One of the purposes of the Himalayan Institute isto bring to the people those traditions which are not easilyaccessible. Thus we may not always talk much about the saints of whomone can easily read in already published literature inEnglish.
A meditator's interest in matters of life is inthe perennial aspects of wisdom and truth. His or her direct interestis not in the temporary contemporaries. Today we have become anissue-oriented society and not a philosophy-oriented society; we aretending to develop our philosophies as solutions to certain problemswe experience. Most of the time all we are thinking of is problems asthough the solutions are almost subservient to the problems. Inreality, however, the problems are subservient to a perennial wisdomwhich contains all of the solutions if we follow it in the firstplace. With this in mind this article is not regarding women saintsbecause there are questions particular to the 1990's that needanswering.
The meditators and saints of the perennialphilosophies of all centuries and countries have an entirelydifferent way of handling the problems of their societies and ofhelping solve them. It is a very subtle way. Quite often when you aska great master a question, he gives an answer that seems to haveabsolutely no relevance to the question asked. But the answer hasbeen given. Now, that answer will enter into your mind; it will touchsome areas of your mind; will give rise to certain brain waves over aperiod of time, perhaps many months, years, decades, or evenincarnations. It will help solve the unconscious core of the problemfrom which the conscious question arose. Similarly a master drops aseed into the contemporary society which may seem to have no directrelevance to society at that moment. But over a century somethingelse sprouts from this seed and the entire society undergoes a changeunknowingly. This is the method of all the saints and masters in allcultures of the world.
Another point that needs to be made here is that asaint is not necessarily a famous person. There are many, many greatsaints who never become known to the large masses. If it is that bybecoming known their mission will be fulfilled, then they will allowthemselves to be known. Our judgments and criteria do not apply tothem. That they are saints, that alone, in itself, is their success.Beyond that, what other success one can want or can you seek? Asaint's success in terms of his fame in history, or how many peoplegot to know about the miracles he performed, or if Paulist Presspublished his writings, or even whether the Pope declared the personcanonized or not, are matters absolutely, completely irrelevant tothe fact of sainthood.
Many people ask, "Why are there so many more malesaints than women saints in history?" as though they have made acomplete list of all the saints, male and female, and have checkedthe exact number. You may instead ask the question: "Why is it thatwomen saints have not become that well known?"
I began my own spiritual quest with an assumptionthat some of the qualities of sainthood are humility, modesty,self-effacement, self-concealment; not personal assertion, notseeking of fame or wealth or comfort or recognition. I haveabsolutely no hesitation in saying that there are more female saintsthan male saints, although the female saints succeed more in theirsainthood by remaining hidden than the male saints do. And I want torepeat that there are more saints even now, on this earth, whosenames have not become known and will never become known to largemasses, but who wield their influence in their own way, in theparticular areas of life in their vicinity.
In the recent studies of cerebral functions weknow of the left and the right hemispheres of the brain. We know thatthe final goal of a human being is to balance the functions of bothsides of the brain completely. A person who can manage to completelybalance the functions of the two sides of the brain is then apsychological hermaphrodite in whom the dichotomy of the male versusthe female ceases to exist. Until such total balancing of the leftand right nostril breath occurs, until such total balancing of themaleness and the femaleness in the individual human being isaccomplished, no matter how high we reach, the alternation of thefunctions of the left and the right of the male and the female withinourselves continues; thus we remain incomplete beings torn byconflicts and divisions in our hearts and minds. We remain subject tothe habits of attraction and aversion, of love measured by hate, ofcompassion measured against vengefulness, of unselfishness measuredagainst our self-interest and so forth. During such an incompletelife, the grace that is implied by the beatitudes and otherguidelines set in the spiritual literature of the world for aspiringsaints, that grace flows unevenly.
Now, if you look carefully, you'd find that thefunctions of the right hemisphere of the brain are more saintly thanthe functions of the left hemisphere, that the dominance of the righthemisphere insures a holistic outlook, facilitating communication,kindness, gentleness, and an aesthetic approach. Even though thismight deflate the male ego, but there is no doubt that thefunctioning of the right hemisphere of the brain is more dominant infemales than in males. Therefore, so far as the basic tests ofsainthood are concerned, some of the qualities required for sainthoodhave always been inbuilt in the functions and roles that women haveplayed in the overall society: Facilitating the communication withinthe family, the great compassion required of motherhood, and soon.
To assume that in order to be named a saint youmust leave home, you must live in a cave, you must perform a greatmany miracles, that you must become known, that you must becanonized, these do not approach the definition of sainthoodanywhere. What we have to look at is the innermost qualities that areexhibited in the life of a saint: Self-sacrifice, compassion, kindwords, gentle voice, being the last in any claims. And when we lookto many different societies we find that many more women exhibitthese qualities than many men do. You may feel that these statementsare open to question; the reader might take from them whatever isconvenient to support the present arguments regarding the issues oftoday. But sainthood is beyond those issues. Those issues can receiveguidance from the perennial things which are beyond, which transcendthe matters of the todays, tomorrows, and all of the yesterdays,too.
I'd prefer that instead of reacting quickly, youponder these preliminary statements. In a country like India it isseen that the religious life of the community, not the priesthood butthe religious life, is run by women. It is the women who train thechildren into spirituality. It is they who read the scriptures to thechildren. It is they who remember all the sacred days. It is theyaround whom the entire religious life of the country continues. Andit is because of this that, in the words of Billy Graham, India isthe most prayer-oriented country. Ask any average male in India aboutreligion and he says, "Ask my wife," "Ask my mother," "Ask mysister," "Religion is their department." Everybody in India says,"Religion is women's department," and they have been responsible forthe last 4000 years for the continuity of the spiritual traditions.They are not the people who sit down and teach the technique ofmeditation. To them meditation has nothing to do with technique. Theyteach that spirituality from which meditative states flownaturally.
Oh, it takes years between one wandering saint andthe next wandering saint to come by through the village. Who willkeep the lights burning in the meantime in a land where there is nochurch, no bishops? If I asked any friend as to whom, between hismother and his father, spends more time in devotions, he will say hismother. Even a priest has unconsciously learned and received morefrom his mother than from his father. From his father he may havelearned the scriptures, the details of philosophy, but that is notlife. Life, the devotional feeling, the undefined spirituality he haslearned from the mother. Theology and ritual he has learned from thefather, but the whole picture of his spiritual life, his wholeinspiration, he has received from his mother. I'm not saying it oughtto be or it ought not to be so. Maybe a woman should be, you know,more liberated and spend less time in devotions and do other things,make them successful. Maybe she should seek the same fame that hisfather has in the village. She should certainly and in verydefinitive social terms have the freedom to do so, if she so chooses.There can be no two ways about it. But it just happens to be the casethat by her presence she has taught more than the father has taughtby all his doings. No, her name will not be written in history books,but the influence that she wields is more profound.
Having made these general statements I would liketo quote one specific hymn. Throughout the spiritual literature ofthe world there are interspersed here and there some statements inthe first person singular: God who appears in the form of Jesusspeaking, "I am the Way, the Light, and the Life," appearing in theform of Krishna he says similar words in the Bhagavad Gita. Suchstatements are found in the Koran, and so forth. There are hundredsof songs and hymns on that theme in the literature of the ancientSanskrit language. From the Rg Veda, is historically the most ancientone of such statements, speaking of the divinity in the first personsingular. The rishi, the sage through whom this revelation is made,to whom this hymn is revealed is a woman. Like many of these mastersshe has omitted her name. It has been a tradition in India that theauthors of great works have often obliterated their names. Many timesyou do not know who is the artist of a great immortal work. This alsoused to be the tradition in Europe before the renaissance broughthuman ego to prominence. They have chosen not to have their namesrevealed; the work itself is sufficient. Quite often they have takenpseudonyms so that they would not be known as persons. This is evenmore so in the case of the great saints. Thus the name of the greatmaster through whom this hymn was revealed is not known. All it saysis that the rishi, the master, the revealer of this hymn is known asVak (pronounced vaak), meaning "The Divine Speech.
Her Sacred Formless Form
I who am one with the totality of existence,consciousness, and bliss
I wander with all the Gods of the earth, sky, andheaven.
I am the Sustainer of the Lords of the Sun, theSeas, the Thunder and
Fire (Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Agni).
I am the Sustainer of Soma, the ever-flowingmystic Water of the Universe
that streams through space.
I am the One who bears fruit for all who seekDivine Love.
I am the One who offers Grace to those whosacrifice
and honor the Divine Beings.
I am the Lady ruling the wholeUniverse.
I am the One who brings wealth of joy to myworshippers.
I am the dominant One among those who are unitedwith
the Divine Reality.
In all these various forms I have manifested onlyMyself, I have entered
all the elements of the Universe.
It is I to whom all the deities giveservice.
Whoever consumes Food does so only by my Grace andPower.
Whoever sees, breathes, hears, utters a cry,receives these
experiences through my Divine aid.
Those, who do not know Me in this Power, in thisGlory, through their
ignorance, they fall very low in the levels ofexistence.
Therefore, oh learned beings, I teach you thisEssential
Knowledge, which can be gained only through deepfaith in Me.
I shall teach you this Essence of Reality which isfollowed both by
human beings and by the gods.
Whomsoever I wish to protect, him I protect andmake powerful with
my Grace.
For he attains the Unity with the Creator andfinds the Knowledge that
is hidden from beyond one's eyes.
I am the Creator of all the Spaces that are theprogenitors of this earth.
In the Ocean from which all the beings are bornand in all the Waters
of the mind,
It is because of Me that the Unity of thespiritual force flows.
It is I, who fill this whole Universe, touchingeven the highest heaven
with my Body.
When I, the First Cause of the Universe, begin tocreate
without any other source impelling me,
like a self-propelled wind,
I move forward by my own Volition.
For, I am beyond both earth and heaven.
Oh, indeed such is my Glory.
This is the most ancient statement of the divinityof an incarnate being in the literature of the world spoken by awoman.
Swami Veda Bharati was trained from childhood inmeditation and yoga philosophy and has taught yoga to thousands ofpeople from an early age. He is an expert in raja yoga which is thesource of all branches of yoga. A faculty member of the HimalayanInstitute, he has written many books and articles on yoga andmeditation. In addition to his writing and meditation, Swami VedaBharati has lectured and taught meditation throughout theworld.
Now you can have 5,000 years of wisdom, knowledgeand inspiration in your own home. Swami Veda's taped lectures allowyou to study, meditate and review various facets of yoga science atyour own pace and level.
In 1982, Dr. Arya took the vows of swamihood, andis now known as Swami Veda Bharati. He lives in Rishikesh,India.
You may write for a free copy of a catalog of histaped audio lectures to:
West-Art Publishers, 10545 Main Street, Clarence,NY 14031. Telephone (716) 759-6078, fax (716) 759-7925.
May we recommend some books?
Livingwith the Himalayan Masters, by SwamiRama
Primerfor Those Who Would Govern, by HermannOberth
SevenYears in Tibet, by HeinrichHarrer
ArnoBreker: The Divine Beauty in Art, by B.John Zavrel
Mantraand Meditation, by Dr. UsharbudhArya
Alexanderthe Great, by Robin Lane Fox