Are we all not females before God?
Mirabai, the Rajput princess turned devotional poet was always wandering in the company of Sadhus, singing, expressing her yearning for her beloved Krishna.
Once, a great Sannyasi refused to receive her because she was a woman; sensing that, she told the messenger "Tell the master that I did not know there was any Male in the iniverse save God; are we all not females before him?"
(A scriptural conception of God as the only positive creative principle, his creation being naught but passive maya.)
Hearing that, the sannyasi came to receive her, realizing his mistake, he fell to her feet.
Source
- Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 7: The Levitating Saint. A story told by Nagendranath Bhaduri during the satsangs