Brutal religious killings

[seshadri sridharan]

Brutal religious killings

Our global humanity is an ever-rising community of people striving for a sentient way of living and refined ideas. And the holidays and festivals should reflect this. Unfortunately, our world-wide human family still partakes in festivals that feature harsh and cruel treatment to animals. Humanity has inherited these social functions from days-by-gone, and the time has come to rethink these events.

Gotten from the ages: 'put to death'

Many of the religious and social traditions on this earth cause the gross mutilation and rampant killing of animals during times of festivals. 

The Islamic festival Eid always includes the slaughtering of a goats is done by 100% of the Muslim population. This is a given for all Muslims. So here is a classic case of how human "celebrations" go hand in hand with the butchering of animals. Here below Baba indirectly points out the violence inherent to Islam.

Ananda Marga philosophy states, “You know that there are certain religions which do not encourage aesthetic pursuits. You will notice that in those religions inertia, inferiority complexes and a sense of violence are predominant.” (1)

And Christianity and the west in general are also involved in this same destructive pattern. In particular, during the American holiday, 'Thanksgiving' millions upon millions of turkeys are massacred. Each and every household or family gathering celebrates this day by eating a murdered turkey. Plus nearly all the holidays from the Semitic religions (Christianity, Judaism, & Islam) revolve around meat-eating. That is the tradition.

If we look further, we can find countless examples wherein our human family indulges in the cruel treatment of animals as a means to honor the gods and show our festive spirit during the holidays. There is a long, dark history of this, often stemming from times when the people did not have the knowledge or capability to observe festivals in other ways. Over the generations, these cruel and senseless traditions have been kept alive. Still today, they are common.

During the Hindu Durga Puja, animal sacrifices are done in a few temples in India. It is the people's way of "pleasing the gods". And during the pre-historic Aryan tradition, there was a long history of such types of rampant animal killing in their various yajinas, religious rituals, and ceremonies of worship. Further down in this mailing are details how in the pre-historic era the Chambal river was turned into a river of blood created by thousands of animal sacrifices.

'Creation is for our enjoyment'

In this modern era, wherein popular western values are spreading around the globe at record pace, the archaic psychology, 'this creation is for our enjoyment', needs to be firmly addressed. The Semitic religions (Christianity, Judaism, & Islam) preach that God has put all these beings and creatures on this earth for human enjoyment. This is the anthropocentric vision that is grabbing hold of so many people. In the past, the Semitic religions would preach this gospel and now pseudo-culture popularizes this same approach via its 'me-first', self-indulgent manners. It has become the fashion to 'treat yourself right', regardless of the cost to others.

All of the above contravenes our teachings of neo-humanism. And it is time to become more active in putting these dogmas to rest. Animal cruelty and torture is a remnant from humanity's barbaric past. However, the picture is not entirely bleak. In communities around the globe, there are many raising the slogan of animal welfare and animal rights.


Our changing humanity

Today, then our humanity is going through much advancement in many respects. Now is the time to question past traditions and rethink the way we celebrate during times of festivals. After all, so many new outlooks are being born each and every day: women's rights, minority rights, native rights, rights of the accused etc. In each and every sphere of life we are rethinking our relationships with other human groups. And this has brought respect and dignity to our human family.

Sadly, this trend has failed to come full circle with regards to the rights of animals. Some progress has been made, but there is much work to be done. In the dark past, humans were offered to the gods via sacrificial fires; that has now stopped. Yet other issues abound like human trafficking, genocide, etc. So there remains much work to be done. But at least those sacrificial rituals are a thing of the past. Now, we have to put an end to such rituals involving the sacrifice of animals.

Around the globe during times of festivals, people heartily look forward to "sumptuous meals" born from the ruthless killing and torture of animals. 'Thanksgiving' is just one of many such occasions where people blindly overlook the senseless destruction of animals for their own selfish pleasure.

We have to ask ourselves, 'Is this the civilisation we want to perpetuate and pass down to our children?' Now then is the time to raise consciousness on this dire issue. Oftentimes, animals look to us for shelter and support, and in response we outrightly breach that trust and dupe them into walking into their own death.

Conclusion

Our duty as Ananda Margiis is to facilitate that transition from the outlook of old where animals are senselessly tortured and slaughtered to a neo-humanistic perspective where animals are granted their rightful place on this earth. They should be allowed to live freely, not just as pawns of human abuse. With more education and awareness, the celebrations during festivals, of any tradition, will come to reflect this neo-humanistic order.

In Him,
Nirvan

~ In-depth study ~

Here Baba identifies how the human psyche wrongly justifies the slaughtering of animals. Deep inside people know it is not right, but they cover it up will all kinds of false logic.

The teachings of Ananda Marga say, "When people sacrifice a goat or buffalo in a religious festival while chanting “Divine goddess, divine goddess!” before a deity, they know that the animal is an irreplaceable part of creation, but still they slaughter it. This is hypocrites’ dogma." (2)

Against natural law for humans to eat meat

Here below Baba clearly points out that it is against the law of nature for humans to eat meat.

Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "According to the laws of nature, canine teeth are necessary …... Carnivorous animals such as cats, dogs, tigers and lions possess canine teeth, but cows, monkeys, elephants, wild asses, etc. do not possess canine teeth. Nature does not want them to eat meat. But what do greedy human beings do? Even though they do not possess canine teeth, they cook or boil meat so that they can eat it. This is done out of greed. According to the laws of nature, human beings are not carnivorous. So, if they eat meat they will catch numerous diseases. Vegetarians generally suffer from fewer diseases than non-vegetarians because they are more habituated to following natural laws. You must have noticed that those who violate the laws of nature and become non-vegetarian, even though they do not possess canine teeth, have peculiar eating habits. Sometimes it even seems as if non-vegetarians eat like dogs." (3)

Animal sacrifices & the Chambal river

Next Baba sheds light on the horrors of past animal sacrifices where the spilling of blood was like the flow of one river.

The teachings of Ananda Marga say, "When the Aryans were living in the Rajasthan area in the western part of India, they found many animals there, because there were forests and sufficient rainfall. They used to perform sacrificial rites by killing these animals. There is a story that once they performed a sacrificial ritual killing hundreds of thousands of animals; the heaps of those animals’ skins was as high as a mountain, and blood streamed down unceasingly from that pile of skins. It looked as if a river was flowing. After a long distance, this stream of blood flowed into the Ganges River. As the stream of blood flowing from the pile of animal skins took the form of a river, it was named Carman'vatii in Sanskrit. The present name of the river is Chambal." (4)

Dogma: putting animals to sleep

One other misconception these days is that people, especially in the west, brag about how kind they are to their own pets, yet in the end put their pets "to sleep", when they think the animal is too old and frail. People sympathetically boast of their compassion in doing such things. But really is this a practice that can be supported. Under normal circumstances, would we put elderly human beings to sleep as well at a time we deem fit. Or do we honor them up to the last breath. Our way is to respect their dignity and let them live out their days according to nature's design. We do not prematurely put them to death. But this same  respect we do not extend to animals. Rather we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are doing proper by intentionally putting an animal to sleep, when in fact we are rudely ending their life.

Only humans are this cruel

Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "Vultures are carnivorous birds. Yet it is found that they are not cruel or heartless. Usually, like eagles, they do not attack living humans or animals. Their habit is to eat the flesh of dead bodies. There was an incident in my childhood that I can still vividly recall. On the west of our locality there was a large field which bordered on a tributary of the Ganges. As the soil was not fit for cultivation nothing could be grown there. On the upper side of that fallow land was a mound upon which stood a large tamarind tree. A vulture lived in a nest on the tree. Beside the mound was the site for the disposal of carcasses. Cows used to graze in the field as did a few horses and sheep. Once an old cow came there and fell flat on the ground due to utter exhaustion. The veterinary doctor came and said, “The cow has no chance of survival. She is likely to die in a few hours.” The owner of the cow was a very kind-hearted man. He tried to save the cow in various ways but in vain. I noticed that as long as the cow was alive, she gently wagged her tail, even when her eyes were half closed. There was no other symptom of life, at least that is what it seemed to me. I also noticed that while her tail was wagging, the vulture stayed patiently in the tree. It came to eat the cow’s flesh only an hour after her natural death. Human beings are more cruel than vultures. Their hearts don’t melt even at the sight of tears of innocent birds and animals. Just to gratify their sense of greed, they mercilessly slit the throats of animals with sharp knives and swords and thus deprive them of the right to live, even while preaching the hollow dictates of religion." (5)

How Semitic religions view the world

The teachings of Ananda Marga say, "At one time people were told that this world is for human enjoyment only, so the existence of all the plants, of all the birds and animals, in the world is intended merely to provide objects of enjoyment for human beings. Their hopes and aspirations, their intense desire to live, their pains and pleasures, their affectionate family or community lives are simply without value. However much a baby goat may wish to live, the main consideration is how much meat that kid carries on its frame. This defective philosophy has made people ruthlessly violent – even more dangerous than blood-thirsty tigers. Tigers kill only to fill their stomachs, to preserve their physical existence; whereas human beings kill animals mostly out of greed. Generally people have resorted to hypocrisy to camouflage this instinct of greed; they have killed animals on the pretext of pleasing the gods, while actually their main motive in doing so was to please their own tongues. These are all the inevitable results of such defective philosophies." (6)

As a humanity, we will rethink our role on this earth and treat all animals with dignity and respect, and not work towards their wanton destruction.

The teachings of Ananda Marga say, "Human beings are more cruel than vultures. Their hearts don’t melt even at the sight of tears of innocent birds and animals. Just to gratify their sense of greed, they mercilessly slit the throats of animals with sharp knives and swords and thus deprive them of the right to live, even while preaching the hollow dictates of religion." (7)

Senseless ecological devastation for self-interest

Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "Human beings led by self-interest have been neglecting ecology at every step. We should remember that the sky and air, the hills and mountains, the rivers and forests, the wild animals and reptiles, the birds and fishes and all sorts of aquatic creatures and plants are all inseparably related to one another. Human beings are an integral part of that vast common society. No one can survive to the exclusion of others, not even human beings. If they continue to destroy forests, kill wild animals and exterminate fishes and birds foolishly, it won’t serve any of their purposes. Whoever comes onto this world goes. One only survives on this earth for a limited period as stipulated by nature. Due to the foolishness of human beings many creatures and objects will not survive the period fixed for them by nature. Prior to their stipulated period of longevity they will be swallowed up by eternity. Human beings due to their utmost folly have annihilated numerous objects and thus prepared their own funeral pyre. Such folly on the part of human beings is unbearable. Human beings must be cautious from now on. They must restructure their thoughts, plans and activities in accordance with the dictates of ecology. There is no alternative." (8)