Mrs Iyer: Are there certain verses in the Manusmriti and Veda that defame women and show them on a bad light :such as: Manusmriti 9:2-4, Rig Veda 8:33:17, Purans and Mahabharat/Matsya Purana 70:40-60. Please explains because I also have seen Manu glorifying women. It is confusing why this duality?

Mrs Iyer: Are there certain verses in the Manusmriti and Veda that defame women and show them on a bad light :such as: Manusmriti 9:2-4, Rig Veda 8:33:17, Purans and Mahabharat/Matsya Purana 70:40-60. Please explains because I also have seen Manu glorifying women. It is confusing why this duality?
Swami Ram Swarup: (1) No, my daughter. In Manu Smriti, the women have been given great respect. As regards Vedas, Rigveda states that mother is equivalent to God. So, Vedas have also given great respect to women. However, several false shlokas have been added in Manu Smriti and such shlokas defame the culture as well as Manu Smriti.

Study of pure Manu Smriti (authentic) reveals that the shloka 9/2, 3 are false i.e., have been added by arrogant. As regards shloka 4, it is true shloka which states that (Imam He Sarva Varnnanaam…………….. Durbala Api).

Meaning- Keeping in view, the best dharma (the best duties of all varnnas- sections of society) a poor husband would also make an effort to protect his wife.

(2) Rigveda mantra 8/33/17:
The correct meaning of Rigveda mantra 8/33/17 is as follows. I also paste my article on women.
VED MANTRAS NEVER AIM AT DEGRADATION OF WOMEN
The idea of Rigveda mantra 8/33/17 does not indicate that the mind of a lady is unintelligent, brooks no discipline etc. But the idea of the said mantra is that if a learned husband realises that the thoughts of his wife are not compatible with him then as per next mantra the responsibility of the learned husband is more than the lady to cooperate with his wife. Actually, in mantra 8/33/17 it is pointed out that if the wife in any case is not capable to meet with the requirements of her learned husband then next mantra quoted above states that to maintain compatibility, the responsibility lies on the husband. In no case, the wife has been declared unintelligent in Vedas. On the contrary, in next Rigveda mantra 8/33/19 it is stated-
“ISTREE HI BRAHMA BABHOOVITH”
i.e., the woman, in the house of her husband, is placed at the status of Brahma. Here, it shall not be out of place to mention that in Atharvaveda God states that he who steals away a small portion of any ved mantra, he is punished. I mean to say, now it is time to channalize India’s concentration towards study of four Vedas completely and not in pieces. At one stage, Vedas state that Vedas are afraid of the man/woman who do not study the Vedas completely. As a result, they misinterpret Vedas. Our country was called as “VISHWAGURU” i.e., spiritual master of entire world, based on Vedas’ knowledge only.

If we want to spread peace and international brotherhood, then sure we will have to revert back to study of Vedas. Vedas is eternal knowledge that emanates direct from God and not from any Rishi-Muni, man-woman, saint etc. Then only shall we be able to respect the ladies, maintain justice, destroys sins, corruptions, atrocities and blind faith.

In Yajurveda mantra 23/19 there is no mention about women. So degradation of women doesnot arise. The devta of this mantra is Ganpati i.e., Almighty God. So description in the mantra relates to God and not women. The misunderstanding can arise due to wording i.e., “PRIYANNAM PRIYAPATIM TVA HAWAMAHEY” where the meaning of pati is lord/master of universe. So, meaning will be Oh God! (PRIYANNAM) amongst the loved ones you are ‘PRIYAPATIM’ the supreme, loving lord/master. So, we (HAWAMAHEY) accept (TVA) you. (TVAM) you (AJASI) HOLD (GARBHADHAM) the Prakriti in the shape of womb, from where the universe is generated (non-alive matter is generated).

So, I may (AJANI) know (GARBHADHAM) the said Prakriti. Hence, idea of the mantra is that we must worship the Almighty God who creates, nurses and gives glory, who is lord of Prakriti and who holds all the seeds (i.e., matter from which universe is originated).

Similarly, idea of Yajurveda mantra 23/20 is that when relation between king and praja (public) is established as father and son, then only peace is maintained and Arth (finance), Dharma (righteousness), Kaam (fulfillment of pious desires) and Moksha(final liberation) is attained. So, the king, who is justiciable, must make effort to increase pleasure/happiness and enhance strength/power of public. Also, public should make efforts to increase the same in respect of king. Now, the idea of Yajurveda mantra 23/21 is that the king should do justice to men and women and the bad charactered or cruel man/woman must be punished badly (should be hung upside down) to obliterate the worm of sensuality along with root. You may be knowing that eternal knowledge of Vedas emanates direct from Almighty, formless God who creates, nurses and destroys the universe. The said knowledge is originated in the heart of four Rishis of non-sexual creation, as stated in Rigveda 10/181/1, 2. The said knowledge at that time emanates direct from God in non-sexual creation and not sexual creation. Therefore, we may say that God Himself has given His unlimited divine names in the Vedas.

There also exist other names of God in pious holy granths like Quran sharief, containing the qualities of formless God. So, I think there is no difference in Allah, Om etc.
However, the meaning of Rigveda mantra 2/1/11 is under:-

“TVAMAGNEY ADITIRDEV DASHUSHEY TVAM HOTRA BHARATI VARDHASEY GIRA,
TVAMIDA SHATHIMASI DAKSHASEY TVAM VRITRAHA VASUPATEY SARASWATI.”

Oh (DEV) enlightened (AGNEY) learned dignitary! (TVAM) You are (ADITIHI) Aditi- A light of wisdom like the celestial bodies emitting light (DASHUSHEY) for the disciples who donate. (TVAM)You are (BHARATI) becoming like an enlightened learned female teacher (HOTRA) you deserve to be accepted. Thus, you (VARDHASEY) get progress (GIRA) from the beautiful education and voice of Vedas. (TVAM) You (ASI) are (IDA) like a learned female teacher who is praiseworthy. Oh! (VASUPATEY) lord of wealth (TVAM) you are (VRITRAHA) like a sun who kills the clouds to cause rain. And (SARASWATI) like a supreme, divine voice of Vedas.

Idea- The learned acharya who is philosopher of Vedas and has done hard practice of Ashtang Yoga and thus has controlled his five senses, perceptions and mind, teaches his disciples like a mother who nurses her baby well. Thus, the disciple becomes learned one day.

RIGVEDA MANTRA 3/30/10-

“ALATRINNO BAL INDRA BRAJO GOHO PURA HANTORBHAYAMANO VYAR,
SUGANPATHO AKRINNONNIRAJEY GAHA PRAVANVANNEEHEE PURUHOOTAM DHAMANTEEHEE.”

In this Rigveda mantra there are words “ALATRINNO AND INDRA” the meaning of which is Oh! (INDRA) giver of supreme glory or Almighty (ALATRINNAHA) the final destroyer of universe. Definitely, these are the names of God containing the said divine qualities.

RIGVEDA MANTRA 9/67/30-

“ALAYAYASYA PARSHURNANASH TAMA PAVASVA DEV SOM,
AKHUN CHIDEV DEV SOM.”

In Rigveda mantra 9/67/30 there is a word “ALAYAYASYA” the meaning of which is of the omnipresent enemy. In the mantra, there is a prayer that Oh! (SOM) God (DEV) full of unlimited divine qualities (PARASHUHU) there is a weapon of (ALAYAYASYA) omnipresent enemy (TAM) may the weapon (AKHUNCHITTA) which is complete annihilator (NANASH) be destroyed. (DEV) Oh! God (PAVASVA) purify me.

Hence, the above explained Ved mantras neither contain any proper noun nor project any degradation of women in society

(3) Purannas are not accepted as an authentic book according to eternal knowledge of Vedas, please. Those who accept purannas, may go ahead at their own.

(4) As already quoted above, the purannas are not considered true and the reference of Mahabharat quoted by you is also not true, please. There are only ten thousand authentic shlokas of Mahabharat whereas nowadays Mahabharat contains more than one lakh, twenty thousand shlokas i.e., one lakh, ten thousand shlokas have been added falsely by the arrogant and have not been written by Vyas Muniji.

Actually, our country remained slave of Mughals for eight hundred years and British government for two hundred years. The foreigner’s policy is very clear- “If you want to destroy a nation then destroy its culture, the nation will be perished at its own accord.” And our original culture has been tarnished.

Pankaj: Sir, Charan Sparsh, I would like to ask one question that is while chanting gayatri mantra we have to close our eyes and why do we take eyes between our two eyebrow? What will happen if we will do that and what will be the benefits ? Need your humble guidance.
Swami Ram Swarup: My blessings to you. We close the eyes to avoid looking outside further to avoid to go our thoughts outside. The point between the two eyebrows is called Agyachakra where the Ida and pingla naddi meet together. And here aspirant also looks divine signs with close eyes during meditation which inspire the aspirant to do more and more practice of name jaap, havan and agnihotra to realise God. One thing more that our ancient Rishis have also advised us to concentrate on agyachakra while sitting on Sidhasan.

Pankaj: Sir, Charan Sparsh, Sir, Can I do havan in late evening say after 9 PM? Please send me some Patanjal Yog books for my references in which I can understand yog and can know which yog gives what benefits?
Swami Ram Swarup: My blessings to you. Yes, you may do havan in the late evening also, please. The following books are being sent to you.

BOOKS PAGES PRICE
1. Patanjal Yog darshan I (in Hindi) 332 Rs.131/-.
2. Patanjal Yog Darshan II (in Hindi) 225 Rs.200/-.
3. Yoga-A Divine Vedas’ Philosophy (in English) 123 Rs. 65/-.

The above books will definitely give you immense knowledge regarding world famous Yoga philosophy.

Kamal Nayan Gulati: Pranaam swamiji. My question is why we worship rahu and ketu inspite of the fact that they r considered to be born as asuras?
Swami Ram Swarup: My blessings to you. Rahu-Ketu are non-alive matters, they are planets. Rahu is eighth planet, in English its name Neptune, Ketu is the ninth planet, in English its name is Pluto. But now a days scientists do not consider Pluto as planet. So, according to the Vedas, there is only one formless, Almighty, omniscient, omnipresent God who creates, nurses and destroys the universe, who should be worshipped. The said God is alive, is one and always unchangeable. So worship of Rahu, Ketu or any non-alive matter has not been mentioned in Vedas and our ancient Rishis never worshipped it. I also paste my article on Formless God.

God is formless

Being formless there is no need of statue or temple of God according to Vedas. As a matter of fact, you, I or every human being, lives in a body. Body is separate, we are called souls. Vedas say soul has no form even. Then also we know each other. For example even if you have not seen the photograph of King Akbar then, you can know Akbar by means of the study of his qualities. So is the case with the God. If an aspirant really goes to his Guru and listens Vedas like Shri Ram, and ancient kings and their public then he will be able to know hundred percent about formless God. Then comes realization for which Vedas (especially Samveda) says that he who performs Yajna, does jaap (according to Vedas) and practises Ashtang Yoga Philosophy while remaining in family like Shri Ram etc., he sure realizes ,being eternal law.

If we will meditate concentrating outside our body which is also against Vedas/Ashtang Yoga Philosophy, then our attention will always naturally remain outside i.e., attached with outer world i.e., decoration/music/dances etc. In that case subject matter of God will be over. It will be converted into spending fun, doing dances and singing attractive songs by ladies and gents, which is totally against Vedas. Thus the chapter of praising God, True Acharya, Rishi-Munis, performing Yajyen, practice of Ashtang Yoga, eternal knowledge of Vedas etc., will be over.

It is also baseless to say that study of Vedas and practice of yoga philosophy is difficult. It is self made story because Vedas are also called Shruti i.e., Vedas are to be listened first and not to be studied. So to listen to the Vedas, a learned Acharya is needed. The Acharya will explain the Ved mantras in the Yajna in your own language i.e., in English or Urdu etc., and for an aspirant to do asan, pranayaam, meditation etc., is also not difficult. It is all difficult for those human beings, including present false prophets, (who are against the Vedas), who are lazy, can’t awake early in the morning to listen Vedas and fail to do practice of yoga philosophy. Those people are always after money, materialistic articles and pomp and show etc.

Vedas are not written or spoken by God. This knowledge is emanated from God and is originated in the heart of four Rishis as stated above. God is Almighty i.e., He has all powers. So He needs no assistance to do universal deeds. In human body alive soul resides and soul is dependent, soul requires mouth to speak, eye to see, hand to write etc., etc. but not God. From His power God originates the knowledge of Vedas in the rishis without writing, or speaking etc. Vedas’ knowledge is divine. The fundamental of the Vedas is this that it was not written or spoken. The knowledge by the power of God was originated about one Arab 96 crore, 8 lakh and 53 000 years ago. Then first time the four rishis of unsexual creation started pronunciation of the mantras by the power of God. God wanted them to know word meanings and senses of the mantras and therefore the rishis knew all. Then first time the four rishis started pronunciation of the mantras. They taught the
mantras to other ignorant people. Then another rishis were produced who knew the Vedas by heart by listening only. There was no paper, ink or pen there. The Vedas were being learnt by mouth to mouth and traditionally this process is yet in force. But mostly not by heart but taking help of the printed book. So printed books are not called Vedas but these are called samhita.

Samhita means the collection of Ved mantras. Therefore Present printed books cannot be considered as Vedas and will never be in future, but samhita. Kapil Muni throws light on this point in his Sankhya Shastra 5/48 that when a rishi does tapsya in the shape of Yajyen, study of Vedas, practice of Ashtang Yoga then the Ved mantras still (now also) originate in heart of the Rishi and the rishi pronounces the mantras. Those mantras are called Vedas, which emanate from God. So Vedas must first be listened (study) from alive Acharya (Guru who knows Vedas). Then only Samhita (books of Vedas) can help.