[ITMS-Hyderabad] Question: why animal products are used in our rituals?

May 6, 2008

Namaskara,I am really thankful to Sri A Purushottam Rao for the nice explanation with Shastra Pramana. Here is the answer.

There is a shloka giving the details about 5 pure things in BAratha .1) uchchiShtaM, 2) shivanirmAlyam,

3) vamanamchaiva, 4) mrutha karpatam5) KAkavisHTa samudhbhootam paNcha poothAni BAratha.

uchchShTam : Milk from the cow after the calf has drunk its share

shiva nirmAlyam : nirmAlya theertha pr Ganga watervamanam : vomit of the honey bees ie., Honeymrutha karpatam : hide of dead animal like Krshnaajina, vyaGhrAjina etc., and silkKAkaviShta samudhbootham : aswaththa vriksha, its leaves, branches.This tree is not planted by any body It grows when its fruits are eaten by crows and the seeds are discorded by it.Normally these are the items to be condemned and to be shunned. But the above are exemptions and are considered sacred as per our shrutis " shruthih smruthir harEr Agnya " and cannot be disputed .A. P. Rao

Note : I am bit doubtful of Silk here. I request the learned people to clarify further. I think Silk is extracted from the live silk worms and not dead.

-- Kale Balkrishna

Vice President - ITMSMobile : +91-9849042501

visit my blog : http://kalebala.wordpress.com/Slogan of the day : Please do Sandhyavandane Daily.

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 3:24 PM, ramesh <ramesh.ajgaonkar wrote:

hare srinivasanamaskarams to allexcuse me if this question has been posted in this list b4.I have this doubt for a long time on using animal products in our daily ritual and sampradaya.

for example, we use deer skin (krshnanjana) to cover highly madi items like saligrama silam and vigraham, we use honey to do abhishekam also we use silk and say its madi even without washing.

my relative said this is acceptable since it all belong to hari and some items like these are acceptable as per the sutras as all these living things are doing their seva by offering their skins (deer & tiger), food they prepare (in case of honey) and life (in case of silk worms)

my question is why some animals are acceptalbe and some are not? why god abets such things and considers them superioer? should we not avoid such things and become pure-veggies (like we dont use leather anywhere, deer skin is also a type of leather only)? do we have pramanas to tell us that these things should be used?

I have seen a famous swamiji (in photo, i am sorry i do not remembr the name) who is sitting in on lion/tiger skin. I feel jains who even fear to eat root vegetables like carror, aloo, sweet pototo, are better in such off at time, since they at least dont hurt animals or drive them away (like in honey)

i am sorry if i have asked a wrong question or hurt anybody. pls advise and let me know.hare srinivasaramesh-- Ramesh Ajgaonkar

May 6, 2008

Namaskara Ramesh Avare, I think the more deep we think the more we get the doubts. Its good to get doubts but when we have something written in Shastra we have to believe it. Shastra is the final Authority to which we have to stick to. Anyway let me produce some more interesting answers for you.

I found very interesting Q & A Session with Puthige Swamiji about the same topic on web.

Please visit this link for more detailed answers http://madhva.org/vms_mi/htm/Detroit_swamiji_Q_A.htm

http://madhva.org/vms_mi/htm/Detroit_swamiji_Q_A_2.htmIt was really great to read the details.

!!! Haraye Namaha !!!--

Kale BalkrishnaVice President - ITMS

Mobile : +91-9849042501visit my blog : http://kalebala.wordpress.com/

Slogan of the day : Please do Sandhyavandane Daily.