And she spoke thus:
I am privileged to be a woman. Because my God has planted me here on this planet! He has a plan for my life here on earth and for my destiny hereafter.
I do believe that, in his plan of things, I have different stages of my growth. In my mother’s womb a cozy existence of nine months! A bubbling child in my mother’s arms. The pride of my parents and the envy of my neighbours! With sprightly gait I amble along to the school with a heavy load of books in my knapsack. A teenager, I face the world with trepidation and admiration. As a lady I get busy in life’s affairs. As a mother I tend my family with love and affection. As grandma I stretch out my legs to relax seeing my grandchildren play around me. In the twilight years of my life I prepare for a slow-motion exit when the curtain will fall.
Do I not have a right to a little space before you my God to meet you, to converse with you, to sing you a bhajan of praise, to commune with you at different stages of my life here on earth? I call these actions worship, My God. Be it at the temple portico or at the sanctum sanctorum, your presence consoles me. Am I not allowed to touch your feet in veneration in your holy of holies and offer you my tear drops of pang and pain when I feel confounded by confusion and convulsion? Do I not have a right to seek your advice and blessing when I reach critical crossroads of my life?
By giving me birth, by planting me here on earth, you have given me the right to appreciate your fatherly care and to enjoy your motherly solace, your paternal, maternal embrace. Is it not my birthright, my God, to enjoy at least a foothold in your presence as a woman? When I blossom forth as a teenager and face myself with confusion and admiration and the world with tremor and trepidation, while life’s secrets unfold in me, do I not have the right to meet you, my God, to seek your blessing and clear my doubts and fears? How do I pollute your presence, Lord, when I am your creation whom you creatively moulded and deliberately chose to place in mother earth’s lap?
At that critical stage when I have to choose a life partner, communing with you and confiding in you will steady my nerves and iron out my ruffled spirit. As a lady, immersed in life’s affairs, I need your blessing to sort out matters with equanimity and responsibility. As a mother I need to place my hopes and wishes for my children and family before your comforting eyes. When weighed down with convulsive emotions and when groping in the dark tunnels of life, should I not look up to you so that you may show me a streak of light, a ray of hope? In life’s twilight moments shall I not claim the privilege of your guiding hand to walk me steady towards the exit.
I fail to understand, my God, how my presence is a polluting one to you when I meet you, when I converse with you or pray to you, or worship you, or when I seek your blessings for me and for the world around me! Would you spurn your daughter, your supplicant, when she offers a flower at your feet or place a drop of tear in worship and adoration? No, my Lord, I do not believe that you will turn me away or tell me to stand outside the grill as an untouchable!
I also know, my Lord, that the knowledge great men and women have imbibed from your eternal wisdom has inspired them to advocate humane values of equality, freedom of worship, and freedom from oppression and exploitation. World human rights formulations and India’s constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights are inalienable and non-negotiable. I do believe that these are essential security measures against road blocks which indiscreet people put up so as to prevent us womenfolk from approaching you.
Should not, my Lord, patrilineal inheritance traditions and patriarchal stipulations of religious modes of worship face the acid test of humane laws and fundamental values in today’s world? When women and men have stood shoulder to shoulder in fighting for the freedom of the country, where was the pollution stigma? When women have honoured our motherland holding high positions and noble character as freedom fighters, as administrators, as executives and leaders, where was the element of women’s unworthiness before God?
Then why is that a section of society wants to cloister us away from worshipping places by devaluing us as less human? If gods and goddesses have not created any such traditions or customs, and if men human beings have crafted them, should not these traditions and customs transform into more relevant practices with humane values and scientific temper?
How would you appreciate Lord a privileged class and an underprivileged class in your presence? I refuse to believe, my God, in the theory that in your presence: ‘All are equal, but some are more equal.’