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00:00What does the body want? Attachment, possession, and when it cannot have what it wants, there
00:12is anger and jealousy and such things. And especially the woman's body has been raised
00:23or evolved in a way that there is a lot of insecurity. Because the historical, prakritic,
00:32natural role of the woman was to raise kids. And in the jungle, that's a very important
00:39role. In fact, that's the central role of one's life. We are talking of the woman. If
00:46you look at the jungle, the woman exists to be pregnant. The woman exists to breed. That's
00:58how it happens in the jungle, right? The woman does not exist to become an artist, a painter,
01:03a dancer, a scientist, an explorer, a thinker, a meditator. No. In the jungle, she exists just
01:13to survive and to give birth. So she will eat. She will seek physical and mental protection,
01:22security. And she will seek a mate who can impregnate her. Now that is continuing even
01:31today. And if that continues, no empowerment makes any sense. Even if you change all the
01:42institutions, the external ones, we have talked of the religious one, the educational one,
01:49the legal one, we have talked of the role of media and so many other things. Even if you
01:55take care of all those institutions, the woman would still not be free. Even if you bestow
02:05all kinds of powers on her, she would still either refuse to wield those powers or would misuse those
02:15powers. Because internal bondage is way more severe than any kind of external bondage. If you give her
02:28external freedom without caring for her internal freedom, external freedom will make very little
02:36difference. In fact, external freedom will become dangerous because it will create an illusion of
02:42freedom. She will think she is free. She will claim she is empowered, whereas she is as much in bondage
02:50as she always has been. And that's the case of a lot of so-called empowered women today. They say we are
03:02empowered, but internally they are still living in the jungle variety of bondage. So that's where self-knowledge
03:17comes in. She needs to have self-knowledge. And that's where wisdom literature comes in. That is what is
03:32Atma Gyan or spirituality. That's where Vedanta comes to the woman's rescue. Vedanta tells her, oh, come on,
03:42learn to keep the body. You are not the body. The body is at most a resource that you can use to attain some
03:56legitimate objective. But what is a legitimate objective? That has to be known by knowing yourself. When you know
04:07yourself, then you know what your goals must be. Right? So self-knowledge. You know yourself and then you know what
04:16your goals must be. And in the pursuit of those legitimate goals, you can use your body. That's fine.
04:23The body includes everything. It includes memory. It includes the wholeness of your brain. Intellect,
04:33your power to argue, creativity, creativity, everything. And it includes your muscular strength.
04:42It includes everything that you are physically.
04:47Right? So you must know yourself and then you can use the body for the right purpose.
04:54And then you will not use your body just to seek security or sometimes attract the other gender
05:02so that you can have a comfortable nest. All those things will then appear very childish to you.
05:13You will say, I'm not born for that. I'm a human being. I exist to realize.
05:19I'm a human being. The purpose of my life is liberation, illumination, understanding.
05:26That's why I am born. It does not matter what my gender is.
05:30The gender is just a thing of the body. And I'm not the body.
05:35I'm a consciousness seeking to be liberated. That's who I am.
05:41Right? So these things, in my view, constitute the empowerment of women.
05:53Modification and reform of external institutions, the institution of family,
05:58the institution of religion, society, law, education, media.
06:05These have to be taken care of.
06:09And more important than that, the woman has to have self-knowledge.
06:15And to that end, you require specialized courses in schools and colleges.
06:23You require wisdom literature to be a part of the standard curricula.
06:27And you need perspective. You need a society that gives importance to spiritual understanding.
06:41So that's from my side.
06:43Thank you so much, sir, for such an insightfulness on what women empowerment exactly is all about.