More than 50% of girls fail to enroll in school; those that do are likely to drop out by the age of 12 and 53% of girls in the age group of 5-9 yrs are illiterate.

Interactive Talk Session with Gurumaa in Vivekananda College of Girls

Interactive Talk Session with Gurumaa in Vivekananda College of Girls

O Girls! What do you feel when you are addressed as ‘Devi’?

When this question was asked to an assembly of girls gathered to listen to Her Holiness Anandmurti Gurumaa, in the auditorium of Vivekananda College for Girls, there was a mixed response with a few not knowing what to say. So to make them think, Gurumaa said, “When you are asked a question, you should have the courage to answer or else you will become vulnerable to injustice.� Inspired by this, many spoke up. Thus began the talk… Well, you should never feel good about being called a devi, because then you are not considered even a human being. Your right to be a human being is taken away from you in the name of devi. Just think! What are the expectations from a devi: You should be a giver; you should sacrifice; you should not speak even when faced with injustice, and everything else that can be termed as exploitation. Such is the upbringing of every girl in India! She is conditioned to see herself as weaker than men and to succumb to this male-dominated society. So don’t feel happy to be called a devi; ask for your human rights and avail of them. I wish to ask you all: Why do you come to college? What is your purpose? Does it only give you the freedom to step out of the four-walls of your house, or are you interested in learning and educating yourself? I congratulate all those who are sincere in their studies, but I also know that there are many who come to college to have a good-time and gossip about their favorite topics like fashion, romance etc. Life is more than fashion and romance. Don’t just be beautiful, but also be intellectually evolved. And do not under-estimate the importance of education in life, especially for girls.

I travel around the world and get to meet several women. I have heard stories of women who are facing adversities in their life just because they are not educated, and hence they end up being dependent on men who then take undue advantage of them. In India it is a normal practice to marry off a girl at the very young age of 20-25yrs. And it is also seen that girls just drop their education mid-way, as soon as they get married; marriage is seen as the only purpose of educating girls! But what is the guarantee that your husband will always be there with you? What if he dies before you? Have you ever thought what will happen to you then? And do you have any idea of the life of a widow? The treatment meted out to widows in India is very biased. They are considered a curse and are not even allowed to socialize; a widow ends up being a victim of society. It is society which has laid down the ‘do’s and don’ts’ for girls during menstruation.

Even today in twenty-first century India, many conservative gurus and pundits propagate such idiosyncrasies as a woman being impure during her periods. The height of superstition in India is that women are told not to touch pickles during their periods as the pickle will spoil! A woman is not allowed to enter temples, to worship god, to touch or eat pickle – the list is endless. To break through this myth, I asked two lady scientists to conduct a research on menstruating women. They not only made six hundred menstruating women from different parts of the country touch pickles for three months, but also made them prepare pickles. The pickles were sealed and kept under observation. Not a single jar of pickle went bad! Menstruation is a sign of a girl’s fertility; if the girl doesn’t menstruate, then she will never become a mother. This is the system Nature has given to a woman. How can a system given by Nature be impure? Due to her periods, she is able to become a mother and can give birth to a child and bring a new life into the world. I don’t want you to become victims; I want you all to evolve and secure yourselves physically, mentally and financially. You should learn martial arts to develop the physical ability to protect yourself. Why do you need to depend on any male to save you from any difficult circumstance? Empower yourself and equip yourself such that you become your own protector. You should learn meditation to explore your inherent potential and to be in a state of peace and calm.

Empower…Educate…Evolve! When a boy is educated, an individual is educated; when a girl is educated, the whole generation is educated as she will further educate the children and girls in her family. Yet girls are given discriminatory treatment by their own parents! Meditation is one of the most important tools in learning.

Students often complain about forgetting their studies and not being able to retain for long what they have learnt. The major reason for this is that your mind isn’t integrated. It has too many thoughts regarding several issues in your life. When you study, you not only study but think about so many other things at the same time. To sharpen your memory, you should learn the techniques of Tratak and Yog Nidra. Tratak is an ancient technique which helps to improve concentration and integrates the mind.

Yog Nidra is also an ancient technique devised and used by our sages, to activate the dormant areas of the human body and mind. Albert Einstein, the famous scientist is supposed to have used just 8% of his brain’s capacity! This indicates the extent of the capabilities of the human brain. Both the techniques are power-tools to unleash your potential to its optimum. Swami Vivekananda is often cited for his remarkable intelligence and memory. In one instance, when the loan of a book from a scientist’s library was refused to him, he asked for permission to read it there and then. This instance is amazing in that he not only read the complete book in just three hours, but also understood and shared his understanding with the scientist! The secret of his prodigious memory is Yog Nidra.

In Yog Nidra, one is required to move consciousness to different parts of the body, followed by a reverse counting of breaths and then to resolve – resolve is very important as whatever you resolve at that time in Yog Nidra will definitely become a reality. So always make a creative and constructive resolve to make your life beautiful. Regular practice of this technique can awaken the power of intuition and many other dormant capabilities. A woman is a creator; she is blessed with the ability to give birth. No man can ever match this ability because he doesn’t have a womb to give birth. In an attempt to become creators, men strive to paint, climb mountains and engage in other such activities.

It is sad that the creator of life is killed and not given a chance to be born. I am talking about female foeticide and infanticide. The sharp decline in the number of girls per thousand boys indicates that many people resort to such cruel practices. You should be thankful to your parents for they didn’t kill you in the womb, and for giving you an opportunity to acquire knowledge. If you come across any woman who is going in for a sex determination test with the intention of resorting to foeticide, just make her aware of the cruelty of her act, and save the life of the child to be.