Blooming Stars - Swami (Dr) Snehananda Jyoti
In paramarthashram, both husband and wife turn toward each other and become one, and as one they turn toward God. It is the ideal partnership. Of course God comes first even in this triangular relationship. Each spouse has to give preference to God over the other spouse. There is joy in all this knowing God designed it this way. Our God is a God of marvelous completion and building rather than a God of incomplete design and tearing down. In creation God wanted man and woman to gloriously complete each other. According to Judeo-Christian reckoning, God made humankind in his image and likeness, male and female ….. God saw everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Genesis 1: 26-27; 1: 31). God brought man and woman together. He intended that “a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis, 2: 23-24). Jesus said: “…The one who made them at the beginning made them male and female, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19: 4-6).
In no uncertain terms the Bible states that God wanted man and woman to start and end life together. Somehow the Hindu and Christian tradition evolved erroneously giving woman an inferior and subordinate role, denigrating sexual intimacy between a husband and a wife, giving primary place to celibacy, and glorifying celibacy in one’s striving for holiness and perfection. This tradition and the persons behind it screwed human psyche up royally, and burdened humans with unnecessary guilt. It is high time that the most beautiful human relationship – the one obtaining between a man and a woman in marriage - should be rescued and put in its God-given perspective as we strive for perfection and maturity in holiness. In the Hindu tradition especially a woman does not have a fair chance as a young girl is ruled by her father, as an adult by her husband, and as a mother and an older woman still by her husband or her son. In this Ashram a husband and a wife in equality have an excellent opportunity and time to explore each other in a fresh commitment, to make up for the lost opportunities in the hustle and bustle of married life, rearing up and settling their children, dispensing of due obligations to their parents and siblings and to greater society. This ashram is also ideal for married couples who can be introduced to Brahma Tantra Yoga where their complementary sexual energy channeled into a blissful and unitive relationship with God in utter surrender and selfless abandonment.
(To be continued)
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In paramarthashram, both husband and wife turn toward each other and become one, and as one they turn toward God. It is the ideal partnership. Of course God comes first even in this triangular relationship. Each spouse has to give preference to God over the other spouse. There is joy in all this knowing God designed it this way. Our God is a God of marvelous completion and building rather than a God of incomplete design and tearing down. In creation God wanted man and woman to gloriously complete each other. According to Judeo-Christian reckoning, God made humankind in his image and likeness, male and female ….. God saw everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Genesis 1: 26-27; 1: 31). God brought man and woman together. He intended that “a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis, 2: 23-24). Jesus said: “…The one who made them at the beginning made them male and female, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19: 4-6).
In no uncertain terms the Bible states that God wanted man and woman to start and end life together. Somehow the Hindu and Christian tradition evolved erroneously giving woman an inferior and subordinate role, denigrating sexual intimacy between a husband and a wife, giving primary place to celibacy, and glorifying celibacy in one’s striving for holiness and perfection. This tradition and the persons behind it screwed human psyche up royally, and burdened humans with unnecessary guilt. It is high time that the most beautiful human relationship – the one obtaining between a man and a woman in marriage - should be rescued and put in its God-given perspective as we strive for perfection and maturity in holiness. In the Hindu tradition especially a woman does not have a fair chance as a young girl is ruled by her father, as an adult by her husband, and as a mother and an older woman still by her husband or her son. In this Ashram a husband and a wife in equality have an excellent opportunity and time to explore each other in a fresh commitment, to make up for the lost opportunities in the hustle and bustle of married life, rearing up and settling their children, dispensing of due obligations to their parents and siblings and to greater society. This ashram is also ideal for married couples who can be introduced to Brahma Tantra Yoga where their complementary sexual energy channeled into a blissful and unitive relationship with God in utter surrender and selfless abandonment.
(To be continued)
To read more issues from Blooming Stars, kindly Click Here
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