On Jan 4, 2007, at 1:08 PM, TurquoiseB wrote:
--- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote:
<snip> Sacrifice gains spiritual favor and ascendancy in divinity.
The Ribhus gained immortality through their zealous
sacrificing (Rig 1.110.4). Sacrifice was to enbue the
sacrificer with power and wealth from the gods (Rig 1.111.2).
When reading the [translated] Veda, it is like the Bible, not
to be read literally, but rather as descriptions of inner states.
Just as Christian fundamentalists misinterpret the knowledge of
the Bible when reading it literally, so do Vedic fundamentalists
misintepret the Veda, as you have done, when reading it literally.
Yeah, that's pretty much what all True
Believers say when their scriptures are
challenged. "The scriptures don't really
say what they say. If you were as evolved
as we are, and knew all the esoteric stuff
we know, you'd know what they *really* say." :-)
Jim, you're talking about a culture that
clearly believed that the gods they believed
in were real and ran everything, and that the
way to gain their favor was to kill animals
and offer their guts to these gods on a platter.
No problem with that; many cultures believed the
same thing. But to pretend that the Vedic culture
*didn't* believe this, and pretend that these
practices are a "misinterpretation" is ludicrous.
"Vedic" isn't what you want it to be; it's what
it *was*, both the parts that make sense in
today's world and the parts that don't.
One of the reasons Buddhism had such a large impact and spread
initially was because of what Vedic religion was doing in some
kingdoms: it was driving them into bankruptcy. In particular the
vedic horse sacrifice--which sometimes involved copulation with a
male horse and then it's slaughter--had becoming increasingly
elaborate and grandiose.
The horse-sacrifice, the ashvamedha, can only be performed by a raja.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashvamedha
These sacrifices are still practiced in India and Nepal, although
it's more common to see smaller animals: dogs and rabbits, used.
Irregardless of their current use, these rituals IMO are all tainted
by their past (and current) karma. I can't imagine someone who claims
to be a vegetarian having one performed.
