According to him women should not be barred from entering into temples.
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who has been chosen for Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second highest civilian award, backed the campaign by women activists to break gender bias and allow them entry to the sacred sanctrum of the Shani temple and all other holy places in the state. He also offered to help for ending the ongoing tussle between women activists and locals over the entry of women in Shani Shingnapur shrine in Maharashtra.
He had recently said that religious leaders should intervene in such issues to resolve the matter and bring an end to the standoff over the Shani Shingnapur Shrine. Terming the campaign of women as justified, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that there is no scriptural sanction that should discriminate against female devotees.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, “Women are justified in seeking to enter the sacred sanctum of the temple as there was no sanction to gender discrimination in our scriptures. If men can enter temples, women too can. Different temples follow different rules, but if men can enter a place of worship, women can also do so. There is no scriptural sanction for any gender discrimination.”
“Awareness on gender equality has to be created, scriptures have to be understood properly. It is the work of religious and spiritual leaders to make people understand. Though they may be following some traditions, it has no scriptural injunction,” he said.
Over 400 women activists in Maharashtra launched a protest last week against the centuries-old ban of not allowing female devotees inside the premises of Shani Shingnapur Shrine in Maharashtra.
They have submitted a memorandum to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking his support to end gender bias and allow women’s entry at the temple and all other sacred places in the state.
