Swami, can You please give Your opinion on employing women priests for performing rituals?

[Smt. Priyanka asked: Question on woman priests. Padanamaskaram Swami, Last year, I saw the news that a woman priest performed the marriage ceremony for a famous couple in Mumbai. It was very well received by the modern generation and made many news headlines. Recently, another news article from 'Indian Express' stating the following -

"Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister PK Sekar Babu’s remark that women could be appointed priests in the 35,000-odd temples in the state is long overdue. This transformative idea must be emulated in temples across the country. There are, properly speaking, no religious obstacles for doing so. What stands in the way is the dead hand of convention, the power of patriarchy, and politics".

Having never witnessed a woman priest before, this indeed seems to be a transformative idea in society. Can You please give Your opinion on this, Swami? At Your divine lotus feet, Priyanka]

Swami replied:- There is no difference between male and female in any aspect of spiritual line. The only difference is between some modifications of the body, which have nothing to do with the spiritual efforts of the soul. There is inconvenience for 4 days in a month due to menstrual cycle for females. These four days also are not unholy because it is said in the Veda that Indra divided his sin obtained in killing Vrutraasura among water (as foam), earth (as smell), flowers (as pollen powder) and females (as bleeding in menstrual cycle). When all the three are holy and used in rituals, how the female alone can be unholy? Hence, it is not the question of holiness and unholiness. It is the question of inconvenience of a bleeding patient. However, this problem comes even for male priest on becoming patient. Just like the male priest arranges somebody else in such inconvenient period of illness, the female priest also can arrange somebody.

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