Excerpts from the Speech of The Honorable Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi
On the rights issues when it comes to women there is a synergy there is cohesion and there is a common factor and that is we all want improvement. As the lady from Azerbaijan has rightly pointed out that things which connects us all. Things which connects us is the family values system and world across wherever there are women, what matters most is the children; what matters the most is the family set up and what has harmed the most is the destruction of the family structure and it is here that I dont agree with my friend Ritaji that women were not given the right to perform the religious rituals in our country ...I disagree with her but she said correctly that it was 50 years ago. Because the correct history is that women even wore the sacred thread and there have been women leaders; leaders of excellence in the Vedic period. I am going to cite a few names
Viswara a rishi or sage like Guruji involved in social service, keeping the society together, and connecting them to spirituality without dislodging the family structure. Apaala ; certain Vedic Hymns were assigned to her ,she was a scholar she could read write and compose hymns in Sanskrit. There were Brahm Vaadinis, were those who served the purpose of greater life, achievements in terms of knowledge, in terms of spirituality, in terms of reading and writing.
What is this religion and culture full of? At a point Ritaji said you should treat women as equal and as Gurudev has also said; a man of his nature is performing shakti yagya he is also invoking the shakti that is the feminine, and when we discuss part in our and I know she is a teacher and she is a learned Sanskrit scholar herself nobody to quote just to take a few words the way she would have spoken is that all the words in vocabulary which invoke par are feminine in Sanskrit. All par relating to strength are women I mean they are feminine in gender they are all feminine and it is here that, because shakti is a feminine gender shakti is a par, strength so that is a feminine gender, That is how my culture is supposed to treat women. The idea that women needs to fight to become equal not be respected for what she is, my culture gives me the strength to stand up not as equal but in my own right separate and may be respected for who I am.
The elder in the house controls everything because she is the grandmother. The woman the mother in the house controls everything because she is the one who holds the keys. Now when distortions come in to this set up there is conflict. The distortions have come in because we have also adapted the breakdown of the families.
The empowerment issue exists because we treat people differently and because we treat people differently our approach is a rights based approach. “This is my right” and the moment it becomes my right it is a conflict and nobody is talking about duties, its Rights versus Rights. So Rights versus Rights or Rights versus Duties becomes Versus which is a conflict situation.
In a Harmonious society you try to resolve the conflict and in how you resolve the conflict I think we have a concept called Dharma ( righteousness). And Dharma is what you follow, what you preach and that is a social mode which is internalized. It is not that somebody has to tell you to do it is what you feel. Nobody has to tell that you must look after your parents. Nobody has to make that as part of Law though it has become a part of our Law also because we seen the cases of abuse It is here in my country, where people do look after their children. It is here that you have less and less dysfunctional families though the number is growing. But the Harmony as we discussed in the morning, Harmony is resolving the conflict, Harmony is adjusting with each other. Harmony is not nationalizing the families.
Nobody is supreme. What is supreme is the moral conduct, what is supreme is the ethics, what is supreme is the value system and it is this core value system which a person like me would want to attach himself or herself to and say this is what the religious and sociopolitical context I come from. And I would want to establish this as the prime philosophy of any political establishment because it is not animal rights, human rights, women rights. It is not the Rights based approach the approach has to be a cohesive society. A cohesive society which knows how to deal with each one and give space to everyone without creating conflict. It is this conflict, it is this opposition which needs to be resolved.
So I think we have found our ways around things to resolve conflict. We treat people with respect and with dignity, and I think our Women’s Conference when we are dealing with the rights of women, we are in the a company of some very eminent people and leaders and with the blessings of Guruji, I think the best way to deal with conflicts is Dharmo Rakshati Dharma. So Dharma is the protector and it is our duty to protect the dharma, it is what should be the motto and that is the only way we can all resolve the conflict and make a harmonious society. Thank you, friends.
