Lots of things happened
these days kindling some reactions in my mind. The beef controversy was the
worst thing of all that hurt me deeply and made me feel sick that I am
surrounded by a society that has no regard for life - rather any life - be it
the life of a cow or any other animal. Being at the top of the evolutionary
ladder man has a greater responsibility towards all living and non- living
things around him. We are not cave people who were killing other living things
for survival or for food. We have come a long way as thinking beings and it is
utterly barbaric to consider other living things as food for us.
Most disgusting is the
comment by Kamal Hasan that he would rather not bother about life of animals
when it comes to feeding humans. He even declared that he does not eat any
animal that is bigger in size. In an irony of sorts such a person was requested
by Dalai Lama to propagate Ahimsa through his movies and Kamal agreed
to it! Its sends my head veering that barely a couple of days after he
mouthed his noxious support for beef and non vegetarianism, Kamal is expressing
his faith in Ahimsa to Dalai Lama. What is happening to Kamal? Or is there
anything happening to Kamal?
Well, the bottom line is
that I very much wish to surge from my slumber to do something through my blog
to discourage beef eating and even non-vegetarianism. I have a plan to write
the karmic effects of eating beef or meat. But before I could do that, I think
I can just start posting articles that discourage meat and beef eating. Readers
are welcome to send such articles and I will post them.
The other thought that is
disturbing my mind at the moment is the BJP debacle in Bihar that comes with
the start of the 10 year long Moon dasa of India. Are we heading for a troubled
period of sickular forces getting polarized and strengthened? Isn't my old
article on Advani
vs Modi more relevant now than ever before that the current trends are
hurting Sanatan Dharma as seen in callous support for beef eating? The
unjustifiable accusation on tolerance of Hindus is another matter that must be
challenged. I think we bloggers and readers must become active once again on
these issues. Let me see what I can do. If not detailed articles, let me post
short ones or news items to highlight them.
11 comments:
Seeing the strong opinion you have of eating living things for food I would like to know your opinion of the claims, forgive me if i have overlooked a post talking about this, that plant have a life too. How do you square that circle, morally or otherwise. Even links to your other posts talking about this is much appreciated.
A side note, I was wondering if you had written about the short, mid and long term political fate of india and hindu culture in particular as you see it. Thank you for your time.
@ Virtual presence
Plants do have life but we are not killing a plant to get our food. I have added 4 articles of mine as related articles after reading your comment. Please read them. The first one is in Tamil. It tells about the importance and role of plants in genesis of human life by a process that is known as Panchagni Vidya.
That process can be read in English in the 2nd link I have given. That article speaks about how it is wrong to cut a tree even if it is for building a temple. In extreme necessity of cutting a tree for building purposes, prayers are done as a mental connect with the tress to pacify them.
Excerpted from that article:-
//
One may ask whether plucking vegetables and eating them is justified on this principle of respecting life. This can be answered in 2 ways.
One is that Hindu dharma does prohibit killing for food but does not consider vegetarianism as an assault on life. As told above, only those parts of the plant that are detached and do not cause harm to the plants while plucked, are eaten. Formal cultivation for food also was considered a sin.
In Krutha Yuga naturally occurring food in the form of plants were in plenty that there was no need for cultivation. Cultivation required tilling the soil or boring the earth. That causes harm to the creatures on the ground and the land itself. In Krutha Yuga when people did not do these activities, it was said that Dharma was in existent in full strength. With cultivation, dharma suffered a decline. From this, we come to know that the plant life that is consumed is something that is done without harming the life inside it. It is because of this underground tubers were not acceptable to the people of Vedic life because when they are plucked the entire plant is killed.
Another reason is that the human life is formed through a process in which plant life plays an important role.
The birth of human life happens through a process called Panchangni Vidya.
The Jeeva that is preparing itself to be born goes through 5 stages before it is born as a baby.
In the first stage it comes down to earth along with the rain.
It mixes with soil in the 2nd stage.
It enters a plant in the 3rd stage where it gets fixated in a vegetable or a fruit. This is eaten by a man in whom the jeeva gets fixated in his sperm.
The man's body is the 4th stage for the jeeva.
In the 5th stage it enters the womb of the woman.
The entry into this 5th stage is considered as birth.
Thus the very birth of human life is dependent on plant life! The eating of a plant product is inevitable in the process of human birth. However this is being paid back by a daily austerity of watering a plant. One of the 5 compulsory activities for a man in everyday life is to offer food to plants which is nothing but watering a plant and keeping up its life energy.
//
@ Virtual Presence.
//A side note, I was wondering if you had written about the short, mid and long term political fate of india and hindu culture in particular as you see it.//
I have time and again cautioned about the ill effects of Moon Maha dasa for India and Hindu Dharma. Search my blog by typing 'Moon Maha Dasa'.
To sample a few, excerpted from my comment in http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2011/06/from-dooms-day-prediction-to-lunar.html
//
The next dasa of Moon starting from Sep 2015, and lasting for 10 years, will be a time of lot of bickerings both internal and external (border countries will be giving us headache) though, country's development will keep up its promising pace (because of moon in the asterism of saturn which is dharma- karma lord for Taurus lagna of Independent India).
Hindu dharma will never get governmental patronage in India. The lord of Dharma, Jupiter is in the 6th house and that too in mruthyu bhaga in that sign. This means Jupiter is always in a struggle for survival. Jupiter signifies justice system and Hindu dharma. Only in transit, when Jupiter moves in friendly signs and in auspicious angles from the moon sign, can there be some semblance of Justice or a breather for Hindu dharma. It is left to the individuals to uphold Hindu Dharma.//
Excerpted from http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2009/12/andhra-splits-saturn-effect.html
//
Thinking of Indian Independence chart, I used to worry and try to figure out the kind of turmoil the moon maha dasa would bring out once it begins in September 2015.
According to PulippaaNi Jyothisha (Tamil) (Verse 181), if the lgna lord joins the 3rd lord, Saturn and moon in a sign, then the dasa of that sign will be terrible.
In the Indian natal chart Venus, the lagna lord joins moon and Saturn in the 3rd house of Cancer.
The moon maha dasa is going to be bad for the 3rd house significances of siblings, communities and in general, the different people of this country who are supposed to live as siblings.
//
thank you for a quick and detailed response. I had a few follow ups from a dispassionate observer's perspective (though i wholeheartedly believe that the intentions of our ancestors were pure and bonafide) -
1) regarding the theory of the 5 stages of the jeevathma that passes through plants - can this not be seen as a rationalization of the act that people cannot get away from? what i mean is given that we need food for sustenance and plants were the most easily available source, from an outsider looking at this thought process the theory feels like a justification for an unavoidable act. I am just trying to cover all vectors of counters to pro-vegetarian dietary philosophy
2) regarding future of sanathana dharma - though at face value it is a disheartening thought that the birth place of dharma will have no state support, the problem was never state sponsorship. Granted that state patronage would have helped it gain much larger visibility especially in terms of scientific domains like yoga, ayurveda and so on but it was the fact that waves upon waves of invaders and malicious actors within were actively obstructing or worse destroying the religion. As long as we dont give up our traditions and the state/invaders do not get in the way we should be reasonably fine.
From your post -
>>>Thus the very birth of human life is dependent on plant life! The eating of a plant product
is inevitable in the process of human birth. However this is being paid back by a daily austerity of watering a plant. One of the 5 compulsory activities for a man in everyday life is to offer food to plants which is nothing but watering a plant and keeping up its life energy.
Now i understand why my father is so obsessive about his graden and watering plants twice a day :)
@ Virtual Presence.
The 5 stage travel of the Jiva for birth is not a rationalization idea. It was not conceived by ancient rishis as a concept to propagate some idea. It was the idea developed or conceived by rishis or just had sprung from their contemplation on how the jiva takes birth. That idea finds resonance in modern day's experiments on after-life experiences. Many people who have had such experiences have recounted that they were floating with the cloud and were fused with the cloud. That is the first stage of Panchangni vidya with which the Jiva gets connected. Cloud is an agni because of the water content in it. Water is considered as agni as it is capable of dousing fire - therefore it is said to absorb heat. This idea is given in an Upanishad. The Jiva that decides to take birth at first fuses with the cloud and comes down as rain. The after-life recallers could not remember what happened after mixing with the could. A kind of trance sets in once the process of descent begins.
Plants were the easily available food, but early man had difficulty in identifying the edible plants in all seasons. In the absence of cultivation and changing seasons and also hostile surroundings of having to share the environment with fierce animals, he was more inclined to kill animals and and eat them as easy way out to satiate his hunger. We have come a long way from that, haven't we?
2. I beg to differ from you. State patronage was there in Bharat as a whole including Tamil lands. There are numerous verses in sangam texts to show that. Without state patronage most temples that we see in Tamilnadu would not have come up in grandeur. They would have otherwise stood mutely under a tree or a thatched hut. Moreover numerous temple inscriptions on grants to temples never fail to make a remark that those who spoil the grants or misuse the grants or temple properties made out of those grants shall be doomed to worst consequences similar to the ones suffered by those who kill cows!The worst ever crime is to kill a cow. The sangam poets shuddered to even say "killing a cow". Rather they would say, "aanin mulai arutthu" (cutting of the milk teats).
Waves of invaders did rattle our society, but even then people did not give up tradition and our dharma. The worst kind of deterioration started only after Independence. The far worse kind of deterioration had happened in the last few months. What a shame that human beasts are hosting beef parties to assert their right to eat! Should hapless cows become victims in this cross fire? Don't they have their rights to life? Is the right to eat of the human animals far greater than the right to live of those hapless animals? I heard that cow protection is ensured in the Constitution. Why no one in the know of law did anything about it?
Spell-check :- read cloud and not could.
//The after-life recallers could not remember what happened after mixing with the could.//
>>>he was more inclined to kill animals and and eat them as easy way out to satiate his hunger. We have come a long way from that, haven't we?
indeed we have come a long way and our own physiology may be better suited to a vegetarian diet. But it is difficult to argue against, due to lack of data of course, the claim that it was because humans ate the protein and fat rich meat that they were able to evolve to a stage where they had an option of a vegetarian diet.
regarding state patronage, i concede that there were kings who donated and encouraged the practice of sanathana dharma but dont you think this practice of state support has been so bastardized in the present where we now have the church as the 2nd largest land owner in india? I would much prefer a state which stays COMPLETELY out of any religion and the citizens take up the responsibility of contributing, in their own capacity, to forward our dharma. If we keep working toward gaining support that most likely wont materialize we will be expending resources in futility.
>>>Should hapless cows become victims in this cross fire?
though i completely agree with your point, legally speaking no rights are recognized for animals (mostly) in the constitution. so this is basically a clash between provocateurs/sadists and the docile/subjugated hindu
>>>Why no one in the know of law did anything about it?
This was what horrifies me the most. It is disheartening that out a country of a billion people there isn't a single noteworthy platform of a legal group that looks out for, pro bono or not, the hindu community. Are we that subjugated that we wont even fight for ourselves in our own country? Be it the atrocious communal violence bill or the outrageous order of the karnataka gov regarding appropriation of temple management or even the most recent deepavali crackers incident where a private company had to argue against a petition infringing upon the religious rights of the people, the story is the same, haters petition to ban another specific aspect of our religion and people outrage on social media but legally get screwed.
by the way, thank you for taking the time to respond to my queries
@ Virtual Presence,
Sharing my views on the points you have written:-
# There is data available which I will be serializing and posting here. On fat or protein - these are all ideas invented by beef and meat industry people. We get enough nutrients from veg diet. Historically speaking, vegetarianism came up with man becoming a thinking person and cultivation. Refer my article on dairy products offered by stonehenge people (http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2015/10/only-dairy-products-for-gods-offered-by.html).Even they had respected life when it came to make offerings to God who is supposed to be the protector of all life and is embodied in all forms of life.
# It is true that State patronage is not possible in the modern world. But just for that, the advanced democracy like the US did not give up Christianity as its defacto state religion. I find the number boards in the cars in the US the wording "In God we trust" - the wordings that you find in the stickers of missionary Christians in Tamilnadu. Like the US, can the Indian state give number boards saying"Shivaya Namaha" and such other wordings to the Indian vehicle users?
# I heard that cow protection is there in the Constitution. There are rights for dogs. We know very well that dogs are protected. It is illegal to kill stray dogs. They are captured, sterilised and let off in the same locality from where they are caught. We respect dog's right to life but not respect the rights of other animals that are eaten. Here too I find a western influence. People in the West treat dogs more dearer than their own kids (at times). Their love for dogs have found a resonance in our laws to protect dogs. But cows and other animals are filling their taste buds. So here too people are copying the Western habits!
# Leave out religious view. Why people had not taken up the task of speaking from ethical point of view against meat and beef? We don't need a religion or politicians or religious heads to speak against it. Which region is there behind compassion to dogs? Why that compassion is missing for other animals. Is it because those people (who can write or blog or spread message in the social media) are also meat or beef eaters?
Dear Madam,
Dalai Lama's comments on Bihar elections proves who he is!
India had spoilt relationship with China because of this Fake Guru!
Regards
Sheela
Dear Ms Sheela,
The Dalai Lama should not have spoken like that. I think he is ill-informed of the events and is misguided. His talk with Kamal Hasan also showed that he is NOT speaking from his own understanding of people or developments. He is at best good at religious teachings and can as well confine himself to religious talks. I don't think he is fake. He is perhaps trying to sound contemporary and is depending on some helper whose intentions and knowledge may well be under suspect.
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