It is equally easy, initially, for either a man or a woman to attain enlightenment, what we would call liberation or self-realization.
It seems strange, since the aspect of a woman is power and that her subtle physical body conducts light very well, that more women don’t attain enlightenment than men. I would suggest that the reason this is so, is cultural.
Women have been denied access to advanced methods of self discovery throughout the ages.
The few women who have been admitted to the study are usually given a second-class status in which they are taught only the basics of self-discovery.
They are denied access to the more advanced techniques of releasing the kundalini energy, which bring about quantum leaps in self-awareness.
Many Eastern spiritual groups feel that women are not capable of enlightenment. They advise women to have sons and pray to be men in their next incarnations.
Women have been systematically pushed out of spirituality by men.
In the Bhagavad-Gita, a book that I revere and respect, it’s indicated that even women, along with animals, are capable of attaining enlightenment.
Historically men have suppressed women quite effectively. They have suppressed women since the beginning of our history.
There’s this absurd innate need in most men to feel that they’re more powerful than women are, which is ridiculous.
Women have been taught that they are not powerful; they’ve been given an opposite description, that they are weak. The word “effeminate” implies weakness.
A lot of men hate women subconsciously or just are very confused about them or are afraid of them or are afraid of their power, or want to suppress them.
Men have reacted very negatively to the power that is inherent in women.
They have rejected that power and sought to convince women of the exact opposite, that they are powerless.
They have done this through sexual repression, economic repression, political repression, social repression, ideological repression and spiritual repression.
Men, through the ideas they have, project a field of attention that limits women.
Because they dream so strongly in themselves, their superiority and women’s inferiority, they project an image that a woman finds very, very difficult to fight against.
Many religions over the years have suggested that when a woman is menstruating, she should be avoided and not touched.
In their confusion and delusion, men hate the womb that gives them birth. Not all men, certainly, but enough men to run the world.
Up until now, women have depended completely upon men for their survival. You’re dealing with thousands of years of history, where sexual slavery was the condition. While suddenly the laws may change, to some extent, the conditioning doesn’t go away that fast.