"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

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!
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I feel ya. But seriously, I think I would also be a vegetarian if I witnessed animals being slaughtered. I think about it at times and temporarily dislike meat. But then again I still eat meat--- a healthy balanced diet is the ticket IMO. But I am conscious from where i buy it. Factory farming is not cool... I avoid buying meat from commercial stores....at least I won't be pumping all those antibiotics and suchlike into myself . It's crazy what they do to animals raised for food. They also aren't processed in the most sanitary of conditions, oftentimes.

Thanks Queen it is definitely about the mind set.Not 100 or 200 I think this will change within our lifetime.The more folks are going to be aware as we are headed towrds the worst travesty in our history.And once we get to that point society will rethink its plague-minded set of thoughts that seems to endorse these dogmas.And this is just an example of many more other mindless religious acts that we perform in the name of culture.
I would rather accept a society where beef is eaten as ameal than a society where we sacrifice weaker animal for our self-centered blessings and that too in a holy places like temple where we conceptualize god resides.

Nice name zen master. :p Back to topic, well like I already mentioned a healthy balanced diet is the ticket. But also remember----sadly, with as many people on this planet as there are this is what is required to feed us all. It's an assembly line. This is also the case with plant life that we eat. It is an assembly line where plants are genetically engineered and pumped full of chemicals...just like the animals we eat. A human vegetarian is no different than a human omnivore in regards to the effect we have on the industrialization of food. So make sure where you do your groceries.

I do want to say one more thing about plant-life. I find the miracle of a plant having life no less amazing than animals having life. Therefore, when someone suggests that killing animals somehow carries more weight than killing a plant I get kinda pissed off. Just teh question is how they are killed. I think we know two things pretty well on this planet: we need to eat to live and we need to kill to eat. The only difference between a vegan who claims veganism for moral reasons and me (as I see it) is that the vegan has somehow justified that plants are worth less than animals.

A note: I'm not trying to rattle cages. I'm just trying to express myself in something less than a novel. :)

Thanks sweet Rose,
Your feelings are so humane which is understandable.But like I have mentioned earlier my point is about violence in the holy places like temple.It is not a question about being vegetarion/vegan or not.It is about century old concept that we should sacrifice some weaker lives in order to bless our stronger souls.I find this concept disturbing and dogmatic.It represents we are violent in our deeper selves.
And like Buddha had said:Violence is not about solely killing it is about violence that we carry in our heart and soul.
iZen

matrix,

what's going on in the name of religion in nepal has nothing to do with the stuffs u are talking about i. e., the ecological food chain or pestiside pumped foods.

what do u mean by plants? Trees? Flowers? Grass? Yes, from ecological, economic perspective, Cutting down trees d in the long run cutting down trees wil be more detrimentall for the sustainability of various ecosystems than killing 1000000 animals or humans.

But, If u include all the plant family then u should think before treading on grass? After all its a plant also. Then what about myriad of insects that crawl on the ground?

"I find the miracle of a plant having life no less amazing than animals having life. Therefore, when someone suggests that killing animals somehow carries more weight than killing a plant I get kinda pissed off. "

WOW, What a kind sentiment. I think u didn't understand the crux of this topic.

just don't eat anything than you will not hurt anyone, anythng but yourself!!!!!!!!!! just kidding I know no one can survuve without food eaither veg or non-veg.

hehe, i did understand, but got carred away awww i feel for the plants and even grass so i fly... :d And well i think we all know whats going on in Nepal in the name of religion is surely not a right thing...but still happens...hope someday such things will happen.

Yes, from ecological, economic perspective, cutting down trees in the long run wil be more detrimental for the sustainability of various ecosystems than killing 1000000 animals or humans.
typo

Sure thing Sweetheart,
Now that its clear to you.You have your say.Things will change but we have this huge task to change our mindset first.
iZen..

Exactly. Meat/Vegie tastes good. Humans have teeth for eating it. God or whoever you believe in didn't/doesn't condemn it. Eat all you want and what you want but just make sure how they are planted and raised.

or better say gets killed.....

Connection Failure

pundit lai gayera bhana. :D

Funny hun:@

That was horrible picture indeed! I have slutted many such goats when I was a teen and I cried many times remembering those incidences later. I have no mean to undo them, that must be the result of my some bad karmas which brought me to perform such unwholsome deed and increase my negative account. If these words are outdated or fancy for you, put them aside; all I mean was I did something terrible which I can not undo.

Who is responsible?

I was a kid, didn't have wit; didn't know what was right and what was wrong. So, I don't blame myself, not because of the ego centeredness but by scientific analysis. The tradition, the culture, the environment where I grew up was responsible for my unwholsome actions. I am just an example, there are many people who still following the path.

I have seen people beating Buffalo's to death (I am crying). Poor them don't know what they are doing! Of course ignorence is the cause of all miseries, those who crucified Jisus din't know what they were doing. Crulty is opposite of the compassion, and if they practice crulty their crulty will increase making them more violent. Don't we see that in our society now? Down to such culture which encourage us to practice violence!

I have already waged a war against these all unscientific traditions like Dashain, caste system, inequality, idole worshiping etc that are the root cause of our backwardness and our regress. The war is idological and it is fought through peaceful means and personal demonstrations so you don't read it in news :). I am seeing some like minded comrade in Sajha, which is positive development :)

Somebody have already mentioned earlier, we are very uncivilized, which sounds true to me. Can a culture which rejoice the pain of helpless innocent animals be considered civilized? Justice and compassion are two major signs of civilized cultures. Lets testify whether we have these two qualities.

Many people follow their tradition blindly and most of the traditions these days are unscientific or corrupt. Before advocating for our culture and tradition it is necessary to
judge them objectly.

Historically, Dashain is not very ancient tradition. Puranas were started to write about 300 years after the Buddha. Kali puran, on which Dashain is based is one of the latests. Most of the Puranas were written to wipe out he corrupted Buddhism which was based on non violence. There were many foreign invasions and attacks in Indian subcontinent and corrupted form of Buddhism, which was widespread form Tibet to Gandhar (Afgansthan) was cause of it. The society was in disperate need of such literature where violence for justice would be permitted. This could be the reason why all the Puranas were incouraging for violence. Of course violence is very negative, it took our society backward. Now we proud of our ancesters like Buddha and other sages, it means they were better then us.

Hindus (those who live form Indus river to Himalaya),at time of Buddha, did kill and eat cow. गोघातको वा गोधातंसेवासीवा गावं बधित्वा चतुमहापथ.....े -सतिपठ्ठान सुत्र (cow killer or his assistance killing cow in a sqare....). There are many remarks in Tipithaka where Buddha discorage people to eat and kill cows. Cows used to be killed in religious ceremonies too. Later when Puranas were written, many things were taken form Buddhas teaching, one of them is worshiping the cow.

Sorry for mistakes, comments are welcome, I will reply next weekend.

Thanks,
Vishowntar

(Since many years my family have abandoned to celebrate Dashain)

Thank you for your comments Vishowntar,
Numerous other issues including the caste system has to be addressed as well.Nepal needs an effective psychological revolution today.Society will not change unless we change our mindset.The psychological revolution has to start and start from our minds.To rejoice in some other lives painful slaughter in the name of god is unacceptable.It reflects violence in our minds.The so called "bali" system has to be completely wiped out from our society.I am not against Dashain celebration.Dashain minus blood-spill in the temples should be encouraged.
The question of "good" and "evil" should be addressed more vividly.I am good because I am from the upper caste and you are bad because you are from the lower caste mentality should cease to exist in our mindset.
Good and evil both live within our mind.Even "The Bhagavad Gita" says that.Why can't we live the teachings of Gita.I wish you all the best in your fight against these ills of society.
iZen

Ritualistic killing or killing in the name of God (animal sacrifices to attain something) , which I believe, is the theme of this thread has nothing to do with the food chain, the canines and/or sustenance.

Hey PQueen long time, no see!

Yes Sitara the theme is my personal disagreement with our society's dogamtic lifestyle."Bali" is just one of them.Society needs to get rid of all century old dogmas one by one.That is the only way we can menatlly and spiritually evolve.

The war is idological and it is fought through peaceful means and personal demonstrations so you don't read it in news :). I am seeing some like minded comrade in Sajha, which is positive development :) -

Vishontar,

How to make Dasain and othe hindu/buddhist festivals a blood-less one - that is the key. Is there any quick solution to this social evil?


sitara,
I was around.