Guest guest Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 What makes more sense than not wanting to cause pain to other creatures, and so, refraining from killing them? Ritualistic animal sacrifices done to appease some God or Goddess - NOT! That's on a par with sati, the custom and the worship: a failure to create balance that utilizes the intellect. I've been following the discussion re garlic and onions, and it has made sense to me that things that grow underground may be called tamasic - possibly the earth is associated with the female and is considered polluting through such food. It seems like the bases for these judgments re these food types are not given (at least, no one has posted the actual text that tells about them), but rather, we get what seem like meaningless rules to be followed. Satish, you say Shaktas should follow these rules regarding foods. What is the basis for the rules? Why are they important? Can you provide more indepth information as to their context? For example, the Christian bible says not to eat shellfish. We have learned that shellfish, esp. when not prepared properly, has lots of bacteria in it. That's a decent basis for the rule, rather than just traditional dogma. Mary Ann , sankara menon <kochu1tz> wrote: > It is true that there is no connection whatsoever between the twin concepts of good and evil and its other dualities for a kaula. > > > swastik108@a... wrote: > In a message dated 8/12/2004 12:37:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ammasmon@s... writes: > Hence, do not take the popularly known rituals to be Kali Ma's approval of our actions; she uses her genius even in these situations to somehow draw out the best in us. > > Jai Ma! > Perhaps you are correct in your assertion on a level, but for some reason at every Kali Ma temple I ever went to they tend to behead a lot of goats especially on tuesdays and saturdays! > > At Dakshinishwar temple, Ramakrishnas home, they have stopped the practice but the old harikhat is still visible and it probably was continued for a while > after his death as well, perhaps until it's popularity grew to a level were some patrons and tourists evinced disdain for the practice. > > I don't think she is trying to "rectify" this particular ancient style of worship which is called Boli. It is still very widespread and common, as well as > obviously having been around since ancient times. Various Bengalis have even told me that sacrificing humans was not unheard of and there is a Tantrik > ritual, supposedly no longer practiced, which required five men to be beheaded! > > I personally have no trouble accepting this. I don't try to candy-coat the image of Ma Kali and actually tend toward the fiercer forms when it comes to Puja. I'm not cutting off heads myself ;-) but I don't shy away from the animal sacrifice part. > > I went to Bengal as a vegetarian To watch the sacrifices repulsed me at first, but I learned to accept everything as a part of Ma. > > Shakti is beyond our ideas of good and evil, I believe that to realize her you have to accept nature in all its postive and negative forms. You can find metaphors where they may guide you, but there is always reality defying our simple rationalizations. > > > > > > > Sponsor > > > > Links > > > / > > > > > Terms of Service. > > > > > > New and Improved Mail - Send 10MB messages! > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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