Why are girls considered to be impure during their periods?

[Mohini Unukuru asked: Pādanamaskāram Swamiji! I am Your devotee. My question is about girls getting their monthly periods. During that time, parents tell the girl to not go to the temple, not touch anyone and not touch the pūjā gadi. This happens mostly in villages. What is the reason behind this, Swamiji ? If I have asked anything wrong, please forgive me.]

Swami replied: There is nothing wrong with the menstrual periods of girls from a spiritual point of view. The Veda says that Indra distributed his sin of killing Vṛtra to four items: (1) To the earth, due to which the earth began to give off the smell of soil, (2) To water, due to which it began to froth, (3) To flowers, due to which flowers began to give off pollen grains and (4) To women, due to which they began to have menstrual bleeding. If the first three items are not forbidden for worship, why is the fourth forbidden? We use soil to plaster the floor of the sacrificial altar in the Vedic sacrifice (yajña). We use water, which froths to bathe the statue of God. We also use flowers bearing pollen during worship. Then why are women during their menstrual period forbidden from participating in worship? Clearly, this idea of impurity of women is not true.  

The reason for preventing menstruating women from participating in worship is different. The first three items are inert. There is no life in them, whereas, the fourth item, which is the woman is living. During her menstrual period, the woman bleeds profusely. She is really like a patient and should take rest and not do any work. Women do tedious household work throughout the month. They deserve 3-4 days rest, every month. If the above truth is revealed, women will continue to do all the household work, even during their periods. During their periods, they are weak patients deserving full rest. Unless this concept of menstruation being unsacred is introduced, making the woman untouchable during those days, neither men nor women will take it seriously. The result will be that the women will be continuously burdened with work. If this untouchability is superimposed on menstruation, women will be forced to take rest. It will also satisfy the men, who otherwise would not easily agree to let the women rest for a few days. Due to this false idea of untouchability, men also insist that women should not do any household work during their periods.

Such lies or cheating for a beneficial purpose are not sins. They are in fact good traditions, in view of their justified ends. The ends justify the means, in this case. The mother wants her child to eat well and gain good health. So, she tells the child that if the child eats the food in the plate, the moon will come down into her hand! This is an utter lie told for the beneficial purpose of making the child eat well and grow well. The child, after becoming an adult, will not file a case in the court against the mother for telling lies and cheating during childhood! The mother also will not go to hell for this cheating! Old traditions should not be rejected without deep analysis. This does not mean that all old traditions are good. We should not follow any tradition, old or modern, blindly, without doing deep analysis (Santaḥ parīkṣyānyatarat bhajante).

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| Shri Datta Swami | Why are girls considered to be impure during their periods? | Pooja Puja yajna Vrutra Santah pariikshyaanyatarat bhajante

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