The real signifcance of Karva Chauth and meaning of Pati vrata


I wished to correct the coarse and degrading(to women) explanation of Karva Chauth and pati vrata.
I post below Kunal Singh's take on this matter. Mr Singh was a prolific Indian American poster on Hindu theology and history in soc.culture.indian newsgroups.Many if not most of  his posts are available in deja.com. His knowledge and understanding of the Vedas which stemmed from an unbiased and independent mindset seemed unparalled. He is responsible for my taking great pride in my heritage and encouraging to learn more about Vedic culture and looking at our religion with a fresh pair of eyes.

I will be posting more of his observations here

Meaning of Pati Vrata
 
Most people's definition or understanding of a 'pati vrata nari' comes from
badly made Hindi films where a woman is holding her husband's feet while he
kicks her repeatedly insisting that she will never leave him.  But then such
popular interpretations of 'pati vrata' are easily contradicted by epics
such as the Ramayana.  Naturally, most self-respecting Hindu women find such
a definition distasteful and some may reject Hinduism as a stupid
male-centered religion.  Others even blame Sita while still providing her
example, that at least she left Rama out of self respect.  Indeed, a great
deal of damage has been done to the understanding of Hinduism due to the
influx of mlecchas claiming to be Brahmins interpreting the burning of Sati
as a license to roast women alive.  Now the real definition of the 'pati
vrata' Hindu wife will be revealed to the chagrin of many a mleccha 'upper
caste Hindu' males so that the spiritual nature of the Vedic Hindu marriage
may be understood by its adherents.
The meaning of 'pati varata' means literally a woman for whom her husband is
the 'vrata.'  So now naturally it becomes significant as to what is a
'vrata.'  A 'vrata' is an observation which increases a Hindu's spiritual
energy.  So how can a woman's spiritual energy increase due to her husband.
The understanding becomes clear if one examines the Hindu rite of marriage
and the various classical Vedic writings, ignoring of course all
interpretations by mleccha Hindu wannabes.
The Hindu marriage has its roots in ancient Kshatriya clans, and the
agrarian rites and rituals of marriage, very different from mleccha Hindus
and yes I have verified it, still preserve the knowledge of the purpose of a
Vedic Hindu marriage.  The Hindu marriage starts with a young man saying
that he is going to Kashi to acquire to the Gods only to be intercepted by
the bride's father (in Bihari called 'chenka' or surrounding), who tells him
that there is a BETTER WAY!  He agrees to give away his daughter to him, so
that both may acquire to the Gods.  How can this happen ?
The secret lies in the understanding of tantrics or adept yogis.  It has
been well known in Vedic Hinduism since ancient times that a male loses some
spiritual energy by having sex.  So the tantrics refuse to have sex with
'uninitiated' women.  They purify the woman, and the details will be left
for agrarians to ponder by examining their rites, before marriage.  And thus
the Vedic texts declare that a man having sex with his own wife is as good
as a Brahmacari for Shiva and Shakti have been kind enough to give us
methods to overcome the loss while enjoying the sex.  
So all this is fine
and dandy for the male, he gets a wife and has his spiritual energy
preserved.  As one of my female relatives quickly countered, what do the
women get out of it ?
What the woman gets out of it, is that her spiritual energy is also
increased with sexual encounters with the SAME MALE!  I say the same male,
as the wife during marriage is 'configured,' and I am deliberately being
vague, with the energy of a specific male.  And due to this having sex with
the wife does not cause a Hindu male to lose spiritual energy.  And if the
male should be a practitioner, as is expected of all Vedic Hindu males (i.e.
initiation into the Vedas), then the woman due to the physical relationship
acquires the energy FROM HIM, already having adjusted to his energy during
marriage.
 It is due to this that a Hindu marriage DOES NOT RECOMMEND AN
IMMEDIATE WILD HONEYMOON, BUT RECOMMENDS THE TWO COHABITING FOR A FEW DAYS
WITHOUT SEX WHILE OBSERVING RELIGIOUS RESTRICTIONS.
It seems that the rites and rituals do actually work.  I came to this
realization a few years ago when my wife reported the characteristics of
'soma' all of a sudden without doing anything and I looked at her aghast as
if to say 'yoooouuu..'  
And then it suddently hit me that she acquired to it
only a few days after me!  At that point even a minimal effort, such as mild
fasting, would for a wife yield results.   And that is also the reason why
on certain days fasting for the wife is recommended and it is said that due
to this, the husband's life is extended.  That is not to say that the woman
cannot increase her own internal energy by hard penance,
but the reality is
that if her husband's spiritual energy be strong, the wife doesn't need to
do hard penance.
 
And thus in Hinduism SEX BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE IS
GREATLY ENCOURAGED!
But it is also interesting to note that the energy acquired by the wife will
be proportional to her husband's internal energy.  And keeping that in view
should one interpret the actions of the wives of men such as Rama or Krishna
or even of what was demanded of women such as Sita!  Sita or Rukmini were
not ordinary women after having cohabited with their husbands for quite a
few years, their husbands were 'divyastra' capable kshatriyas.  And thus it
was quite expected that Sita would be able to walk through fire unharmed (a
yogic test), and Rukmini's energy was said to be even greater than Krishna's
in some stories in the Puranas.  Likewise, it is interesting to note that
even the wives of sages such as Yagnavalkya were known to obtain to samadhi
etc.
The Hindu marriage is thus a spiritual marriage which circumvents the loss
of spiritual energy due to sex and encourages the development of spiritual
energy by both the male and female! I guess it must have really been
important and significant for 'divyastra' wielding kshatriyas.  They needed
to have a regular family and still maintain their spiritual strength.  Where
there is a problem, Shiva and Shakti will provide a solution, it is called
Hindu tantra of which the Hindu wedding is a small part.
Thus in Vedic Hinduism there are two marriages, the Shaiva marriage used by
tantrics and the Brahma marriage used by Vedic Hindus.  But in reality the
intention of the marriages is the same, the Brahma marriage is simply
designed for a long-lasting relationship.

Comments

  1. Superb writing by Kunal Singh and YSV thank you for sharing this article.However I could not understand what Mr Singh is telling when he says that his wife reported the charecteristics of Soma.Here I think he could have elaborated a bit or probably I couldnot catch his point.

    I have direct experience that celibacy does actually harness your overall potential.Last time when I tried to raise my kundalini,I also forced absolute celibacy on myself almost to the point of getting mad :) ,being inspired by the words of Swami Vivekananda.At that time I didn't allow even the slightest image of the fairer sex to crop up inside my mind with wrong intentions :) What I had noticed is that this type of rigour had given me uncanny power of concentration.I could read a book for even 2 hours without any other thought coming into my mind.And once you raise kundalini,you won't need much of sex to satisfy yourself.This is because the kundalini energy trying to pierce through the chakras generates similar or even better feeling than the orgasm of sex.

    I remember an experience of my meditation vividly.Inside my closed eye,I could see a yellow circular(or rather spiral shaped) light dragging my consciousness through the middle of my eyebrows(probably the position of the Ajna chakra).With this dragging my body consciousness was also getting lost like in a paralysis,and this generated a feeling of immense joy,just like in the peak of orgasm or even better perhaps(I havn't tasted physical orgasm with the opposite sex yet :) ).But I felt afraid and opened my eyes,thus stopping the experience.I couldn't continue on embracing the whole experience due to fear.But the point is that once you start your journey into extra-sensory experience,you would slowly lose the desire for sex.Sexual energy is actually the manifestation of the same Kundalini that sits at the base of our spine.We need to convert it into higher form of spiritual energy by raising it(Ojas Shakti).

    Marriage is just the very basic step of Veerachari Tantra path.Most people stop at that only :) But in daivachaari tantra path,probably Kundalini shakti is considered as the woman.I don't remember exactly at this point the analogies of Veerachari with Daivachaari.I couldn't find anything on daivachari path on the net. People like Swami Vivekananda,Sri Ramakrishna,(probably Maharshi Ramana also,I am not sure) etc were Daivachaari Tantriks.Even Netaji had secretly taken initiation into Daivachari Sadhana most probably in 1937 as far as I can recall.Daivachar is for people who don't want marriage or sex to be part of their sadhana.

    ReplyDelete
  2. your reasoning of not losing anything but gaining something does not follow the universal law.

    Also all tantric followers have been defeated in epics like the Airavan.
    Ram the Maryada Purushottam and Hanuman have killed tantriks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. blogger ysv_rao you can delete my statement above since I have found my answers through google search.

      Delete
    2. "Also all tantric followers have been defeated in epics like the Airavan." - That doesn't demean tantra path in any way.Tantra is the only practical path through which you can get moksha in one birth.Other paths like karma,gnana etc might take several rebirths.Tantra offers the most structured solution to the tough hurdle of conquering all desires.
      Don't confuse the noble path of tantra with petty things.

      Delete
  3. Hi YSV,

    I seriously wish women who read his blogs read yours instead.

    Son Mars Mother Earth.

    ReplyDelete

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