Page 11 - Powerful Feminine Qualities

Anasuya realistically revealed the right and wrong psychology of the husband-wife relationship. The position of a
chaste wife is to be submissive to her husband even if she is superior to him in many respects. This consistent
submissiveness is possible only if the wife is genuinely Krishna conscious, which means she has taken complete shelter
of Krishna as her savior and protector. Krishna provides mystical strength when His devotee maintains consistent
submissiveness, humility, and patience accompanied by good behavior.
Anasuya addressed the phenomenon of the wife who attempts to dominate her husband and thus disrupts the
psychological role of the dominant male. She calls such an attitude a vice that comes from an evil woman “whose
heart follows her passions (lust).” The Vedic culture stresses the important of controlling the senses, mind, intelligence
and purifying the false ego of all detrimental qualities such as lust, anger, greed, envy, madness and illusion. Krishna
portrays lust as the all-devouring enemy of mankind in response to a question by Arjuna.
Arjuna said, “O descendant of Vrisni, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?”
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said, “It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of
passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.”
“As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity
is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust.”
“Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is
never satisfied and which burns like fire.”
“The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real
knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.” (Bg 3. 36-40)
Lust distracts the mind of a person from self-realization to self-indulgence. The more one engages in sense
gratification, the more he is engulfed by powerful forces that entangle him in working hard to maintain the
ever-increasing demands of the mind and the senses for selfish sense gratification. This invariably leads to frustration
and disillusionment. Without noticing the relentless passage of time, one remains chained by the force of sex desire
and seeks its concomitant factors of profit, distinction and adoration. Krishna reveals the vicious allure of sense
gratification in the following verse, “In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material
opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme
Lord does not take place.” (Bg 2.44)
Krishna advises all people to bring lust under control by regulating the activity of the senses through constant
engagement in Krishna consciousness.
“Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the
senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.” (Bg 3.41)
Anasuya concludes her instruction.
"Women, like you, on the other hand who are endowed with virtues, who look with detachment on prosperity and
adversity in this world, therefore dwell in heaven as those who performed meritorious deeds." (VR. 2.117)
Anasuya describes the dispassionate nature of spiritually advanced women who are not affected by prosperity or
adversity. They remain steady in following the path of spiritual duties based on scriptural evidence and the counsel of
holy teachers. Krishna describes this equilibrium of mind, “One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold
miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady
mind.” (Bg 2.56) The threefold miseries are - miseries of the material body, miseries caused by other bodies (living
entities), and miseries resulting from natural catastrophes. A Krishna conscious devotee realizes that his miseries are
minimized by the grace of the Lord, and they are but a token of what he deserves due to his past misdeeds for which
he should suffer much more. The devotee remains calm, quiet, and patient despite many distressful conditions. This is
because he has complete faith that Krishna will protect him.
Being free of attachment and aversion by complete dedication to pleasing Krishna is the pathway to transcendental
life. Attachment means accepting things for one’s own sense gratification, and detachment is the absence of such
sensual attachment. By dedicating one’s life to serving Krishna with the unique purpose of pleasing the Lord, one is

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