Is violence against women in India caused by the objectification of women as sense objects in Indian sacred texts?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So nowadays in India there is often violence against women and some people allege that this culture of violence against women comes from the Indian sacred literature, the Vedic literature because there women are objectified as a means to sexual gratification. Women are not treated as persons and because of this tradition of objectification, now there is exploitation of violence against women.
Firstly, we see Vedic culture had five sections of society and one of them is women. So protection of women is considered to be a very important thing and the Pandavas tolerated the atrocities of the Kauravas for a long time. Even if Bhima was poisoned, they tolerated it.
When the attempt was made to burn them alive, they tolerated it. When Draupadi was dishonored, they did tolerate it. So the point is that protection of women is very important.
So to say that women were objectified is to have a very selective or a distorted vision of scripture. First of all, if we look at other religions, if we look at till several centuries ago, just a few centuries ago, some Christians claim that even the women do not have a soul also. Only men have souls.
Only men are going to be liberated. So if we see that there is a particular ethos that is given in scripture and unless we understand that ethos, unless we understand the way, the worldview that is there, without that, if we just take selected parts from it, then that will not work. Prior to say 30 or 40 years ago, 20 years ago also, the masculine was considered inclusive.
For example, God proposes, man disposes. Sorry, man proposes, God disposes. Now here man is used to refer to humanity in general.
Now it does not say woman proposes, God disposes. Man includes man and woman disposes, does not it? But now in today’s culture, man is seen as just a sectarian reference to one gender. And wherever you say he or she, so sometimes even there are some feminists who say, not even he or she, why he first, she or he.
So this is, now this is a particular trend which is very recent. And in fact, there are some feminists which accuse English language itself of being gender biased. Because in English, there is no gender neutral plural, that is he or she, but there is no gender neutral singular.
If I want to refer to another person, how do I refer to them without referring to their gender? So people use they sometimes. So the point which I am making is, this whole obsession with gender dynamics, it is a very recent phenomenon. And when we use that as a filter to look at scripture, then we get a distorted vision of scripture.
So in scripture, it is clearly stated that the same soul that is present in the male body and a similar soul is present in the female body. So souls can go from female bodies to male bodies, from male bodies to female bodies. So in that sense, at a spiritual level, there is gravity.
At a material level, because like I said in the past, the man was inclusive. So not just Vedic scriptures, all literature in the past were written with a masculine reference point. So it is always going to be described from a male’s perspective.
Scripture was spoken by a male and the primary audience were the males. And that was just the way the reference was. The females were not included.
But the reference was primarily males. So Parikshit Maharaj is a male who is hearing that. So because he is a male who is hearing that, for a male, the temptation was a female.
And that is why at that particular time, when he is being spoken to, at that time, he is told that avoid attachment to wife. If the audience had been a female, then it was an avoid attachment to husband. In fact, the fourth canto, there is a section very clearly which says that, just as the third canto, just as the Muni and Devavati.
So just as the man is a temptation for man, man is a temptation for woman. And woman has to avoid the temptation. So there are metaphors also given for that.
So the scripture is given as a spiritual message. And with a spiritual perspective, both men and women are at the same level. They are both souls.
They are both going to go towards Krishna. And both are given an opportunity to go towards Krishna. At the same time, scripture is an eternal spiritual message.
It is spoken at a particular time. And things will be presented according to that time. Say for example, if we are going to speak right now.
So if you are going to write an article, I am going to write a book, somebody is going to give a class. If you are going to speak in English, we are going to speak in the English of the 21st century. We are not going to use the, thy, thou.
That is 19th century English. There is a timeless message. But the timeless message is delivered to a time, the timely medium.
The medium is determined by the context. So there is a particular social structure in society at the time scriptures are spoken. And accordingly the message will be given.
The core message is universal. It is transcendental. But the Vedic society was patriarchal.
And that is not just Vedic society. Most societies before the postmodern were patriarchal societies. So then actually the message will be given in that medium.
So we have to, that is why if we want to demonize anything, so one of the easiest way to demonize something is to cherry pick sections from it. This is like this. Cherry pick means just take one section, one word out of context and say this is like this.
This is so bad. This is so bad. This is so bad.
Look at the overall message. The overall message is universal spiritual. See whenever comparisons are made, comparisons have to be fair.
So unfair comparisons are simply tools for emotional manipulation. Unfair comparison means what? That say somebody compares say the saintliness of Jesus Christ and they compare that with a sadhaka like you or me. They say all these Vaishnavas, they are so attached.
See Jesus, he was so devoted. And Jesus is at the summit of saintliness. So if you want to compare, you compare Jesus with somebody like Haridas Thakur.
So if we compare the best in a particular tradition, in a particular category with something average or something worst in a particular category, another category, it is an unfair comparison. So if we take sections or passages from scripture, where there is seemingly women are treated as temptations or women are treated as, as you said, the tools for getting people to do some things. Well, and you say, no, we don’t do like that.
Well now, if you want to at all compare, have a fair comparison. Today, what is happening in advertising? Are women being objectified? In pornography, what is happening? Are women being objectified? So if you want to compare, compare the best of one category with the best of another category. Not the best of one category with the worst of another category.
So when that is done, and that is what is done in mainstream media. The best of Western culture is compared with the worst of Indian culture. So yes, in India, there is reprehensible violence against women that is happening.
And it is terrible. It is not in the West, there is no violence in this world. In the West also, there is terrible violence.
In fact, there are, in the West, there is a huge amount of human trafficking and it is mainly women’s trafficking. There are waves of women who are purchased or kidnapped and then sold to prostitution in the West. Terrible exploitation is there.
So, people are people everywhere. They will be good, they will be bad. So, their unfair comparisons are simply emotion manipulation.
So, it is not that women are objectified within the culture, because the scripture is speaking from the point of view of male audience primarily. So, for male audience, women are temptation, that is why women are often that way. But the spiritual message is to be presumed forever.
And we have to point out unfairness in the comparisons. Now, of course, you know, in ISKCON also we do unfair comparisons. We also have to be careful.
We take the best of Vedic culture and compare it with the worst of Western culture. We say the West is so bad. No, people everywhere, there is Sattva Guna, Rajoguna, Tamoguna.
And some places Tamoguna may be more, some places Rajoguna may be more, some places Sattva Guna may be more. But we have to compare the best of N category, best of another category. You know, the worst of one category is the worst of another category.
So, the culture of violence against women that is there in India, it is for, there are many reasons for this. The main reason as compared to West, yes, in the West if you go, in general, you know, say women can go out at night, women, there is relatively much more safety is there than men. It is not complete safety, there is a lot of danger also.
But the amount of grouping and exploitation and unwanted male attention, unwanted advances that happen in India, they do not happen in the West. The reason for that is that in the West, the culture is openly licentious. That means, people have no sexual morality, practically speaking.
You know, it is, I was, in general, you know, when we preach to students, you know, we ask them, what does your father do, what does your mother do? You know, we ask them. So, in the West it is considered impolite to ask anyone about their father or mother. Because most people may have two fathers and three mothers.
You know, it often triggers unpleasant memories for them. So, there is a lot of, there is no, so what happens is, sensual gratification is very easily available for women. And that is why, because it is so easily available, they do not need to do any violence against anyone to get it.
It is just easily available. In India, Indian culture is conservative, but Indian media is provocative. So, the culture does not have so much opportunity for unregulated sensual gratification.
But the media is so provocative. So, what happens is, there is so much frustration. People want to enjoy, but there is no facility to enjoy.
And then that repressed desire, it comes out as violent attacks. So, there is, what is the solution? The solution is, in one way, the mainstream society is also becoming more and more licentious. So, you see that there is this kind of violence against women, it does not happen in the upper classes of people so much.
Because there, there is not much sexual morality. So, people just do whatever they want to do. But what has happened is, the poorer people who are there, the lower class, they see all these media, they get agitated, but they have no facility.
And then they come in terrible violence. So, actually, what we need is, we cannot change the direction society is going. Society is what it is.
But we need a revolution of consciousness. We get a spiritual understanding. So, the violence against women in India is not because of Indian culture.
If you see Indian culture, it was, it was very protective. The violence against women that is there in India, that is primarily because of this frustration caused by a conservative society and provocative media. So, the solution is, ultimately, it is purification.
Purification comes from spiritual knowledge. But purification will take time and not everyone will get what is required. So, then protection is required.
So, there has to be definitely better, better legal measures for protection. And there is an increasing awareness of, of the ghastliness of crimes against women. And there are more measures being made for protection.
So, the, the lived reality in India is, is a difficult reality. So, what has happened is, in many ways, modern India has got the worst of the West and the worst of India. It is not the best of, the worst of the West is what? If you go to America, there is a kind of explicit billboard that are there in India.
You do not see it in America. They are not there at all, but to be speaking. But in India, so the sensuality, the advertisements are so in your face, so explicit.
So, that explicitness from the West has come to India. But from India, from the Indian tradition, there is the philosophical wisdom that is there and the spiritual hierarchies that are there, that is not there. Only the cultural conservatism is there.
No, you should not do this, you should not do that, you should not do that. The rules are there. Why this is so restrictive? Why should I not do it? People rebel against it.
That is why, till it is so important to provide proper spiritual education. In the Krishna consciousness movement, Prabhupada strived to offer us the best of the West and the best of India. The best of West means we have technology, we use contemporary facilities, but the best of any culture is the message of pure life, which can be many results to higher consciousness.
And there are people who are into this movement all over the world and even in India. So, purification through education and protection through legislation, both have to go in parallel. In Vedic culture, there was Shastra and there was Shastra.
Shastra is weapons that are used by the Kshatriyas to punish the wrongdoers. And Shastra is used by the Brahmins, the scriptural knowledge, to educate people. So, in the Krishna consciousness movement, Prabhupada focused on Shastra, teaching scriptural knowledge by which people will learn to act righteously, to make wise choices.
That means, they will not become so sensually licentious, they will become more liberal. But there will be people who will not be doing that. And then for that, we need better legislation, we need better protection.
So, that is unfortunately lacking. So, the legal situation in India is so bad. There is a joke in India, if you order a pizza, you will get a pizza faster than if you call an ambulance.
So, it is a bad situation. It is changing gradually. But this poor management leads to poor efficiency of the police.
And that leads to violence. There are always going to be people who are going to be exploited, who are going to be violated. Then there has to be the legal means to convict them.
But the legal means is not there. So, the conservative culture, the provocative media and a pathetic police, that is a deadly combination. So, we have to look at the current situation and see the cause in the current situation.
And to ascribe that to India’s past depiction of women, that is to have, that is to selectively read those texts simply for emotionally manipulating people against their culture. Thank you very much.