The Soul Is Not Gendered

The single women as an intellectual (breaking gender)

Behind the figure of the autonomous learned women stands the figure of the autonomous goddess who presides over learning. Paradoxically, while Saraswati is the goddess of speech and of learning and the arts, she is generally represented without a consort and is very prominent in Indian popular culture. However, goddesses like Durga and Kali are still given more importance for their linkage to the male consent which is a deity.

Sulabha in the debate is one essentially intellectual female, she represents the single woman who is an ascetic in her own right.

Prakriti and Purusha make up the self

Prakriti in the Hindu text is gendered female while Purusha or the consciousness that witness actions while remaining detached from it, is gendered male. This is however different from the human male and female because a human being is made up of both Prakriti and Purush.

Sulabha in the Mahabharata shows that the equation of women with the action is not a necessary one. It is desirable for a Hindu woman to attain emancipation by renunciation.

The Atman (self/spirit) is a gendered mentor

In Sanskrit and is the same in all beings. This premise is basic to Sulabha's sophisticated argument regarding the irrelevance of gender to emancipation or to the particular path taken by an individual.

Context and Story

Sulabha, wandering over the earth hears about Janaka to have a discussion on emancipation. She is a "Yogini” and using her yoga power turns into a beautiful young woman and presents herself to Janaka as a mendicant.

Form

It is significant that she assumes both forms (of a woman and a mendicant) i.e neither is an integral or inseparable form of self. This points out that all forms are transitory and apparent, not permanent or innate to the Atman, doubting whether Janaka truly is emancipated, Sulabha enters Janaka's body using her yoga power. Janaka irked by the daring of women questions her.

Janaka's view: Talking about physical reality, not self

Janaka just looks at social reality and makes irrational judgments and arguments. He asks - "who she is?", "whose she is", and "where she comes from". He says he is here than any other renouncing and for him, a piece of gold is equal to dust. He also says he is detached to the king’s esteem and family.

His ideas appear ironic and irrational as he discriminates Sulabha saying she is a woman and also demands if she is sent by some other king forcing the idea that women do not have any identity oftheir own. That 'self' is different and physical and not spiritual. His bullying tone & his masculinist attitude to Sulabha seem quite inappropriate for a person who claims to be detached and emancipated.

He also points out why the union between them is sinful

- different varnas

- different ways of life

- gotra is unknown

- if she is married, it is sinful.

- he doesn't desire her, it is poison

Sulabha's Philosophical Response: The 'True' Self

Sulabha replies in words more beautiful than her person. She provides a philosophical justification for equality and non-differentiation between men and women, she wears a mean of steady wisdom and sees no difference between a Brahman, an elephant, a cow, and a cow eater.

She says that Janaka was wrong to see her and him different and following social conventions of gender & caste & not spiritual conventions of oneness.

Sulabha says, "As lae & wood as grains of dust and deeps of water exist commingled when brought together men, even so, are the existence of all creatures".

This statement shows that the primal elements are the same in all bodies and beings and the consciousness parodies all existence, therefore if Janaka were truly knowledgeable, he would not ask who she is.

The arguments can be summarized as:

• The body is gendered but the Atman (universal self/spirit) is not gendered.

• The body acquires its gender at a certain stage in the womb, and the body changes constantly, so even the body is not always gendered in the same way i.e. even gender is not fixed or static.

• The Atman is one and the same in all beings, regardless of the body's gender.

• The Atman is neither the property of anyone nor under the control of anyone and the atman does not really act.

This is the philosophical notion of self.