Why Sanyasa (renouncement) for women is not recommended?
A girl devotee who requested anonymity asked like this:
“As the girl want to live her life detached from material life how she should live prabhuji”
REPLY:
As far as the girls/ women are concerned, the scriptures are very merciful and they have not fixed any difficult processes of devotional practices.
The women are not recommended to take (renouncement) and they need not worry about not having that option or right whatever it may be.
However, if the women perform her duties without attachments, that itself is Sanyasa (renouncement) for her. She need not go out of home for following sanyasa as an ashrama.
(Is sanyasa for woman allowed if she is unmarried at 50 without caretakers? READ HERE!)
IF YOU ARE DOING YOUR REGULAR DUTIES WITHOUT ATTACHMENTS without considering everyone and everything as eternal, that itself is enough and great for you.
Renouncing the attachment to the results is greater than renouncing the work itself as said by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita because one can’t remain without work
One need not to show through his outer appearance & activities that he is detached.
Then what is recommended for women?
(1) If a girl is unmarried, she must associate with her father and support him in all his devotional practices. Though father is not a devotee, just being a humble daughter itself will elevate her.
(2) If she is married, she must do all the necessary support/assistance to her husband in his devotional practices. That is enough for her. Though husband is not a devotee, just being a humble wife itself will elevate that wife.
(2) Why such relaxation for women? Because, the family structure should be properly maintained. If the women do not take care of the welfare of the children and family, the whole family collapses.
(3) It is believed that Only the women have been given the nature and the patience to manage the family better than men.
(4) There will be an order and discipline in the services of women. So, the children are entrusted to mother instead of father.
(5) So, when the women starts to follow the devotional practices seriously, many of them may not be able to give full focus for the family maintenance. So, the children can not be raised properly with discipline. So, the scriptures advice them to associate with and support their husbands.
(Work Renouncement (Sanyasa) and Karma Yoga – Which Krishna says, is better? READ HERE!)
(6) Should a woman give up their desire of going back to Krishna just because she is a woman and need not involve in devotional services?
Not so. She is very fortunate because Just by assisting her husband/ father, she can get the same benefits that her husband/father gets through their devotional practices.
Only because they have to involve in family maintenance and child care activities more, the women have been given this relaxation. This is a blessing, not partiality. The Scriptures are merciful on women understanding their responsibilities.
(7) Does this mean women need not do any saadhanas, ie, devotional practices? Not so. They can do whatever they can in addition to the family duties, WITHOUT SKIPPING THE FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES.
(8) They can sincerely chant the Lord’s names, go to the temples and take part in the sathsangha, festivals, etc.
(9) At home, they can cook and offer to the Lord and distribute that Prasadam to the entire family.
(10) Most importantly, the women too should strictly follow the four regulative principles – No meat eating, No gambling, No intoxication and No Illicit relations. These are enough.
(Differences between Attachment Detachment & Sanyasa in Grahastha life! READ HERE!)
(11) Is it recommended for women to go to ashrams and stay there? No. Generally, when the husband gets liberated from this material world, the wife too gets liberated. So, if she SINCERELY and HUMBLY serves her husband, her husband himself is her first guru. She need not go and settle in ashrams. In the Indian Vedic culture, a girl/women can not stay in the ashrams. Only the wife of that guru will be there in the campus of ashrams.
(12) The women can be the visitors for ashrams for getting the blessings of guru. But, they should not stay there as it is the place for brahmacharis and the women should leave after the darshan and continue their service to the family and Lord from their home.
(13) So, in this kaliyuga, violation of these practices will affect the family system. So, the right advice to the women is that BE IN YOUR FAMILY WITH YOUR PARENTS or HUSBAND (though there are some issues with them). ALSO PRACTICE DEVOTIONAL PRACTICES BY BEING WITHIN YOUR FAMILY. NEVER LEAVE YOUR HUSBAND OR PARENTS FOR BECOMING AN ADVANCED DEVOTEE LIKE MEN. Because, if your father/ husband is a sincere devotee, you too get equal benefits.
(14) What if your husband is not a devotee? Still, you get blessings if you follow the devotional practices mentioned above, and simultaneously serve that husband though he is not a devotee. Your devotional practices will gradually make him a devotee within this birth itself. So, do not worry.
(15) So, the point is that the women have been given some essential practices & services to be followed to advance in devotion by being in the family and associating with their father or husband.
If the above advice are followed, both the family system and Varnashrama dharma will get satisfied. And the whole family can follow devotional life without affecting the family set up that is essential for good future generations.
Hope you are clear why Sanyasa (renouncement) for women is not recommended.
(Real Sanyasa Ashrama recommended by Vedic Scriptures! READ HERE!)