For years pre-teens and teenagers have raised this question, without getting a satisfactory answer. For years this tradition has been followed in each household without trying to find out the real reason behind the tradition. And when a tradition is misunderstood or not understood, wrong beliefs surrounding a particular tradition come up, which is even worse than not knowing the real reason behind the tradition.
My inquisitiveness regarding this tradition was at its peak when Guidance from my Gurus (yes, this is a combination of inputs from two different Gurus) and some research work led to some very interesting answers.
It is said that the single source, from which the entire universe emerged, divided itself into two parts. Masculine and Feminine. Also known as Yin and Yang energies. The epitome of masculine energies is the Divine Masculine or Shiv tattva, which supported the creation of the universe. The epitome of feminine energies is the Divine Feminine or Shakti, from which the actual creation of universe happened. So, the Divine Feminine or Shakti is a creating force from which the universe was created. All the women are an ansh of this Shakti and hence are the creating power. They have the power to create life, create an ansh of the universe. (though, all women also have an ansh of the masculine energies as well and all men also have an ansh of the feminine energies as well.)
This creative power of a woman peaks during her menstrual cycle, which enables her to give birth to life. During menstrual cycle a woman embodies the Shakti or the Divine Goddess. She is the Goddess herself. Hence, she is capable, at that time of creating life (an ansh of the universe). It is said that because you are the Goddess yourself, at that time, you do not bow down to any other God/Goddess. This is the primary reason for prohibiting any religious activity.
It is said that since at that time you are the Goddess yourself, your power increases tremendously. If you enter the temple, this power will overpower the power of the idol of God/Goddess in the temple and diminish the effect of Pran Pratishtha of the idol. This is the reason for not entering the temple during the menstrual cycle. It has nothing to do with you being impure. It’s just that you are way too powerful!! If periods were impure, birth would be impure. Entire creation would be impure. Are we trying to say that our creator’s (God’s) creation is impure???
During menstrual cycle, why not just going to the temple (where the power of the idol at the temple may be affected), but even other religious/ spiritual activities are prohibited?
The immense Divine Creative Power that enters your body during menstrual cycle, but your body does not utilize for creation of life, needs to be released from the lower half of the body, through the lower chakras. Whenever you participate in religious/ spiritual activity your energies rise higher, towards your higher chakras. So, if you participate in religious/ spiritual activity during periods there will be a clash of energies. The energies which are to be expelled by the body through the lower chakras will instead rise higher and contaminate the higher chakras. Those who are sensitive to energy may experience discomfort in the body and even those who are not sensitive to energy, may not realise, but certain undesirable processes do happen in the body. Hence it is advisable to avoid all religious/ spiritual activity during this time.
Now the question arises that if I am way too powerful at that time then why am I suffering? Why am I tired, fatigued?
Very high amount of Divine Creative Power enters your body at that time. Your body needs strength to be able to handle so much power or energy. (Those on advanced spiritual path know how much strength a body needs to handle higher energies) Hence it is recommended to rest during these days, so your body gets enough strength to handle so much energy. This probably explains the real reason why women in earlier days (and in some households even today) are not allowed to do any household work during these days. It’s just that their body is going through something big and they need rest. And also, as a mark of respect towards the Goddess that has embodied the lady.
Now we come to another question. Why are women usually emotionally vulnerable and explosive at this time?
For so much Divine Creative Power to enter your body, your aura has to open up. It’s like for fresh air and sunlight to enter your house, you have to open up all the windows of the house. But along with fresh air and sunlight, dust and outside noises will also enter the house. Similarly, to welcome the Divine Creative Energies your entire aura is opened up during menstrual cycle. There is no protection to your aura. Hence along with the Divine Creative Energies, you also soak in the negative energies in the environment, hate, jealously, ill feelings of other people etc. very easily at that time. All the negativity in the environment will affect you very easily and intensely at this time, causing emotional vulnerability. And when you cannot handle so much negativity (which no one can) you explode. There are angry bouts, crying spells. These bouts are just body’s way of throwing out this excessive negativity. This is the reason why in earlier days a lady was isolated /restricted to her room during menstrual cycle. It was for her own protection. To protect her from negative energies of the environment and help her to feel calm and relaxed and also to save many unnecessary arguments and disputes which usually happen in the households during this time.
In earlier times women were stopped from standing under a tree or venturing out during night at the time of periods. Again, the reason is the same. For their protection. their aura is completely open. Negative energies, negative entities etc. are active at night, especially near trees and can easily enter a woman’s aura, attach to her aura or possess her. If not attach to or possess her, can cause intense emotional and mental disturbance. (As a modern society, today, we may not believe in negative entities possessing our body. But the fact remains that sometimes when nothing is working and we, as healers, clear negative entities from the aura, then miraculous changes happen. It is also said that very high uncontrollable fever is usually the result of negative entity attachment to the aura. It has been my personal experience that releasing a negative entity attachment to the aura has finally resolved a very long-standing problem.)
In the light of all these pointers it is advisable that women reduce their exposure to outside stimuli, withdraw from the environment as much as possible and get rest during this time. This will help women to handle their periods better. Understanding of what happens during periods will also help family members to support a lady better. And respect the Divine Feminine or the Shakti that embodies her at that time.