Duties of a husband, according to Hindu Philosophy:
A natural quality of a real Hindu is to understand how much his wife is helping him in his devotional service, protecting him from maya. Then there will be true appreciation and gratitude.
If one reads about the lives of great Hindu in the scriptures, one does not find them neglecting their wives. Instead one finds great to be caring and protective husbands while strictly following the principles of God consciousness .
According to Vedic wisdom, a good wife is a great asset for material and spiritual prosperity. The bodily relationship between the husband and the wife is secondary. The primary factor is that both should help one another in the matter of advancement of God consciousness.
As the husband ,one should see that the wife is trained properly in God consciousness.
So the husband should become qualified spiritually and must be properly in God consciousness to be able to guide his wife properly and protect her on the spiritual platform. This is the most important responsibility that a husband has to shoulder.
Protection also entails providing all facilities to one’s wife, which means that she should not have the problem of how and where to get the food, clothes, shelter, maintaining the home and children. The husband must shoulder the burden. The husband must not neglect his duty and provide food, clothes, house, ornaments and other necessities in reasonable quantity.
Providing for the wife and children may involve hardships on the part of the husband and the wife on her part can make it comfortable for the husband by not demanding too much.
The husband should be faithful, devoted and dutiful like Sri Ramchandra. When Lord Ramchandra performed the pastime of searching for Seetadevi, it was not that He was acting like an ordinary person. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He could have generated any number of Seetas from His internal energy. The story of Ravana kidnapping Seeta and Rama going in search of Sita sets an example.
Shastra states that there are two morals to be learnt from this Katha :
(i) Better not to marry because so many hardships and
(ii) If one does marry, one must be a dutiful husband like Lord Ram and take all kind of pains to protect his wife, whatever the hardships. One has to undergo, as Lord Ram is demonstrating, “ek patni vrata”.
A grihastha may tend to develop pride because he is the one who provides for the family, he is the one who protects the wife. The husband has this service of providing for the family but he is not meant to be a dictator. He should not ill-treat his wife, beat her or be insensitive about her feelings. He must ensure that his wife is fully satisfied in the house and is happy in every way. The husband should protect his wife physically, emotionally and spiritually.
A husband has to be especially kind, considerate and loving when his wife is pregnant. While he should create conditions for the wife to hear Srimad Bhagvatam and other scriptures so that the unborn child has the right samskaras, he must extend his full cooperation.
A husband should be especially compassionate and helpful when his wife gives birth to a child and has to pass through the difficult phase of motherhood, which can disturb her physical and mental state and also her devotional service. A husband should rise to the reasonable expectations of his wife and should do his very best to help his wife in every possible way.
Humility, tolerance and understanding are important attributes in performing duties of a husband.