Animal Sacrifices (was Re: [Advaita-l] Web-sites related to advaita)

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- Navin Rajaram <navinr at moschip.com> wrote:

> Hari Om,
> 
> S Jayanarayanan wrote:
> 
> >"Animal Sacrifice in the Age of Kali"
> >
> >"An argument runs thus: In the eons gone by mankind possessed high
> >ideals and noble character. Men could sacrifice animals for the
> >well-being of the world because they had great affection in their
> >hearts and were selfless. They offered even cows and horses in
> >sacrifice and had meat for sraddha...In our own Kali age we do not
> have
> >such men who are desireless in their actions, who can subdue their
> >minds and give up all works to become ascetics and who will remain
> >chaste at heart even in the company of women. So it is contended
> that
> >the following are to be eschewed in the Kali age: horse and cow
> >sacrifices, meat in the sraddha ceremony, sannyasa, begetting a son
> by
> >the husband's brother."
> >
> Kartik,thank you for the kamakoti link. Some of my readings and 
> discussions on this topic of vegetarianism tell me that since
> Brahmanas 
> were entrusted with imparting and seeking spiritual knowledge, their 
> food intake needed to desist from consuming foods of the 
> Tamasik/Rajasvik nature. Not just meat, but vegetarian items of this 
> nature were avoided in an effort to maintain balance.
> 

It's a given that meat eaten as prasAdam (by a BrAhmaNa or anyone else)
after performing an animal sacrifice following the correct Vedic
procedure is sAttvic. 

I was only arguing that a "minority view" exists within the Vedic
tradition itself regarding (non)performance of animal sacrifices.

-Kartik


		
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