Pranam WOMEN AND MOKSHA\
Mahabharatham shanti parvam chap 12 *SECTION CCCXXI* 65:1 <https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12c020.htm#fr_111> What Sulabha ( a woman rishi) says here is this: the *great primal elements are the same whether they make up this body or that other body;* and then it is the same Chit that pervades every combination of the great elements. The object of this observation is to show that Janaka ( King of Mythila) should not have asked these questions about Sulabha, he and she being essentially the same person. To regard the two as different would indicate obscuration of vision. 2 I am coming, etc. Listen to me, O king, with undivided mind, as I answer these questions of thine. As lac and wood, as grains of dust and drops of water, exist commingled when brought together, even so are the existences of all creatures. 1 <https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12c020.htm#fn_111> Sound, touch, taste, form, and scent, these and the senses, though diverse in respect of their essences, exist yet in a state of commingling like lac and wood. It is again well known that nobody asks any of these, saying, who art thou? Each of them also has no knowledge either of itself or of the others. The eye cannot see itself. The ear cannot hear itself. The eye, again, cannot discharge the functions of any of the other senses, nor can any of the senses discharge the functions of any sense save its own. If all of them even combine together, even they fail to know their own selves as dust and water mingled together cannot know each other though existing in a state of union. In order to discharge their respective functions, they await the contact of objects that are external to them. The eye, form, and light, constitute the three requisites of the operation called seeing. The same, as in this case, happens in respect of the operations of the other senses and the ideas which is their result. Then, again, between the functions of the senses (called vision, hearing, etc.,) and the ideas which are their result (*viz*., form, sound, etc.), the mind is an entity other than the senses And is regarded to have an action of its own. With its help one distinguishes what is existent from what is non-existent for arriving at certainty (in the matter of all ideas derived from the senses). With the five senses of knowledge and five senses of action, the mind makes a total of eleven. The twelfth is the Understanding. When doubt arises in respect of what is to be known, the Understanding comes forward and settles all doubts (for aiding correct apprehension). After the twelfth, Sattwa is another principle numbering the thirteenth. With its help creatures are distinguished as possessing more of it or less of it in their constitutions. 2 <https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12c020.htm#fn_112> After this, Consciousness (of self) is another principle (numbering the fourteenth). It helps one to an apprehension of self as distinguished from what is not self. Desire is the fifteenth principle, O king. Unto it inhere the whole universe. 3 <https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12c020.htm#fn_113> The sixteenth principle is Avidya. Unto it inhere the seventeenth and the eighteenth principles 3 Renunciation is mentioned in the Taittiriya and other Upanishads: 'Some have attained immortality, not by acts, nor by offspring, nor by wealth, but by renunciation alone' (Kaivalya Upanishad., 3).* Females also are entitled to this kind of renunciation. The Caturdharike of the Mokshadharma, by using the word bhikshuki (female mendicant) with reference to the lady in question, when dealing with the controversy between Sulabha and janaka, indicated that females may renounce before marriage, or after the death of their husband and may go about as religious mendicants, may learn and hear the sastras dealing with moksha (namely the Upanishad and cognate literature), may meditate upon the atman in seclusion and assume the emblems of tri-danda, etc.* In the wake of the argument in the Devatadhikarana (the section about devata) in the fourth chapter of the third book of the Sarirakabhasya, wherein a discussion has been started relating to the rights of a widower (to such renunciation), *the name of the lady Vacaknavi *has also been mentioned. These references go to strengthen the right claimed by Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkya, of whom she inquires in the words: 'Of what use would such (wealth) be to me, if the possession of such would not render me immortal? Tell me whatever your worship knows,as to what I should do, in order to be free from mortality' (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.4). 4 Vedas and Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita (Shloka quoted below) said every human being irrespective of gender and caste is eligible for Moksha. Because it is only Brahman that appeared as male, female, or animal, plant stone etc to experience his own creation. Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman - Say Vedas. Which means all that exists is nothing but Brahman alone There were 64 Rishikas (female enlightened rishis) during the vedic period. Gargi was one of them who has had an very intensive discussion with Yagnvalkya in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. There are many women who were Enlightened like Gargi (mentioned in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad), Ma Sharada Devi (Wife of Ramakrishna Pramahamsa), Mata Amritanandamayi Ma (The saint from Kerala) and you get to know many more if you study Upanishads, 5 From Bhagavad Gita: 9.32 mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuh papa-yonayah striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te 'pi yanti param gatim O son of Prtha, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth-women, vaisyas [merchants], as well as sudras [workers]-can approach the supreme destination. 6 Panchratra: In the Santiparva of the Mahabharata it is stated that the Sastra was first expounded by Bhagavan Narayana to Narada for the sake of promulgating Bhakti. : Bhagavat .Narayanena Bhaktyupanataya Naradaya pratharnatah sastramidam'- Not only is Pancaratra called Bhagavat sastra, it is also named 'Satvata Sastra' - in Isvara Samhita (1-10) 'Etesham satvatam sastram upadeshtum tvamarhasi' ' Ityuktvantardadhe Sriman Narayanamunistada' ' Satvatam vidhimasthaya gitah Samkarshancna yah' Thus the origin of the Pancaratra agama is traced to the Supreme being Sri man Narayana Himself, who is said to have revealed the Sastra to Narada, S andilya and other Maharshis through Sanaka and other great ones residing in Sveta-dvipa (white island). In his Sribhashya Ramanuja treats the three terms, Bhagavata, Satvata and Pancaratra as being almost synonymous. 7 It is often contended that image worship and temple worship were of later origin and hoisted on the vedic people subsequently. The conflict between the vedic people and the image worshippers seems to have been a long one. Of late we have ample evidence to show that even in the second century B.C. the Bhagavata cult was a living religion, not only in the south of India but also in Upper India. Ample evidence arc dug out to prove that image worship was in vogue in India in the sixth century B.C. The testimony of the Besnagar (BHILSA) column and other inscriptions shows that even the Greeks were converted into the Bhagavata cult .. Pancaratras easily displace many of the elaborate vedic sacrifices and rituals by idol worship, that they promote universality and *a common approach and help in making God more easily accessible to the worshipper*. 8 The Vedic fury is unleashed against the Pancaratrins for the simple reason that they made no distinction between *women* and men, Pancama and Sudra or a Sudra and Brahmin, so far as religion was concerned. They the pancaratrins acclaimed that even the so called pancamas, sudras and *women were entitled to worship and were deserving of God's grace,* that sinners also could repent, appeal for God's mercy, and the sanguine followers of a simple honest and soul-respecting religion of the pancaratras. Buddhism had many similarities too. 9 यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्त: श्रद्धयार्चितुमिच्छति | तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धां तामेव विदधाम्यहम् || 21||chap 7 *yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati tasya tasyachalam shraddham tam eva vidadhamyaham* *BG 7.21*: Whatever celestial form a devotee seeks to worship with faith, I steady the faith of such a devotee in that form. यजन्ते सात्त्विका देवान्यक्षरक्षांसि *yajante sattvika devan yaksha-* *G 17.4**: Those in the mode of goodness worship the celestial gods; * 10 conclusion: Moksha is common to all irrespective of forms of specie ; whether male or female system is same; Vedas says so; Pancharatra of Sri Ramanujar, placed reliance on B G and and attributed that women can also get the mukthi; since their ego is basic and almost redundant and concentrating in poojas and temples that women get mukthi easier than began to prevail. 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