that woman genus should be put in a particular category. There may be a few a-bhavya women, but likewise there may be a few a-bhavya men as well. There are men who have absolutely no disinterest in the worldly activities (saṁsāra-nirveda), nor are they interested in salvation (nirvāna), much less even in any religious activities (dharma). If still the non-attainment of salvation does not apply to the man-genus, why should it be applied to woman-genus? It is the individual and not the genus that is qualified or disqualified for the attainment of salvation. It can be concluded from the above argument that, according to Haribhadra, the attainment of salvation depends upon the sensitivity of the mind of the individual and the intensity of the desire to attain salvation (mumuksutva). In Vedānta, it has been prescribed as a pre-requisite for salvation of an individual.
Again, opposing the concept that woman exists as a genus, Haribhadrasūri says that the existence is that of an individual human being, may be male or female, and we cannot categorize woman as a genus. Hence she is not disqualified to attain salvation.