Holy Mother Sarada Devi’s Life and Ideals – Influence on today’s Women Part 7

In professional life, many women, who are at the helm, or in important positions, can shine through the selfless work that was the cornerstone of Holy Mother’s life. By working not for name, fame or position, but solely for the greater common good, by naturally loving and displaying genuine concern for others, a woman can be in much higher position of respect than she can by merely being aggressive or ambitious. That she is no inferior intellectually to men is a proven fact. Her assertion for superiority and demand for respect today probably stems from the centuries of indignity that she had to bear. However she needs to rise above such petty competition of genders and inferiority complex and assert her superiority through her core strength – universal motherhood. She is the mother of all, therefore she is inherently above all. This is once again proven as a fact in Holy Mother’s life. The Mother did not need to be aggressive or to unjustly assert herself. She was naturally above everybody through her boundless love for all, through her sincerity, care and concern and her selflessness, which enabled her to take decisions for the benefit of all. She loved everybody, but her love was devoid of attachment and she was not blind to the follies of her children. When needed, she could be strict. She did not hesitate to renounce one of her monastic sons when the latter violated the code of sannyasin. Ability to rise above attachments comes from genuine love and concern for the long term benefits, which today’s world needs to practice.

One may ask a question as to why women should be the change agents in an imperfect society. The answer lies in the fact that because Mother Nature has modeled women after her and because she is more apt in building relationship, and is more caring and loving than the opposite sex, that women are destined to play a greater role. That is perhaps why the incarnation of the present age made a point to worship the divine mother, and brought along the divine mother herself as His consort to show the light, to uplift women from centuries of oppression and subjugation, and also took a women guru to prove the inherent superiority of women. This is perhaps why Swami Vivekananda’s work was supported mostly by American women. The life of Sri Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother is extremely significant because it clearly shows that women will have to take the reins to restore harmony and balance in the society. The Holy Mother is the shining sun whose rays when reflected in millions of pools of water in the form of women of today and future, will transform the society and life in the same way as the gentle morning arrives after a dark dreary night and heralds a new beginning of life. This is probably foretold in the Ratri Sukta of the Rik Veda which narrates how the gentle Usha slowly brings a new dawn of hope for her children and repels the darkness of ignorance which had engulfed the world.