We are all aware of the recent controversy over Shri Shingapur Temple which belongs to Lord Shanidev and how women right activists were at loggerheads with the temple administration to have equal right for worship in the temple. Court ruling favoured the ladies and they have got equal right to offer oil to Lord Shanidev and we should be happy about it. But in this post we will discuss whether it was necessary to prove the point or are there other aspects of this issue.

Editor’s Note: before going further we (Metaphysics Knowledge Team) would like to clarify that we are totally in favour of equality of women and in no way we mean to oppose or restrict the rights of women, but there are some issues which cannot be seen in the light of gender inequality but have deeper significance.

Religion vs Women: firstly let us examine the issue of women inequality. It is agreeable that Indian society has been a victim of many malpractices such as suppression of women, physical violence against them, dowry system and so forth. These are no doubt the most degradable expressions and should be strictly dealt with.

However it must be noted that even though these malpractices entered the society one way or the other during the course of time, the initial status of women in Hinduism has been really lofty. Most of the important deities are females and infact even at the time of publishing of this post, the festival of Navratris is going on.

The Navratri festival is fully and only dedicated to the feminine power in the form of nine Goddesses who are worshipped one day each during these nine days and fasting and other rituals are observed. Even otherwise most of the holy names of Gods come with the name of the female deity first or even if they do not come first they occupy equal position as their husband deities. For example

• SitaRam
• RadhaKrishna
• ShivParvati
• VishnuLaxmi

Apart from these deities, there are rituals where having the lady of the house is important and no major Prayer is considered successful without the presence of the females of the family. Hence it would be wrong to say that religion is against women. Infact without being communal or naming any specific religion, there are religions where women have far far more restrictions and cannot even talk to any stranger, let alone other things.

The Spiritual Perspective: of course being spiritual and not religious is the ultimate goal of all faiths, but at the material level, there are certain practices which need to be followed as they have been made with some reason or logic.

There are practices like women not touching Sri Bajrang Bali and at some places even men are not allowed to enter. Infact while this controversy was going on and no decision had come, we had put up a detailed explanation on whether not allowing women inside Shani temple has a logic or is it merely a gender issue.

Small Practical Examples: 

It might look bit out of place, but small examples from everyday life would help to understand that everything and anything cannot be related to gender inequality. Just for example we have got different washrooms for gents and females. Will anyone ever suggest in the name of gender equality that both these types of washrooms should be clubbed into one? I am sure not in the near future at least, though cant say or decades henceforth.

Similarly nature has keep some psychological and physiological differences in both genders for a purpose and just doing something for the sake of so called equality can only be said to be a publicity stunt.

Courts vs Religion

We are not challenging the power or the decision of the courts being law abiding citizens, but would surley like to comment on the practice of taking up such matters in the judiciary. Despite the best intentions and extensive knowledge of the honourable judges, when it comes to specialist matters, expert advice should be sought.

For example if there is a case having financial intricacies, the court would usually take the aid of financial experts like financial analysts, chartered accountants etc. Similarly the case of religion has deep significance which is associated with many things which are not related to understandable logic but faith and beliefs. Hence it would be bit unfair to take such decisions merely for the sake of gender equality.

However we at Metaphysics Knowledge stay away from controversies and we respect the rule of the law, so whatever has been ruled is fine. We just want that people should appreciate the beauty of religion, culture and nature and not just get involved in these petty issues.