Women need loving protection and proper guidance, not freedom; this is Vedic wisdom for genuine family peace.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
ovac caSahNTYaSYa bNDaNaaNaYaNa& SaTaq ) MauCYaTaa& MauCYaTaaMaez b]aø<aae iNaTara& Gauṛ" )) 43 )) Prabhupāda: [Hums] Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [chants verse] uvāca cāsahanty asya bandhanānayanaṁ satī mucyatāṁ mucyatām eṣa brāhmaṇo nitarāṁ guruḥ [SB 1.7.43] [02:12] Translation: "She could not tolerate Aśvatthāmā's being bound by ropes, and being a devoted lady, she said: 'Release him, for he is a brāhmaṇa, our spiritual master.' " Prabhupāda: uvāca cāsahanty asya 1 bandhanānayanaṁ satī mucyatāṁ mucyatām eṣa brāhmaṇo nitarāṁ guruḥ [SB 1.7.43] So, [break] Draupadī, in the previous verse it has been described, vāma-svabhāvā kṛpayā nanāma ca [SB 1.7.42].
Vāma-svabhāvā. Vāmā, woman. Woman, they are very soft-hearted, vāma-svabhāvā. So although Aśvatthāmā killed her sons very mercilessly, and he was arrested and Kṛṣṇa ordered him to be killed, and Arjuna was just preparing to punish him, but vāma-svabhāvā, woman, being very soft-hearted, without any consideration, she immediately offered her respect, nanāma.
Not only she offered her respect to Aśvatthāmā, being the son of a brāhmaṇa, especially of Droṇācārya, their teacher... So she immediately ordered Arjuna, mucyatāṁ mucyatām: "Release him immediately. You have arrested a brāhmaṇa." Mucyatāṁ mucyatām eṣa brāhmaṇo nitarāṁ guruḥ. "Brāhmaṇa is always our guru.
Although he has killed my sons, still, he stands to be my guru, your guru." So this is Vedic culture, that they know how to offer respect to the proper person. But Arjuna, he also decided that although Kṛṣṇa ordered him to kill Aśvatthāmā—he's guru's son, although he's not brāhmaṇa—he's brahma-bandhu. He has been described as brahma-bandhu, not brāhmaṇa. But Draupadī, being woman, vāma-svabhāvā, very soft-hearted, she did not consider whether he's actually a brāhmaṇa.
The son of a brāhmaṇa, that much she knew. This is the difference, how to calculate whether one is brāhmaṇa or not brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa and brahma-bandhu, these two words are there. Just like if you are the son of a high-court judge, you can be called, you have got the right, that "son of a high-court judge." That is all right.
But you cannot claim to become the high-court judge. That is not possible. Unless you are qualified, unless you are actually acting as high-court judge, you cannot be called a high-court judge. Simply by becoming the son of a high-court judge you cannot become the high-court judge.
Similarly, simply by becoming the son of a brāhmaṇa, you cannot become a brāhmaṇa. A woman, vāma-svabhāvā, she can accept that "Because he's the son of a brāhmaṇa, he's brāhmaṇa." Therefore this word is used, vāma-svabhāvā. Because woman are considered less intelligent. In the Bhagavad-gītā...