Women, men and non-binary. I am addressing all of you, dear ones. What images do we have of ourselves? The image of men has not changed at all. They can be dressed in fine clothes with gold fountain pens in their pockets and brief cases made of the finest fabrics. Women and non-binary are the ones, whose image keeps changing.

It is surprising how often a successful woman will appear to be a mistress juggler of all the tasks she does. If one addressed someone as a career woman, it was a slur. The reason being that she was neglectful of her home and family. Women were expected to be dressed in their smartest and it was easy to undermine them. Where has this come from? Is it profiling or marginalizing genders? Now there is a gender-neutral title Mx used by non-binary persons. It is very difficult to appreciate the fine and unfine nuances.

Success is what we are all seeking and it is elusive. Labels are given to powerful women and ambitious and aggressive is used for them. Mind you assertive is the word and not aggressive. But we never remember it.

This morning I went into my balcony and I saw Shani, my visiting cat. He is very handsome and I greeted him. Lulu had not arrived and so I put Meow in his bowl. He started eating his food daintily as you know cats never stuff food into their mouths. I heard Lulu crying and she was sitting on the ground. I called her but what happened, amazed me. Shani growled at her and she was afraid of him. Considering Lulu was responsible for rehabilitating him with us. He did not want her to come and looked upon the space as his. I called her again and then she leapt up and he had to step back. This interaction made me think that do males always get away with aggression.

Rightful conduct of life

We go through 8400,000 births to be human and still women and non-binaries are treated disrespectfully. The behavior of Shani was that it was his territory when Lulu had been kind enough to allow him there. This is the case with animals. Why have we erred when Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita said to Arjuna that women are as capable and worthy of achieving liberation. Empowerment is for all of us. It is not a quality which one gender can grab. In the Vedas women were held in high esteem and they addressed as dahrmapatni (one who promotes and preserves the rightful conduct of life).

Hinduism teaches that the divine is equally present in all.

No one is superior, none is inferior. All are brothers marching forward to prosperity. – Rig Veda V.60.5.

Thou, O God, art woman, thou art man, thou art young man and maiden, too. Thou art the old man, tottering with his cane. It is thou alone who art born in all these infinitely diverse forms. – Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:3.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by Delia Giandeini on Unsplash