The answer is simple and obvious. The women in towns have to lead an unnatural life. Their food, their costume, their mode of life, in general, offend against the natural laws of healthy living. Further, besides becoming pregnant at a premature age, they are the sad victims of men’s lust even after pregnancy, as well as immediately after child-birth, so that conception again takes place at too short an interval. This is the state of utter misery and wretchedness in which lakhs of our young girls and women find themselves in our country to-day. To my mind, life under such conditions is little removed from the tortures of hell. So long as men continue to behave so monstrously, there can be no hope of happiness for our women. Many men put the blame on the women’s shoulders; but it is none of our business here to weigh the relative guilt of man and woman in this matter. We are only concerned to recognise the existence of the evil, and to point out its cure. Let all married people realise, once for all, that, so long as sexual [Pg 119] enjoyment at a premature age, as well as during pregnancy and soon after child-birth, does not cease to exist in our land, an easy and painless child-birth must remain a wild dream. Women silently endure the pangs of child-birth, as well as the subsequent period of confinement, under the wrong notion that they are inevitable, but they fail to see how their own ignorance and weakness of will make their children grow weaker and droop from day to day. It is the clear duty of every man and woman to try to avert this calamity at any cost. If even a single man and woman should do their duty in this matter, to that extent it would mean the elevation of the world. And this is clearly a matter in which no man need or should wait for another’s example. It follows, then, that the very first duty of the husband is wholly to abstain from all sexual intercourse with the wife from the moment of conception. And great is the responsibility that rests on the wife during the nine months that follow. She should be made to realise that the character of the child to be born will depend entirely on her life and conduct during this sacred period. If she fills her mind with love for all things that are good and noble, the child will also manifest the same disposition; if, on the other hand, she gives way to anger and other [Pg 120] evil passions, her child will necessarily inherit the same. Hence in these nine months, she should engage herself constantly in good works, free her mind from all fear and worry, give no room for any evil thoughts or feelings, keep out all untruth from her life, and waste not a moment in idle talk or deed. The child that is born of such a mother,—how can it help being noble and strong?