Enlightened Women

Part 2

The fourth is another Mohammedan woman from Kashmir. Her name is Lalla. She was one of the most beautiful women... Kashmir has the most beautiful women in the whole of India. Not only is the land beautiful, but the people are also very beautiful. Lalla remained naked, disowned everything, renounced everything – still, no police commissioner came to her to say that this was obscene. On the contrary, in Kashmir they have a proverb: ”We know only two words which are meaningful; one is Allah, and another is Lalla.”

They have raised Lalla equal to God, Allah. When I was in Kashmir visiting many times, I heard from many Mohammedans: We don’t know anything comparable to these two words: Allah and Lalla. She was respected so immensely – her songs are so beautiful. I have asked one of my friends in Kashmir to translate them, because they are in Kashmiri. But even hearing them... they have such music. I don’t understand Kashmiri, but whenever I have gone to Kashmir I have found somebody who can sing Lalla’s songs. They have such depth that although I don’t understand the language, I understand the feeling, the vibe. And Lalla must have impressed the whole of Kashmir as nobody has ever impressed Kashmir.

And the fifth, Sadhan – you have mentioned her – is Meera. Perhaps she is the most significant of all the women who have become enlightened. Her songs... each word is pure gold. It is coming from the very source of enlightenment. She was a queen, but she could not remain imprisoned in the palace; neither could her husband or her family tolerate her in the palace, because even to her husband she had said, ”You forget all about being my husband. I have been in love with God from my very childhood. If anybody can claim to be my husband, it is God. But he cannot claim, because with him I am one.” Naturally, the family also wanted to get rid of her... and she also wanted to move in the streets, to sing her songs, to dance her dances, to spread her blissfulness as far and as wide as possible.

Two stories I would like to tell you about her. In Vrindavan, there is the greatest temple of Krishna. The priest of the temple was a celibate; and as all celibates are sick, psychologically sick, he was also a sick person – sick in the sense that he would not allow any woman inside the temple. Only men could come inside the temple – women had to worship from the outside.

He had not seen a woman for twenty years. This kind of celibacy is nothing but tremendous repression, so much fear of women, that even seeing a woman you are afraid you may lose your whole life’s effort. When he heard that Meera was coming to dance in the temple before Krishna – and she was one of the most beautiful women you can conceive of – he put two guards with naked swords at the gate, saying, ”Don’t allow her in. Even if she has to be murdered, don’t be worried.

Meera came dancing and singing, and the guards became so overwhelmed by her love, by her joy, by her ecstasy, that they forgot their business – why they were standing there. And she danced, and entered into the temple.The priest was worshiping Krishna. On a plate he had candles, and he was worshiping with those candles. As he saw Meera, the plate fell – and he could not believe... what had happened to the guards?

She was drunk with the divine, and she danced before Krishna. The priest stopped her and asked her, ”How dare you? You know that no woman is allowed here. And the guards are at the gate, they should have prevented you.” Meera laughed, and she said a very significant thing. She said, ”I used to think that only God is a man and everybody else is a woman. Today I have found there are two men – you and God. ”What kind of love you do you have? If you cannot become simply the loving heart of a woman, all your worshiping is just hocus-pocus. Whom are you trying to deceive? I don’t see that there is anybody who is a man. Only God is a man, and we are all his beloveds. You are also a woman. Join me in the dance!“

Only these five names.... It is a crime on the part of man that he has prevented women from becoming enlightened. He has not given them a chance, otherwise my feeling is that there would have been more enlightened women than men, because for man there is a difficulty – his head. The woman has a direct contact from the heart. Man’s journey is a little long – first he has to struggle with the head... that can take years. And unless he comes to the heart, he cannot move towards the being.

The woman is already at the point of the heart. In that way she has a superiority; and more women would have become enlightened.... But the crime is on man’s head – and it continues.

Just a few days ago, I heard that in England there is going to be a great conflict. The Church of England is on the verge of splitting in two, because the orthodox bishops and cardinals are against initiating any woman as a priest. A few intelligent people think that this is ugly. Why cannot a woman be a priest? The bishop of London has threatened that if women priests are initiated he is going to take the major part of the Church of England with him, because he is absolutely against women being priests.

What to say about enlightenment? Women cannot even be priests! And it is not only in England. You will not find women priests anywhere in the world. Man has created every barrier. It is not only against women, it is against the whole humanity; because women constitute half of the earth. Half of humanity is being prevented from being religious. Among many of my efforts, this is one of the major projects – that as far as religiousness is concerned there should be no discrimination between men and women.

And perhaps this is the only place where there is no discrimination. But because of these things, the whole world is against me. But I am ready – let the whole world be against me. Sooner or later they will understand that I was fighting for them, and they were against me; I was trying to improve the whole consciousness of humanity, and they condemned me. But perhaps that is the destiny of every rebel. And I am not a one-dimensional rebel – I am a multi-dimensional rebel. About everything I am rebellious.

* - Excerpt from Osho book "The Razor’s Edge".