[Advaita-l] Thanks for the replies on should women read the Vedas?

[Anbu sivam2]

Vidyasankarji hit right on!  One important concern is that our disorganized
religion is permitting the followers to abandon the faith and the alien
religionists to convert the Hindus without resistance.  Our secular law is
on thier side.

The religion is scattered with affiliations to many 'Gurus'.  Swamy
Dhayananda Saraswathi who tried to unify them under the an umbrella called
Aachaarya Sabhaa lamented that each Guru wanted his own 'Simmasanam' to sit
on!  That was more important than the degeneration of the religion that they
are to cleanse!!

I am hoping at least the five Sankaracharyas can unite and show the way.

On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> > However, I have seen and heard of some women purohits in India and
> > abroad and have seen women well versed in vedanta and scriptures. I am
> > sure in the centuries to come, women will enter this field with
> > enthusiasm. Note: In many families, women perform the home pooja to the
> > deities installed in the family home. So with the appropriate training
> > and nurturing of abilities some should be able to do this work
> > professionally.
>
>
> One can never predict what the future will bring, but it seems to me there
>
> is a lot of misunderstanding and misplaced ideals going on.
>
>
>
> There is no prohibition on any human being performing domestic pooja,
> except
>
> for observing rules of pollution properly. There is also no restrictions on
> women
>
> being well versed in vedAnta. The reservations are all about women
> officiating
>
> as purohitas for vedic rituals.
>
>
>
> The life of an officiating purohita is not easy. He has to always be on
> call, to
>
> use contemporary jargon, to perform various rituals. Births and deaths do
> not
>
> happen according to anybody's schedule. It would be so much more difficult
>
> for a mother of dependent children to be ready to perform a funeral on
> short
>
> notice, as compared to a father of the same children. Getting trained for
> and
>
> being a purohita is not like getting a secular education and being a lawyer
> or
>
> a doctor or a scientist or a real estate or insurance agent.
>
>
>
> On the flip side, while there is all this debate about women learning the
> vedas,
>
> the vast majority of men are abdicating their duties in this regard. Why
> isn't
>
> there more debate about why there aren't more boys being trained to be
>
> purohitas? Compared to other religions, the percentage of the Hindu
> population
>
> that is getting qualified for the sacred profession is ridiculously low.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Vidyasankar
>
>
>
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