Twenty Five Duties a Soul Embodied as a Man Should Fulfill

A soul has no gender and possesses two main desires:  to love and to evolve. If the desire to love prevails, the soul gets a female body, and if the longing for evolution is bigger, it is embodied as a man. (See also Twenty Five Duties of a Woman).

The fastest way for liberation from the cycle of births and deaths for a man is to be a monk. In the age of Kali, however, only very few persons are free from the interest in the opposite sex (See Kali Yuga – Age of Quarrel). If a man is not able to lead a serene life without a woman he has to accept the responsibility for one woman and live as a married head of a household. Both paths are equally valued in respect to spiritual progress if one is following his Dharma (mission in a concrete embodiment).

Here are the duties a man should fulfill when living as a householder (in grihastha ashram).

• Be a leader in the man-woman relationship.
• Establish the outer connections of the family.
• Expand the family space, build a home.
• Provide money.
• Define his inborn nature as one of the following: an intellectual, leader, merchant, or worker (See Vedic Varnas)
• Find an occupation according to this nature.
• Allow his wife to inspire him.
• Always keep his word.
• Respect and honor his wife.
• Protect his wife.
• Unconditionally accept his wife as a whole and not criticize her.
• Not talk over his wife with others.
• Be responsible for spiritual growth in the family.
• Be responsible for high morality of the family.
• Be responsible for physical education in the family.
• Be at the head in upbringing of children.
• Set up the principles of the family life and its goals.
• Establish the spheres of influence in the family distinguishing the wife’s and husband’s responsibilities.
• Be an earnest person.
• Be respected in the society.
• Understand the changeable nature of woman.
• Give his wife jewelry, fancy clothes, and sweets.
• Love his wife and make her feel it.
• Eat grains.
• Treat his wife’s parents and other relatives even more respectfully than his own.

TODAY’S TIP: Other than his wife representatives of the opposite sex should be seen as daughters (if younger than a man) or mothers (if older) and accordingly treated.