??By Nayan Mitra
Historic Moment for Sanathana Dharma. By the time you read this journal, history will be made in India, and in our Sanathana Dharma. Sri Sri MahaMandleshwar Maa Yoga Shakti is expected to confer the title of Parvatyacharya to our GuruMaa, Sri Sri MahaMandleshwar GuruMaa Jyotishanand Saraswati.

The title will be conferred upon Her at the Conference of Scholars, Saints and Sages which will take place at Sri Ma Yogashakti Divyadham Trust at Haridwar in the State of Uttara Khand between January 11th and 15th. The President Of India is expected to attend this historic occasion. GuruMaa will be the first woman in the entire history of our ancient land to be conferred this title, which is equal to that of Sankaracharya.
The award of Parvatyacharya was declared in the 1998 Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. However, there was widespread opposition in India. GuruMaa then said that She was not interested in the title anymore to stop to controversy. She is willing to accept it now only because one more glass ceiling will be broken in India and the status of women in India will be elevated further, and forever!
Our Sanathana Dharma places Women at a very high level - even higher than Man. ‘Maa’ is highly respected in our scriptures. For every Shiva, we have Shakti. We worship Sita-Ram, Radha-Krishna, Laxmi-Narayana – where Mataji’s name always comes before the name of Man. Both men and women have unique duties and responsibilities because the way nature has created them, but that does not make them any less or more than each other. However, history and conquests by invaders forced some cultural changes which remain permanently etched in our national life. We have the terrible evils of dowry, Sati, bride-burning, female feticide, and other evil practices, which have been impossible to eradicate. India is indeed a land of paradox.
India has had a woman Prime Minister, earlier than most Western nations. We have a woman President now. We have a woman astronaut. We have a space-walker. We have a woman of Indian origin as the CEO of a Fortune 100 company. Most families celebrate when a girl is born as it signifies the arrival of Laxmiji in their house. And yet, we still have these evil practices in our society.
GuruMaa is a shining example, a great spiritual leader and role-model to help us take a few steps ahead in eradicating the inferior status of women in our society. Her life has been a great example of a woman who pursued Her spiritual goal despite being born in wealth and married into a conservative, wealthy family. She had the higher calling, and went after it. She arrived alone in US almost 30 years ago with less than $30 and has single-handedly built a great Ashram in Long Island, and centers all over US. When most people think of retiring, She developed even a bigger dream for an Ashram in Lonavala and is in process of implementing Her vision. When She was staring at death, when most people would have given up, She fought and won. She did not care for title or the hierarchical order in the organization of Sanathana Dharma. She even dropped the title of MahaMandleshwar after the controversy. She challenged all the leaders when She was selected for this great post, and then very easily, walked away from it a decade ago. She is the first individual in over three thousand years to write a Purana, and that to on Hanumanji! She was born in a Jain family, and become a Sanyasin in Sanathana Dharma.
As Her disciple/son, as a trustee of Vedic Heritage Inc., as a father of a girl and as a Sanathani, I am very, very proud of this historic moment. We are indeed very lucky to know Her and to be blessed by Her. I have seen the miracles in my life. She is the most qualified person in the world to be the FIRST PARVATYACHARYA in the entire history of Santhana Dharma. Please join me in congratulating GuruMaa, and in celebrating this historic event. Jai Sri Hanuman!