Do Sacrifices Really Brings Blessings?
“If you were the creator, would you kill your creation”?
The killing of animals is now a major globalized issue that cannot be resolved in a single day because it is often related to and considered as a religious act. One cannot just simply go against a society where he has been born and has seen the act of sacrificing animals as a religious ritual. There is neither God nor religion in the act of taking life involving the death of animals mercilessly. Animal sacrifice is not a part of Hinduism or any other religious tribe, in fact, I condemn it strongly that it has nothing to do with religion.
In some sacred groves of India, particularly in Western Maharashtra, animal sacrifice is practiced to pacify female deities that are supposed to rule the Groves. Animal sacrifice is also practiced by caste Hindus to placate deities at temples. Let us take the example of the Hindu temples in Assam and West Bengal in India and Nepal where on the occasion of puja numerous slaying of goats, pigeon and sometimes male water buffalos are involved as a mode of sacrifice at temples. Animal sacrifice is also practiced by people in Southern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu by local Hindu people. One can see how the animal is placed and its neck is cut off its body and this act is rejoiced by the people around. It is believed that Hindu animal sacrifice is mostly associated with Shaktism.
In the Muslim community, Eid-al-Adha which is also known as “festival of sacrifice” is celebrated after the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. In India, it is known as Bakr-Id because of the tradition of sacrificing the goats. Muslims celebrate by slaughtering an animal such as sheep, goat, cow, or camel by pronouncing the name of Allah because they believe that Allah has given them the power over animals and allowed them to eat animals. During the Hajj more than two million animals are sacrificed in one day using the meat of these animals to feed the disadvantaged people. If we are so concerned with social justice and creating meaningful, can’t we consider that giving away wealth doesn’t include money or meat but our time, involvement and long time commitment to help shift the conditions of those who do not have rather than sacrificing animals n delivering it, which has limited scope to alter their conditions?
Even in china huge mass of dogs are killed for the purpose of making leather. In Nepal on the occasion of gandhimai festival around 5000 to 20000 buffaloes are being killed in a single day, the ritual killings were performed by more than 200 men in a concrete slaughterhouse near the temple. In many places, bullfighting and rooster fighting is held as a sport, though it gives enormous pleasure to the viewers and to the bull holders this act can’t be called as a sport rather an inhuman act. Humans are not just born to live selfishly and take everything for granted. The earth equally belongs to all the species of fauna and flora inhabiting therein.
Slaughtering of animals will be justified if humans are slaughtered on the same ground as slaughtering of animals for food, clothes, sports, and other activities. Even if we forget just the killing but in many areas animals are lively exported where they are packed for transport and they are provided with no food, no water, and stand chained and immobile in their own urine and faces. Many died of dehydration and malnutrition.
Human’s mind can be satisfied by many other activities, moreover religious practices can be performed with a pure mind not involving killing or harming animals rather loving and caring for them. Though to maintain the food chain we omnivorous kill animals and include them in our diet we should consider it done only sometimes and not for fun or any religious amusement. The flora and fauna are the only living things we humans are surrounded by and if they all happen to die out of our cruelty, we will all be left alone in the earth and your religious God would never want that I guess…
