मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्यु: पापयोनय: |
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम् || 32||
māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśhritya ye ’pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
striyo vaiśhyās tathā śhūdrās te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim
mām—in Me; hi—certainly; pārtha—Arjun, the son of Pritha; vyapāśhritya—take refuge; ye—who; api—even; syuḥ—may be; pāpa yonayaḥ—of low birth; striyaḥ—women; vaiśhyāḥ—mercantile people; tathā—and; śhūdrāḥ—manual workers; te api—even they; yānti—go; parām—the supreme; gatim—destination
Translation:
For those who take refuge in Me, Ο Pārtha, though they be of sinful birth— women, vaiśyas, and śudras— even they attain the Supreme Goal.
Commentary:
It is declared that even those of sinful birth attain the Lord by taking refuge in Him. Even they transcend samsara by faith and devotion to the Lord.
Moreover women and people belonging to all castes attain the Supreme goal by taking refuge in the Lord.
Verily no one is debarred from the highest realisation, provided he has decided aright and knows the Lord to be the One Reality. How hopeful and inspiring! No one need feel disheartened on account of the low birth, if he has developed true devotion to the Lord. Caste and creed are of no concern at all for anyone to attain Brahmajnana. This open secret is free for all. Women also are qualified for Brahma Vidya. The universality of the Gita is thus proclaimed to the whole world. The all-inclusive and all-embracing character of the Gita distinguishes it from other sectarian scriptures which deny the right of liberation to certain section of people on account of race, or creed or religion. Merit is the only consideration. All other artificial barriers between man and man are shattered once and for all by the teaching of the Gita.
Purity of mind is the real test of jnana. When the mirror is pure, one can see the reflection clearly. The mirror makes no distinction between the rich and poor, or high and low. Such is Brahmajnana, the birth-right of every being in the universe.
Among women Sabari and the milk-maids of Brindavan, and a host of women-saints have attained the Supreme. Among Vysyas Samadhi and others may be mentioned. The story of Samadhi is found in Markandeya Purana.
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Swami Vivekananda Says —
“Women, or vaishyas, or even shudras, all reach the highest goal.” Breaking the bondages of all, the chains of all, declaring liberty to all to reach the highest goal, come the words of the Gita, rolls like thunder the mighty voice of Krishna.[Source]
But one defect which lay in the Advaita was its being worked out so long on the spiritual plane only, and nowhere else; now the time has come when you have to make it practical. It shall no more be a rahasya, a secret, it shall no more live with monks in cave and forests, and in the Himalayas; it must come down to the daily, everyday life of the people; it shall be worked out in the palace of the king, in the cave of the recluse; it shall be worked out in the cottage of the poor, by the beggar in the street, everywhere; anywhere it can be worked out. Therefore do not fear whether you are a woman or a shudra, for this religion is so great, says Lord Krishna, that even a little of it brings a great amount of good.[Source]
Do not say we are weak; we can do anything and everything. What can we not do? Everything can be done by us; we all have the same glorious soul, let us believe in it. Have faith, as Nachiketâ. At the time of his father’s sacrifice, faith came unto Nachiketa; ay, I wish that faith would come to each of you; and every one of you would stand up a giant, a world-mover with a gigantic intellect — an infinite God in every respect. That is what I want you to become. This is the strength that you get from the Upanishads, this is the faith that you get from there.
Ay, but it was only for the Sannyâsin! Rahasya (esoteric)! The Upanishads were in the hands of the Sannyasin; he went into the forest! Shankara was a little kind and said even Grihasthas (householders) may study the Upanishads, it will do them good; it will not hurt them. But still the idea is that the Upanishads talked only of the forest life of the recluse. As I told you the other day, the only commentary, the authoritative commentary on the Vedas, has been made once and for all by Him who inspired the Vedas — by Krishna in the Gita. It is there for every one in every occupation of life. These conceptions of the Vedanta must come out, must remain not only in the forest, not only in the cave, but they must come out to work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit, and in the cottage of the poor man, with the fishermen that are catching fish, and with the students that are studying. They call to every man, woman, and child whatever be their occupation, wherever they may be. And what is there to fear! How can the fishermen and all these carry out the ideals of the Upanishads? The way has been shown. It is infinite; religion is infinite, none can go beyond it; and whatever you do sincerely is good for you. Even the least thing well done brings marvellous results; therefore let every one do what little he can. If the fisherman thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better fisherman; if the student thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better student. If the lawyer thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better lawyer, and so on, and the result will be that the castes will remain for ever. It is in the nature of society to form itself into groups; and what will go will be these privileges. Caste is a natural order; I can perform one duty in social life, and you another; you can govern a country, and I can mend a pair of old shoes, but that is no reason why you are greater than I, for can you mend my shoes? Can I govern the country? I am clever in mending shoes, you are clever in reading Vedas, but that is no reason why you should trample on my head. Why if one commits murder should he be praised, and if another steals an apple why should he be hanged? This will have to go. Caste is good. That is the only natural way of solving life. Men must form themselves into groups, and you cannot get rid of that. Wherever you go, there will be caste. But that does not mean that there should be these privileges. They should be knocked on the head. If you teach Vedanta to the fisherman, he will say, I am as good a man as you; I am a fisherman, you are a philosopher, but I have the same God in me as you have in you. And that is what we want, no privilege for any one, equal chances for all; let every one be taught that the divine is within, and every one will work out his own salvation.[Source]
I have received Kidi’s letters. With the question whether caste shall go or come I have nothing to do. My idea is to bring to the door of the meanest, the poorest, the noble ideas that the human race has developed both in and out of India, and let them think for themselves.[Source]
Liberty is the first condition of growth. It is wrong, a thousand times wrong, if any of you dares to say, “I will work out the salvation of this woman or child.” I am asked again and again, what I think of the widow problem and what I think of the woman question. Let me answer once for all — am I a widow that you ask me that nonsense? Am I a woman that you ask me that question again and again? Who are you to solve women’s problems? Are you the Lord God that you should rule over every widow and every woman? Hands off! They will solve their own problems.[Source]
Have faith in man first, and then having faith in him, believe that if there are defects in him, if he makes mistakes, if he embraces the crudest and the vilest doctrines, believe that it is not from his real nature that they come, but from the want of higher ideals. If a man goes towards what is false, it is because he cannot get what is true. Therefore the only method of correcting what is false is by supplying him with what is true. Do this, and let him compare. You give him the truth, and there your work is done. Let him compare it in his own mind with what he has already in him; and, mark my words, if you have really given him the truth, the false must vanish, light must dispel darkness, and truth will bring the good out. This is the way if you want to reform the country spiritually; this is the way, and not fighting, not even telling people that what they are doing is bad.[Source]
SRI KANAKKAMAL
In Sri Ramanasramam, many women devotees worked in the ashram kitchen. Most of them were widowed at a very young age. They attained high spiritual states by the grace of Sri Ramana Maharshi, and some of them were realised souls. Kanakammal, whose life many of us have seen, was one of them. Though married, she refused to live a family life and came to Maharshi when she was only seventeen. She settled in Tiruvannamalai and basked in the presence of Maharshi. She studied Maharshi’s teachings deeply and later even wrote commentaries on them. She led a peaceful, quiet and spiritually absorbed life in the 50-odd years she spent at Tiruvannamalai. She dropped her body in a remarkable way. On Maharshi’s jayanthi day, while celebrations and Veda-parāyaṇa were going on at the ashram, she circumambulated the samādhi of the Sage and dropped her body there. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 2)
YOGINI AMMA
There lived a great saint in Palakkad, Kerala, whom I (Sri Ramanacharanatirtha Nochur Venkataraman) knew well. She was a disciple of Swami Ramananda, in whose name an ashram can be found even today. Swami Ramananda was an illumined soul. Even though blind, he used to teach Vedanta with authority right from his fourteenth year. Many disciples were initiated by him and became highly evolved souls themselves. They were all thorough Vedantins. The last disciple was a young woman. She had come to her guru at the age of twenty and remained with him as a renunciate, as she was opposed to marriage and worldly life. Later on, she evolved as a real yogini and came to be known as Yogini Amma. It was a marvel to see her living in a small hut outside the ashram, which did not even have electricity. She cooked for herself. As a mukta, a free soul, she lived in great joy always. She often remarked that all that is here is only ānanda-kkayam—a Lake of Bliss!
One of our devotees, who visited this Sādhvi, recounted an amazing incident. During his visit, amid their conversation, he noticed that she was looking over her shoulder and saying to someone, “Do not be here. Go away. He belongs to us.” When he looked behind, he was horrified to see a hooded cobra! As if following the instructions, the cobra went away meekly. It was in such a place that the saint lived in great joy as a mukta, a free soul. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 2)
Question: What is the state of Paramatma?
Answer: It is the Supreme state. There is nothing higher than that.
Question: Who can attain it?
Answer: Those who take refuge in the Lord attain it.
Question: Is anyone prohibited from this knowledge?
Answer: No. Caste, creed, sex, low-birth these do not stand in the way of a person realising the Supreme.