Guest guest Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Further to the question asked about the role of Holy Cow in Hinduism The work we do as Vivekananda Centre involves displacing poor presentation of Hinduism with more dynamic teachings of Hinduism. We are succeeding to a great extent. In our textbook Hinduism for schools we have commented that Hinduism equated to Hereditary Caste system, Kali, Sati and the Holy cow is in poor taste. The key elements of Hinduism that should be talked about and taught are: Divinity of mankind (or spiritual humanism) Religious Pluralism (which accepts that there are many different ways of making spiritual progress) Religion and Rationality (Religions must be able to take on the challenge of rationality) Experiential Religion ( Religions are not mere belief systems but experiential subject) We are succeeding in presenting this dynamic and correct version of Hinduism in the academic fields in the UK. As to the Holy Cow We do the following story in schools.. We say suppose we asked the Englishman who loves his dog to eat his dog, he will chase us with his stick saying, how dare you? Dog is man's best friend, we do not eat our best friend... Ah, say the Hindus, we agree with you, but we disagree with you about who is man's best friend. Man's best friend for over 10,000 years is not the cat or the dog or the horse, it is this gentle animal called the cow. It is this gentle cow that has stood by mankind and allowed mankind to settle down and be civilized, if we wish to extend the idea of reverence for life into the animal kingdom then the animal most suited to receive the reverence of mankind is this gentle cow. Hence the Hindus revere the cow (Hindus do not worship the cow but revere it). jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Namaste, Thanks for the wonderful explanations. Jay, it would be great if you could share some information regarding the Caste system, especially in India (I understand that caste system prevails all over the world in some way or the other). I was interested to know the following questions: When was caste system created and under whose authority? Why was it created in that time period? I mean the socio political situations. How Hinduism and is associated with system? Does Vedanta acknowledge caste system? Lastly, how does caste system contribute to the healthy growth of a society? Thanks and regards Monalisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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