[Advaita-l] Animal sacrifice in yagnas

[Prasad Ramamurthy Kadambi]

Namaste,

On 5/9/06, Neelakanta, Nataraja <nataraja.neelakanta at sap.com> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> Now my question : Are there provisions for not doing animal sacrifice ?
> There are some references in Mahabharata, wherein, Lord Yama says 'I
> have made one person to perform yagna with pistapashu
> (purodaasha),(pistapashu means animal kind of doll made out of dough).
> And this is what is very auspicious'.



See even Acharya Madhwa was against using animals in the sacrifice. I too
accept his views but Madhwa gave an alternative . He  said that  make  the
shapes of animal  in dough and then  do the  prANa  prathishtapana.  Here
I'm not able to  distinguish the two  because  by doing prANa
prathishtapana the animal shaped dough is animal only. I hope this is
accepted too.

   But, the main problem lies here : Whenever there is conflict between the

> Shruti and Smruti, you should override Smruti to consider Shruti. So, in
> such a case, animal sacrifice will become a must while performing
> yagnas.


Exactly, when there is a conflict between Smriti and Shrithi as you have
said Shruthi is to be heard.

Does anyone have any reference from Shruti, where in, it says there is a
> provision for not doing animal sacrifice ?
>
>
*Sorry* I'm not aware of it. I too have only heard that animal sacrifice is
vyarjya in Kali's yuga.
I think the Kalpa the manual of rituals is to be read :), not sure

Regards

Prasad Kadambi

--
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