charitropakhyan and i, a woman

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Charitropakhyan and I, a Woman

Sanjam Kaur*

I am a woman with two teenage daughters and I have recently finished reading the

English translation of Charitropakhyan. The whole text of Charitropakhyan deals with

different aspects or shades of a woman's nature, some good some bad. The claims by

some that these are useless sensual tales arise from incomplete reading of

Chritropankhyan with a fickle mind already polluted by the kaamic mud which is all

around us. Charitropakhyan should be read in its totality. If one finds them to be sensual

tales, it is because all around us there is nothing but 'kaamic' play of the dark-age, kalyug,

which has increased millions times more since the time of rachna of Sri Dasam Granth.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji teaches us to do bhakti and have gyan too. Bhakti is like a boat

which will carry us across this terrifying ocean of fire, and gyan will teach us how to

swim across this dark ocean. Charitropankhyan read with a discerning mind will give us

gyan so that we can build a strong fort of viveka to overcome one of the five vikaras

called kam or lust.

If you all read Sri Guru Granth Shaib Ji, you will understand that we are asked to reach

the turiya state where we become the knower or the observer in us. This observer in all of

us who is gone through infinite experiences in infinite lifetimes, and is now here in this

human body and has the great gift of being a Sikh and know Guru Granth Sahib Ji as our

Supreme Guru, the King of this kalyug, that observer can greatly appreciate the lessons

Guru Gobind Singh Ji is trying to teach to his beloved Khalsa in Charitropakhyan.

Let us think about a Sikh Sirdar, our Guru Sahib’s beautiful incredible creation called

Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh Ji created the Khalsa and put him where? Did the great Guru

create a perfectly pure place, sterile from all vices for his Khalsa to live in? No. Guru Ji

ordered his Khalsa to live here amongst everyone else, to marry, to have family, to earn

an honest living. You all know that to live in a grihasta jeevan one has to constantly

interact with a woman in different forms - his mother, his wife, his daughter. All you

women also know that not much harm can be done to a good man by his mother or

daughter, but it is the stage of youth and the problems and the enjoyments that come with

it, which can either raise a man or drown him into kaamic mud.

All the young women must be able to fully understand how much influence they can have

over a man. Now do you all young women, Sikh or non-Sikh, have not come across some

woman who is so vile and of bad character that you would never want your husband or

fiancé to even know her? Would you not try to protect the man you love from such a

woman? Of course you would. We all do, just as a man would protect his wife/daughters.

Try to understand, though by keeping away from a bad person may work in case of a

woman, but when it comes to protecting a good man from a woman of bad character, it

would not be that simple. I bet you all have seen numerous ways women try to deceive a

good man or lure him into doing the kinds of things which are sinful. Would we (all

women of the world, Sikh and non-Sikh) not try to protect our sons and husbands from


women of such low characters? And so did Guru Gobind Singh Ji through his

composition, Charitropakhyan.

Why can’t Guruji describe to his Sikhs, whom he considers his sons, different ways a

woman can deceivingly lead a man down into the dark and twisted path of kaamic sins?

If Guru Gobind Singh Ji said "Khalsa meero roop hai khaas" then how can he not try to

protect his Khalsa from all kinds of deceit and sensual treachery of women? After all men

and women are both present in kalyug and brahmacharya is not the way to Moksha. If

grahasta has and can lead to moksha then who is the other very important character of the

grahsta jeevan other than man? Of course it is the woman. Can any woman on this earth

say honestly that the men know all about how deceiving a woman can be? A man can be

as evil as it can get, as is depicted and taught plenty of times to a girl while she is

growing up. But the subject of a woman's deceit is still avoided due to various reasons

including the fear that such an education can be considered as anti-feminine, or being

unfair to the fair sex, or fear of being disrespectful to woman.

Haven’t women all over the world, in different time periods, in different continents, in

different yugas, in different lokas have done that? Is the woman of today not doing that?

Do not Bollywood, Hollywood, Hindi songs and all kinds of this world’s so called

entertainment industry depict that? Can any woman Sikh or non-Sikh honestly deny that

even one of the scenarios told in Charitropakhyan can never really happen? Can any

woman Sikh or non-Sikh say that women are not capable of behaving in such shameful

ways? No one can say it. I can also bet that all women in this world would have known

some female with such deceitful character as described in Sri Dasam Granth.

Women are capable of committing such acts. Just as men can commit evil and heinous

acts so can women.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji is the Great King who wanted to keep his Khalsa pure, and his

composition Charitropakhyan plays that role of warning the Khalsa of the challenges it

might face. The supreme Badshah has tried to show to his Sikhs that the fair sex is not so

fair after all and has its own share of blame to take for the ills of the society. What is

wrong in such a teaching? Is it not true that Guru Gobind Singh Ji is trying to protect his

Khalsa? And is it not that this is what we all women want too and is it not that all the

different chritras of women in Charitropakhyan, bad and good, are true? Guru teaches his

Sikhs to be brave through all that.

If anyone finds these Charitars sexual it is because of two reasons, one he is not reading

the whole chapter and just stopping because some of his hidden kaamic fantasies are

popping up in his mind, or second he totally refused to see the tamasha of kaamic maya

around him and failed to realize that our Great Guru did a great favor to his Sikhs by

trying to protect them from all the deceitful sexual treacheries of women. There is no

reason for any good man or woman to feel offended by it or feel sexually aroused by it. It

is a dirty pile of all of our own fantasies gathered from the kaamic mud around us which

is the cause of that. Our Guru is trying to give us his hand to pull us out of this kaamic

quagmire.


If one reads Charitropakhyan and feels sexually aroused it is not the writings, but their

fantasies which are responsible. Where do these fantasies come from? They come from

Bollywood, Hollywood, billboards, and the list goes on. Everyday we all are bombarded

by ashleel messages, overt or covert, from songs, movies, magazines which denigrate

woman’s physical integrity. Yes it is true that one cannot control and stop all that

nonsense, but as a Sikh you should rise above this and should be able to see the futility of

all this - the evil effect this all can have on us. How can we not understand that these

sound waves emitting from all the ashleel songs around us do affect us. These are the

cause of all your sexual fantasies. Getting rid of them is not easy, but if you read and

understand Charitropakhyan it is bound to stop you from following that track and you

will ask yourself, “Wait a minute, there is so much trash around me. This is not how my

Guru wants me to be”. You will try to make an effort to free yourself from all the kaamic

quagmire which surrounds all of us. Remember that our Guru Granth Sahib Ji does not

prescribe the solution of running to jungles. We have to be here, and become jeevan

mukta in the grihasta jeevan. No matter what way you look at it this is a spiritual war and

Charitropakhyan is one of the many different ways our great Guru Gobind Singh Ji has

shown to win this war.

Rise above this kaamic quagmire and you can clearly see that it is the kaamic mud of our

minds which is not letting us realize the true purpose intended by our Great Guru Gobind

Singh Ji in composing Charitropakhyan.

The content of Charitropakhyan is not “ashleel” as described by some. The details about

a woman’s beauty and form wherever described in Charitropakhyan are there to explain

about the twisted deceitful plan of action indented by her in all the tales.

Also as claimed by some, Charitropakhyan is not an attack on women. I think every

woman should read Charitropakhyan and I assure all the Sikh women that you will not at

all feel offended because Guru Gobind Singh Ji is not criticizing women. Once a woman

has read Charitropakhyan in all its totality only then she can come to her conclusions

about the main idea and teaching that this composition intends. In it she will find help, a

guide, an eye opener, for the good men in her life, not to get entrapped in this kaamic

pitfall. We all know that a woman of bad character can make the dark hole of sin appear

like a paradise to an unsuspecting man. Charitropakhyan opens his eyes and shows him

that it is a dark hole of sin and nothing else. This is one of the numerous gifts of Guru

Gobind Singh Ji to his beautiful Khalsa. It is my request to all Sikh women that do not

take it personally. I want to ask all Sikh women that you all know quite well the extents

of the great goodness of a woman’s heart, and you all also realize the devious and

deceiving plans a woman is capable of plotting. There is not only the good heroine in the

movie there is also a female villain, a vamp. Now project this to a real life. Don’t you

believe that there are real life female villains too who are amongst us all? I am sure you

can come up with many examples where a female character is evil beyond description.

Once again I will humbly request all the Sikh women to read the Charitropakhyan in its

totality.


You would be surprised as how much Guru Gobind Singh Ji loved his Khalsa and how he

will always protect him. After all it is Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa. It is not some ordinary

distinction. It is the greatest honor.

For those who think that Charitropakhyan cannot be read in front of their daughters and

wives, probably do not understand that the intention of Guru Gobind Singh Ji in writing

Charitropakhyan is not to insult women but to make men and women both understand

how deceitful and devious a woman's character can be. I would request these people to sit

with their wives or daughters or any other women dear and near to them and ‘finish’

reading Chritropankhyan. I am pretty sure no one will feel offended. There is one

condition though - that you have to finish reading the whole tales. Why? Because, its

only at the end of the tale that you will realize the warning which is given to a person to

protect his honor.

Only after reading the whole of Charitropakhyan you will be saying “Oh my Great Guru

Gobind Singh, you are amazing!”

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* Sanjam Kaur lives in Long Island, NY, USA

charitropakhyan and i, a woman

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