Regarding Pig and Superstition Clarification

January 29, 2007

Swami,

I would like to clarify on the following concept which I read from a reputed

religious website.Â They were mentioning about different customsÂ and beliefs

and they had mentioned something like 'Pigs should be avoided totally. Even a

touch of pig would render the touched victim unrecoverable for the entire of his

life. Also, the vehicles are accident-prone if pigs are runover by it'.

It looks like superstition for me, (I humbly beg your pardon, in case this is a

boisterous superstition since the 3rd incarnation of the Lord in His Dashavathar

is 'Varaha' (Bhoo Varaham or the Wild Boar).

Can you please clarify?

-------------------------

Deepak Vasudevan

91 98400 26014

***

Definitely!

I won't agree all these statements.

But we should be careful to avoid the danger to that animal (pig).

My way of taking all these things is : 'accept everything (good / bad) and enjoy

or experience it'. This will lead to the stage of " Sthithaprajgnan " .

nvs

February 1, 2007

Hare Krishna.

The Lord's coming as Varaha or Sveta Varaha does not

mean that every pig is sacred. The Lord is

transcendental, hence His appearance and body as

Varaha are fully spiritual. He is the best in all

categories.

Also, He came as sveta varaha or what can be

approximately described in material terms as a wild

boar. He did not appear as a domestic pig.

Not every elephant is a Ganesha or every lion a

Narasimha, as some commercial Indian movie dialogues

would have us believe.

Pigs are also spiritual in so far as the souls encased

in the pigs' bodies are also spiritual. But the body

nevertheless is one of filth. So long as we are

encaged in a material body, we do have to observe

proper standards of cleanliness with regards to

relating to other material bodies.

This is not to say that Sanatana Dharma functions on

the level of some fanatically ritualistic bodily-based

sense of cleanliness devoid of compassion and

consideration. There are certain religionists who may

run at the sight of a dog or a hog and shun them as

defiled creatures. But, Sanatana Dharma is not related

to shunning an entity. It merely calls us to observe

the protocol of cleanliness while extending our

compassion and welfare to the jiva encaged in such

bodies. Suitable behaviour is recommended, not unusual

flirting or shunning.

Pets and other animals have a place outside of the

home and they may be fed the Lord's remnants and cared

for. But they have no place in the home. We should not

go and consciously deal with them by way of incessant

bodily affection in the name of a pompous show of

social equality like in the West where dogs share beds

with people, etc. We also learn from the history of

Bharat Maharaja in the Srimad Bhagavatam how such

attachment can cause one to obtain an animal's body in

the next life due to absorption.

We have our place and they have theirs and we co-exist

for mutual benefit. But we should have a certain sense

of decorum related to suchi or cleanliness in dealing

with various material bodies for bodies do influence

consciousness.

So, we do and should exercise compassion but this is

different from bodily attachment which disregards

proper standards of cleanliness, both internal and

external.

The Lord's form of Varaha is totally a different

subject matter. He is still the Lord and purely

spiritual. In fact, Varaha's hair is the original of

the kusa grass or darbhai. I don't think ordinary

domestic pigs or wild boars give us kusa grass. So,

clearly, the comparison cannot be tenable.

Sometimes, we are very readily disposed to labelling

something as superstition simply because we are unable

to grasp the valid reasons behind a certain practice

based on our limited gross sensory perception. And

this itself becomes the case for another form of

superstition. Subtle material and purely spiritual

elements are much more finer than gross perception and

they do need a spiritual source of explanation that

offers a larger picture of our cosmological order and

purpose. In accordance with that, our bodily and

mental decorum is regulated to maximise our spiritual

benefit. Even in terms of our gross sensory

realisations, we have yet to understand many things

properly, what to speak of subtle and spiritual

elements.

Humbly,

Your servant,

Jai Simman,

Singapore.

______________________________\

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February 2, 2007

Dear friends, I have been reading the messages on Lord's Avatar of Varaha being compared with pigs and human treatment of pigs. My thoughts are as follows. Geethacharyan has clearly said that He takes innumerable avatars as and when causes for them arise and in these avatars, we understand from Poorvacharyas and Elders that God's divine qualities are intact in whatever form and shape He takes in His avatars. Further, it is said in the Gita that His avataars are not the result of Karma and His actions do not bind Him. Even when He is the Inner Controller or Paramatma residing in the hearts of human beings inside the Jivatma, the Jivatma's actions through its body do not affect Him in any manner. He is flawless and faultless and full of auspicious qualities only and even His Archa moorthys are in Suddha Satva Thirumenis. Jivatmas take the bodies due to karmas for reaping the karmic consequences and what

bodies they take depend upon what experiences they should have as consequences of their past actions. What the Jivatma does being in a body - be it of human body or animal body like in a pig - binds it so long as the Jivatma does not attain Moksha through God's Grace being obtained by following the prescribed means like Bhakthi or Saranagadhi. Bodies obtained through Karmas by the Bhaddas or Bound Jivatmas stand in no comparison with divine bodies the Lord takes as He does not shed any of His divine qualities in that body and is not bound by the actions He does in that body in an avataar. Why are we therefore wasting our time in imagining things which do not have vedic sanctions. Since all Jivatmas have the same nature and inherent qualities all alike, the Gita says that one should look with equal eye at a Brahmin, Chandala, Dog and the like and this is said in the Gita after it teaches the differences between the Jivatma and

the Body it resides in. It is categorically stated that Jivatma should not think that it is the Body itself and should know that it is different from the body it resides in. Human body, Animal Body, Plant body, Devas' body, etc are all perishable while the Jivatmas residing in them are eternal, unborn and will have to be in Samsara World (including all Lokams which are perishable except the Sri Vaikuntam, the only Eternal world attaining which for the service of the Lord is known as Moksham for the Jivatma from which there is no return for it to the other lokas and it attains the status of Mukthas from the lower status of Bhaddas. Once the basics and fundamental tattvas are clear, there is no need for such debates as we have been carrying on in relation to the Varaha Avataara and Pigs. With my pranams, Adiyen, Padmanabha Dasan

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