Is there hope for women to achieve enlightenment?

Beloved Osho, there have been very few enlightened women in the world, and none that I know of in this century. Is there hope for us women?

It is not hard -- but man has not allowed it. Man suffers from a deep inferiority complex, and to keep it repressed he keeps the woman in every possible way inferior to himself; otherwise if she is allowed freedom, allowed all her talents, her genius, the great fear of man is that she can prove superior in many dimensions. And she has many things which man is missing. Naturally the only simple way was to cut all possible ways in which the woman could grow. So all women have been left retarded. Their roots have been cut: don't give education to them, don't let them have the freedom of movement in society, don't let them have friends from the other sex. And for thousands of years it has been going on. Naturally if a woman cannot become a scientist, if a woman cannot become a poet, if a woman…

Beloved Osho, I hear you, your loving compassion for me as a woman, behind your words, which sometimes jar me. And I also feel that my very woman-ness is the main barrier to my ever experiencing the bliss of enlightenment, because all of the enlightened beings you ever talk about are men, and because your own experiences are as a male. Please share with me what you can about how enlightenment is for me as a woman.

History is recorded by men, and women are not interested in recording things. They are more interested in experiencing and living them: that is one thing. The second thing is that a woman finds it very easy to become a disciple, very easy to become a disciple, because she is receptive. For a man, it is difficult to become a disciple because he has to surrender, and that is the trouble. He can fight but he cannot surrender. So when it comes to disciplehood, women are perfect. But just the opposite happens when you have to become a Master. A male can easily become a Master. A woman finds it very difficult to become a Master, because to become a Master you have to be really aggressive. You have to go out and destroy others' structures. You have to be almost violent; you have to kill your disciples. You have…

Beloved Osho, whenever I hear or read about meera, the enlightened princess, who gave up her palace to devote her life to the beloved, dancing wildly in the streets, my heart is full of joy. Also, I notice that only very few enlightened women are known to us. Beloved master, would you like to talk about women's enlightenment?

But still Christianity has not given any recognition, any respect, even to Jesus' mother. But Christianity is not at fault -- even Jesus himself was not respectful. One day he was speaking in a marketplace, a small crowd surrounding him, and his mother, who had not seen him for years, came to see him. And somebody shouted to Jesus, "Your mother is standing outside the crowd. She wants to see you." And Jesus misbehaved. He said, "Tell that woman...." Now, it is ugly. He could not even call her "mother." "Tell that woman that I don't have any mother, I don't have any father here on the earth. My father is in heaven." The same is true about other religions. Man has been preventing women from any spiritual growth. It is a miracle that even in spite of all this suppression and slavery a few women became enlightened. They are…

Beloved master, theoretically speaking, enlightenment and women are just great. But what about practically speaking?

Hamish rushes into the shack and cries out, "Have you got any vaseline?" Hearing this, Bruce jumps up and yells, "Okay, okay! I will do the dishes!" Paddy and Sean are deep in the mountains on a hunting trip, when they stop to rest. Paddy gazes at Sean and says, "You know, I'm a pretty big fellow. If I had a heart attack or broke a leg, how would you get me out?" "Don't worry," replies Sean. "Last year I shot a sixteen-hundred-pound elk, way back in the hills, and got it out all right." "How did you manage that?" asks Paddy. "Simple," says Sean, "it took me twelve trips." Paddy goes to the horse races in Dublin. In the evening, he walks into a pub and orders a large brandy for himself and drinks for everyone in the bar. "And have one yourself," he tells the bartender, generously. Half…

Why is it that we hear of fewer enlightened women than men?

So Digamberas are right. Swethamberas go on saying that she was a woman: they are more realistic but not right, more factual but not more right. They relayed just a fact, and sometimes facts are not real. Sometimes facts are very fictitious; and sometimes facts can lie so much that fictions will feel ashamed. This is a fact -- that this Mallibai was a woman -- but this is not reality. Digamberas have the right source. They have forgotten about the fact that she was a woman; they have taken her as man. Her whole being must have been manly. Rarely it happens. In politics, in religion, whenever a woman succeeds she is more manly than feminine. A Lakshmibai or a Joan of Arc, they don't look feminine. Just the body, the outer garb is feminine. Inside is a man. That's why they are not known much, because unless you…