Am sorry to inform you that nowhere in the Hindu scripture does it say you can attain enlightenment while in married state. (see excerpt below).
Also women are not given any path to enlightenment. The four stages of Hindu life is prescribed for men only.
And he too is told that only after he reaches the 4th stage (sannyasi) will he able to attain the enlightened state.
Women are not included :cry: :cry:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dharma in Hinduism: The Four Asramas in Hindu DharmaBy Sri Swami Sivananda
The Four Asramas
There are four Asramas or stages in life, viz., Brahmacharya or the period of studentship, Grihastha or the stage of the householder, Vanaprastha or the stage of the forest-dweller or hermit, and Sannyasa or the life of renunciation or asceticism. Each stage has its own duties. These stages help the evolution of man. The four Asramas take man to perfection by successive stages. The practice of the four Asramas regulates the life from the beginning to the end. The first two Asramas pertain to Pravritti Marga or the path of work and the two later stages - the life of Vanaprastha and that of Sannyasa - are the stages of withdrawal from the world. They pertain to Nivritti Marga or the path of renunciation.
Towards Orderly Spiritual Evolution
Life is very systematically and orderly arranged in Sanatana Dharma. There is opportunity for the development of the different sides of human activity. Due occupations and training are assigned to each period of life. Life is a great school in which the powers, capacities and faculties of man are to be evolved gradually.
Every man should pass through the different Asramas regularly. He should not enter any stage of life prematurely. He can enter the next stage, only when each has been completed. In nature, evolution is gradual. It is not revolutionary.
Lord Manu says in his Smriti: - Having studied the Vedas or two Vedas or even one Veda in due order without breaking celibacy, let him dwell in the householder order. When the householder sees wrinkles in his skin and whiteness in his hair and the son of his son, then let him retire to the forest. Having passed the third portion of life in the forests, let him, having abandoned attachments, wander as an ascetic in the fourth portion of life. -
In extraordinary cases, however, some of the stages may be omitted. Suka was a born Sannyasin. Sankara took Sannyasa without entering the stage of a householder. In rare and exceptional cases, a student is allowed to become a Sannyasin, his debts to the world having been fully paid in a previous birth. Nowadays, young Sannyasins without qualification are found in abundance. This is contrary to the ancient rules and causes much trouble.
The Brahmacharin or the Celibate Student
The first stage, Brahmacharya, is the period of study and discipline. The student should not indulge in any pleasures. He stays in the house of his preceptor and studies the Vedas and the sciences. This is the period of probation. The teachers in ancient India usually lived in forest hermitages. These hermitages were the Gurukulas or forest universities. The student begged his food. The children of the rich and poor lived together. The student regarded his teacher as his spiritual father and served him with faith, devotion and reverence.
The Grihastha or the Householder
The second stage is that of the Grihastha or householder. The household stage is entered at marriage, when the student has completed his studentship and is ready to take up the duties and responsibilities of householder life. Of all the Asramas, this is the most important, because it supports all the others. As all creatures live supported by the air, so the other Orders exist supported by the householder. As all streams and rivers flow to rest in the ocean, so all the Asramas flow to rest in the householder. The Grihastha is the very heart of Aryan life. Everything depends on him.
Marriage is a sacrament for a Hindu. The wife is his partner in life. She is his Ardhangini. He cannot do any religious ritual without her. She stands by his left side when he performs any religious performance. Husband and wife keep Rama and Sita as their ideal.
A householder should earn money by honest means and distribute it in the proper manner. He should spend one-tenth of his income in charity. He should enjoy sensual pleasures within the limits of the moral law. A householder is permitted to enjoy conjugal happiness on one night in a month.more...
When the householder sees that his sons are able to bear the burden of his duties, when his grandsons are around him, he should know that the time has come for him and his wife to retire from the world and spend their time in study and meditation.
The Vanaprastha or the Recluse
The next stage is that of the Varnaprastha. Brahmacharya is a preparation for the life of the householder. Even so, Vanaprastha is a preparation for the final stage of Sannyasa. After discharging all the duties of a householder, he should retire to the forest or a solitary country place and begin to meditate in solitude on higher spiritual things. He is now free from social bonds and the responsibilities of life. He has ample time for study of scriptures.
His wife may go with him or remain with her sons.
The Sannyasin or the Renunciate
The next stage is that of a Sannyasin. When a man becomes a Sannyasin, he renounces all possessions, all distinctions of caste, all rites and ceremonies and all attachments to any particular country, nation, or religion. He lives alone and spends his time in meditation. He lives on alms. When he attains the sublime state of deep meditation he rejoices in his own Self. He is quite indifferent to sensual pleasures. He is free from likes and dislikes, desires, egoism, lust, anger, greed and pride. He has equal vision and balanced mind. He loves all. He roams about happily and disseminates Brahma Jnana or Knowledge of the Self. He is the same in honour and dishonour, praise and censure, success and failure. He is now Ativarnasrami, i.e., above Varna and Asrama. He is quite a free man. He is not bound by any social customs and conventions.
Such a Sannyasin is an ideal man. He has attained perfection and freedom. He is Brahman Himself. He is a Jivanmukta or a liberated sage. Glory to such exalted personages who are living Gods on earth!
From India, Bangalore
2Also women are not given any path to enlightenment. The four stages of Hindu life is prescribed for men only.
And he too is told that only after he reaches the 4th stage (sannyasi) will he able to attain the enlightened state.
Women are not included :cry: :cry:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dharma in Hinduism: The Four Asramas in Hindu DharmaBy Sri Swami Sivananda
The Four Asramas
There are four Asramas or stages in life, viz., Brahmacharya or the period of studentship, Grihastha or the stage of the householder, Vanaprastha or the stage of the forest-dweller or hermit, and Sannyasa or the life of renunciation or asceticism. Each stage has its own duties. These stages help the evolution of man. The four Asramas take man to perfection by successive stages. The practice of the four Asramas regulates the life from the beginning to the end. The first two Asramas pertain to Pravritti Marga or the path of work and the two later stages - the life of Vanaprastha and that of Sannyasa - are the stages of withdrawal from the world. They pertain to Nivritti Marga or the path of renunciation.
Towards Orderly Spiritual Evolution
Life is very systematically and orderly arranged in Sanatana Dharma. There is opportunity for the development of the different sides of human activity. Due occupations and training are assigned to each period of life. Life is a great school in which the powers, capacities and faculties of man are to be evolved gradually.
Every man should pass through the different Asramas regularly. He should not enter any stage of life prematurely. He can enter the next stage, only when each has been completed. In nature, evolution is gradual. It is not revolutionary.
Lord Manu says in his Smriti: - Having studied the Vedas or two Vedas or even one Veda in due order without breaking celibacy, let him dwell in the householder order. When the householder sees wrinkles in his skin and whiteness in his hair and the son of his son, then let him retire to the forest. Having passed the third portion of life in the forests, let him, having abandoned attachments, wander as an ascetic in the fourth portion of life. -
In extraordinary cases, however, some of the stages may be omitted. Suka was a born Sannyasin. Sankara took Sannyasa without entering the stage of a householder. In rare and exceptional cases, a student is allowed to become a Sannyasin, his debts to the world having been fully paid in a previous birth. Nowadays, young Sannyasins without qualification are found in abundance. This is contrary to the ancient rules and causes much trouble.
The Brahmacharin or the Celibate Student
The first stage, Brahmacharya, is the period of study and discipline. The student should not indulge in any pleasures. He stays in the house of his preceptor and studies the Vedas and the sciences. This is the period of probation. The teachers in ancient India usually lived in forest hermitages. These hermitages were the Gurukulas or forest universities. The student begged his food. The children of the rich and poor lived together. The student regarded his teacher as his spiritual father and served him with faith, devotion and reverence.
The Grihastha or the Householder
The second stage is that of the Grihastha or householder. The household stage is entered at marriage, when the student has completed his studentship and is ready to take up the duties and responsibilities of householder life. Of all the Asramas, this is the most important, because it supports all the others. As all creatures live supported by the air, so the other Orders exist supported by the householder. As all streams and rivers flow to rest in the ocean, so all the Asramas flow to rest in the householder. The Grihastha is the very heart of Aryan life. Everything depends on him.
Marriage is a sacrament for a Hindu. The wife is his partner in life. She is his Ardhangini. He cannot do any religious ritual without her. She stands by his left side when he performs any religious performance. Husband and wife keep Rama and Sita as their ideal.
A householder should earn money by honest means and distribute it in the proper manner. He should spend one-tenth of his income in charity. He should enjoy sensual pleasures within the limits of the moral law. A householder is permitted to enjoy conjugal happiness on one night in a month.more...
When the householder sees that his sons are able to bear the burden of his duties, when his grandsons are around him, he should know that the time has come for him and his wife to retire from the world and spend their time in study and meditation.
The Vanaprastha or the Recluse
The next stage is that of the Varnaprastha. Brahmacharya is a preparation for the life of the householder. Even so, Vanaprastha is a preparation for the final stage of Sannyasa. After discharging all the duties of a householder, he should retire to the forest or a solitary country place and begin to meditate in solitude on higher spiritual things. He is now free from social bonds and the responsibilities of life. He has ample time for study of scriptures.
His wife may go with him or remain with her sons.
The Sannyasin or the Renunciate
The next stage is that of a Sannyasin. When a man becomes a Sannyasin, he renounces all possessions, all distinctions of caste, all rites and ceremonies and all attachments to any particular country, nation, or religion. He lives alone and spends his time in meditation. He lives on alms. When he attains the sublime state of deep meditation he rejoices in his own Self. He is quite indifferent to sensual pleasures. He is free from likes and dislikes, desires, egoism, lust, anger, greed and pride. He has equal vision and balanced mind. He loves all. He roams about happily and disseminates Brahma Jnana or Knowledge of the Self. He is the same in honour and dishonour, praise and censure, success and failure. He is now Ativarnasrami, i.e., above Varna and Asrama. He is quite a free man. He is not bound by any social customs and conventions.
Such a Sannyasin is an ideal man. He has attained perfection and freedom. He is Brahman Himself. He is a Jivanmukta or a liberated sage. Glory to such exalted personages who are living Gods on earth!
From India, Bangalore
I would like to begin by pointing out that the beginning of this argument was absolutely sexist. Women have failed to show that kind of enlightenment due to one, and only one reason: Man's excessive need to oppress them. Most men even TODAY seem to believe that a woman's rightful place is in the kitchen and at home. If a women abandons her family, there are stigmas against her that i would definitely NOT like to go into.
Secondly, you are ignoring the fact here that for any human being to be enlightened, one has to get away from all material things of life. Marriage isn't one of them, but in order to escape life's intricate materialism, one must give that up too. Not to say, that I find marriage in its root cause to be extremely material and profit minded. But that is strictly MY OPINION.
You are ignoring the fact here that these "enlightened" men have not ONLY given up on marriage. They have given up on EVERYTHING. Cornering marriage as their obstacle towards enlightenment would be wrong because that is NOT the only thing they give up. They also gave up eating luxurious food. Then, would it be right to suggest that luxurious food stopped them from being enlightened?
Moreover, one must not rule the "holy books" judgments as the truth. Women are as great as men, and it is an extremely chauvinist society that puts up instructions only for men. Half of the population CANNOT be ignored the way they have been. It could also mean that women don't NEED instructions. :)
Apologies if I have offended anyone. Its is my opinion, and mine altogether.
And unlike my name, yes, I am an Indian. :)
From India, Rajkot
Secondly, you are ignoring the fact here that for any human being to be enlightened, one has to get away from all material things of life. Marriage isn't one of them, but in order to escape life's intricate materialism, one must give that up too. Not to say, that I find marriage in its root cause to be extremely material and profit minded. But that is strictly MY OPINION.
You are ignoring the fact here that these "enlightened" men have not ONLY given up on marriage. They have given up on EVERYTHING. Cornering marriage as their obstacle towards enlightenment would be wrong because that is NOT the only thing they give up. They also gave up eating luxurious food. Then, would it be right to suggest that luxurious food stopped them from being enlightened?
Moreover, one must not rule the "holy books" judgments as the truth. Women are as great as men, and it is an extremely chauvinist society that puts up instructions only for men. Half of the population CANNOT be ignored the way they have been. It could also mean that women don't NEED instructions. :)
Apologies if I have offended anyone. Its is my opinion, and mine altogether.
And unlike my name, yes, I am an Indian. :)
From India, Rajkot
Just because this debate on women are achievers.. i am posting this.. I request all those who say women are not really doing anything to completely read these .. which are not the end of list... There are many more.. even for these they had to come up with a lot of struggle in life.. please think before you pass any such comments as women are no less than men..
Copy of Women achievers of India
Women achievers of India-2
From India, Bangalore
Copy of Women achievers of India
Women achievers of India-2
From India, Bangalore
Its not that u need to be single to attain enlightenment but people when in a relationship tend to lose the track / interest in enlightenment due to various responsibilities. And being single means no responsibility one can do anything he/she wants nobody would question them.. And if I remember rightly I had read some great person saying told that one can attain moksha sooner if he / she is in a family life than living as a single person. As the family life makes one experience all ups and downs.
From India, Bangalore
From India, Bangalore
PRACTICE MAKES A MAN PERFECT, WHILE WOMAN ARE BORN PERFECT !!! Think over it also dear ... regards Gaurav
From India, Delhi
From India, Delhi
ha ha..well said gaurav..
good discussion going on..keep going..
well i only want to say that being a woman i can never ever think of run away from my responsibilies towards my family. which i think is the first and foremost requirement for attaining enlightment, and what all the great enlightened personalities have done.
From India, Kala Amb
good discussion going on..keep going..
well i only want to say that being a woman i can never ever think of run away from my responsibilies towards my family. which i think is the first and foremost requirement for attaining enlightment, and what all the great enlightened personalities have done.
From India, Kala Amb
Hi..Are all single persons enlightened?..are all married persons enlightened?...No..so its not the matter of being single nor married!!!!!!..its somethingelse!..
From India, Kochi
From India, Kochi
Starting from the Adam. The first men in the world, even he had a women in his life, that is Eve.The firstt women in the world is Eve. she was always there with Adam in his difficulties and happiness.So there is always a need of women to enlighten men.
AS You mentioned about Jesus..Even he was englighten by a holy women called "mary".Mary was his mother.AS of Prophet mohammed he married "Khadija", she was one of the Richest female in the world,She spent all her Wealth for "Islam". Prophet Mohhamed(S.A.w.) Daughter Hazrath Fathimah(S.A) was being referred as "the cheif of the women in the world.. Fathimah son's(prophets grand son ) Being refferd as "Leader for youths in Heaven.Even prophet use to call Hazrtah Fathimah,"the mother of her father".That much importance and the Significance hazrtah Ftahimah had" who was a women.
If there have been no women You and i must not have been born in this world.
There is more overlap in their roles and contributions to society than there is clear-cut specialization. Women belong in certain roles wheras men belong in others but this does not give precedence to one over the other.
A woman is given the role of a mother; a role that Islam gives the highest respect to after Allah. People who disobey their mothers are held in God’s eyes as the worst type of sinners. Such is the place of women in the eyes of Allah. She is a "rehmat" or the bringer of fortune and joy in the form of a daughter. And she is a wife; companion to man in all his social, physical and economic endeavours
From India, Madras
AS You mentioned about Jesus..Even he was englighten by a holy women called "mary".Mary was his mother.AS of Prophet mohammed he married "Khadija", she was one of the Richest female in the world,She spent all her Wealth for "Islam". Prophet Mohhamed(S.A.w.) Daughter Hazrath Fathimah(S.A) was being referred as "the cheif of the women in the world.. Fathimah son's(prophets grand son ) Being refferd as "Leader for youths in Heaven.Even prophet use to call Hazrtah Fathimah,"the mother of her father".That much importance and the Significance hazrtah Ftahimah had" who was a women.
If there have been no women You and i must not have been born in this world.
There is more overlap in their roles and contributions to society than there is clear-cut specialization. Women belong in certain roles wheras men belong in others but this does not give precedence to one over the other.
A woman is given the role of a mother; a role that Islam gives the highest respect to after Allah. People who disobey their mothers are held in God’s eyes as the worst type of sinners. Such is the place of women in the eyes of Allah. She is a "rehmat" or the bringer of fortune and joy in the form of a daughter. And she is a wife; companion to man in all his social, physical and economic endeavours
From India, Madras
Community Support and Knowledge-base on business, career and organisational prospects and issues - Register and Log In to CiteHR and post your query, download formats and be part of a fostered community of professionals.
World Health days.doc
Two Sides Of the World.pps
THE WORLD IS FLAT.pdf