"The moral progress of a nation can be
judged by the way it treats its animals" - Gandhi

Dear Friends,
Only history will prove how true and visionary Gandhi was when he said those words when India was fighting against the British occupation.During the struggle that nation was also fighting its own social ills.In fact British played the role of catalyst in indian fight against "Sati" system which they thought was nonsense.Just an example.
As we all know the great festival of "Dashain" is nearing.It is the greatest festival because it represents the triumph of "good" over "evil".I have no idea what "good" and "evil" we are talking about here.And,I don't think I will ever be clear on that over my life time.
There are only good memories of Dashain for us as Nepalis.Once again we are ready to celebrate Dashain like any previous year.And,of course we are going to sacrifice thousands of animals and flood our holy temples with blood.Lord Durga will be happy that we are going to do so.There will be blood everywhere.Good humans who are good and strong by nature are going to kill evil animals who are weak by nature.We will cherish on such occasion.
Nonetheless,there is an exception cow is an exception.We recieve milk from cow(and thats why its holy) but not from goat or buffalo.Wait a minute.I have drank more milk from buffalo than cow.But aren't all the mo-mos sold in kathmandu comes from the same buffalo that we recieve milk as well.Just a thought.
Why does the greatest festival of Nepal have to be the great violent celebration too?We are strong and animals aren't.We have to sacrifice the weaker ones so that we human can grow stronger.Does that represent our deepest philosophy of how we should continue to exist?Millions of sacrifices in the past and did it make any difference?Or now we have become so deeply religious that we have started to target our own fellow beings instead of animals and instead of Dashain its all year around.And that's why we have ceasefire during the time of dashain.Is Durga happy?
iZen

I dont know bout DURGA but sure that "Bokaa" isnt

I am not sure about Durga but that will definately make me happy. Yum.. yum dasai ko masu.. cannot wait ;-)

Well said iZen! We definitely need to change our attitude and rethink before sacrificing innocent animals. I guess Goddess Durga would be happy if we really sacrifice our ego and evil thoughts! But unfortunately, even well educated folks are following so called evil tradition which is frustrating to me!

Nut

God ...seeing such pics makes me want to be a vegetarian.

Rose you are most welcome in the Vegetarian?s club if ur interested in! BTW, I have been vegetarian ever since i started my journey into this universe! and It has been really good experience of being a vegetarian even in this (US) hostile land for vegetarian!

Nut

Bali in Nepal had been in existence for centuries. It is not a question of right or wrong. It is culture.

If you want to be a vegetarian visit slaughter house in US or anywhere..

Here are few websites if you want to be a vegan
http://www.vegetarianteen.com/
http://www.vegsoc.org/
http://www.ivu.org/

Thank you nut and hey rose I feel your compassion,
Definitely instead of those innocent bokas why not sacrifice our egos and evil thoughts and see what kind of a difference does it make.The problem of our society is the due to the ego-filled intentions and superficial elite educated minds.Their mind unless be purifdies with some noble thoughts we will have millions more problem to face.Our society is problem free.Unfortunately our mind isn't.Layers of degrees from some good edu. institution is nothing comapre to the basic lessons of how a human should live and let others live.
And that seems to be a problem.
Hence I disagree with the elite powerful class and the dogmas they represent despite their education.
iZen

I am not a vegetarian so I do not want to be a hypocrite and condemn the slaughtering of the animals... I don't like it but I do eat mean... I guess that does make me a hypocrite...

What culture shiv?Culture can be changed if they are not compatible with time.What looked good century ago may seem evil today.that is what I mean.I am not arguing to build a meat-free nepal or ewhatever but i simply disagree with sacrice in the holy places.And if you really care about history I have an important info. for you all.
Beef was served with somaras(Spirit) during the mahabharata period in the palaces where kauravs and pandava were raised.And which philosopher or afanatic came along and said cow is our mother and we can spill the blood of boka and get what we need from Durga.What kind of a pre-human thought is that I don't know.
And that is my point.
P.S:I am not against non-vegetarians But I am agianst the belief that our greatest festival of all has to be the greatest blood spilling festival of all too.

izen,
The question should be what is culture not what culture. If you had asked what is culture I could respond better but when you ask what culture I cannot respond. You should know your own culture, if you were grown-up outside Nepal I understand.

Who changes culture? You and I do. How long does it take to change cultural values? Sometimes centuries unless there are local laws preventing such acts.

Are you also suggesting that cows should be included in sacrifice as well??

Chickens, goats and rangas have (usually male) were used for consumption and for sacrifice for centuries.

As far as your sentiment about making dasain free of sacrifice I do not disagee.

This is a controversial issue and people choose the side based on their beliefs or taste :-).

Izen:
I have a question for you.

If you can slaughter an animal for your fast food, why can't they for their festival ?

Dear Shiv,
The culture that you said exist today in Nepal which I disagree from the bottom of my heart.I was born and raised in that culture.And I assure you that I am not acting alien just because I have introuced with many other cultures.
It was simply a conscious mind trying to make logic behind some of our socio-religious acts including the sacrifice.I find it dogmatic.Lets say would you believe in witchcraft in a time like this where you ahve science to prove things.In a same manner I have come to disagree with some of our religious acts.
It takes a courageous mind to change esblished thought.I will give you an example when churches maintained their belief of geo-centric universe 500 some years ago anyone who would support the idea of sun centred was put under a trial and executed later.Well the truth prevailed and as we know sun is indeed the center of the universe.It is the same with this argument.I see no differnece between a boka, a ranga or a cow so if sacrificed they all should be.If not we should not sacrifice anything at all.Like what Nut had said before why not sacrifice our evil thoughts and enjoy dashain
It is your freedom after all to believe what you like to believe.I was just posting what came up on my mind last night.
iZen

Dear Newlynew,
I am sure they were not slaughtered in a holy place where we believe to acccomodate our higher callings.
iZen

neither durga (the goddess) or murga (chicken) is happy with this bali pratha.

what about plants? they feel too.. don't eat tarkari also, same with rice.. you plug it off the ground and beat up the poor dead thing.. poor plants... don't eat plants as well.. just cuz they can't speak doesn' tmean you can torture them..

it's not about eating. it's about sacrificing those innocent animals in the name of god. if you wanna eat them, just eat them. why do you relate them with god ?

Dear Punditji,

Thank you clarification.That is precisely what I meant when I tried to post my thoughts on the matter.
iZen.rsn

Nepal Jangali ko desh ho. Jangali haru ko desh ma yastai huncha.

Nepal ma arko 100-200 barsha samma kunai pragati hune chance chaina. Yasto savage desh ma keko pragati. people are getting lot more educated but their mindset has not changed.


thanks to izen for starting this thread.