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SANT
23 October 2009, 04:43 AM
Why have hindus started eating beef so openly.
How is beef being provided in indian hotels.
Cow is important in india by religious and economic perspective .
So called hindus who go to foreign palces are eating beef and at home they are the ones who'll attend poojas etc.
Are they not educated taht cow is like a mother.

Eastern Mind
23 October 2009, 07:04 AM
SANT: I think there are many reasons.

1) A western propoganda induced inferiority complex that says, "Keep up to the west." One of the great ironies is that vegetarianism is slowly growing in the west. The grass is greener on the other side of the fence syndrome.
2) The rebellious personal nature of an individual is coming out.
3) The beef industry has a huge propaganda machine behind it supported with huge dollars. I saw an ad here on TV last night for the dairy industry. It said flat out, "Many Canadians don't drink enough milk." I say, "Says who??" Its just the milk industry saying this on their own behalf, to keep their industry going. Gosh I wish we'd see the fruit industry with a lobby.
4) Religion has slowly become uncool, especially with the young.
5) We, the Hindus, and our leaders do not do enough of our own 'propaganda' through education to educate our own.

This week I went to another city and went looking for a good dosa. We went to this restaurant that advertised 'best dosa in town'. Sadly, most of the dosas were meat dosa, like beef dosa, lamb dosa, chicken dosa, etc. I talked to one of the owners and he proudly declared his Hinduness, and that he was from Trichy. Sad, indeed, Not only eating it, but serving it, too.

So whats the solution? Education, education, education. I raised five kids in the west. None of them continued with the rituals of Hinduism that they were exposed to as youngsters. But ironiclally all of them are still vegetarians. It makes too much sense for them.

Aum Namasivaya

SANT
23 October 2009, 08:59 AM
I was actually watching a tv program which provoked me to post this thread.
I remember when i was taught history in school there it mentions people use to sacrifice animals during some period of time.I dont remeber if they mentioned beef.
I myself learned the importance of cow maybe later and i may have special recognition of her over other animals.

My brother aunt always talk about how they enjoy beef when they go to london.
And they celebrate bhaiya dooj rakhi etc. while covering their heads and even the brothers cover their heads.
Its like they are not knowing that cow is unslayable.
Certain People in my opinion are following certain customs only because family or their khandan has been doing for some time so lets continues with it.

But i have a question since cow is seen with krishna or shiva, but muslims and christians do eat cow so why didnt god actually insert this point of not eating cow.

sunyata07
23 October 2009, 03:49 PM
Namaste Sant,

Yes, it's sad to see how the norms of the West can, once again, dismantle a culture and change people's perceptions of should and shouldn't be. Not even that, it can promote a society to take up a habit that eventually can amalgamate itself into the culture, such as eating beef. I have always believed very strongly that the rise of the West could mean the fall of a culture. Maybe not so drastically as it might have happened a hundred odd years ago, but it happens still, and because it is so much more insidious in today's modern world, it is in a sense all the more dangerous.

Allow me to fill in the Christian's understanding of beef-eating. The God in the Bible has never explicitly forbidden man to consume flesh, much less that of any one animal. While man was still in paradise, all animals were vegetarians. Following man's fall from grace, all the animals supposedly began to prey on each other. The Christian God later allowed man to eat animal flesh after the Great Flood: "Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all of the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, now I give you everything." (Gen. 9:1-3)

Man essentially is given mastery over all animals and is told he can eat anything. There are parts of the Bible that go into details about "clean" (animals that would have been suitable for sacrifice) and "unclean" meats. Clean meats would have included beef, lamb, goat, deer - any animal that chewed the cud and had a divided hoof. Yes, some of these animals are actually listed in the Bible as being "fit" to eat. "Unclean" animals included rabbits, hares, pigs and shellfish. You see then, Sant, that this is not the same God as Krishna or Shiva who made people understand that some animals, such as the cow, are particularly dear to God. Cows are not seen as sacred, by any means by Christians and Jews (I cannot speak for Islamic beliefs), and they never were. I think such ideals in Jewish times would have been condemned as idolatry. The closest I can remember anybody venerating the cow in the Bible was the episode after Moses comes back from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments and he finds the people dancing and celebrating and worshipping a golden calf (this god they were worshipping was very likely a derivative the bull-god, Apis, they had brought back with them from their exodus from Egypt). Needless to say, thousands were slaughtered and the people repented for their "evil" sins. I've always wondered if maybe this could be a reason why modern day Christians might find the Hindu custom of venerating the cow so repulsive.

ScottMalaysia
15 November 2009, 12:09 PM
But i have a question since cow is seen with krishna or shiva, but muslims and christians do eat cow so why didnt god actually insert this point of not eating cow.

"He that killeth an ox [cow] is as if he slew a man."
Isaiah 66:3

NetiNeti
01 January 2010, 10:21 PM
"He that killeth an ox [cow] is as if he slew a man."
Isaiah 66:3

There is book called Dominion By Matthew Scully that goes into all the verses in the bible that cover vegetarianism. He also calls out the morals of hunters and animal experimenters. It is quite good.

Sagefrakrobatik
04 January 2010, 01:17 PM
"He that killeth an ox [cow] is as if he slew a man."
Isaiah 66:3


Actually My The New World Translation of Holy Scriptures reads it as bull. But the latin Vulgate and King James Version translate it as OX. I couldnt find the Hebrew Translation.

Ekanta
04 January 2010, 02:26 PM
http://biblelexicon.org/isaiah/66-3.htm
All versions here... [its much better to check the original hebrew than different translations if you ask me]

He that killeth
shachat (shaw-khat')
to slaughter (in sacrifice or massacre) -- kill, offer, shoot out, slay, slaughter.
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an ox
showr (shore)
a bullock (as a traveller) -- bull(-ock), cow, ox
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is as if he slew
nakah (naw-kaw')
to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)
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a man
'iysh (eesh)
a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)
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NIV:
3 But whoever sacrifices a bull
is like one who kills a man,
and whoever offers a lamb,
like one who breaks a dog's neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
is like one who presents pig's blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense,
like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
and their souls delight in their abominations;

pretty cool passage!