ahimsA as a first principle -- still valid?

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

 

As has been often mentioned on the list, kindness to all

creatures is one of the first principles of being a Vaishnava.

It is required as part of two of the angas of saranaagati.

As part of the greater Hindu community, we Vaishnavas pride

ourselves as having a history of practicing ahimsA in its

positive and negative aspects.

 

Unfortunately, this greatest of values seems to be in

utter decay today. I ask all members to read the following

article, which demonstrates the utter depravity to which

our society has fallen:

 

http://www.indiacurrents.com/200006/animalRights.htm

 

I ask further, can we do anything about this? Can each one of

us make an effort, and set an example for others to follow?

It seems to me that otherwise, we are all guilty. Even if

we are not the one's yielding the knife, we are as guilty

if we partake of the spoils, or even if we sit back and

ignore the problem.

 

It is said in Srimad Bhagavatam that the killer of cows

is the only one who fails to truly appreciate the story

of Sri Krishna:

 

( ka uttam-Sloka-guNAnuvAdAt pumAn virajyeta vinA paSughnAt, 10.1.4 )

 

rAmAnuja dAsan

Mani

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

 

Just as an addendum to my earlier message, adiyEn would like to add an

important CAUTION in this regard.

 

While all of you are aware, all the mails in this are archived on the

net from the day one. Now if some one, who is interested in

SriVaishnavism, uses a search engine and lands in one of such pain

giving posts, please think what will be his/her first opinion and

reaction. Now it becomes detrimental for two reasons. One, the opinion

about the group will be a bad one and the most important second, is

that the opinion about the SampradhyAm will be in lines of being a

"quarrelsome" sampradhAyam.

 

Already we are having enough by way, of Saivite-Vaishnavite,

Thenkalai-Vadakalai, etc on which many across the globe are laughing.

We better get rid of these things. Our list is a wonderful list

containing members from both kalais, in unity and also people

following other sampradhAyams.

 

Let us stop fighting within ourselves, even if we are provoked. We can

always reply to any kind of posts in a polite way, there by avoiding

any damage to our sampradhAyam in view of others in this widely

accessed internet world.

 

Let us think twice before posting any message, that we are not hurting

anybody's feelings and also that our messages are not containing any

hurting wordings or so.

 

Only self-discipline can make this list more presentable to the

outside world. So let us not send wrong signals about the list and

hence the sampradhAyam to the outside world.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

 

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh

[Guest guest]

Sri Mani's mail on ahimsA brings up a question to

mind.

 

maan THol (deer skin) is considered sacred by

Vaishnavas. Bramhachaaris are asked to tie that on

their "poonal" (sacred thread. Why is this a practice

? What is the origin behind this ? Is this not himsA

against the deer ?

 

Please enlighten.

 

Regards.

 

Sreeram

 

 

 

Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!

/

[Guest guest]

Dear members,

 

My best regards are with Sri Mani Varadarajan for raising such an important

issue. The Lord is glorified as protector of cows and brahmanas. But it is

disgraceful for Him if cow slaughter takes place right under His nose inm

places like Sri Rangam. In Mayapur, coffee and tea are banned in shops as a

respect to Sri Caitanya. Why cant the government ban cow slaughter at least

in 108 divya desams ?

 

One practical solution for the problem is as follows :

 

1. A lot of graze lands needs to be bough on the way to Kanchipuram at 2 - 3

lakhs per acre.

2. Experts in running dairy farm should be hired and ahimsa dairy farm

should be started.

3. The company/charitable trust should go for public funding through "250$

Go-Bond". There are many Gujarathi businessmen who would be willing to

invest a few lakhs for protecting cows. It also helps in tax planning. I

started but did not work out the numbers as people were hard to find.

"Go-Bond" will help in offsetting the losses due to protecting unhealthy and

old cows. Cows brought up like children with affection yield more than the

current day organic automatic vending machines.

4. Milk products can be sold to further subsist the dairy farm, expand etc.

5. Cows can be given to priests for their maintenance as well.

 

 

I discussed some initial numbers. But the key to success is finding

experienced dairy farm people. If there are some senior manager at aavin or

some other firm who is a sincere vaishnava sympathetic to this cause, it can

be started. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL OF US TO CONTRIBUTE.

 

When my mother went to garland a cow recently it got scared and became

angry. She said that when she was young cows used to be friendlier and

affectionate. All the cows in the locality had names like Lakshmi,

Saraswati, Ganga etc., and were taken care of nicely by the owners and

others. But today, they are scared because int he subtle sense they have got

the fear of being slaughtered.

 

Yours humbly

Rajaram V.

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagawathas,

This is heart-rending... It's pathetic that these poor creatures

are to suffer so much at the hands of the meanest, selfish humans.

As dearth of virtuosity grows it engulfs all values of the society.

Religion and noble ideas lose their gravity as prophesied by our

grand seers.

Whether it's a cow or for that matter a guinea pig used in the

medical labs or a monkey used to test the strength of the helmets or

to test the effect of eyelash lotions or lipsticks on humans, to

mention a few, the situation is indeed sad and a shame on the present

dominant human civilisation.

 

May the souls embodied in these poor creatures find peace soon.

 

Namo Narayana!

 

Sincerely,

chandrasekaran.

 

 

bhakti-list , Mani Varadarajan <mani@a...> wrote:

>

> Dear Members,

>

> As has been often mentioned on the list, kindness to all

> creatures is one of the first principles of being a Vaishnava.

> It is required as part of two of the angas of saranaagati.

> As part of the greater Hindu community, we Vaishnavas pride

> ourselves as having a history of practicing ahimsA in its

> positive and negative aspects.

>

> Unfortunately, this greatest of values seems to be in

> utter decay today. I ask all members to read the following

> article, which demonstrates the utter depravity to which

> our society has fallen:

>

> http://www.indiacurrents.com/200006/animalRights.htm

>

> I ask further, can we do anything about this? Can each one of

> us make an effort, and set an example for others to follow?

> It seems to me that otherwise, we are all guilty. Even if

> we are not the one's yielding the knife, we are as guilty

> if we partake of the spoils, or even if we sit back and

> ignore the problem.

>

> It is said in Srimad Bhagavatam that the killer of cows

> is the only one who fails to truly appreciate the story

> of Sri Krishna:

>

> ( ka uttam-Sloka-guNAnuvAdAt pumAn virajyeta vinA paSughnAt,

10.1.4 )

>

> rAmAnuja dAsan

> Mani