Neither Male nor Female

[Vaishakha shudi 1]

These epithets cannot properly be applied to all women, as for instance to women among the Raniparaj or to the women in the west are doing much work that was supposed to be reserved for men. I do not mean that all their activities are worthy of imitation, but they have certainly upset many calculations of mere men. In Burma women manage everything. At the Ashram we are striving for self-realization. The soul is neither male nor female, neither young nor old. These attributes belong to the body alone, as both scripture and experience testify. The soul is the same in both you and me. Therefore who am I to protect you? Only, if I have mastered the art of life, I have to teach it to you.