[Advaita-l] vedic yajna

[Kalyan K]

Namaste Bhaskar-ji,


(Re-posting this message in a more readable form, with due apologies
to the moderator).

 >I have neither patience nor interest to know >the credentials of this quote


Bhaskar-ji, why even post this if you have neither the patience nor
the interest? Just to make some point? Sorry to say this Bhaskar-ji,
but I think you should at least take some time and trouble to verify
the preliminary authenticity (need not be exact, some basic level of
authenticity is sufficient) before posting this. One of your quotes is
completely wrong and such quotes only serve to throw the other members
off the mark. You will be doing great dis-servce by posting such
bogus-quotes.


Having said this, I will not deal with the smriti quotes since we
treat sruti as primary and any smriti that contradicts sruti is not
considered. I will deal with the Rig Veda quotes here (mainly because
most of my own arguments are based on Rig Veda).

>Rigveda (6/17/1) states that “Indra used to eat the meat of cow, calf, >horse and buffalo.”

Oh Really! Which Rig Veda are we talking of? Here is the translation
of the “actual” RV 6.17.1

Let us see what our Indra does here -

Translated by Wilson (in the context of sAyaNa bhAshya)-

(Diety is Indra, Rishi is BharadwAja, metre is Trishtubh)
“Fierce Indra, glorified by us, drink that Soma, (animated) by which
thou hast discovered the vast herd of cattle (stolen by the paNis),
and, overcomer of enemies, wielder of the thunderbolt, thou hast
slain, by thy strength all opposing foes.”

Here is the translation of Ralph Griffith for cross-reference -
“DRINK Soma, Mighty One, for which, when lauded, thou breakest through
the cattle-stall, O Indra;
Thou who, O Bold One, armed with thunder smotest Vṛtra with might, and
every hostile being.”

I am still struggling to understand where the question of eating
cow,calf, horse, buffalo (and did you forget any other animal
Bhaskar-i?) comes here. Far from eating them, Indra seems to be
protecting the cattle here.


>Rigveda (10/85/13) declares, “On the occasion of a girl’s marriage oxen >and cows are slaughtered.”

RV 10.85.13 translated by Wilson (in the context of sAyaNa bhAshya)-

(sAyaNa mentions that the Rishi is sUryA, daughter of savitri. Also,
the marriage of sUryA is the subject of this sloka)
sUryA's bridal procession which savitri despatched has advanced; the
oxen are whipped along in the MaghA (constellations); she is borne (to
her husband's home) in the arjunI (constellations)

Ralph Griffith gives a slightly different one -
“The bridal pomp of Sūrya, which Savitar started, moved along.
In Magha days are oxen slain, in Arjuris they wed the bride”

But the context shows that Wilson is probably right. This verse seems
to be describing the marriage procession that starts in the month of
magha (when the oxen that carry the procession are first whipped (not
killed), indicating that the procession has started), with the bride
reaching her husband's home in the month of arjuni (phalguna, the
month after magha). To suddenly bring in the killing of oxen (leave
alone cows) is completely meaningless. Also, please note that Wilson's
translation is in the context of sAyaNa bhAshya and is bound to be
more true to the traditional meaning

Now that your quotes from the Rig Veda are shown as completely bogus,
I need some more time to check the other sruti quotes of yours. Yes,
one thing that I agree with is about the BU statement and Sankara's
bhAshya on it. However, that does not apply to cows, so please do not
use it to justify cow-slaughter.

RegardsKalyan