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Re: animal slaughter in the Vedas
dchakrav@netserv.unmc.edu (Dhruba Chakravarti) wrote:
>
>Dear Narahariji:
>
>Thank you for your explanation. I take this to be your main message, even
>in karmavAdi translations, the so-called Vedic references to cows and
>horses do not talk about cows and horses!. I just wish that this
>explantion is extended to the 'unkillable' cow too, since, the cow is
>deinitely killable, they are killed in slaughter houses every day!. I do
>not believe that the Vedic seers were ignorant of this simple fact.
>
>If I may remind you, Sri Aurobindo explained the "unkillable cow", very
>well, She is the Divine Mother, not a 'not to be killed' cow!
>
>Dear Dhrubaji:
My message is that many times words like dhenu, ashva, aja or
mahisha do not mean cow, horse, goat or buffalo; but there are
also occassions when they do mean exactly that. The exact
meaning simply depends on the context. Therefore one should not
infer that animals were slaughtered.
As far as I know, "aghnyA" always refers to a cow. Perhaps some
body more well versed in grammar than I am can explain the
difference whether it means 'not to be killed' or
'non-killable'
I can not believe that cows were slaghtered in slaughter houses
in vedic times nor for that matter, any time until the advent
of muslim rule.
In the verse that you quoted with Sri Aurobindo's commentary,
each word can be applied to the cow or to agni.In the sense of
provider of good things, the cow would be 'kamadhenu', and in
an even more general sense would give the meaning that Sri
Aurobindo gives.
It is said that all suktas in the vedas have a meaning at three
different levels. Take for example the agni sukta. At the
lowest level, it refers to the element agni, fire. At the next
level, it refers to the presiding deity of the element,
agnideva. At the highest level it refers to the agnyAntayAmi,
paramatma. In this sense, every sukta is a prayer addressed to
the paramatma, the one and only one. It is in this
sense"...ekaM sadviprA bahudhA vadanti..."
"shanno astu dvipade shanchatushshpade.." "OM shAntiH shAntiH
shAntiH"--Narahari Achar
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