Why is the husband given the status of God according to the beliefs of Hinduism?

[A question from an online discussion group brought to Swami by Śrī Anil.]

Swami replied: In ancient days, men had good qualities. The husband did not have the male ego. He would love his wife to the climax. He would make all the efforts and take up all the stress necessary to earn and make his wife happy with his earnings. In the view of all these good qualities of ancient husbands, the wives themselves gave the status of God to their husbands. That status was not given by somebody forcibly in the ancient past. In the course of time, ego and ignorance developed and men forced this concept on their wives. The same concept was good in ancient times, but it became bad in the course of time. Now the concept is rectified and people are becoming servants to their wife-Gods! The administration of God is always like a rotating wheel in which the part that was down come up after a while and the part that was up goes down. This maintains equality and justice.

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