Are ghastly rituals such as animal sacrifices given in scriptures?

Answer Podcast

Any other questions? There are many ceremonies that go on in the Indian tradition and some of them are quite ghastly like killing of animals.
So are they really given in scripture and are they really necessary to do? No. What is present in the Indian tradition today is a diluted, contaminated and perverted version of Vedic teachings. Diluted, what is given, that is made very diluted or contaminated, other things have been added or it’s completely perverted sometimes.
So we have to, often when certain things are talked of as a part of the tradition, we have to look back first at the scripture to see whether something like that has been talked about or not. There is a verse of Kalidas where he says that not everything as old is good, not everything new is bad. The wise person evaluates everything and then decides whether to accept something or not.
So just because something is traditional, that does not necessarily mean it is necessarily scriptural. And of course it doesn’t mean at all that it is beneficial. Having said that depending on certain rituals, some rituals are indeed they feature some amount of violence and animal killing is described in the Vedic scriptures.
But that is specifically for those people who are anyway addicted to meat eating. Those people who are addicted to meat eating, they are going to anyway eat meat. And if they are so the animal sacrifices, for example there is certain puja of Kali in which goats are killed and offered.
So the idea is that this sacrifice of course is to be done only on an Amavasya, only once a fortnight. And even when it is done once a fortnight the focus has to be on that one cuts the goat oneself into seven parts and gives six parts in charity and takes only one part for one’s own consumption. So even by doing so actually when one is oneself going to cut the animal, the ghastliness of it all becomes apparent to us.
And then there is a mantra which is chanted which essentially centers on the word Mamsa. Now Mamsa simply we say it means meat. But etymologically Mamsa is part of two words Maam and Sapa.
I and you. So Mamsa means I will become you. So it is a sobering meditation that now I am killing you that in future you will become a human, I will become a goat and you will kill me.
Now things may not literally happen every time like that. But the point is there will be karmic consequences. Painful karmic consequences that will be there.
So therefore this should be avoided. And say if there is a community of people who are eating meat regularly and those who are eating meat regularly are almost daily same. I mean two three times a day people eat meat also.
So when they are eating meat like this at that time if among them one person starts eating meat only once a fortnight and that person will be considered like a saint in that community. And the others when they see that he is eating so saintly. So he or she will get the impetus to stay focused on that level and others will see this is the level.
They will also aspire to come to that level. And because that person now many times in the rituals are performed the focus centers on just killing the animal. But actually the focus should be on there is a whole ritual that is done involves chanting of mantras, offering of prayers and part of it is killing the animal.
So when one does all the other parts of the rituals also chanting of prayers and mantras then that elevates one’s consciousness and gradually the people who are stupid in ignorance they come towards passion and eventually they will come towards goodness. So Prabhupada explained that this is like this allowance for violence and certain sacrifices it is like the government allowing permit rules. The government knows that alcohol is bad.
Alcohol consumption may spoil health. But still certain places they allow people to drink alcohol. Why? Because that’s what people want to do.
And if that is not allowed and people are anyway going to drink alcohol they often manufacture alcohol underground and they will drink it that way. And then there will be no regulation and that might cause even further worse complications. Therefore, this sort of sacrifices which are there in scriptures they are not the instructions of scriptures.
They are not the recommendation of scriptures. They are the concessions within scripture. So instruction means I tell you to do it.
Recommendation means I suggest that you do it. Concession means you want to do it, I allow you to do it. So scripture contains many statements which are concessions.
And if the person is diabetic and doctor tells, avoid sugar. But then the patient says, no I cannot live without sugar. Doctor says, ok take sugar once a week.
And doctor also says, take this medicine take this medicine, take this medicine. Now the patient comes home and pushes aside the medicine and says, doctor told me to take sugar. And that was not the doctor’s instruction.
That was the doctor’s concession. So similarly these statements are given in scripture about animal sacrifices, but they are concessions. Unfortunately, some people take them as the main instruction of scripture and they neglect what is the main instruction.
And then that leads to just like a person who takes sugar as the main instruction of the doctor that person’s disease will worsen. So like the people who do only these rituals and they do not do the purificatory rituals which are meant to elevate consciousness, then they in the name of being religious and doing religious rituals they often end up becoming more degraded. So if you see the overall picture of scripture, there is a plan for progressive elevation from wherever we are.
So even if you are a meat eater, scripture doesn’t say get low you are going to go to hell. It says no, you do this by this also you will become gradually elevated. Scripture accommodates everyone, but we shouldn’t think that what is given as accommodation is itself the instruction.
Does it answer your question? Thank you. What is the other question?