A chaste woman must dress nicely and decorate herself with golden ornaments
for the pleasure of her husband.
~Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.11.26
One of the
many ways a chaste wife can serve and please her devotee husband is to present
herself attractively to her husband by dressing nicely and decorating
herself with golden ornaments.
In his conversations with Maharaja Yudhisthira, Narada Muni tells the king, "A chaste woman must dress nicely and decorate herself with golden ornaments..." Why? "...for the pleasure of her husband." Plain, simple and straightforward, this instruction is one of many for how wives can help keep their marriages together and happy. Happy, harmonious marriages are the building blocks of a happy, harmonious human society. Smooth-running marriages help keep human society running smoothly. In order for human society to run smoothly, the relationships between husbands and wives have to run smoothly. Thus, Narada Muni gives instructions to be followed by all members of society, including the womenfolk. In Vedic society, the quality of chastity is highly valued. The instructions given for women by Narada Muni to King Yudhisthira, therefore, are for all women who want to be chaste wives.
Why should a woman try to please her husband? Because for a chaste woman, her husband is the representative of the Supreme Lord. He is her protector, provider, teacher and friend. Every blessing a wife enjoys comes from Lord Krsna through her husband. Because her husband is the manifestation of the mercy of the Supreme Lord in the life of a woman, she naturally should try to please him in all respects. By serving her husband nicely, a chaste wife serves Krsna. By pleasing her husband, she pleases Krsna.
In his conversations with Maharaja Yudhisthira, Narada Muni tells the king, "A chaste woman must dress nicely and decorate herself with golden ornaments..." Why? "...for the pleasure of her husband." Plain, simple and straightforward, this instruction is one of many for how wives can help keep their marriages together and happy. Happy, harmonious marriages are the building blocks of a happy, harmonious human society. Smooth-running marriages help keep human society running smoothly. In order for human society to run smoothly, the relationships between husbands and wives have to run smoothly. Thus, Narada Muni gives instructions to be followed by all members of society, including the womenfolk. In Vedic society, the quality of chastity is highly valued. The instructions given for women by Narada Muni to King Yudhisthira, therefore, are for all women who want to be chaste wives.
Why should a woman try to please her husband? Because for a chaste woman, her husband is the representative of the Supreme Lord. He is her protector, provider, teacher and friend. Every blessing a wife enjoys comes from Lord Krsna through her husband. Because her husband is the manifestation of the mercy of the Supreme Lord in the life of a woman, she naturally should try to please him in all respects. By serving her husband nicely, a chaste wife serves Krsna. By pleasing her husband, she pleases Krsna.
It's not unusual that a woman wants to dress nicely and look pretty. It is a natural inclination of the fair sex to want to look beautiful. "By nature the females, they are by nature apt to dress attractively." (Bg Lecture, Bombay, October 14, 1973) And why do females try to present themselves attractively? Because they want shelter. "A woman is naturally, her psychology is dress very nicely so that man may be attracted. Because they want shelter." (Room conversation, Vrndavana, September 6, 1976) If we women take an honest look deep inside ourselves, we will see that it's true. We want shelter. We generally look to men for that shelter. We have an innate, almost unconscious sense that men are attracted by beauty, and that with their strong arms they can shelter us and protect us, so we try to look as beautiful as possible so as to attract a man to want to give us shelter. That is the natural psychology of a soul in a female body. When she is sheltered nicely, she is happy, carefree, and able to perform at her very best.
It is natural for women to want shelter and to try to attract men to provide that shelter for them. It is also natural for men to want to protect and shelter women. But sometimes after the wedding and honeymoon are over and we start to see faults in our husband, or we tend to slide into a complacent mode--to "let our hair down" a little--we may lose the verve that we once had for making ourselves look pretty for him. We may put on a little weight, or neglect to put on our make-up or fix our hair as nicely as we could. When it comes to deciding what clothes to wear on a certain day, depending on our mood, we may put on something comfy just because it's comfy, regardless of whether it looks attractive on us or not, and regardless of whether our husband likes it or not.
It's important that a wife try her best to remain attractive to her husband for their whole married life. Otherwise, he may lose interest, as men are visually inspired. Granted, it is easier to just chop off your hair, leave your bed-head as it is, or throw your uncombed hair into a messy pony-tail, wash your face, brush your teeth, skip your shower and climb into a loose-fitting muu-muu in the morning, but how can we expect our husband to be attracted to us when we look like that? Sure, it's convenient to neglect our bath, our hair, our faces and our clothing. It takes time and effort to be clean and to look good. But if we understand that our husbands are visually inspired and that they need continued inspiration in order to continue to perform enthusiastically in the service they've been given by Lord Krsna--the service of sheltering us--it behooves us to do our part by looking pretty for them. It's a little austerity that we wives can do for our husbands. It gives them energy and inspiration, and by serving our husbands in this simple way, we please Lord Sri Krsna.
When a Krsna conscious man and his Krsna conscious wife serve each other with enthusiasm in Krsna consciousness, the material inclinations of each will gradually be purified and the way will be made clear for both of them to eventually go back home, back to Godhead, to ultimately break free from the cycle of repeated birth and death. Dressing nicely for our husbands is just one small sacrifice we ladies can make to help our husbands remain encouraged on their spiritual paths. As our husbands progress spiritually, we also progress spiritually. The wife automatically benefits from the husband's spiritual progress.
It's important that a wife try her best to remain attractive to her husband for their whole married life. Otherwise, he may lose interest, as men are visually inspired. Granted, it is easier to just chop off your hair, leave your bed-head as it is, or throw your uncombed hair into a messy pony-tail, wash your face, brush your teeth, skip your shower and climb into a loose-fitting muu-muu in the morning, but how can we expect our husband to be attracted to us when we look like that? Sure, it's convenient to neglect our bath, our hair, our faces and our clothing. It takes time and effort to be clean and to look good. But if we understand that our husbands are visually inspired and that they need continued inspiration in order to continue to perform enthusiastically in the service they've been given by Lord Krsna--the service of sheltering us--it behooves us to do our part by looking pretty for them. It's a little austerity that we wives can do for our husbands. It gives them energy and inspiration, and by serving our husbands in this simple way, we please Lord Sri Krsna.
When a Krsna conscious man and his Krsna conscious wife serve each other with enthusiasm in Krsna consciousness, the material inclinations of each will gradually be purified and the way will be made clear for both of them to eventually go back home, back to Godhead, to ultimately break free from the cycle of repeated birth and death. Dressing nicely for our husbands is just one small sacrifice we ladies can make to help our husbands remain encouraged on their spiritual paths. As our husbands progress spiritually, we also progress spiritually. The wife automatically benefits from the husband's spiritual progress.
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