Woman

What is meant by ‘woman’ when Shri Ramakrishna says, “Souls enmeshed in worldliness cannot resist the temptation of ‘woman and gold’ and direct their minds to God, even though these things bring upon them a thousand humiliations.”?

Thanks for this very pertinent question…

Woman and Gold is a phrase which keeps on occuring in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna almost page after page after page.

There are every chances that women might feel offended by this phrase when they read the Gospel. There have been instances of women actually feeling offended initially on seeing this phrase woman and gold.

It may set especially women wondering whether Sri Ramakrishna was some sort of a male maniac. But the truth is far far from this.

Sri Ramakrishna was neither a male maniac nor a woman hater.

He accepted a woman, Bhairavi Brahmani as his Guru during his Tantra Sadhana.

By worshipping his wife Sarada Devi on the Phalaharini Kali Puja night, Sri Ramakrishna paid the greatest of tributes to womenkind.

Sri Ramakrishna performing the Shodasha upachara Puja (worship with 16 items) of Sri Sarada Devi

And what to speak of his attitude of regarding every woman, including prostitutes, as veritable embodiments of the Divine Mother of the universe and also behaving with them as such!!!

The original phrase in Bengali is Kamini aar Kanchan and when translated in English becomes woman and gold.

By these two words, “woman" and “gold", Sri Ramakrishna only meant “lust” and “greed" respectively, the two chief impediments to spiritual life. This was the phrase Sri Ramakrishna used when he was addressing the male devotees. While addressing women devotees, he would use the phrase man and gold, again in the sense of lust and greed only.

In the words quoted in the present question, the word woman means lust and nothing else. Throughout the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, wherever the phrase woman and gold is used, it is to be understood to mean lust and greed only!