[sv-rituals] Fwd: Re: on the usage of honey
From the Bhakti List Archives
• June 3, 2002
I think there is a more philosophical aspect that is involved in this, as this shows the Narayana thatvam and reminds one of the supreme most logical thatvam as expounded by the Vedas when it is used in day to day life. It also depicts the stages that one goes through during the spiritual journey. If one pours honey on God without understanding the philosophical meaning (or anything for that matter) it is equivalent to praying a dead body and trying to feed a dead dog or on it. Honey was chosen,may be, because of the process and the supreme qualities and He loves it according to our acharyas. It can also be argued that using milk is bad as we are doing himsa to the body of cow, drinking water is bad as we are killing so many bacteria, breathing is bad as we are eating so many insects, eating food is bad as we use fertilizers which kills so many insects, eating plants, potatoes, carrots is bad as they are killed before eating and some eat them raw and so on.... I think there is a limit for consideration of himsa whether it is directly or indirectly. adiyen Ramanuja Dasaha ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Mani Varadarajan"Reply-To: mani@ramanuja.org To: CC: , Subject: Re: on the usage of honey Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 08:03:06 -0700 (PDT) On another email list the question of using honey as part of an ahimsa-filled lifestyle arose. The answer given by Sri Sri Tridandi Jeeyar Swami was effectively that since bees are not harmed in the process there is no problem with honey. While I do not wish to come to a firm conclusion on whether or not to include honey in one's diet, there is no doubt that bees are harmed as a product of the honey industry. To quote a vegan website: <<< BEGIN Honey is made from sucrose-rich flower nectar that is collected by honeybees and then regurgitated back and forth among them until it is partially digested. After the final regurgitation, the bees fan the substance with their wings until it is cool and thick. This mixture, which we call honey (which is essentially bee vomit), is then stored in the cells of the bees' hive and used as their sole source of nutrition in cold weather and other times when alternative food sources are not available. During the collection of flower nectar, the bees also pollinate plants. This is part of the natural process of life and is necessary and unavoidable. Even though humans inadvertently benefit, the bees do not pollinate plants in order to serve human needs; it is simply a secondary aspect of their nectar collecting. The honey that bees produce is stored in their hives for their own purposes. When humans remove honey from the hive, they take something that is not rightfully theirs. To collect honey, beekeepers must temporarily remove a number of the bees from their home. During the course of bee management and honey collection, even the most careful beekeeper cannot avoid inadvertently injuring, squashing, or otherwise killing some of the bees. Other commodities may be taken from the hive as well, including beeswax, honeycomb, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly.END >>> My intention here is not to disagree with the learned and respected Jeeyar Swami, who is a beacon of light to so many followers throughout the world, but to point out that the issue is not simple and that there is definite indirect 'himsa' in the consumption of honey. With regards and praNAmams, aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan, Mani _________________________________________________________________ Join the worldÂ’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Kwick Pick opens locked car doors, front doors, drawers, briefcases, padlocks, and more. On sale now! http://us.click.yahoo.com/ehaLqB/Fg5DAA/Ey.GAA/XUWolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -- SrImatE rAmAnujAya namaH -- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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