Cow is a sacred animal for Hindus. Cows are depicted in form of Kamadhenu (Holy Cow). The Hindus believe that cows are the only living form which become home for divine spirits (devas). They believe Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva live on earth inside cow. IT IS CONSIDERED A GREAT SIN TO KILL COWS. Many argue they just eat them not kill them. But they forget beef is obtained from the act of slaughtering a cow. Hindus consider those kill cow are Devils. Devils love cow parts especially liver. Those kill cow will get Pitru Dosha and will suffer in hot water pot in hell for centuries.
According to Indologist Madeleine Biardeau, Kamadhenu or Kamaduh is the generic name of the sacred cow, who is regarded as the source of all prosperity in Hinduism. Kamadhenu is regarded as a form of Devi (the Hindu Divine Mother and is closely related to the fertile Mother Earth (Prithvi), who is often described as a cow in Sanskrit. The sacred cow denotes "purity and non-erotic fertility, ... sacrificing and motherly nature, [and] sustenance of human life"
Frederick M. Smith describes Kamadhenu as a "popular and enduring image in Indian art".All the gods are believed to reside in the body of Kamadhenu—the generic cow. Her four legs are the scriptural Vedas; her horns are the triune gods Brahma (tip),Vishnu (middle) and Shiva (base); her eyes are the sun and moon gods, her shoulders the fire-god Agni and the wind-god Vayu and her legs the Himalayas. Kamadhenu is often depicted in this form in poster art.
Another representation of Kamadhenu shows her with the body of a white Zebu cow, crowned woman's head, colourful eagle wings and a peacock's tail. According to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this form is influenced by the iconography of the Islamic Buraq, who is portrayed with a horse's body, wings, and a woman's face. Contemporary poster art also portrays Kamadhenu in this form.
A cow, identified as Kamadhenu, is often depicted accompanying the god Dattatreya. In relation to the deity's iconography, she denotes the Brahminical aspect and Vaishnava connection of the deity contrasting with the accompanying dogs—symbolizing a non-Brahminical aspect. She also symbolizes the Panch Bhuta (the five classical elements) in the icon. Dattatreya is sometimes depicted holding the divine cow in one of his hands.
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| Condemning the consumption of beef, the sacred cow Kamadhenu is depicted as containing various deities within her body. |
| Kamadhenu with a woman's head, eagle wings and peacock's tail |
Moreover, not only cows are sacred in Hinduism; but bulls are also holy as it resembles Lord Shiva's mount Nandi.
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| Lord Shiva and Nandi. |
For eating flesh if you kill, then it is a sin
ReplyDeleteNon-vegetarian food by it self is not a sin since the analysis of it shows that its contents are the same as exist in vegetarian food. The sin comes by killing a co-living being, which does not harm you at all. If you stop taking non-vegetarian food, killing of living beings is proportionally controlled. Do not say that you are not getting sin since you have not killed the living being directly.
Killing is the highest sin, which gives highest pain to the living being. In the next birth, the killed living being will be born as human being, you will be born as the living being and you will be killed similarly by the human being so that your soul will realize the pain and get reformed.
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Correct interpretation of scripture regarding killing of cow
ReplyDeleteIn Pravrutti (worldly living), there was a time when people were killing even the cows for the sake of their daily food. The cow has no specialty and killing of any living being for the sake of food is one and the same sin. The specialty of the cow came due to the additional consideration that it is the mother of bulls, which are used in ploughing the fields for agriculture. It is an additional point to restrict the sin. Now the scripture cannot control the sin totally in the beginning itself. The scripture ordered the people through the statement ‘kill the cow only when the guest comes’. The main important side is to stop killing the cow on everyday for the sake of your food. This statement of the scripture was applicable to the people of old time and the result is to control the killing of cow gradually. After achieving the control of the sin, the scripture stated ‘we will shoot anyone killing the cow on any day’. This second statement is again related to the people of latter age only or even to the people of present age. If we apply the second statement to the old age, it would not be suitable and would contradict the first statement.
Similarly, if you bring the first statement to the middle or to the present age, it will not be suitable and will contradict the second statement. The first and second statements oppose each other and should not be applied to the same age. They are applicable to different ages and should not be mixed together to develop confusion and contradiction leading to hot debate.
You must not kill any living being for the sake of your food.
ReplyDeleteThe killing is the greatest sin
You must not kill any living being for the sake of your food. God has given enough vegetable food that contains all the ingredients present in the non-vegetarian food. After all, the source of ingredients of any flesh is only vegetable kingdom only. Eating the non-vegetarian food is not a sin because same ingredients exist in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. But, you have to kill a living being for the sake of non-vegetarian food. The killing is the greatest sin.
You may argue that you have not killed the living being directly. Such argument cannot stand. Since you are eating the non-vegetarian food, the living being is killed. You are responsible for its killing. Therefore, you are the principle shareholder of the sin. There is nothing wrong if you eat a living being after its natural death. In Hinduism, there is a sect of people called ‘Kapalikas’, who eat the dead living beings. Therefore, they do not acquire sin. The tsunami is always due to anger of God since you are killing the living beings present in water for food. The earthquakes are due to killing of living beings that exist on the earth. God in the form of Buddha and Mahavir preached the non-violence and severely opposed the killing of living beings.
God in some other human forms might have followed the practice of non-vegetarian food in order to join with non-vegetarian people so that, certain other higher aspects to be preached might have been taken into consideration. That does not mean that God has encouraged the killing of living beings through non-vegetarian food. He might have kept silent on this issue in order to give importance to other serious issues. God follows the ignorance of the students in order to become friendly with them. To control a running bull, you have to run along with it for some distance before controlling it.
All these are the basic concepts of nivrutti, which are the core of pravrutti. By following the ethics of pravrutti, you will avoid God becoming furious with you. Then, through nivrutti, you can please God. On one hand, you are making God furious by not following the ethics of pravrutti and how can you please God through nivrutti simultaneously?
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