Talk On Vivek Chudamani

Author(s): Chinmayanand Swami
Publisher: Chinmay Publications Trust

Page 11

a sudden and immediate spiritual self-development, are always rare in the world at any given period of its history. Thus the Acharya says that to get a human birth is rare; having got the human birth, to have the masculine manhood is still rarer.
Here a lot of misunderstanding has been entertained, and some even glorify their misunderstanding on the score of a Vedic sanction. Thus, Pundits of hasty study interpret this idea as a direct condemnation of women-folk. According to this thoughtless reading, women are not considered fit for Vedantic contemplation or Self-realisation. How such fantastic ideas gained currency in the country of the great Rishis is a mystery which cannot be easily solved. More than half of our scriptural declarations have been either given out by the divine mothers or were addressed to them directly by the great Rishis.
Then why this special preference shown to the masculine? At this juncture, we must bring all our discriminative capacity to understand that when these qualifications were given out, they had been given with no reference to the body. With the body no Vedantic 'sadhana' can be undertaken. The main practices in Vedanta are 'reflection' and 'meditation' which are to be undertaken with a healthy mind and a keen intellect. Therefore, it means that the feminine qualities of mind and intellect are to be eschewed. A masculine inner personality fed with courage, discrimination, detachment, equilibrium, peace and cheer, is the fittest instrument for a quick march to the Goal indicated by Vedanta.
When applications are invited by any Government, say, for the police force as well as for engineers, the qualifications required in each category will be different from the other. An applicant for the police training will be rejected if his girth is less than the prescribed minimum; but an Engineer, if fully qualified and experienced, will be invited in even if he looks unhealthy, lean and pale! For, in the former category what is wanted is a physical service, while in the latter, the candidate is expected to fulfil a subtler demand for the required intellectual quality. An expansive chest and a pair
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