In the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Geeta, Sri Krishna describes how His infinite glory can be easily perceived in all that is magnificent, beautiful and great. He specifies certain qualities in which He is visible and all these, even grammatically, are feminine traits. These qualities are the very embodiment of womanhood, the very quintessence of femininity that makes a woman greater than a man.

Everyone knows how dull and dreary a house can be without a woman. In Indian homes, when we, Swamis, are invited to meals, generally all the men sit and eat at the table while the ladies stay in the kitchen and serve. I have changed this rule, not just for equal rights for women, but because it can be extremely quiet as there is very little conversation! A husband may complain about his wife’s nagging and shouting, but he is unable to stand the silence when she decides to stop speaking!

Vaak is speech – the speech of Devi Sarasvati, the Goddess of knowledge. There is no knowledge without speech; spiritual wisdom, itself, is communicated through words. Vaak is speech that is pure, free of selfishness, desire, and greed. The Goddess Sarasvati wears white and has two vehicles – a peacock and a swan. She holds the veena as her musical instrument. The colour white and the peacock represent integrity and purity; the swan indicates discrimination of truth and the veena signifies sweetness of speech. What is sweeter that a woman’s words? What is more soothing than a mother’s voice full of love?

The author is Global Head of the Chinmaya Mission.