Namaste!

I've been reading extracts from the vedas and I noticed it mentions animal, horse and human sacrifice in the texts. I just found that to be confusing as the concept of non-violence, respecting nature and that we are all essentially manifestations of Brahman or supreme soul - even Animals.

How can animal sacrifice be in the vedas, which is an authoritative text, when it is essentially an adharmic action (as you're killing an animal)?

I've also read that these animal sacrifices have been mis-translated from Sanskrit - does anyone know if this is true?