How do we understand the statement that women are less intelligent?
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Now, first of all, this statement about women being less intelligent or not trustworthy, this is not in Bhagavad Gita directly. It is in the Bhagavad Gita purport. Although the purports are illuminating the Bhagavad Gita, there is a difference and we need to recognize that difference.
So now, this can be, if taken out of context, used to show that, you know, there is Bhagavad Gita and this whole Hindu culture, it's all anti-women, it is, you know, repressing women, it is all anti-women. But then, we have to have the complete picture. In that same culture, from which we are extrapolating this one statement, women are less intelligent, you know, the deity of intelligence is a woman.
The deity of intelligence is Saraswati Devi. It is not a man, it's a woman. So, we can't take one statement out of the context and use that for judging the whole culture.
So now, if you look at less intelligence, what does it mean? Firstly, there can be material intelligence, there can be spiritual intelligence. Spiritually, it is very clear that all souls are same. Every soul is a part of Krishna.
So, the soul at a spiritual level is neither male nor female. So, that less intelligence doesn't refer to spiritual intelligence. Now, does it refer to material intelligence? Now, if you see that psychologists classify material intelligence in different categories.
There can be linguistic intelligence, there can be mathematical intelligence, there can be spatial visual intelligence, there are different kinds of intelligences. But broadly speaking, we'll see that actually, it's not a universal observation in any way that women are less intelligent than men. Many times, women, if they are given the opportunity, they may outperform men, academically, career-wise or whatever.
So, if it does not refer to spiritual intelligence, if it does not refer to material intelligence, then what does it refer to? So, essentially, if you see the overall worldview, which Prabhupada gave, his focus was the sign of intelligence is understanding on spiritual identity. Less intelligence means misidentifying with the body. So, in general, everybody in the material world misidentifies with the body.
But, usually, for a female, the identification with the body is much more, unless one becomes very spiritually advanced. Because quite often, for a woman, the sense of self-identity, sense of self-worth, it comes largely from one's appearance, one's looks. I'm not in any way saying that this is the way society should be judging, but it's just the way it is.
So, because of that, the probability of identifying with the body will be much greater in a female body than in a male body. But, that does not mean… So, essentially, what this refers to is not spiritual intelligence, not material intelligence, but the misidentification of spirit with matter. And this is not meant to, in any way or form, denigrate women.
Because, an Acharya, Shila Prabhupada, specifically, if you see, there are many, many disciples of Shila Prabhupada, many disciples, and they, I've talked with many of them also, and they said, we never felt in any way that Prabhupada treated us like less intelligent. Prabhupada encouraged us, and Prabhupada inspired us. So, Prabhupada never discriminated against us in any way, never treated us as less intelligent.
So, then, what does this mean? So, first of all, if you see this less intelligent statement, as I said, it's not directly from the Bhagavad Gita, it's in a purport, and what Shila Prabhupada is stating, if you look at a broad… generally, Prabhupada used the intelligence very rarely, if at all, ever in the sense of academic performance. Like Prabhupada always, even if he talks about academic scholars, what he says is that scholarship is not a means for understanding spiritual substance. So, he's not referring to material intelligence at all.
And he's very clear, spiritually, there is no difference between the soul in a male body or a female body. So, this is simply referring to bodily identification. And the person practices bhakti, the person rises beyond bodily identification.
So, it's important, very important, that an Acharya's teachings be understood in the context of his life. So, that the principles of Dharma are very difficult to understand. And they are hidden in the hearts of the great devotees.
And their hearts are expressed through their actions. So, Shila Prabhupada taught us practically, by his own example, how we should conduct with each other. So, unfortunately, when Shila Prabhupada's personal example is divorced from his teachings, and then, whatever he's written in his books, if that is emphasized, then that leads to a lot of misunderstanding.
Not only misunderstanding, but also it misrepresents Shila Prabhupada. Because Shila Prabhupada, such a statement can be used to say that Prabhupada was anti-woman. But if you look at Prabhupada's own life, he did what very few people in his times did.
You know, Prabhupada gave second initiation to women. Prabhupada appointed women in leadership positions. Prabhupada had women giving classes, women leading kirtans.
Now, what Prabhupada did in terms of empowering all his disciples, male and female, for preaching. There was, in 1967, Rafale Shila Prabhupada had a severe stroke, and he went to India to get treatment. And after that, when he came back, the devotees welcomed him.
And then, in the flat where they were there, so, there was a globe. And Prabhupada, all the devotees were welcoming, all his trusted disciples were there. Prabhupada said, so, see, the earth is so big.
All of you take one one country and you deliver that country. So, Yadurani Mataji, she asked Prabhupada, Prabhupada, what about us girls? Prabhupada said, we are not girls or boys. We are all devotees.
You also take one country. You also take one country and go and deliver. So, Shila Prabhupada, if we want to understand him, if we just take statements out of the context, then we will misunderstand him and we will deprive ourselves of the practice, of the opportunity to practice Bhakti.
So, if, now, I cannot take into account all the sociological implications of this. Now, if we think, if say, if we are males and we think that women are less intelligent, and we have a right to look down upon them, then the biggest problem is that we are less intelligent. Because we are seeing them more as women and not as devotees.
So, we should treat everyone as devotees first. And we should respect everyone. So, if we are women and if we find that certain men are disrespecting us, or certain men are looking at us as less intelligent, then we should know that this is a situation where I have to choose my association.
Just don't associate with those people, those devotees, and find other devotees who will inspire us to move onwards in our Bhakti. And if, while reading Shila Prabhupada's books, such statements come out and jar us, then it is best if we can interact with some senior Matajis. Many of Shila Prabhupada's disciples are still there in the movement.
We can interact with them. And, you know, they have been reading Prabhupada's books for maybe 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And they have probably come across the statements many more times than we have.
And still they are remaining faithful to Prabhupada. So, what is it? Is it that nobody likes to be a masochist, you know, liking to be beaten oneself. Yes, I am less intelligent, I am less intelligent.
Nobody likes to hear such a thing. But the fact that so many devotees are still continuing on practicing Bhakti, that means the Prabhupada that they are loving, the Prabhupada that they are dedicating themselves to, the Prabhupada that is inspiring them, is not the Prabhupada for whom this is like a very important teaching. So, we can interact with such Matajis and try to get clarification for this.
But the important principle is that we should not let anything come in the way of our Bhakti. Such statements, which if we find anywhere in Prabhupada's books, we should see, actually, all of us, based on our conditionings, or based, not just on our conditionings, based on our background, all of us may find different statements at different levels of objection. Somebody who is, say, a scientist.
Now, Prabhupada is sometimes very heavily criticizing scientists. So, then, that person may always find it jarring. So, what do you do at that time? Now, again, we have to look at Prabhupada's statements.
Prabhupada's statements about how to deal with scientists. So, when devotees organize a scientific conference, Prabhupada said, you should be polite, you should be courteous. So, there is a way Prabhupada dealt with people, and that is often not reflected in the writings.
So, that's why, if we… So, what do devotees like these do? The devotee is a scientist. And the devotee comes across constant criticism of science. Now, one has to go beyond and look at what is the principle.
The principle is, Prabhupada is criticizing the atheism that is propagated through the prestige associated with science. And we take that principle and leave aside the details and move onwards in our bhakti. So, for us, as devotees, it is very important, this fundamental principle, anukulyasya sankalva pratikulyasya bhajanam.
Accept that which is favorable, reject that which is unfavorable. So, even in the books that we read, even in the scripture, if there are certain things which we can't digest, put them aside. And there are many other things which will inspire us, which will benefit us, which will uplift us, and we practice that and move onwards in our bhakti.
I hope that answers the question.