Sri Ramakrishna & Women's education

Mahendra Nath Gupta, who chronicled Sri Ramakrishna's teachings for posterity, writes about his second visit on March, 1882. Sri Ramakrishna asked him whether his wife is "under the power of avidya?" The disciple, replied "I am afraid she is ignorant" probably referring to conventional education, as he was a school teacher.  Sri Ramakrishna, displeased, asked him "Are you a man of knowledge?" meaning spiritual knowledge.

In this second decade of the 21st Century, the above conversation has assumed ominous, sinister overtones. First one has to accept that, in the famous opening words of the immortal Jane Austen, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that" the Ultimate goal of Hindu life is Moksha, or liberation from the cycle of birth & death. It was followed not only by learned lady scholars like Gargi & Maitreyi but also by Queen Chudala (Yoga Vasista), who was the spiritual preceptor of her husband the King, & Queen Madalasa (Markandeya Purana), who was the spiritual preceptor to her sons.

St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was an Abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, medical writer & practitioner. Christine de Pisan (1364-1430) was a pioneer, being France's first professional woman of letters, when she wrote "The Book of the City of Ladies", arguably one of the first feminist texts, detailing the achievements of women. 

Female secular education, which picked up momentum in the beginning of the twentieth century, satisfied the longing for secular knowledge, as movingly described by the great Virginia Woolf. Also it transformed able women into cultured ladies, conversant with the arts & sciences.

Unfortunately, in a quest to use education as a tool for earning money, the perennial Saraswathi is converted into a mere conduit to get to the fickle Lakshmi. So, to come back to the beginning, Sri Ramakrishna's remarks about women being "Vidya" or custodians of spiritual knowledge, has not only completely evaporated, but has not even left the residue of cultured ladies (with a few honourable exceptions of course.)