Isn’t it better to refer to women as behenji instead of mataji especially when they are of the same age as the men?

Transcript

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Hare Krishna.
Question. Isn’t it better to refer to women as Behenji instead of Mataji, especially when the women are of the same age as the man and Mataji seems unrealistic at that time? Answer. The reference to women as Mataji is not based on age considerations.
It is based on a philosophical consideration in general, how many women identify themselves as the sister of someone. Maybe if the sister, if the brother is some famous film star or sports star or something like that, then the women may identify sometimes as a sister of someone. In general, women have two defining identities.
One is the maternal identity and the other is the sexual identity. So spiritual culture is based on the philosophy that sexuality is to be obtained through marriage and beyond that excessive involvement in sexuality takes us away from our spiritual identity and realization of spiritual happiness. So in general for everyone, the sexual identity is downplayed.
It is never aggravated. And the reference to women as Mataji is based on the emphasis on their maternal identity. So among these two sides, sexual and maternal, the maternal side is what is referred to by the address Mataji.
So when women are referred to as Mataji, it has not much to do with the age considerations and it has to do with understanding of the philosophy. As I said that from a woman’s point of view, when she gets a child and she has a child, the maternal identity is where it becomes very deeply ingrained and it is a need of a woman also to have children. So it is not a defining need of a woman to be the brother of someone, to be the sister of someone or to have a brother.
That is an actual biological relationship that might be there but just because of age considerations, we refer to women as Behenji, that does not do justice to their natural disposition and it is not based on a sound philosophical awareness. So the Vedic culture and the Vedic address is based on an awareness of female psychology and the recognition that the right kind of identity has to be promoted. So that is the identity, the maternal side of the woman and the maternal self-identification of women is promoted by a social culture that addresses them as Mataji.
That doesn’t happen when because of age or other considerations, the address Behenji is used. Thank you. Hare Krishna.