Hinduism and animals
Ajay brought up the important point that somehow most of our religious texts seem to operate on the tacit belief that animals are a rung lower than humans on the spiritual ladder and also less accomplished than humans when it comes to our sensory capabilities. Although from first glances, this seems like a discriminitory argument, especially since scientists such as Jagdish Chandra Bose toiled to prove explicit feelings even in plants.
I feel the argument is not justified in its entirety. Hinduism does not condemn the animal. Rather it elevates it - after all the "dog" was Yudhishter's true friend and the only one to make it to Heaven by his side while the Pandavas perished along the arduous jouney. Hinduism only lambastes "brutal" qualities - i.e. animal when used as an adjective seems to have a derogatory meaning. This is because, it is harder to perceive a modicum of spirituality or finer sensory perception in animals without having to use sophisticated instruments and carrying out extensive studies. This is perhaps the etymology of the word animal as used as an adjective in Hindu literature. To further support my argument, I would like to point out that 4 out of the ten avatars of Lord Visnu were half or full animals. http://members.tripod.com/~srinivasp/mythology/avatars.html.
This is where Hinduism truely reflects its stance on animals.
I feel the argument is not justified in its entirety. Hinduism does not condemn the animal. Rather it elevates it - after all the "dog" was Yudhishter's true friend and the only one to make it to Heaven by his side while the Pandavas perished along the arduous jouney. Hinduism only lambastes "brutal" qualities - i.e. animal when used as an adjective seems to have a derogatory meaning. This is because, it is harder to perceive a modicum of spirituality or finer sensory perception in animals without having to use sophisticated instruments and carrying out extensive studies. This is perhaps the etymology of the word animal as used as an adjective in Hindu literature. To further support my argument, I would like to point out that 4 out of the ten avatars of Lord Visnu were half or full animals. http://members.tripod.com/~srinivasp/mythology/avatars.html.
This is where Hinduism truely reflects its stance on animals.
posted by Raghav at 2:26 PM
2 Comments:
My thoughts on the session on "Practical Vedanta"
About animals:
I agree that the ideal for human beings is not eating meat. This may not be feasible for many people today due to upbringing and bodily needs - therefore, having animals for food is fine if it is done right with respect to raising and killing them. But, if we say plants contain inherent life and also feel pain (as we know from J.C. Bose's work and references to it in "Autobiography of a Yogi"), should they be eaten? Where does this notion of *respect* for all life come in for vegetarianism? Nature itself decrees that some animals will eat other animals and some will eat plants. So, we could say that whether we are vegetarians or not, we still made a decision that some 'life' is ideal for food and other 'life' is not ideal for food.
Also, whether animals should/should not be used for food is only one question - by the same token, could we not say that using animals for experiments is wrong as Swamiji mentioned in his essay? If we say that, then most medical research, medical improvements and the current system of healthcare has a wrong basis from a spiritual point of view - as the system relies quite a bit on 'necessary' animal models and animal research. Almost every single drug or medicine out there must pass through animal trials first before they can be approved for clinical trials or use; tests of chemical toxicity and the effects of diseases are also done on animals. Most of us, very understandably, would not decline the modern healthcare system if we or someone we loved got sick.
About practicality:
So herein we find that we need help regarding practical life - what profession in the modern world can we say is free from corruption from a spiritual point of view? Isn't it silly to think that we can pursue "spirituality" in our spare time; isn't it hypocritical to say we are spiritual beings and then pursue activities and professions that spiritually have no benefit or are of a harmful nature. Shouldn't we as human beings make every single decision of our lives based on our spirituality - everything from what we eat, what we wear, where we live and the activities or professions we choose? In today's world, there are many obstacles to this, most notably our lack of understanding of our own mistakes; the difference between intellect, emotion and intuition. We can't live a spiritual life if we have lost the fundamental ability to listen and make decisions with our spirit - but then, how to listen to your spirit is something that an individual can learn only for himself/herself.
The concept of Oneness that is central to Vedanta:
This concept leaves me with questions. To love everyone and enhance the brotherhood of mankind and Nature is possible even without this concept of Oneness. If we are already perfected beings with infinite power, why the veil of imperfection and bodily limitation - is there an explanation in Vedanta about why/how (or maybe I should say '*what* is the process by which') we 'lost' this knowledge of Oneness to begin with? (can a perfect God be covered by imperfections? that seems silly). I understand that we can all use the Divine power in Nature for good or bad things, but I have stopped short of considering myself (and other humans) as Divine.
Many people know the importance of self confidence and try to boost their own by using many different personal development models. Self confidence to most people is the ability to feel at ease in most situations but low self confidence in many areas may be due to a lack of self esteem. Low self esteem takes a more subtle form that low self confidence. So if you are tired of feeling not good enough, afraid of moving towards your desires and goals, feel that no matter what you do it is just never good enough, then your self esteem could do with a boost.
Every day we make decisions based on our level of self-esteem. We also exhibit that level of self esteem to those around us through our behaviour. 90% of all communication is non-verbal - it is not what you say but ho you say it that matters! Your body language, tonality and facial gestures can all tell a completely different story to your words. It is our behaviour which influences others and people react to us by reading our non-verbal communications. Have you ever met someone you just didn't like although on the surface they seemed polite and courteous, or you met someone who seemed to speak confidently yet you knew they were really frightened underneath and just displaying bravado?
Parental and peer influences play a major part in moulding our level of self-esteem when we are children and in our early years of adolescence. The opinions of the people closest to us and how they reacted to us as individuals or part of the group was a dominant factor in the processes involved in forming our self esteem.
As adults we tend to perpetuate these beliefs about ourselves and in the vast majority of cases they are ridiculously erroneous. It is time to re-evaluate our opinion of ourselves and come to some new conclusions about these old belief patterns.
Ask yourself some serious question:
Is your long-held view about yourself accurate? Do we respect the sources from which we derived these beliefs? Most of the negative feedback we bought into as we were growing up actually came from people we have little or no respect for and as adults we would probably laugh their comments away! Yet the damage to your self esteem was done when you were very young and you still carry it with you to this day.
Is it possible that even those people you respected, who influenced your self-worth, were wrong? Perhaps they had low self esteem also.
As adults we have the opportunity to reshape our self-esteem. Try to judge accurately the feedback you receive from people you respect. This process will allow you to deepen your understanding of yourself and expand your self-image. It will also show you were you actually need to change things about yourself and were you don't. Many people are striving to better themselves in areas where they are just fine or actually excelling and it is only because they have an inaccurate picture of themselves in their minds due to low self esteem!
Setting small goals and achieving them will greatly boost your self-esteem. Identify your real weakness and strengths and begin a training program to better your inter-personal or professional skills. This will support you in your future big life goals and boost your self-esteem and self confidence to high levels you didn't existed!
Learn to recognise what makes you feel good about yourself and do more of it. Everyone has certain things that they do which makes them feel worthwhile but people with low self esteem tend to belittle these feelings or ignore them.
Take inventory of all the things that you have already accomplished in your life no matter how small they may seem. Recognise that you have made achievements in your life and remember all the positive things that you have done for yourself and others. Take a note of your failures and don't make excuses like "I'm just not good enough" or "I just knew that would happen to me", analyse the situation and prepare yourself better for the next time. If someone else created success, regardless of the obstacles, then you are capable of doing the same! Remember everyone has different strengths and weakness so do not judge your own performance against that of another just use them as inspiration and know that what one human being has achieved so can another!
Surround yourself with people who respect you and want what is best for you - people who are honest about your strengths and will help you work through your weakness. Give the same level of support to them!
Avoid people who continually undermine you or make you feel small. These people are just displaying very low self esteem. As your own self esteem grows you will find that you are no longer intimidated by another's self confidence or success and you can actually be joyful for them! Do things you love to do and that make you happy. A truly happy person never has low self esteem they are too busy enjoying life! By getting busy living your life with passion and joy you will not be able to be self-consciousness.
If you find yourself feeling self-conscious in any situation focus on the fact that others can tell and many of them will be feeling the same. Be honest. People respond to someone better if they openly say "To tell you the truth I'm a bit nervous" rather than displaying bravo or fake confidence that they can see right through. Their reactions to you, will show your mind at a deep level, that there was actually nothing to be frightened of and everything is great. If someone reacts to this negatively they are just displaying low self esteem and very quickly you will find others noticing this! Really listen to people when they talk to you instead of running through all the negative things that could happen in your head or focusing on your lack of confidence. People respond to someone who is truly with them in the moment..
Breath deeply and slow down. Don't rush to do things.
Stop the negative talk! 'I'm no good at that' or "I couldn't possibly do that" are affirmations that support your lack of self esteem. Instead say "I have never done that before but I am willing to try" or "how best can I do that?". Which leads us to the last point - the quality of the questions you ask yourself s very important.
When you ask a question it almost always has a preposition in it. For example, "How did I mess that up?" presumes that something was messed up, a better way of phrasing the question would be "what way can I fix this quickly?", as this presumes you can and will fix it. Or "How am I ever going to reach my goal?" could be rephrased as "what way will lead me to my goal quicker" presumes that you are going to reach your goal! Get the picture? Change the quality of your questions and your results will change!
Practise these techniques and watch your self esteem rise day by day. personal development
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