Namasthe- Sita and parrots_Plight of the (holy?) Cow

[Guest guest]

namo narayanaDear all,Since we had posts on the exploitation of animals and resulting kamic effects on us, we as devotees of Lord Sri Narayana must definitely pay attention to the plight of His most beloved animal, the Cow (or Go-mata).

 

The traditional way of worshipping Lord Sri Krishna is to do abhishegham to Him with auspicious substances like Milk, Curds, Ghee, Sugar etc, and offer His favourite naivedhyams such as paal payasam, ghee and butter. However we must be aware how this milk is obtained in this Kali yugam, especially where milk is obtained in commerical farming techniques (as in big cities, especially in the US).Before the dawn of this exploitative factory farming age, our saints and seers used to procure Milk products in harmony with nature, the milk was taken from the cow only after the calf has had it's fill and the cow was worshipped as Go-matha. Such offerings are certainly pleasing to the Lord.However in the present age, factory produced milk is a very cruel exploitative product of torturing cattle. Indeed one can surely say

that it would be less painful for the cow to be killed outright rather than to be enclosed in a tiny space, chained in its own waste in darkness, cold and filth for the rest of its life. It is pumped with insane amounts of hormones, and other toxic medications to artifically increase milk production. The large amounts of hormones, antibiotics and other unnatural feed, cause the cow to grow large and make it prone to bone fractures and other very painful diseases. Even then the cows are artifically inseminated to produce calves to ensure regular supply of milk. The most unfortunate of the calves are male calves who are considered to be useless and are sold off to be butchered for veal or are just killed outright and disposed off.After milking the cow till it has been exhausted and after ensuring that the cow cannot yield anymore milk, it is sold off to be slaughtered in the most brutal manner for meat and leather.I request all bhaktas

to please think about this, will our Lord ever accept our abhiseghams and Naivedhyams if it means that His favourite innocent animals are killed slowly and extemely painfully all their lives?Let us not act in an adharmic manner and perform unthinkable atoricities and sins by offerring factory produced milk and milk based products especially in our sacred rituals and also in our diets. I can only be certain that we shall never suceed in our sadhana if it causes so much needless pain for innocent animals.We can however use cruelty-free alternative solutions such as

 

1. Ensuring that we buy milk from establishments which are community farms were the cows are not exploited (Go-shaalas)

2. replace cow-milk, with vegan alternatives such as soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk,

3. perform abhishegams with traditional auspicous dhravyams such as sugarcane juice, fruit juice, coconut juice, turmeric water, saffron water, camphor water, thulasi water, cardomum-clove water...... as cruelty free offerings

4. create more awarness of this issue and support community Go-shalas.I humbly pray and request all of us to please be aware of this very cruel and sad situation of our "Go-matha", and refrain from passively encoraging this exploitation. This should not be restricted to only cows, but should be extended to save all commerical farm animals from abuse.

It is very contradictory that the most important symbol of Sanathana Dharma, the cow is being tortured in our own Bharat. While we as Hindus abhor beef eating, we donot bat an eyelid to allow our (holy?) cows to be tortured all their lives for drinking their milk, how can we ever escape the karmic repercussions of such an atrocity.Sincerely,Kamlesh--- On Tue, 7/1/08, NB Nair <nbnair2000 wrote:

NB Nair <nbnair2000[Guruvayur] Re: Namasthe- Sita and parrotsguruvayur Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 12:26 PM

 

 

 

HARIAUM

Thankyou Smt Savitri Puram for the thought-provoking mythological story. The beauty of this story (like many othermythological stories) is that it is very much relevant to the present stage in thedevelopment of human social life. Also,Shri KV Gopalakrishnaji was very kind to share with fellow devotees hisintimate personal life experiences, demonstrating the same principle – "to be considerate to otherfellow creatures' feelings and pains" / "never keep birds, animals, etc., incaptivity" .

CAPTIVITYin all forms SHOULD BE CONDEMNED: In true devotion to God.

Ashuman civilization progresses, the concept that everything in this universe isa manifestation of Him, the Brahman, is being realised by more and more peopleand the above principles get widely accepted. And we see the wisdom in:

Vasudeiva Kutumbakam and Loka SamastaSukhino Bhavantu.

Five orsix decades back the practice of keeping caged birds was very common. And then naturally, freeing caged birds cameto be considered as a noble deed. Andour leaders did not lose the opportunity and started releasing caged birds in largenumbers in every public function to loudly demonstrate their nobility! And birds were ruthlessly caught and cagedfor such functions – an opportunistic money spinning business! And the greatest casualty was most ironicallythe pigeon, the very symbol of peace! This hypocrisy had its natural death, though very slowly over manydecades.

Thoughcommercializa tion of the dumb creatures, right from the tiny butter flies tomammoth elephants, still continues, the society in general had become moreconscious about these cruelties and may be in another couple of decades thingswill change drastically to the relief of these fellow beings.

However,we Guruvayurappan devotees should consider seriously at every step to cause theleast harm to other fellow beings. Notonly our own direct actions, but all those we see around. May be Guruvayurappan wants to test how wereact when some of His other manifestations are being ill-treated in our neighborhoods. So we can't afford to look the other way. It may not be possible to stop all thosetraditional practices in one stroke. Butwe should think about it and freely express our frank opinion with the leastoffence to others.

Hence, in true spirit of Bhagavad GitaIV–47, let us start talking out our mind today, in the interest ofGuruvayurappan - things may change in due course. Lest our silence will be convenientlyconstru ed as consent for these cruelties by the vested interests and theatrocities will continue.

WithRegards to all,

Yourssincerely,

NBNair.

guruvayur@grou ps.com, "Savitri Puram" <savitriopuram@ ...> wrote:>> Dear all,> > > This is a story from Padma puranam. Heroine is our little Sita Devi of> Mithila. She was about seven years old and was playing with her friends in> her beautiful garden. Then two green parrots came there and started singing> beautifully. It was not chirping of parrots, but they were singing Ramayana> story as if somebody had taught them. They sang that part of the story where> Rama came to Mithila and married Sita by breaking Siva's bow. Songs of the> parrots were very clear and sweet. Sita fell in love with those parrots> and asked where they learnt this song and who was this Rama and> Sita. They said they learnt it from Valmiki Maharshi himself because they> stayed in the same

forest. Then they explained that Sita is the little girl> in front of them asking questions and charming Prince Rama would come one> day to marry her.> > Sita requested them to stay back so that she could listen to them everyday.> Then the female parrot told Sita that she was pregnant and she would like to> go back to her own forest and would come back after she delivered the> children. But Sita could not resist the temptation of owning her and> enjoying her sweet music and did not allow her to go. Female parrot was> captured and was put in a beautiful cage. Sita told the female parrot: " I> shall release you when that charming Rama you described come and marry me".> > Male parrot also begged Sita to free his wife, but Sita told him to come> back later. This parrot who was pregnant was very sad to be separated from> her beloved husband. She refused to eat

and cried and cursed Sita, "Since> you separated me from my beloved husband during pregnancy, you also will> have to experience the same fate" .> > Having spoken thus the miserable female parrot uttered Rama naamam and died.> Seeing this the male parrot was extremely sad and distressed and fell in to> the Ganga and drowned himself. His last words were : "You killed my> beautiful pregnant wife by separating her from me. I will take janma in> Ayodhya and will cause your separation from your husband during your> pregnancy".> > Later Rama married Sita. Ravana kidnapped her and Rama defeated Ravana and> brought her back to Ayodhya. This male parrot was born as Krodhan, the> washerman in Ayodhya and because of his harsh words Sita was exiled to the> forest. Sita was pregnant at that time and she had to face separation from> her husband living alone in the

forest. Padma purana says that everybody has> to experience the results of each and every karma we do. Either the results> will be experienced in the same janma or in the subsequent janmaas.> > Rama and Sita being Purusha and Prakrithi, acted as if they were going> through the suffering to show us that karmaphalam will always follow karmam.> This story tells us to be considerate to other fellow creatures' feelings> and pain.> > According to Njaanaananda Saraswathi Sukritham and Dushkritham are like> bouncing balls. If we throw the ball of sukrutham, only the ball of> sukrutham will bounce back. If we throw ball of Dushkrutham, only ball of> dushkrutham will bounce back. But what about the balls of dushkruthum that> we threw in the previous janmaas? We do not know how many balls we played> with. Scriptures say, sankeerthanam and satsangam will change the

direction> of the ball of dushkrutham or at least lessen the force with which it will> bounce back on us.> > Regards and prayers> > savitri>

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees,

 

Can anybody send me the song " anathalayolam venna tharameda .. " in PDF format

 

Suja

On 7/2/08, Veryytterium <veryytterium wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

namo narayanaDear all,Since we had posts on the exploitation of animals and resulting kamic effects on us, we as devotees of Lord Sri Narayana must definitely pay attention to the plight of His most beloved animal, the Cow (or Go-mata).

 

The traditional way of worshipping Lord Sri Krishna is to do abhishegham to Him with auspicious substances like Milk, Curds, Ghee, Sugar etc, and offer His favourite naivedhyams such as paal payasam, ghee and butter. However we must be aware how this milk is obtained in this Kali yugam, especially where milk is obtained in commerical farming techniques (as in big cities, especially in the US).

Before the dawn of this exploitative factory farming age, our saints and seers used to procure Milk products in harmony with nature, the milk was taken from the cow only after the calf has had it's fill and the cow was worshipped as Go-matha. Such offerings are

certainly pleasing to the Lord.However in the present age, factory produced milk is a very cruel exploitative product of torturing cattle. Indeed one can surely say that it would be less painful for the cow to be killed outright rather than to be enclosed in a tiny space, chained in its own waste

in darkness, cold and filth for the rest of its life. It is pumped with insane amounts of hormones, and other toxic medications to artifically increase milk production. The large amounts of hormones, antibiotics and other unnatural feed, cause the cow to grow large and make it prone to bone fractures and other very painful diseases. Even then the cows are artifically inseminated to produce calves to ensure regular supply of milk. The most unfortunate of the calves are male calves who are considered to be useless and are sold off to be butchered for veal or are just killed outright and disposed off.

After milking the cow till it has been exhausted and after ensuring that the cow cannot yield anymore milk, it is sold off to be slaughtered in the most brutal manner for meat and leather.I request all bhaktas to please think about this, will our Lord ever accept our abhiseghams and Naivedhyams if it means that His favourite innocent animals are killed slowly and extemely painfully all their lives?

Let us not act in an adharmic manner and perform unthinkable atoricities and sins by offerring factory produced milk and milk based products especially in our sacred rituals and also in our diets. I can only be certain that we shall never suceed in our sadhana if it causes so much needless pain for innocent animals.

We can however use cruelty-free alternative solutions such as

 

1. Ensuring that we buy milk from establishments which are community farms were the cows are not exploited (Go-shaalas)

2. replace cow-milk, with vegan alternatives such as soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk,

3. perform abhishegams with traditional auspicous dhravyams such as sugarcane juice, fruit juice, coconut juice, turmeric water, saffron water, camphor water, thulasi water, cardomum-clove water...... as cruelty free offerings

4. create more awarness of this issue and support community Go-shalas.I humbly pray and request all of us to please be aware of this very cruel and sad situation of our " Go-matha " , and refrain from passively encoraging this exploitation. This should not be restricted to only cows, but should be extended to save all commerical farm animals from abuse.

It is very contradictory that the most important symbol of Sanathana Dharma, the cow is being tortured in our own Bharat. While we as Hindus abhor beef eating, we donot bat an eyelid to allow our (holy?) cows to be tortured all their lives for drinking their milk, how can we ever escape the karmic repercussions of such an atrocity.

Sincerely,Kamlesh--- On Tue, 7/1/08, NB Nair <nbnair2000 wrote:

NB Nair <nbnair2000[Guruvayur] Re: Namasthe- Sita and parrots

guruvayur Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 12:26 PM

 

 

 

HARIAUM

Thankyou Smt Savitri Puram for the thought-provoking mythological story. The beauty of this story (like many othermythological stories) is that it is very much relevant to the present stage in thedevelopment of human social life. Also,Shri KV Gopalakrishnaji was very kind to share with fellow devotees hisintimate personal life experiences, demonstrating the same principle – " to be considerate to otherfellow creatures' feelings and pains " / " never keep birds, animals, etc., incaptivity " .

CAPTIVITYin all forms SHOULD BE CONDEMNED: In true devotion to God.

Ashuman civilization progresses, the concept that everything in this universe isa manifestation of Him, the Brahman, is being realised by more and more peopleand the above principles get widely accepted. And we see the wisdom in:

Vasudeiva Kutumbakam and Loka SamastaSukhino Bhavantu.

Five orsix decades back the practice of keeping caged birds was very common. And then naturally, freeing caged birds cameto be considered as a noble deed. Andour leaders did not lose the opportunity and started releasing caged birds in largenumbers in every public function to loudly demonstrate their nobility! And birds were ruthlessly caught and cagedfor such functions – an opportunistic money spinning business! And the greatest casualty was most ironicallythe pigeon, the very symbol of peace! This hypocrisy had its natural death, though very slowly over manydecades.

 

Thoughcommercializa tion of the dumb creatures, right from the tiny butter flies tomammoth elephants, still continues, the society in general had become moreconscious about these cruelties and may be in another couple of decades thingswill change drastically to the relief of these fellow beings.

 

However,we Guruvayurappan devotees should consider seriously at every step to cause theleast harm to other fellow beings. Notonly our own direct actions, but all those we see around. May be Guruvayurappan wants to test how wereact when some of His other manifestations are being ill-treated in our neighborhoods. So we can't afford to look the other way. It may not be possible to stop all thosetraditional practices in one stroke. Butwe should think about it and freely express our frank opinion with the leastoffence to others.

 

Hence, in true spirit of Bhagavad GitaIV–47, let us start talking out our mind today, in the interest ofGuruvayurappan - things may change in due course. Lest our silence will be convenientlyconstru ed as consent for these cruelties by the vested interests and theatrocities will continue.

WithRegards to all,

Yourssincerely,

NBNair.

guruvayur@grou ps.com, " Savitri Puram " <savitriopuram@ ...> wrote:

>> Dear all,> > > This is a story from Padma puranam. Heroine is our little Sita Devi of> Mithila. She was about seven years old and was playing with her friends in> her beautiful garden. Then two green parrots came there and started singing

> beautifully. It was not chirping of parrots, but they were singing Ramayana> story as if somebody had taught them. They sang that part of the story where> Rama came to Mithila and married Sita by breaking Siva's bow. Songs of the

> parrots were very clear and sweet. Sita fell in love with those parrots> and asked where they learnt this song and who was this Rama and> Sita. They said they learnt it from Valmiki Maharshi himself because they

> stayed in the same forest. Then they explained that Sita is the little girl> in front of them asking questions and charming Prince Rama would come one> day to marry her.> > Sita requested them to stay back so that she could listen to them everyday.

> Then the female parrot told Sita that she was pregnant and she would like to> go back to her own forest and would come back after she delivered the> children. But Sita could not resist the temptation of owning her and

> enjoying her sweet music and did not allow her to go. Female parrot was> captured and was put in a beautiful cage. Sita told the female parrot: " I> shall release you when that charming Rama you described come and marry me " .

> > Male parrot also begged Sita to free his wife, but Sita told him to come> back later. This parrot who was pregnant was very sad to be separated from> her beloved husband. She refused to eat and cried and cursed Sita, " Since

> you separated me from my beloved husband during pregnancy, you also will> have to experience the same fate " .> > Having spoken thus the miserable female parrot uttered Rama naamam and died.

> Seeing this the male parrot was extremely sad and distressed and fell in to> the Ganga and drowned himself. His last words were : " You killed my> beautiful pregnant wife by separating her from me. I will take janma in

> Ayodhya and will cause your separation from your husband during your> pregnancy " .> > Later Rama married Sita. Ravana kidnapped her and Rama defeated Ravana and> brought her back to Ayodhya. This male parrot was born as Krodhan, the

> washerman in Ayodhya and because of his harsh words Sita was exiled to the> forest. Sita was pregnant at that time and she had to face separation from> her husband living alone in the forest. Padma purana says that everybody has

> to experience the results of each and every karma we do. Either the results> will be experienced in the same janma or in the subsequent janmaas.> > Rama and Sita being Purusha and Prakrithi, acted as if they were going

> through the suffering to show us that karmaphalam will always follow karmam.> This story tells us to be considerate to other fellow creatures' feelings> and pain.> > According to Njaanaananda Saraswathi Sukritham and Dushkritham are like

> bouncing balls. If we throw the ball of sukrutham, only the ball of> sukrutham will bounce back. If we throw ball of Dushkrutham, only ball of> dushkrutham will bounce back. But what about the balls of dushkruthum that

> we threw in the previous janmaas? We do not know how many balls we played> with. Scriptures say, sankeerthanam and satsangam will change the direction> of the ball of dushkrutham or at least lessen the force with which it will

> bounce back on us.> > Regards and prayers> > savitri>