The Unknown History of Vedic and Brahmin Influence on the Medieval Judeo Christian Gynocentrism and Modern Feminism!
The Gynocentric Lineage from Vedic India and early Brahmin Culture to its heritage in ancient Iron Age Celtic Civilization and the Jewish Religion Prior and the Second Temple and the Kabbalistic Tradition from the 11thto 13th century in Medieval Spain and France!
-The Vedig and Brahmin Roots of the Judeo Christian Gynocentrism and Feminism: The Gynocentric Culture in Ancient India!-
An excerpt from "The Origins of European Gynocentrism and its Symbolism"
Throughout the early time of Indian civilization, women played a significant role even in ancient Vedig and Brahmin society. The women of the Rig Vedic culture in the Indian sub-continent held a high status in the Hindu social order. Their social recognition was clearly good. Women were given chance to accomplish high intellectual and spiritual attainments and were definitely not segregated from those and other positions. In fact, there were many female Rishis during this period of time. Though monogamy was customarily common, the wealthier segment of Indian society nevertheless practiced both polygamy (multiple wives) as well as polyandry (multiple husbands), a practice that can still be found in modern days in India and even in Tibet. So, even the Christian church that codified monogamy in the west did so by inheriting the older Eastern concepts emanating from Indian culture. Moreover, the role of women in ancient Indian Literature is colossal and vast. Ancient India was known for its many learned women. "There were two types of intellectual and educated women — the Brahmavadinis, the women who never married and devoted their lives to the Vedas; and the Sadyodvahas who devoted their life to the scholarly study of the Vedas till they got married. Panini mentioned female students’ studying Vedas. Katyana called female teachers Upadhyaya or Upadhyayi. Ashoka, the great King who spread Buddhism, got his daughter, Sanghamitra, inducted into preaching Buddhism. From the Jain scripts, we learn about the Kousambi princess, Jayanti, who remained a single to study religion and philosophy. Often, Buddhist nuns composed hymns and taught Dharma to the laity including men. Women did write Sanskrit plays and verses, excelled in music, painting and other fine arts". This is the same dynamic as we encounter it the feudal middle ages in Europe while the only difference is that though women did not educate the masses in religious doctrine the female aristocracy did actually the same and had a huge impact on the Christian clergy. "Women also often enjoyed prominent roles in politics. "Megasthenes mentioned the Pandya running the administration. The Satavahana queen, “Nayanika ruled the kingdom on behalf of her minor son. So did Pravabati, daughter of Chandragupta II, on behalf of the minor Vakataka prince. A little after the Gupta period, queens used to rule in Kashmir, Odisha and Andhra. Princess Vijaybhattarika acted as the provincial ruler under the Chalukya King; Vikramaditya I. Women from the aristocratic classes enjoyed education and other privileges". Under the reign of medieval feudalism this has even become more extreme in Europe as there were countless queens and other influential female leaders as well as women of high status that had great impact on medieval politics.
Furthermore, "ancient India spans a vast period 2500 B.C-250 B.C. Archaeology, ancient manuscripts and relics are being used to reconstruct the lives of women which now refutes the feminist gynocentric and anti-male propaganda. The earliest materials found by archaeological excavations suggest the worship of goddesses which was common in the Pagan world and continued into Europe. The earliest chronicled sacred texts (1500 B.C.) call on the life-giving power of goddesses to give life and to nurture and sustain it.” The same dynamics can be found not only in the Indo Aryan pantheons of northern Europe but those that preceded the Jewish monotheism which is greatly dependent and arouse of them as well as being rooted in the Sumerian and Akkadian religions but almost all over the Entire east. It basically shows that the spread of gynocentrism equals the expansion of religion as cultures and humanity migrated from the east toward the west or when economic, cultural as well as many other bilateral ties were established between the different civilizations. "After the Aryan invasion and the development of Hinduism and then Buddhism, India’s extant written texts add greatly to our knowledge. Located in the Indus River valley, the oldest known civilization in India ranged from ca. 2500-1500 B.C. Currently most of these cities of archaeological interest are now in Pakistan due to Indian independence and partition in 1947, although the ancient city-state of Lothal is in the Indian state of Gujarat. Extensive remains at Mohenjodaro, Harrapa, and Lothal show a well-organized, prosperous agriculture and commercial society that traded with other civilizations in the Near East. The most famous early artifact is that of a young slender girl posing confidently. Numerous toys found convey a society that valued family life. While their inscribed ancient seals have not been deciphered to determine the actual meanings, extensive female images have been found that suggest goddesses played a central role. Often called fertility goddesses, very few depict pregnant women, women giving birth or women nursing children. Several of the seals suggest a goddess associated with vegetation and fertility.” "Women’s economic contributions were also important in ancient India. As India was an agricultural country, women were needed to assist the men folk in the various seasonal activities. As today, in the past India was made up of thousands of villages. It was the family not the individual that was the basic unit. Poetry written by Tamil women in the south spoke of their singing while at work and with their family, and occasionally including poems on the feats of the aristocracy. As we can see women occupied a very important position, in the ancient Bharat Varsa", in fact far superior position to the men of the time. “Shakti” a feminine term means “power” and “strength”. Literary evidence suggests that kings and towns were destroyed because the rulers troubled a single woman. For example, Valmiki Ramayana teaches us that Ravana and his entire kingdom were wiped out because he abducted Sita. Veda Vyasa’s Mahabharata teaches us that all the Kauravas were killed because they humiliated Draupadi in public. Elango Adigal’s Sillapathigaram teaches us Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas was burnt because Pandyan Nedunchezhiyan mistakenly did harm to Kannaki". This definitely points to the fact that the earliest notion of medieval chivalry or even medieval practices such as charivary have been probably originated in the ancient Vedig and Brahmin society in India.
Contrary to the massive myths we've been fed, archeological and literary evidence now suggest the opposite namely that even in "Vedic times women and men were equal in many aspects". In fact, having access to both formal power as well as having a monopoly over informal power that traditionally was denied to men, women have historically became the privileged sex. Women of the Indian civilization also "participated in the public sacrifices alongside men. One script mentions a female rishi Visvara. Some Vedic hymns, are attributed to women such as Apala, the daughter of Atri, Ghosa, the daughter of Kaksivant or Indrani, the wife of Indra. Apparently in early Vedic times women also received the sacred thread and could study the Vedas. The Haritasmrti mentions a class of women called Brahmavadinis who remained unmarried and spent their lives in study and ritual. Panini’s distinction between acarya (a preceptor) and acaryani (a lady teacher or a preceptor’s wife), and upadhyaya (a preceptor) and upadhyayani (a lady teacher or a preceptor’s wife) indicates that women at that time could not only be students but also the teachers of sacred Vedas. There were several noteworthy women scholars of the past such as Kathi, Kalapi, and Bahvici. The Upanishads refer to several women philosophers, who disputed with their male colleagues such as Vacaknavi, who challenged Yajnavalkya. The Rig Veda also refers to women engaged in warfare" in the same way that Celtic culture encouraged women to engage in battle for the reasons to be discussed below. "One queen Bispala is mentioned, and even as late a witness as Megasthenes (fifth century B.C. E.) mentions heavily armed women guards protecting Chandragupta’s palace". As a part of the feminist war against men, the Hindu as well as all religions have been "occasionally and falsely criticized as encouraging inequality between men and women. As we can see this presumption is inaccurate" and in fact a massive lie. "In the Vedic period, we come across female scholars like Ghosha, Lopamudra, Romasha and Indrani. In the Upanishad period, names of women philosophers like Sulabha, Maitreyi, Gargi are encountered. In religious matters, Hindus have elevated women to the level of divinity" which is maybe the earliest source that gave rise to the medieval concept of Gynocentrism and chivalry that we will discuss immediately putting women on the pedestal as well as seeing them as inherently divine creature that is superior to men especially as is seen and mirrored in the works of Agrippa and Ulrich the Knight. "One of the things most misconstrued about India and Hinduism is that it’s a male dominated society and religion and the truth is that it is not so. It is a religion that has attributed the words for the strength and power to feminine. “Shakti” means “power” and “strength”. All male power comes from the feminine. The Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) are all-powerless without their female counterparts". This goes completely hand in hand with the Kaballistic concepts of God were most of the names and especially the most important one were manifestations of female energy and powers including the androgynous nature of the impersonal and transcendental Ein Sof that Agrippa has accepted and blended with Christian theology. Therefore, even the religious and mystical basis of feminism can be traced back to Hindu religious.
The Celtic Gynocentrism and its Vedic and Brahmin Roots!
Anyway, contrary to the popular notion of the "Celts as socially anarchical barbarians, they actually maintained a highly complex system of rank based on birth, occupation and merit. The Celts divided their society into castes that functioned very similarly to those in Hindu Society, demonstrating the shared Indo-European roots of the two cultures. At the bottom of the social pyramid (analogous to the Hindu sudra and vaishya) were the farmers, laborers, and craftsmen, or Ceile (as they were called in Irish – the name of the caste). Moreover, the Celtic society was also similar in its organization to the Hindu and Vedic society in that instead of the Brahmin on top, the Celts had Druids. These were men and women who had more social power than kings or queens. Their power came through knowledge and magic, not through violence and aggression". In fact, it is no coincidence as we will see and discuss immediately that Celtic society and Hindu society has the same structure. They both came from the same Indo-Arian cultures of the Indian sub-continent that migrated over the modern day Slavic and Baltic populated areas to the northern part of the Danube to Germany and from there also to the modern British Island". Although they occupied the lowest rung of freemen on the social ladder, the Ceile were relatively well respected by the other castes. The Brehon laws (an Irish law code recorded in the 5th century AD but predating the widespread Christianization of Ireland)", which etymologically and linguistically reminds us of the Brahmins who dealth with religious laws, directives and rituals, "enumerates rights and privileges for the Ceile that closely resemble those of their social betters. The Celts", as were also their Hindu ancestors, "were essentially an agrarian society, and recognized their dependence on the land and the farmers who tilled it. Similarly, valuable were the smiths who crafted the weapons necessary for the conquest and defense of new lands. Once again, the Celts were ahead of their time (in Europe). No contemporary culture neighboring the Celts had a similar respect for its lower classes, and no European culture would again until the Renaissance. The next caste, the flaith or aire were warrior-nobles, and could be compared to the Hindu kshatriya. They were responsible for waging the frequent wars that occurred between Celtic principalities and their neighbors. The Celtic fondness for battle, and the skill with which they expressed that fondness, was legendary among their contemporaries, and engendered fear in even the bravest enemy soldiers. For all that the Romans may have been the best tacticians of the ancient world, they were not always considered its best fighters; even after the Roman conquest of Gaul, the Romans themselves often accorded that distinction to the Celts. Roman reverence for Celtic battle prowess – like Roman irreverence for most other aspects of Celtic culture – owes much to the fact that the Celts once sacked Rome".
"The Celts famously encouraged women of the flaith cast to engage in combat according them the same rights and privileges as male warriors. The Celts were the only civilization of European antiquity that widely endorsed the practice of female militarism. Scholars have reached no consensus as to why, but theories abound. The massive population boom at the beginning of the La Tène period provides one plausible explanation: as the Celts expanded, encountering new and hostile peoples in their occupation of new territory, it was likely necessary for all members of the community to engage in the tribes' defense". In that sense the need for survival become more critical than the other principle of the disposability of men which is normally almost the only one situation or condition in which female militarism is acceptable. It is also important to note that in ancient time the battle field as well as weaponry was much different and lighter so female warriors could fit more into the war than it is today while the change most probably occurred in the medieval where the armor of the knight become much more difficult to handle for the female physiology. This on the other side was most probably the military background for the medieval social contract where women stood protected at home while men were supposed to fight and die as cannon fodder under the banner of God, King and the benefit of women. Anyway, "even as the Celts came to dominate their neighboring ethnic groups, the martial character of Celtic women could have vestigially endured. Whatever the cause, the spectacular gender-inclusivity of the Celtic army exceeded even the military of the modern United States. Female warriors gave the Senones a decided advantage on the battlefield, since the strict enforcement of gender roles on part of the Romans meant that the fighting force available to Rome was necessarily reduced by half". Maybe same dynamics can be observed on a lesser scope in the Israeli army and especially the Kurdish forces where survival outweighs the concept of the disposability of men.
Though "the members of the flaith enjoyed battle and were highly distinguished warriors, they were not the most respected caste in Celtic society. Outranking them were the members of a third caste, the gutuatri, which is continental Celtic for “speakers to the gods”. "The gutuatri were intellectuals who acted as doctors, lawyers, judges and priests. There were three classes within the gutuatri – the bards, the fili (called vates or ovates on the continent), and the druids (a word that in Irish can also refer to the entire gutuatri caste). The bards were the lowest rank of the gutuatri. As Celtic historians, they were expected to memorize vast quantities of data in the form of stories, songs, poems and prayers so that they could recite them to the people at festivals and religious ceremonies. When they were not needed for religious or social rites, they often wondered between communities, where they were given food and lodging in exchange for performances of their songs and tales. The second class, the fili, were scientists, mathematicians, doctors, and augurers. Depending on their individual specialty, they were responsible for calculating the time for planting and harvest, healing the sick, caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth, or resolving legal disputes. The final class, the drui (or druid, in singular form), acted as religious leaders, and were the most elite gutuatri caste. Druidism was not a birth right; a druidic apprentice had to study for as many as twenty years before he or she could attain the honored title. Schools of druidry existed in Gaul, Britain, and Ireland where apprentices studied under other druids to learn the many skills the position required. The term "school" as used here refers not to institutions precisely like academies or universities, but to sects of druidism associated with particular cult centers which would-be druids sought out to begin their druidic studies".
"Druids learned their craft primarily by undergoing a lengthy apprenticeship, after which time they would refine their knowledge through personal investigation, and participation in the intellectual community that druidry represented. Because druids had to be educated in all of the arts and sciences, they usually spent time in their apprenticeship working as bards or vates. In fact, many bards or filli were not perusing their vocations as careers, but merely training for the time when they would become druids. The gutuatri caste on whole is often compared to the Hindu Brahmin caste, although to represent the Celtic system as completely analogous to its Indian counterpart can be misleading. Even though the Celtic caste system in many ways resembled that of the Hindus, it differed in three significant ways. In the first place, it combined all laborers, whether skilled or unskilled, into one caste, as earlier mentioned. Secondly, and importantly, it provided that there was potential for mobility between classes based on personal merit. Social interactions and even marriages between castes could be perfectly auspicious if the participating member of the lower caste had shown exceptional valor or skill".
"Finally, and most interestingly, there was another Celtic system which has been practically created as a separate caste, called the Rix or Rige, (meaning “king”) that existed exclusively for the provision of monarchs". It is interesting to note that etymologically and linguistically the words Rix or Rige reminds us of the Hindu concept of the Raga and Maha Raga which is the King too. "The Rige were expected to have the battle prowess of flaith and the wisdom of the gutuatri, but in exchange enjoyed the exalted status of being the most privileged class in Celtic society and the central figures in Celtic politics". Here, it quite reminds us of the status of the Shakya, the warrior clan, in which the Buddha, the enlightened one with his supreme wisdom, was born to a father that was a Raga, the King. In both cased we have the motives of the Kings, warriors and spiritual wise leaders. It is also interesting to note here that while "ancient Celtic women served as both warriors and rulers as we have discussed above and boys as well as Girls could be trained to fight with swords and other weapons, one of the most prominent training schools in Gaelic mythology was run by Scathach (pronounced “sca-hah” or “skya”), a woman warrior from what is now Scotland. She trained the greatest hero of Irish legend, Cúchulainn (pronounced “koo-hull-in” or “koo-khull-in”, with the “KH” as in Scottish loch)". Hence, the Celtic term "Skya" reminds us again of the "Shakyans", the Buddhas warrior clan, mentioned above. "The most famous of her pupils went on to fight entire armies alone and perform other great deeds. Scathach’s female rival, Aife (or Aoife), was considered one of the fiercest warriors alive. Both of these women led armies". The practice of bearing arms was somewhat common among women. "Women were recorded as having taken part in the final battle against Caius Suetonius Paulinus when he advanced upon the druid stronghold on the island of Mona (now Anglesey) in present-day Wales. In this case, they seem to have made great use of psychological tactics such as screeching, dancing wildly and many more".
"The existence of the rige class is controversial among some scholars, who claim that the rige were merely the elite of the flaith class". This, however, does not change anything about the dynamics and the motives we outlined above and still remain valid no matter what definition we choose. "Truly, the latter scenario seems more likely, as the existence of a fourth caste would violate the Celtic rule of threes (whereby most aspects of politics, religion and cosmology were divided into three parts out of reverence for the sanctity of the number three). As to the political structure over which the rige reigned – whether as their own caste or not – the Celts lived in kingdoms which consisted of one or more related or politically allied tribes, each of which was further divided into clans. Kingdoms could be of various population sizes and geographical areas, but typically tended to be relatively large (usually comprising no less than 20,000 people and sometimes numbering many hundreds of thousands), and grew larger as the La Tène period progressed. Each kingdom was governed by a king or tribal confederation led by multiple kings, and each tribe was governed by king or chieftain". The following structure again reminds us a lot of the Hindu structure especially in the time of the Buddha. "In any case, the nomenclature of Celtic kingship versus Celtic chieftainship can be confusing as there is no technical distinction between a chieftain and a king, so oftentimes the leader of any tribe is referred to as a king instead of a chieftain, and the leaders of kingdoms comprising multiple tribes are called high kings. Whatever the titles ascribed them by modern historians, tribal leaders could be male or female,84 and were elected from the ruling family by vote of its members85 Often times, members of the warrior caste – if they were related to the monarch by marriage or exceptionally well respected in the community – could be voted into the kingship without the normally prerequisite membership in the royal family.86 This capacity for social mobility existed in no other contemporary Indo-European society. Persians, Romans, Teutons, Hindus, Greeks, and Slavs almost invariably occupied one social class from birth to death, with no hope of advancement or danger of demotion except in the case of political coup. In this regard, the Celts far more closely resembled a modern society than any other ancient culture in Europe, the Middle East, or the Indian subcontinent. Class flexibility gave the Celts the distinct advantage of selective specialization. Members of Celtic society had more freedom than any contemporary Europeans to pursue the vocations to which they felt best-suited. While most moderns take that capacity for granted, it was truly revolutionary in its day, and had vast implications for Celtic culture. It is no coincidence that Celtic smiths and artisans excelled their Roman counterparts in the quality and abundance of their products; whereas the Roman professionals had inherited their occupations, the Celts had earned them".
To sum it up, given the shared Indo Aryan as well as the Vedig and Hindu Brahmin shared heritage, "the Celts were greatly remarkable for their high regard for women. Celtic women were encouraged to become spiritual and political leaders, artisans, merchants and even warriors, and were permitted to buy, sell and inherit property. The Celtic devotion to women" as it was in the Hindu culture "was even reflected in their pantheon, where most gods and goddesses were seen as manifestations of the supreme father god and mother goddess, whose relationship was thought of as roughly equal". It is the very dynamic on which later Agrippa expanded his idea into the concepts of female superiority and blended the Chritian theology in this regard (originating from the Celts) which Jewish Kabbalistic thought of female preeminence. "Women also often became ruling queens and military leaders. Boudicca (or Boadicea) was the best known woman of this class. She is honored to the present for leading the last major revolt against the Romans in Britain. When her husband Prasutagus died, she became ruler of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe in southeastern Britain. Prasutagus had established diplomatic relations with the Romans following their invasion of the island. He decided to submit to Roman suzerainty, and in his will he left a large portion of his holdings to the Romans but named his two teenage daughters as his heirs. Boudicca was designated as the regent until they should come of age. Queen Cartimandua was another notable female Iron Age Celtic leader. She ruled the Brigantes, a tribe of northern Britain. A contemporary of Boudicca, Cartimandua is remembered more as a traitor than a heroine for her betrayal of Caradoc, the leader of the Celtic resistance in the West. When Caradoc came to her for help, Cartimandua seized him and subsequently handed him over, in chains, to the Romans. She likely did this for reasons of political expediency, attempting to maintain power through the backing of Rome. In Ireland, a well-known ancient female ruler was Medb (or Maeve), Queen of Connaught. She is best remembered for her role in the legendary Cattle Raid of Cooley. Medb, determined to prove herself her husband’s equal, lead a raid into the kingdom of Ulster for the purpose of attaining a bull of the same value as her husband’s prize animal. Although she captured the bull, she was eventually thwarted by Cúchulainn and the animal escaped. Medb may prove a hateful figure in this legend, but she provides an example from the Iron Age of a potent Celtic woman ruler. Her authority was absolute and her word was rule, prevailing even over that of her husband.
As we can see and contrary to misandrist feminist myths, we can say with great confidence that "throughout the iron age the women of Celtic civilization were never excluded from public life if they wished to participate in it". This is the same dynamic we can observe with their medieval sisters under the reign of European feudalism while in both cases women managed to play a prominent role too. So, women were not systematically excluded from any occupation or social position if they choose to became part of it. In the Celtic context, as we have already seen they could become "druids, including priestesses, poets, and healers. They could conduct business without the consent or involvement of their husbands. They could serve as diplomats; in fact, a woman acted as ambassador in establishing the treaty between the Carthaginian general Hannibal and the Celtic ruler Volcae during a march against Rome. Plutarch wrote in the second century that there was a long-standing tradition among the Celts of women acting as mediators or judges in political and military disputes. They were also known to have played a similar mediating role in their own tribal assemblies. Women’s personal rights and their rights within marriage further testify to the high regard in which they were held in Iron Age Celtic societies. Overall, marriage seems to have been viewed by the ancient Celts as a partnership between men and women. Women could not be married against their will. They may have been allowed to choose their husbands, though families were undoubtedly involved in marriage decisions. Political marriages of alliance were common among noblewomen. Dowry systems varied among the different Celtic groups, but one custom was for each party to bring an equal sum to the marriage and for the combined amount to then be left to accrue profit. Upon the death of a partner, the surviving partner would receive his or her original share of the dowry and the profits that it had made. If the couple divorced, each partner got his or her original contribution and its profits. Different versions of this basic practice seem to have existed among various Celtic groups in Iron Age Ireland, Wales, Gaul, and other areas. Within marriage, women were allowed to own and inherit property independently. Married women could pursue legal cases without the consent of their husbands. Divorce was a relatively simple matter and could be requested by either party. Historian Jean Markale explains that this was because “Celtic marriage was essentially contractual, social, not at all religious, but based on the freedom of the husband and wife. In Ireland and Scotland, there even existed year-long trial marriages that could be dissolved if they proved impracticable. Divorced women were not looked down upon and were always free to remarry. The ancient Celts were polygamous and certain Celts in Scotland were, according to Caesar, specifically polyandrous, meaning their women could have multiple husbands" It is clearly again a shared heritage which emanated from older Hindu Gynocentrism.
The Vedig and Brahmin Roots of Judaism and Jewish Gynocentrism!
Similary, to the Celtic tradition that incorporated the Indo-Aryan influence on the creation of the classic medieval gynocentrism via the northern European root and till the time of the second temple, the ancient Jewish religion integrated the near Eastern tradition leading to medieval Gynocentrism under the Influence of the Christian church while being also itself heavily structured and structurally as well as spiritually influenced and enriched by the same shared Vedic and Brahmin religious doctrines. In the same way as the Celts it also showed a strict cast system between the Jewish priest who were divided into the "Cohanim" (priesthood and clergy itself, the "Leviim", a sub-cast within the priesthood serving in the temple in Jerusalem and the large masses of "Israel". The only difference to the Celts was that while the casts in Celtic tradition were not as fixed as in the more traditional Hindu cultures and in fact more "fluid" and flexible to transition between the casts based on personal merit, grounded in the same concept of flexibility and personal merit the Jewish traditions has abolished the casts completely making the priesthood or any other position in society as well as personal growth a matter of study, personal and moral attainment and therefore the focus of personal achievement and merit rather than a substance of being born from a certain womb. It is interesting to note that the Buddhist reformation of Brahmanism as well as Hindu religion and Social order, also not as far and distant from each other, shows the same parallels which shifted those dynamics to create a socially more equal and just society for everyone that in the western context was exploited by western Gynocentrism to create an environment of female supremacy and later the modern concept of women's "grant of privilege". In other words, both cultures, the Jews as well as the Celts, used the concept of flexibility and personal merit, but the one to abolish the cast system altogether while the other to maintain the cast system but without jeopardizing the individual's mobility and success to move from one cast to another and achieve more success and status. As Christianity rose to power in Europe it has adopted and blended both the native Celtic traditions as well as its spiritual Eastern roots originating in Jewish religion and theology. Hence, as I have showed in one of my other discourses, the Celts already incorporated a much more radical version of Gynocentrism, although it still didn’t reach the apex of classic gynocentrism in medieval Europe, it fitted well into the Christian concepts of marriage, virginity and so on, so it now has become the basic source for the medieval Christian Gynocentrism. Based on those earlier undercurrents, it was later now Heinrich Cornellius Agrippa, the first male misandrist and feminist, who blended the Christian theology with the Kabbalsitic Gynocentrism and the Jewish Concept of the name of God. It is interesting again to note that as standing opposed to older Jewish Mysticism which was more similar to Buddhist tradition of Spiritually rather than that of the Vedic and Brahmin religion, whereas the Kabbalistic traditions emerged and developed between the 11th and 13th centuries in Spain and France which not only marked a regression to the more traditional form of Vedic Yoga and Brahmin religion, but in fact it has historically arisen in the same time as the European Gynocemtrism under the reign of queen Eleanor who founded it. In fact, the inseparable and intrinsic nature of such developments shows us that Gynocentrism is a fact a shared human condition which only under certain historical circumstances and settings arose in Europe. There is no need in searching for the guilty one or the perpetrators but rather for solutions after understand the conditions. We must approach it under the hat of a physician and the same mindset rather than that of the judge or the prosecutor.
Moreover, it is neither a coincidence nor a Christian invention that Gynocentrism has spread exploiting the media of religion and using it as a vehicle that is inherently compatible with female nature. In fact, religion by its nature is gynocentric too. Hence, spirituality and religion are an inseparable part of human life and nature (consider non-religious, secular or theistic paths), "living traditions are growing traditions, enriched by their relationships with other paths, and "cross-pollination" has engendered a network of commonalities across the religious spectrum all over the world and everywhere where people are coming together. There is a sense of recognition when a familiar practice or concept is seen expressed in a different language or style. Religious traditions have influenced each other in many ways, for better or worse". In many of my discourses I have outlined those mutual dynamics and joint influence between Christianity and Judaism, we have seen those dynamics above as mirrored between the Celts and Hindus and such dynamic naturally exists between Judaism and Vedanta which have much in common. We will now explore here now in more depth some of those similarities being shared between those two paths as it also encapsulates a shared heritage in Christianity both over the Jewish as well as the Celtic root. At the level of the seed thoughts it is interesting to note that the idea that "Judaism and Vedanta have common roots may raise at the beginning some eyebrows. The antiquity of possible commonalities may make definitive proof, one way or the other, impossible. Outwardly, in many ways, the two traditions are quite different - Judaism's core of human, historical stories that communicate the spiritual message, the Torah, is quite different than Vedanta's almost scientific approach, and Hinduism, a later development of Brahmanism that features a multitude of "Gods" and employs physical statues to represent those Gods. These surface characteristics conceal similarities in the underlying core concepts. Both terms, "Judaism" and "Brahmanism," are blanket words that describe huge collections of varying "dialects" within each religion. Comprehensive parallels may be impossible to draw, so prominent, selected threads will be compared, leaving final conclusions as an open choice.
As we have seen with the Celtic civilization there is a clear etymological and linguistic connection in terms of a hieratic language that leads as back to the Vedic and old Brahmin civilizations. "The Greek word "hieratic" means "priestly," and was originally used to describe Eqyptian hieroglyphics, a language reserved for spiritual purposes". As I have discussed in yet another post of mine the ancient Egyptian culture was both a huge source of medieval gynocentrism as its proto-culture and specifically in creating and shaping Jewish Monotheism. "Hieratic languages like Hebrew and Sanskrit are seen as "vessels" that protect spiritual concepts. Each letter, each glyphic symbol contains and transmits God-force" – a concept used by Agrippa in his works on the preeminence when applied to God's name by adopting it from the Jewish tradition and blending it with Christian theology on female supremacy as emanating from the Celtic tradition. "Each shape, and what it imparts, connects the immanent world to the transcendant world, and is a path along which humans can share in that connection. This idea evolves in some thought into the idea that simply scanning the letters with the eyes opens the soul to the divine, regardless of comprehension of the meanings". As I said this was basically the theological basis that served Heinrich Cornellius Agrippa who has blended Christian theology especially with the Kaballistic concepts of God's names that not only originated in the older Vedic, Brahman and Yoga traditions but especially that encapsulated a mystic regression within Judaism itself". Additionally, "the term "Veda," in its narrow sense, refers to the four primary brahmanic "Samhitas," the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda. Subsequent writings have been assimilated into the tradition, and "Veda" has become a broader term including a body of literature much larger than the core texts. Similarly, in Judaism, the Torah [Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy], form the primary written law, with later works like the Talmud and Zohar, the main Kabalistic work that was written in Spain during the 11th and has been may be canonized in the 12th up to 13th century forming a vast body of thought that is sometimes referred to broadly as "Torah", the Jewish bible.
Moreover, in both traditions, the primary texts, Torah and Veda, are thought of as entities much greater than simple collections of words. Both are seen as "living bodies" of the Spiritual manifested in the physical world. Both are seen as containing the sum of all knowledge, and capable of infinite exploration and permutation. Both are seen as cosmological principles, as essential, primary components of reality itself. Both are closed canons, while still being seen as filled with endless meaning and sustenance. The import of these texts is often seen to transcend the literal meanings of the words, and where human interpretation begins is where endless questions of authority begin. Both traditions have strong systems of interpretation of sacred texts, and encourage difficult questions and expansion of knowledge. The Talmud is a massive text, lovingly referred to as an "ocean," that records the rabbinical discussions of virtually every letter of the Torah, all in the process of "learning out" meaning from often obscure and contradictory verses, differences in spelling, "back stories" of characters and situations, resulting in a labyrinth of ideas almost fractal in its inexhaustibility. Another fascinating thing about the Talmud is that the participants in the conversations often lived 100s of years apart. Their responses layered in concentric margins on each page, so the discussion is revived and kept going. A familiar complaint about Judaism is that they just "lawyer" their way out of the impossible-to-keep commands in the Torah. This is not just a quip. Talmudic logic has a huge influence on modern legal systems, and informed parsing of language is a highly developed and necessary skill for lawyers and rabbis alike. "A lesson repeated 100 times cannot be compared to a lesson repeated 101 times" Chagigah 9b2 [Talmud]".
Moreover, "Definitions" of "God" are very similar in Judaic and Vedic philosophy! According to the monotheistic and panentheistic theologies of Hinduism, God (the Supreme Being) is, in the highest sense, One: beyond form, infinite, and eternal. God is changeless and is the very source of consciousness. God is beyond time, space, and causation and yet permeates everything and every being. In both tradition God is beyond gender" which means basically that he is androgynous that as we have seen above was the very essence of Agrippa's feminism and misandry as outline in his book on the preeminence and excellence of women (as being superior to men). As we can see both monotheistic paths, Judaism as well as Christianity, incorporate therefore an earlier shared Hindu concept that is based and emanating from religious Indian concepts of divinity and God where "male power is emanating from female divine power and that were adopted in Judaism, Christianity and specifically Agrippa's type of theology and the mystical understanding of God's name. Anyway, In the Hindi tradition "When God is thought of as this infinite principle, God is called Brahman. Brahman is the indescribable, omnipresent, original, inexhaustible, omniscient, first, eternal and absolute principle—the Supreme Cosmic Spirit—who is without a beginning, without an end, who is hidden in all and who is the source, cause, material and effect of all creation known, unknown and yet to happen in the entire universe. Brahman is the Absolute Truth: it is pure existence, consciousness and knowledge. According to the Hindu philosophical school of Advaita Vedanta, nothing in the universe truly exists except Brahman. In Judaism, many of the exact same ideas are invoked in the daily prayer service: God is One, without form, without beginning or end, beyond time and space, the source of life and consciousness, indescribable, inexhaustible, omniscient, omnipresent, original, first, eternal and absolute principle—the ultimate transcendant reality, who is hidden in all and who is the cause, source, material and effect of all creation known, unknown and yet to happen in the entire universe. The Creator is described as: incomparable, without equal, unbounded by time, One, but not in the sense of counting, preceding everything, and knowing of all secrets. In the Zohar, Elijah explains that [God] is "one, but not in the sense of counting." This is mirrored in Vedanta philosophy, in the Sanskrit word "advaita" which means "non-dualism." Both are strategies for reconciling the "Infinite One" with the world's apparent "infinite multiplicity." The idea of God's permeation of every aspect of life is summed up in both religious traditions with similar sayings or mantras: one in Sanskrit is, "Tat twam asi" means "and that, too" - with the idea of mentally acknowledging every thought and event as being part of God. One corollary in Judaism is a saying attributed to "Rabbi Ish Gam Zu": "Gam Zu la Tov" - "and that, too, is for the good."
Another similarity which as I said is of a later development namely the mystical concepts of Devekut and Samadhi. "Vedic and Chassidic which is a later the mystical derivative of Kabbalistic thought share the ideal of "joining" with the Divine, and myriad approaches to this goal have been described, named, and practiced. The Hebrew: "bittul ha yesh," means "nullification of what there is," and is part of "Devekut," or "cleaving" to the creator. This can be compared to the Sanskrit "moksha" meaning "liberation," dissolution of the sense of self as an egoistic personality, which is a precursor to "Samadhi," also called "Nirvana" - total absorption in Cosmic Consciousness. Both traditions prescribe comprehensive systems of blessings, meditations and rituals for keeping the mind in constant focus on the Spiritual World. Both systems also have varying schools of thought concerning "levels" of absorption, the purpose thereof, and ways to achieve it. Another aspect of this unification with the divine is that there is no ulterior motive, not even the motive of some reward at a future time, like the Christian or Islamic ideas of "heaven." In Jewish thought this is called "le shem shamayim," "for the sake of heaven," and in Vedic thought it's called "surrendering the fruits of your actions," or "karma yoga" - the yoga of works. Another similarity is the concept of "Practice." The shared idea is that the poetry-like repetition of sacred texts, ritualized recitation and action, is meant to work on deeper levels than the immediate tangibles. Simply practicing the ethics, the God reminding blessings, the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual cycles harmonises us with natural rhythms, and brings connection and meaning, rootedness. Shared also is the sense of savoring the journey, and the simple repetition, rather than anxiously grasping for some distant Heaven or Hell. With practice, and years, we realize that each new situation is repeating something in our past, and awareness catches us and says: "Pay closer attention this time...". To sum it up on the deeper level what is shared here behind this sophisticated phraseology is the truth of our society's inherent gynocentric nature and the misandry that goes hand in hand with cultural gynocentrism as well as the truth that the spread of gynocentrism equals the human migration from all over the word and the subsequent expansion of religion beginning in the Indian sub-continent and finding its last station in the European west, specifically in classic Gynocenrism and later in Feminism. It is our humanity's shared heritage.
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