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DISCOURSE 38
the members of their family in a foolish and unkind manner. By behaving thus, they destroy their own importance and value. Such women do not enjoy esteem and affection either among the members of their families or among their friends and relatives. Yet they get angry with others; find fault with others and condemn others. On account of such behaviour, they lose their own importance.
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Now-a-days, infatuated by the improper freedom that they have, many women have begun taking to such evils as drinking. By going astray; and by treading on an improper path, they have really lost their noble freedom and have fallen into a dreadful kind of slavery but who can convince them of the truth of all this?
If you want to safeguard the chastity of a woman of noble birth and if you want to make her an ideal woman and mistress of the house, you must think about these points very seriously and very deeply. If you do not pay heed to these principles, you will not be able to safeguard the purity and chastity of women and you cannot expect those women to bear and bring up noble and cultured children. Moreover, on account of the ignoble behaviour of those women, your mind will be torn by tensions; and you will lose all felicity and fall into a state of listlessness and perplexity. Your household affairs will lack order and organisation and the entire household will have to be managed by servants. The friends and relatives who may visit your house may not receive respectable and hospitable treatment. There will not be purity and sanctity in the activities and conduct of the members of your family. A woman who is given freedom never treats your relatives and friends hospitably when they visit your house. She will deem her house a prison. If a woman has freedom and money, she can do much harm to herself and others. Such women cannot manage and guide a cultured family. They cannot maintain the nobility and culture of the family.
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Therefore, your domestic life should be so organised that your wife herself does all the household work and shoulders the entire responsibility of the household. Young women should
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