Mystic Mantra: In search of a new woman

Once a year, on the International Women’s Day, we start looking for some beautiful quotes to honour womanhood, some groups organise programmes to felicitate successful women in their fields. Does that help improve the status of women and girls in society? No. Even the women who are felicitated publicly get a rough treatment for being out so late when they go back home with their flowers. In this situation how can a woman be “a new woman” envisioned by Osho? Unless the old woman drops her past conditioning of being a weaker sex, being subordinate to man, she cannot be a new woman. She would rather keep suffering and smouldering within with anger and misery, than express herself fully. That has been her quandary.

However, there are some women who can pull themselves together and shine with a spark of individuality. Here is an example of a Dutch friend of mine, a dignified lady in her nineties. She was narrating an incident that when the contraceptive pill was introduced in her country, the Church authorities denounced it and said it was irreligious and unethical and that no woman should take them. This lady who already had five children was shocked to see their insensitive attitude towards women. They did not think about the pain a woman goes through while carrying and rearing children. She was hurt and disillusioned. So what did she do? She stopped going to the Church in protest and meditated at home instead. Daily meditation gave her such courage and strength that she didn’t need any outside support.

This is a new woman. The independence and courage of standing up to the establishment is what makes a new woman. And meditation is the weapon of the new woman that can make her an individual, rebellious and self-sufficient. She has been playing the role of a creeper on the tree for too long. Men have got used to it too, but men need not feel threatened by intelligent, independent women because such women will help them become independent too. This world needs more feminine qualities to make it a better place to live in. Women are more practical, more grounded and are more rooted in their body. They can soften the society with their software of love and caring. They have depths of suffering hidden within them, which gives them a backbone. Subjugating women has not helped men in any manner on the contrary It has crippled them emotionally and spiritually. If you deny freedom to half of your existence you yourself are crushed under their sighs of sorrow and pain.

Remember our rich heritage that has visualised the statue of ardhanarishvara. Man and woman attract each other; this mutual attraction stems from their desire to be united and one. Separately they are half and incomplete. And everything incomplete strives to complete itself; that is the way of life.

Osho says: “Not only our concept of ardhanarishvara is unique, even the statue of ardhanarishvara that we have created is rare in the known history of mankind. There are many beautiful statues around the world but the ardhanarishvara depicts a great psychological truth — it is simply incomparable. This statue, this ancient symbol is a blend of male and female energies, because the statue is half male and half female. One of its sides is feminine and the other is masculine, or you can say it is a blending or the combination of the two. It can also be said to be beyond the two.”