[Advaita-l] vedic yajna

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste Sri Sunil Bhattacharya

If the Sastra has prohibited Govadha it means the whole cow species.
They will not separately say cows, calves and Bulls. All animals in
cow species are included. Bulls are needed to increase the cow
population. Without Bulls the cows will not become pregnant and give
birth to calves and  give milk to us. This is why the two most
important Gods of Hinduism Krishna and Siva have adopted the cow and
Bull. Cow is the symbol of Krishna and Bull of Siva. In Krishna temple
they will honour cows. In Siva temples there is always Nandi idol in
front. In Smrutis they have said Cow is the mother of all human beings
and Bull is the father.

On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 12:15 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya
<sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Namaste,
>
> Is this not for she-cows only and not for the he-cows?
>
> Regards,
>
> Sunil KB
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: Kalyan K <kalyankc.81 at gmail.com>
> To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 8:24 AM
> Subject: [Advaita-l] vedic yajna
>
> Namaste Venkatesh-ji,
>
>>Some kinds of animals were used in sacrifices in earlier Yugas but not
>>cows.
>
> I am not aware of cow-sacrifice, but killing of cows is explicitly
> prohibited in Rig Veda 8.101.15
>
> RV 8.101.15  Translation by Wilson (in the context of saayaNa bhashya) -
>
> "(she who is) the mother of the rudras, the daughter of the vasus, the
> sister of the adityas,
> the home of ambrosia - kill not her, the sinless inviolate cow"
>
> Lest there should be any doubt, saayaNachArya mentions that the deity of
> this verse is the cow. So this is not referring to any other devata.
> Further, just for info, the rishi is Jamadagni of the family of Bhrigu.
>
> Also, here is the translation of Ralph Griffith for cross-reference -
>
> "The Rudras' Mother, Daughter of the Vasus, centre of nectar, the Ādityas’
> Sister-
> To folk who understand will 1 proclaim it-injure not Aditi, the Cow, the
> sinless"
>
> And just to add - The Rig Veda also extols the cow at many places.
>
> I have also referred to the Nighantu and Yaska's Nirukta. It clearly
> mentions that the cow is called Aghanya because it is not to be killed.
> yAska, is supposed to have preceded even pANini, and his nirukta commentary
> on the nighantu can be considered to be the best existing authority on
> matters of interpreting vedic words.
>
> Best Regards
> Kalyan
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh