24/12/2025
Q: Gurudev, When the parent dies, why does only the son have all the right to do the kriyas (rituals) and not the daughter? Also, can women chant Gayatri Mantra as initiated in Upanayan?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - No women also have the right to do. This is only in the middle ages they changed. There is nothing like that. Sita had done for Janaka. All that man does, women has the right to do them all. Between boy and girl, there is no distinction whatsoever. This is word ‘kanyadaan’ which we have put, it is completely wrong. We should not use this word at all. Kanya(girl) is not an object to give ‘daan’ (donation). I have removed it here (in ), I told the pundits, remove it.
This is not there in the shastras at all. In Shastras there are two things.
One is the Rudis, meaning which has come as a tradition as a custom, another is Vidhi, which has come as a shastra, injunction from the scriptures. This Rudis has no place at all. And this kanyadaan is one such Rudi.
If you see that there is really nothing like that in the original Vivah vidhi. That’s why we should tell people not to put the kanyadaan and all that. Somewhere we must change. See till marriage a man has one set of yagnopaveetham, after marriage he gets two of them. Why? Because he is wearing the wife’s also. You can’t eat for your wife, have her have her own food.
Also you may ask, Can women chant The Gayatri Mantra?
Yes. Nowhere it is said that women cannot chant.
It is unfortunate that somewhere in the middle ages, these rights of women were taken away. We have reinstated this in the Ashram. Many women are learning.
See it was a male dominated society. The men thought that if ladies do Gayatri Mantra, it will bring them a lot of power; healing power and sankalpa Shakti. Whatever they wish for those things will start happening. So the men said, ‘No our wives are already powerful, we don’t want to make them more powerful. So we won’t let them chant the mantra’.
This is why only a small section of people kept this as a highly guarded secret.
The Gayatri mantra is one of the greatest prayers mankind has. One who sings it, sails over the ocean of misery to go to bliss.
