Breathe
Hostis humani generis
Yeah, eat it.
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Hindu goat sacrifice sparks riot
- Thread starter Valjean
- Start date
ohhcuppycakee
Active Member
Oh, okay. At least they didn't waste it then.....
Gaura Priya
IRL
I still don't believe in it, but if it brings them closer to their concept of the Divine, why not? 
I still don't believe in it, but if it brings them closer to their concept of the Divine, why not?
Seems like a pretty gross concept to me :cover:
What kind of a God would require live sacrifices; blood and death?
Well... it's in the Vedas.
There are also versus in there that say it's better to not harm anybody including animals and including animals for sacrifice. I'll have to dig up those references again.
nameless
The Creator
which verses ? (except from manusmriti)Well... it's in the Vedas.
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Not the manusmriti, since that's not part of the Vedas.
1. Now the gods, when going upwards, did not know (the way to) the heavenly world, but the horse knew it: when they go upwards with the horse, it is in order to know (the way to) the heavenly world. 'A cloth, an upper cloth, and gold,' this is what they spread out for the horse : thereon they quiet (slay) it, as (is done) for no other victim; and thus they separate it from the other victims.
2. When they quiet a victim they kill it. Whilst it is being quieted, he (the Adhvaryu) offers (three) oblations, with (Vâg. S. XXIII, 18), 'To the breath hail! to the off-breathing hail! to the through-breathing hail!' he thereby lays the vital airs into it, and thus offering is made by him with this victim as a living one .
Shatapatha Brahmana 13:2:8
This is the Ashwamedha Yajna.
Two things occur to me when reading this, and many such verses:
1) How weird and confusing. What in the world does it mean? That gods need to use dead horses to find heavenly planets? Eh?
2) It isn't offering spiritual instructions, but explaining what someone is or has done.
It's instructions on the performance of the Ashwamedha Yagya. That's what the Brahmanas are: instructions on the performance of the Yagyas, and the mythological reasons for their performances.
Divinely inspired or not, this is part of the Vedas.
Gaura Priya
IRL
The whole of Vedic literature are full of things that are not necessarily of pure siddhanta. Because of my bias and my own philosophical filtration system, the Vaishnavism that I believe in goes beyond merely the Vedic literatures. The ultimate goal for us, as in Padma Purana, is smartavya satatam vishnur vismartavyo na jâtuchit, "Always remember Sri Vishnu, and never forget Him." and the recommendations towards Him and prohibitions away from Him all stem from this principle.
Take, for example, the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In traditional Gaudiya siddhanta, the purpose of true spiritual life is bhakti: bhakti as the goal (sambandha), bhakti as the means (abidheya), and bhakti as the fruitive conclusion (prayojana). However, the Bhagavata Purana contains alot of stories which do not give mere bhakti, but some material reward for doing certain actions, ex. if one listens to this pastime and does blahblah vrata, will receive a thousand surabhi cows in eir next life.
This is still limited to artha, kama, dharma and moksha, which are seen as limited. Although they are authoritatively in the Vedic Scriptures, that does not necessarily mean that it is the Ultimate Absolute Truth. The Vedic literatures provide different paths, different means, and different ways to come to the Divine, and thus differ and change according to the soul's desire, tendency, and inclination.
Plus, because the idea of Ashvamedha is old, there seems to be many interpretations of the sacrifice... Purushamedha is considered a metaphor, for example.
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The text of the Purushamedha actually forbids killing the person. ^_^
The first chapters of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describe the symbolism of the Ashwamedha Yagya.
What I have always been told is that the Vedas are heavily symbolic and allegorical and perhaps too complicated to understand without proper spiritual guidance. The Upanishads seem to be a better source for understanding them and the Puranas are difficult to take seriously in all cases as they are not apparently divine inspirations (and in some cases obviously fabricated or corrupt).
Riverwolf, what is your personal view regarding the Vedas?
Riverwolf, what is your personal view regarding the Vedas?
Gaura Priya
IRL
Reminds me of that lovely birthday card I received once depicting ancient ring toss... on human parts. :cover:
I personally believe that the term "Veda" refers to more than just the books themselves, but as for the books, I believe that the Samhitas were originally poems of devotion composed by various wise men from various tribes and kingdoms, describing various Gods. Eventually, these prayers (or at least parts of them) were set to elaborate rituals which were eventually detailed in the Brahmanas. But then the practitioners started to focus so much on the exactness of the ritual, that they forgot the reasons for performing them. So the forest-dwellers wrote down their wisdom in an attempt to remind, or at least record, what they were all about, which led to the Aranyakas and parts of the Upanishads. The rest of the latter contain the wisdom gained through proper concentration and performance of the rituals, and the meditation done by the forest dwellers.
So, for me, the most authoritative parts of the Vedic texts are the Upanishads, since they record the fulfillment of the Yagyas.