No violence against animal in hinduism
No violence against animal in hinduism
The Vedas - the foundation of Hinduism, rather the first source of knowledge on earth - was gifted to humans as a guide to living a better civilized life. In this modern era, verse of these sacred texts is often misinterpreted to disgrace Hinduism. For example, some of texts are mistranslated to show that Hinduism sanctions killing and eating of animals. So, the correct translation of these sacred texts is very important in convincing poor, illiterate and pleasure minded Indians who give up their faith & ancient beliefs on the grounds that Vedas-(The source of Hinduism) contains verses against inhuman elements like meat-eating, beef eating, denigration of women, polygamy, castes.
I have already written many articles on caste system to show the correct interpretation of Vedas. As for now, Keeping subjects of women denigration aside (to be posted later), I would focused totally on this topic (No violence against animals in Hinduism).
Vedas doesn’t sanction animal sacrifice and the sacrifice rituals followed in yajnas are because of the wrong learning of Brahmins or by Hindus who follow their own way of appeasing demigods(By sacrifice) instead of appeasing supreme god by the path laid out in the Vedas.
Even some of the Indian religious scholars (Not a Sanskrit scholar) have innocently regarded the mistranslated vedic verse as true and wrongly claims such mistranslated verses in their religious gathering (satsang). Indian scholar acclaiming that the Vedas permit cow slaughter and beef-eating is the striking blow to all hindus belief and can easily questions the sanctity & religious belief of treating cow as sacred. Respect for cow is a fundamental belief of Hinduism. So, if any religious leader (Usually of other faith) questions the core belief of Hinduism by depicting flaws through mistranslated verses than, very easily, many Hindus would stop believing in Hinduism belief thus leading to conversion to other religions.
Cow Worship in Hinduism because Cows are treated as second mother in Hinduism besides many other reasons
Because of lack of knowledge about ancient scriptures, many Hindus are not able to counter argue against such false religious fanatics and quite easily accept their false evidences as true. Even the Indian religious scholars such as mahidhar, Vivekananda, uvat have innocently propagated many false and misinterpreted verses through their books and commentaries. On the other side, some of the tantric Hindus falsely declared their tantric belief as part of the Vedas. Inspite of their greatness, such religious leaders lacked the pre-requisite skills for understanding Vedas. Some of the skills are Vyakarana (Grammar),Shiksha (Phonetics), Nighantu (Vocabulary), Nirukta (Philology), Chhanda (Prosody), Jyotish (Astronomy), and so on. Without these skills, no one can interpret the original Vedas correctly.
This article is aimed at showing the true Vedic verses where the animal sacrifice or animal sacrifice is strictly forbidden for humans.
No violence against animals
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Yasmitsarvani bhutanyatmaivabhuudvijanatah
Tatra ko moha keh shokaah ekatavamanupasyatah
Yajurveda 40.7
“Those who perceive all humans beings as souls experience oneness with them and do not feel anguish or infatuated at their sufferings“.
It is very unlikely that texts having such verse will encourage killing any living beings
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Anumaanta vishasita nihanta kraayavikrayee
Samskarta chopaharta cha khadakashchetii ghaatakah
Manusmrithi 5.51
Those who allow killing animals; those who slaughter; those who transport animals for slaughter; those who sell animal meat; those who buy meat; those who cook meat; those who serve meat and those who consume are all murderers.
Sinners of Modern Era(kaliyuga)
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Brehimatam yavamatamatho mashamatho tillam
Esha vam bhago nihito ratnadheyaya daantau maa hinsishtam pitaaram mataram cha
Atharvaveda 6.140.2
O teeth! You eat barley, you eat rice, you eat sesame and you eat gram. These natural cereals are specifically created for you. Do not kill those who can be mothers or fathers.
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Ya aamum maansamdanti paurusheyam chaa ye kraveeh
Garbhan khaadantee keshavastanito naashayamasi
Atharvaveda 8.6.23
Pledge to destroy those who consume uncooked as well as cooked meat, leading to destruction of males and females, eggs and fetus.
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Anago hatyaa vai bheema krityea
Maa no gaamasvam purusham vadheeha
Atharvaveda 10.1.29
definitely killing innocents is a great sin. Do not kill our people, cows and horses.
Do you need any more proof that killing or eating cow or animals is strictly prohibited in Vedas? I am not done; there are more verses for you.
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Aghniya yajamaanasyah pashoonpahi
Yajurveda 1.1
“O humans. Animals are not to be slayed. Save the animals”
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Pashunstrayethaam
Yajurveda 6.11
Save animals.
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Dwipadava Chatushpatpahi
Yajurveda 14.8
Save the bipeds and quadrupeds
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Kravy da pisacha
asutrpa garbada
mans da pisacha
Kravy da - kravya(Slaughtered Meat) + da(eater), meat eater in this context
Pisacha - pisita [meat] +asa [meat eater]
Asutrpa - Asu [breath] + trpa [One who satisfy himself]- on the whole, it means one who satisfy their hunger by taking others life.
Garbada, Andada - foetus consumer , egg consumer.
Mans da - meat eaters
Our ancient scriptures are full of stories of two types of human race. Civilised race(Aryans) and uncivilized race-Rakshas(Demons)
Above verse says that meat eater belongs to the demon race
Most popular story of Mohini(Lord Vishnu avatar) With demons on left and humans (Devas) on right.
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Urjam no dehi dwipadey chatushpadey
Yajurveda 11.83
“All bipeds and quadrupeds may gain power, courage and nourishment”
This mantra was recited by all hindus before meal and even today followed by some Brahmins. How could Vedas approve slaying animals when it clearly asks for well-being of every soul?
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Section 2: No violence in Yajna
Yajna carried out by brahmins doesn’t meant animal sacrifice. Yajna in the Vedas means “noble deed” or highest purifying action. For Ex: Yajnas Through bonfire done in hindu marriage.
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Adhvaraa iti Yajnanama - Dhvarathimsaakarma tatpratishedah
Nirukta 2.7
In vedic philology, Adhvara means yajna. Dhvara means an act with violence. And thus adhvara means an act involving no violence. Vedas has many verses with usage of word ‘Adhvara’.
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After the Mahabharata period, i.e at the advent of kaliyuga, some materialistic scholars indulging in eating meat misinterpreted and interpolated Vedas and the same happened with other scriptures as well. Effort of acharya Shankar reborn the ancient Vedic values up to a certain extent.
In modern era, Swami Dayanand Saraswati - better known as grandfather of modern India - gave the perfect interpretation of Vedas as per the correct syntax and grammar of Sanskrit language with authentic evidences. His literature, Satyarth Prakash (Light of truth) includes large number of vedic verses. Another work, Introduction to the Vedas led to worldwide social reformation based on Vedic philosophy and helped a lot in removing myths surrounding the Vedas.
Let us see what Vedas offer us more on Yajna.
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Agney yam yagnamadhavaram vishwaatah pari bhurasi
Sa id deveshuu gachati
Rigveda 1.1.4
O lord of effulgence. You prescribe non violent Yajna as beneficial for all. Non violent yajna reaches divine beings and is recognised by noble souls.
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From above verse, Can you believe yajna demands animal sacrifice?
Now the most commonly known yajna where animal sacrifice is frequently put in context are ashwamedha yagna(wrongly quoted as Horse sacrifice), Gomedha Yajna(wrongly quoted as Cow sacrifice) and Nar-medh Yajna(Wrongly quoted as Human sacrifice).
Let us see a verse from yajurveda before proceeding further
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Imaam ma himsirekashfam pashum kanikraadam vajinam vajineshu
Yajurveda 13.48
Do not sacrifice this one hoofed being that neighs and travels faster than most of the animals.
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Yajurveda clearly says a horse should not to be slaughtered.
Ashwa means “nation” or “empire” and medha means an intellectual act. In simple term, Ashwa medha means a purifying act done for consolidation and well being of empire.
Following verse from shatpath says meaning of ashwa medha.
medhru san ga me
Rashtram vaa ashwamedha
Anam hi gau
Agnirva ashwa
Aajyam medha
(Shatpath 13.1.6.3)
In hinduism, Yajna is usually performed in noble deeds like marriage ceremony, birth ceremony, House warming ceremony (Griha Pravesh) etc
Sage conducting yajna(Check bonfire) during lord shiva -Goddess parvati marriage ceremony.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati in his book, Light of Truth, said:
A Yajna done for the glory, prosperity and wellbeing of the empire or nation is known as the Ashwamedh yajna.
“To keep food immaculate or to make food pure or to keep senses under control, or to make a better use of Sun rays or keep the earth clean is called Gomedha Yajna”.
“The word ‘Gau’ means Earth (another meaning cow) and yajna done to keep the Earth clean and environment serene is called Gomedha Yajna”
“Yajna done during cremation of dead body according to vedic principles is called Naramedha Yajna”.
When I was in school, I was taught all humans used to hunt and eat thousands of years ago. If this is true, then how come the Vedas, written at least ten thousand years ago says about not eating meat?
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Mahatma Gandhi
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