“Behind Every Successful man, there is a woman”. I do not know who said this and when, but the guess is sometime during the mid 1960’s when the woman’s liberation movement was at its peak. The current generation may or may not agree with this as is visible from the blogs and debates going on in the internet and other forums. Some of the statements could be quite demeaning to women such as “Behind every successful man, there is a woman, and behind her is his wife”.
However, if you study the Hindu scriptures, written 5000 or more years ago, one can see the importance given to woman in our society. Let us start from the Trinity, the Gods of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Brahma is the creator and to create anything one must have Knowledge. Nothing can be created without having the knowledge about what, how and when to create. Therefore his spouse is the Goddess of Knowledge “Saraswati”. Vishnu is the God of protection or sustenance and one must have wealth to maintain such a large universe with diverse population of man, animals and plants. His spouse is the Goddess of wealth. Siva is the god of destruction, rather constructive destruction, as you cannot create anything new, either physically or mentally unless existing ones are destroyed. You need power to destroy and therefore his spouse is Shakthi, the goddess of power.
Vigneswara or popularly known as Ganesha, the elephant faced God is the god of Obstacles. One must pray to Him before any auspicious work is started so that all obstacles are removed with his blessings. His wives are Buddhi (Intelligence) and Siddhi (special skill) which are essential for all of us to remove any obstacles in our lives or to be successful in our profession.
There are more such examples in Hindu mythology which all leads to the conclusion that indeed there is a woman behind every successful man or the corollary being one must have a supporting, caring and intelligent wife to be successful in our lives.
Very true! I fully agree that we cannot escape what is stored for us! all we can do is pray God for strength, patience and ability to face the reality and ask for directions!
Thank you for this fantastic write-up.
Regards
Neela
Yes Sir, having known that we cannot escape from our Karmaphala, our elders have told us to accept things with Prasada Buddhi- an attitude of acceptance that, this is best that has happened to us. Raja Parikshit took his curse with Prasada Buddhi and started working towards how best to overcome that and not avoid that.
Very often in the Corporate World, when we face failures or get results below expectations, we tend to get demotivated and stop putting in our best efforts. Here I feel we need to apply the Bhagavadgita saying of Karmanye Vadikaraste – which says that it is our duty to put in our best efforts and should not expect the fruits. But again, when we have put in our best efforts, I think the best results should follow through automatically.
Thanks
Gowri
Well I totally agree(tho I’m from the present generation) with yr article. Infact I think a wife plays a critical role in the progress or downwall of a husband. The point is not made with the intenetion to say that if a man fails its the wife’s fault but just to bring out the mental and emotional dependance a man has on his wife.
An attention capturing topic to start with. Highly insightful and easily comprehendible by a common man. Looking forward to reading more.
A very refreshing post. Never knew all these facts about the gods that I pray to everyday.:-) Indeed a very interesting take on the subject.