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Re: ahimsA as a first principle -- still valid?

From the Bhakti List Archives

Chandrasekaran Venkatraman • August 31, 2000 


Dear Bhagawathas,
    This is heart-rending... It's pathetic that these poor creatures 
are to suffer so much at the hands of the meanest, selfish humans.
As dearth of virtuosity grows it engulfs all values of the society.
Religion and noble ideas lose their gravity as prophesied by our
grand seers.
    Whether it's a cow or for that matter a guinea pig used in the 
medical labs or a monkey used to test the strength of the helmets or 
to test the effect of eyelash lotions or lipsticks on humans, to 
mention a few, the situation is indeed sad and a shame on the present
dominant human civilisation.

    May the souls embodied in these poor creatures find peace soon.

    Namo Narayana!

    Sincerely,
    chandrasekaran.


--- In bhakti-list@egroups.com, Mani Varadarajan  wrote:
> 
> Dear Members,
> 
> As has been often mentioned on the list, kindness to all
> creatures is one of the first principles of being a Vaishnava.
> It is required as part of two of the angas of saranaagati.
> As part of the greater Hindu community, we Vaishnavas pride 
> ourselves as having a history of practicing ahimsA in its 
> positive and negative aspects.
> 
> Unfortunately, this greatest of values seems to be in
> utter decay today. I ask all members to read the following
> article, which demonstrates the utter depravity to which
> our society has fallen:
> 
> http://www.indiacurrents.com/200006/animalRights.htm
> 
> I ask further, can we do anything about this? Can each one of
> us make an effort, and set an example for others to follow?
> It seems to me that otherwise, we are all guilty. Even if 
> we are not the one's yielding the knife, we are as guilty
> if we partake of the spoils, or even if we sit back and 
> ignore the problem.
> 
> It is said in Srimad Bhagavatam that the killer of cows 
> is the only one who fails to truly appreciate the story
> of Sri Krishna:
> 
>   ( ka uttam-Sloka-guNAnuvAdAt pumAn virajyeta vinA paSughnAt, 
10.1.4 )
> 
> rAmAnuja dAsan
> Mani


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