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

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

A general comment on sacrifices. Animal sacrifices are indeed
advocated in some yajnas and are even compulsory in some cases. This
is beyond any debate. Even advocates of not using animals mention only
kali yuga as an excuse, and do not refute the actual fact of using
animals in yajnas. In the smaartha tradition, this is not considered
to be a valid excuse. What is said in the Mahabharata may not have a
general application. It may be the view of a particular person merely
recorded by vyaasa, and not his own view on the matter. In any case,
it goes against all other shruti and smR^iti that it's very likely
that vyAsa was merely recording the view of some person.

What is dharmic or not is known from the vedas, not from anyones likes
and dis-likes, or stray quotations from smR^iti. If any one feels
squeamish about animal sacrifice, he/she should not participate in it.
Why enact laws against it? This is an actual problem faced by the
pundits who still perform sacrifices.

Rama