Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-23

IloIeldlUcIN, bult dS 4 nave Sdlu III lily
last article, telling the real truths
about the matter has at last become
necessary, And would not be true to
the country Of my birth nor worthy OF
the least regard OF the men and women
Of that country II 7 fail to expose
the falsity. My replies and eXplana-
lions are Intended to dispel the illu-
sions created by Christian missionaries
in American minds.
To call Hindoo women uneducated
argues ignorance in those who say
So" as says the American lady whom
| / quoted In my last article. In the
west education is based on the three
"Rs'-readng. writing and arithme-
tic-the most inadequate method Of
training the mind. These alone can
only impart n superficial education Is
It education to train the mind so as to
draw out its divine part, or is it edu-
| cation merely to enable one to talk and
write specifically about superficial
things and subjects? Education I'm In
dia always meant and still means a
training which can spiritualize the
human mind Spiritual education Is
considered to be the only really impor-
tant education for men and women.
intellectual Training Poison
BY example and precept the Indian
women are trained practically by their
mothers, when children to be spiritual
| The stories about the different incarna-
lions of the Deity and those of saints
| ana their sacred acts and life are re-
cited to them, and spiritual truths are
| instilled into the young minds at a very
| early age. 1t may seem strange to
western people how it is possible for
such child minds to grasp high truths
of philosophy and spirituality; but such
people should remember the depths of
| hprnnitW in fhacp piI1 rpinHe n hnrnditV
of thousands of generations concen-
| trated and ready to burst forth into
| flower at the least touch OF the breath
which the words of the mother blow
over it. Mere dry intellectual training
/ Is poison to the human mind, while
spiritual education, however meager,
builds up the character more harmo-
| niously.
1t has been said that in India q
woman has no value. in herself. That
depends upon what womanly value is
and how it is appraised. Is 1t the art
and accomplishment of eating with
| fork and knife around q table, dressed
in fashionable clothes? Is it to talk
Icharmingly about things material while
not knowing the object and goal of
human life?
Is it to go to churchill they go at
all-rather for customs sake as is the
| fact in many cases, more to show their
| hnery than to worship God? If these
be the sum total of womanly values
then the educated woman of the west
| among whom the American woman is
supreme, have a higher value than the
Hindoo. But if womanly value means
something more than the flippancy of
mentality which the above signifies,
| then the Hindoo woman is far ahead of
her modern sister.
| Wives Well Trained
Trained in religion and domestic du-
| ties and in a devotion to her husband
which serves her as concentration
serves the Yogi, the average Hindoo
woman is the best trained product of
womanhood. At the age of IA, the age
| of maturity at which she goes to live
with her husband, she is not only a
good cook and efficient housekeeper,
but an acute f1nancier and sweet
talker, a religious devotee and the best
comfort and treasure of her husband.
She is his light and happiness, a haven
of peace. Tired out by work, he comes
home to see her sweet face radiant to
greet him, with a depth of love which
is a religion to her; and he forgets
| forthwith all the hardness and pain
he has experienced through the day.
When he is in trouble she is his best
adviser. girl of 16, perhaps. yet she
sympathizes with him as mother of
so; and with the true instinct of
woman in true love she never fails to
| tell him exactly what to do to avoid
a failure or catastrophe.
Woman is essentially spiritual be-
cause she is essentially devotional. 1t
is this devotional spirit which should
| be trained in woman so that she may
| by her touch, by her very association,
| by words and the warmth of her love,
| spiritualize the sterner sex. Concen-
fro inn lie "a Il CT nf a nID IN
tiers. 1t is the first thing required for
all success. And when the western
woman affects to despse her eastern
sister for her devotion to husband and
children, which, as / have said, de-
velops in Ter trained concentration and
character, she shows her indifference
to this chief essential of wifely outfit
"What ground is there" I am often
| asked, "for the opinion so universal in
this country that Hindoo men have lit
tie or no respect for Women?'
That is a question which has con-
! fronted me ever since I crossed the
seas to the west, and | have often
smiled outwardly while panied inward
ly at what it means. If respect means
the homage 'of a slave on the part Of
the man to the woman because she
chances to be a woman-a respect
which he often denies his God-then
| Hindoos can be accused of q want Of
respect for their women. But, truth
to tell, the IIindoos pay more respect
than any other people on earth to their
womanknd. BY this 1 mean that the
Hindoo knows the internal laws oper-
ating both in man and nature. This
| knowledge was arrived at by the an
cient sages through communion with
the spirit that pervades the universe,
and the records of these sages have
been left in books that are studied by
Hindoos. We know the manner In
which women should be respected, and
this respect with us is more sincere
and substantial than the so-called re-
spect paid by the most ideal lover of
the whole west to his fiancee or wife.
1 ask American women not to be de-
ceived any longer by this plaything of
an affected precedence which they re-
ceive from their men, 1t feeds their
vanity, but has no permanent value.
The Hindoo knows his wife to be the
Lakshmi of his household, goddess Of
luck and good will.