हिन्दी-भारत: "वेदोदय-२०५०" ( इंग्लिश )

"वेदोदय-२०५०" ( इंग्लिश )

Many positive events are taking place worldwide, which are in line with the Vedic teachings। The Vedic concept has been that the entire lot of conscious living beings are a composite of body, mind and soul. Every conscious being experiences pleasure and pain (sukha and duħkha) and that's the definite proof of the soul, the consciousness. This plain truth is now sinking in the whole world that why should we kill animals and birds for our food requirement when there are other alternatives. We are superior to other beings not by being able to kill them but because we can act more responsibly to protect the earth and its biodiversity. The interest in vegetarianism is the natural outcome of the human love and compassion and every human being should dis-associate himself with the killings of animals and birds. It is natural that the bold and open-minded people will increasingly become vegetarians as they become more aware of its virtues and the harms that meat consumption brings to us, animals and ecology. This will be an important feature of the Vedoday that we visualize worldwide.

Maharşi Pataňjali is the author of the treatise known as Yoga-Sūtra. His exposition of Aşţānga Yoga has eight limbs of Yoga, the very first one being Yama that includes ahimsā as its first element. He defines ahimsā as:

Ahimsā-pratisţhāyām tatsannidhau vairatyāgaħ Yoga [2.35]

i.e., Absence of enmity is ahimsā. Typically, people translate ahimsā as 'non-violence' which is not quite correct. If foreign forces attack us and our soldiers kill them, then are we following himsā or ahimsā? Though it appears to be a violent act, namely, killing a foreign attacker, yet it is within the purview of Pataňjali's definition of ahimsā if the same is done without any enmity. Our soldier kills him as his duty and without any personal enmity; He has no personal motive behind killing the foreign soldier. If I have no personal enmity towards one and all then I do not hurt anybody. If we begin to make progress in this direction then the obvious consequence would be that one cannot kill any living being for food.

Nowadays, Yoga has become popular but not in its true form. The awareness needs to be brought in that the very first limb of Yoga is 'Yama' and its very first element is Ahimsā. Pataňjali treats Yama as 'Sārvabhauma Mahā-Vrata' i.e., the Universal Great Vows. He couldn't have visualized that people will take interest in Yoga without its first limb! Let us ensure that Yoga practices are total in nature, both in word and spirit. This has been the Indian tradition to love and respect every life and to take their good care. Our life style has been to live with them together as a family. Every family had its own cow and she was like a family member. It's a wonderful design of God that a cow feeds on several things that we wouldn't like to eat and gives us milk. Cow urine and dung were useful as manure and fuel. This has been a model of sustainable development where every family was self reliant. A family without a cow is unimaginable in Indian tradition. Indeed the Vedic wedding ceremony includes godāna soon after kanyādāna. The very first gift given to the new couple is a cow by the bride's father, right within the wedding ceremony.

There have been some recent attempts to malign our tradition and culture. Some people say that meat consumption was prevalent in ancient India. Some say that Vedas suggest meat consumption. These are fantastic ideas of those who have no understanding of our language and culture. For example, the word for cow in the Vedas is aghnyā, which means, 'one who cannot be killed'. A cow is referred to as aditi too, one who cannot be cut into pieces – is indivisible. Yajurveda (13.49) says:

Imam sāhasram śatadhāramutsam vyacyamānam sarirasya madhye
Ghŗtam duhānāmaditim janāyāgne mā himsiħ parame vyoman.

i.e., The one who protects and sustains hundreds and thousands, one who is the fountain of milk, one who supplies people with milk, one who is aditi (who ought not to be cut into pieces), do not torture such a cow.

The word for yajňa (ritualistic acts for the benefit of the society) is adhvara and that means, 'an act void of violence'. Some people began to point out that the word for a learned person in the Vedas is goghnaħ and that means one who should be served cow's meat. Let us understand its correct meaning. This word is a compound word – go and ghnaħ. The latter word is made out of the root han that means 'to obtain' in addition 'to kill'. In their opinion, the word goghnaħ means a learned person for whom cow should be killed, i.e., who should be served cow's meat. Obviously, consistency is a very important virtue in interpreting any book. The above meaning clearly goes against the word aghnyā and aditi for cow, meaning one who cannot be killed and who cannot be cut into pieces. So, the other meaning of the root han should be utilized here – to obtain. Therefore, the word goghnaħ would mean a learned person who should be obtained (or, who should be served) a cow and her milk and other milk-made products. This is not the only instance of such a meaning of the root han. There is a word hastaghna for hand gloves where the compound word is made of hasta and ghna, similar to goghnaħ. Here the meaning has to be 'hand' and 'to obtain' so that hastaghna can mean hand gloves – the word ghna here means 'to obtain' and cannot mean 'to kill' here.

Vedas and the entire body of the Vedic literature is very clear on this aspect that we should not eat meat, fish and egg. The following hymn from Atharvaveda (8.6.23) implores the rulers to punish those who kill animals and eggs by even capital punishment – it's an eye for an eye, a life for a life; the life in every form is sacred:

Ya āmam mānsamadanti paureşeyam ca ye kraviħ
Garbhānkhadanti keśavāstānito nāśayāmasi.

i.e., We ought to destroy them who eat cooked or uncooked meat as well as eggs, who have made their bodies the graveyards.

Just the way I love my life, an animal loves it, too. Just the way a human mother loves and protects her baby, a bird loves and protects its egg. We have absolutely no business to harm them in any manner. This probably is the biggest organized crime that billions of animals and birds are killed by humans every day, and it is the root cause of a number of problems we are facing. We have degraded ourselves to a very low point in the scale of human development.

The new beautiful world that will emerge with Vedoday2050 (New Dawn of Vedic Teachings on or before the year 2050) would consist of a new breed of human beings who are clean from the body, mind and soul. And, most importantly, only such people can bring Vedoday. Every Indian who holds the Indian culture with a sense of reverence must do the minimum sacrifice and refrain from consumption of meat, fish and egg for a better quality of life for the self, society and nation. India and every Indian must become a shining example of ahimsā and that would give us strength that nobody would dare to think of himsā with us, and if one does, then we can give a befitting reply and crush himsā.

Purport: There are certain things in life that have vicious character. Once we enter into it, we cannot come out of it. Consumption of meat and that of liquor are addictive in nature. On the first occasion, it is repulsive and a wise personoes by that instinct. But a foolish person goes against the God given instinct and pursues them. Then they become more powerful and trap you forever. Gambling and adultery are such acts too. A real strong person is one who can win over these vicious acts. Those who fall for one of these things (meat, liquor, gambling and adultery) are indeed the weakest lot. The Sanskrit word for meat is māmsa. It has an interesting origin; it's made of mām + sa, i.e. 'to me' and 'he/she'. What it means is that today I eat an animal's meat and then there will be a time when 'he/she' will consume 'me'. This is the law of the nature; call it Law of Karma or whatever. What I do today will definitely recoil on me in the future. Today I kill an animal and eat its meat and there will be a time when I will be killed (probably, in the next life) and this animal will eat me whom I have devoured today.

Where Do We Go Wrong?: We think that our Dharma is like other religions, representing certain acts to be performed in a place of worship. The Satya Sanātana Vedic Dharma is not such a narrow thing. It tells us how to lead the human life in a total sense. The Vedas have guidelines for every occasion of life. India's decline for the last five thousand years is primarily due to the attitude that dharma was ignored in more and more spheres of life. This is the time when meat consumption began in the country in a significant manner about three thousand years ago. Then Mahāvīra and Buddha came to remind us the true Indian tradition of ahimsā. Every Indian must sincerely improve his/her personality in a total sense – body, mind and soul included – good health and physique of the body, intelligent and balanced mind, and a sterling character of the soul with love and compassion towards all. We must set an example as individuals who have nothing to do with meat, liquor, gambling and adultery, as Vedas say.

Last month's visit by Dr. Harish Chandra to Calicut (Kozhikhode), Kerala told us the extent of Vedoday work that has been performed there by Kaśyapa Veda Research Foundation (KVRF) under the leadership of young and dynamic Vedic Scholar Dr M R Rajesh. Several thousand people have been taught in the Vedic classes using simple booklets. About 2000 families perform daily agnihotra – this may be more than the whole India figure! It comprehensively assures us that the Vedoday2050 (New Dawn of Vedic Teachings by 2050) is a definite reality. For Vedoday to take place worldwide, one essential component is that it must be preceded by Vedoday in India. This is what Dr Rajesh has shown in Calicut. He is capable of bringing Vedoday throughout India in next two-to-three decades. We would like to urge you to visit their website http://www.hinduveda.org/ and be generous enough to help this institution. Write to them at kvrfoundation@gmail.com. With support from a wide cross-section of people, its tasks can become a reality in a more efficient manner.

We will keep you informed about major events of KVRF. Meanwhile, Dr Harish Chandra and Dr Rajesh will meet next month in Bangalore along with some more Vedic friends to exchange their views, ideas and experiences.