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| Women and faith: Social analysis | | | Dr. Pragya Khanna | 1/19/2012 11:18:29 PM |
| Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain, but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised!---A proverb God is the author of this world. He is the creator, preserver and destroyer of every creature. There are diverse groups of people on this earth forming societies, communities, religions, cults etc. and their boundaries are seen to exist all over. Different people worship God with their own beliefs and in various ways. Whatever the method you choose to pray him, he accepts and saves you. But one must pray with dedication, faith and holy heart. Since religion can be a source of emotional comfort and stability, it hasn't surprised me when I learnt that there have been some well-designed studies showing that women find greater value in religion than men do, on average. Shreya, a 23 year old women says, "Everyday I go to temple and light the ghee lamps. I find more women around the place doing the same. But there are fewer men. Are men less god fearing? Even my husband never prays".
"This is because, for a woman, religion is not just something linked to a god but a cultural practice that she is supposed to preserve. Women by nature have patience and interest in devotion since they are brought up in this way" says Parul, a housewife. Atul, a 42 year old bank employee is of the opinion that traditionally men have been the breadwinners and women have been the one to take care of the family. After completing their household duties, they used to form small associations where they would discuss their problems, worship and occupy themselves and the same is being followed since olden times. In my opinion faith and fear are common to men and women. Reverence to Almighty makes everyone feel secure and protected. Men may not exactly light ghee lamps like women, (though many of them do) but there are many other things they do to appease gods. Though women by nature have endurance and interest in devotion since they are brought up in this way, still both men and women can be a good devotees. A good devotee is not limited to females only. We have many famous saints who have enlightened our paths and they include both men and women. While men usually give emphasis to such issues as career attainment, achieving financial independence and decision-making competence, most women place a premium on matters of faith. While men try to use logic and reasoning in spirituality, the women generally consider the subject of spirituality beyond logic. The benefits of spirituality can not be obtained with reasoning. A person gets them if he/she has faith. Women are considered superior to men in spirituality since they have subtler senses; they are more sensitive, compassionate, affectionate, more mystic and get easily enlightened. Through the ages, it seems as if women have taken religious faith to a level due to the pressures of family life, raising children, economic stress and family crisis etc. They have always needed a savior and in order to turn to someone in times of distress she turned to a faith in the Supreme Being for help. This has been so deeply inculcated into the lives of women folk that now some schools of thought consider it to be genetic. As the Myers-Briggs personality test powerfully confirms, men are more 'Thinking', and women are more 'Feeling'. On a deep level, then, men are more inclined to want some hard proof that religious claims are true, while women are more willing to take religious teachings on faith because they sound pleasant, blissful and peaceful. Bharti, a school teacher said, "Actually I do believe this. God has made women like this. They have soft hearts; they are more devoted and dedicated. I mean to say they can easily understand the right path. Men are little harsh in it. May Be...Just My Thinking..." Actually true! Even the statistics have shown that the percentage of criminals is more among men and that a man is more egoistic than a woman. Psychology says that men are more likely to become irritable, angry or violent than women. It says that men are aggressive, domineering and territorial, and women are kind, caring and sharing. In today's age of science and modern marvels there are many men who ask, "Why do we still need religion?" Science has shown a clear path towards answering all kinds of questions that once were the domain of magic and religion. The psychological, sociological and anthropological research on the subject of religion has provided rich information as to why religion is still an important part of many people's lives. One of the principal reasons found was that religion provides what in essence is a security blanket and a sense of certainty in an uncertain world. When an individual has absolute faith in something, for that person it is, for all practical purposes, true. Human beings in just about every culture studied have a tendency to latch on to an ideology or religion as Truth. Though the studies have revealed women to be more religious minded than men, however, there is still a good percentage of men who are pious, devout and sanctimonious. On the other hand, the impact of women liberation, education and urbanization has produced tremendous changes in the religious practices of Indian women and has affected their religious status too. |
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