From: partha@mse.cse.ogi.edu (R. Parthasarathy)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil,soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Animal Sacrifice in Temples
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:06:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: ogicse.42433
Organization: Oregon Graduate Institute, Material Science & Engineering

Meenan Vishnu writes:

> but, hope that you don't treat this as a flame.
>There is a saying in coimbatore area.
>"saathathilE pee irukku, iruthaapale oothunu sonnana
>
>
>If there is shit in the food, how can we filter it and eat. We have to
>throw the food. We know all the veda and varNa and things and
>their interpretations, defence and what not does not have
>any sense. Why do people still defend that?
>

Mr. Vishnu has been an ardent critic of the Vedas. At the same time he
sympathizes with a terrorist organization whose principle is to achieve
its goals by brutal means. I don't understand how someone can have such
a double standard. Vedas according to him have sayings which do not
treat humanity the way it should be. Does a terrorist organization like
LTTE treat humanity the way it should be treated? Killing people, especially
the ones with different opinions, is similar to having shit in the food
which is fighting for independence in this case. If Vedas should be
ignored for crappy statements, how come this gentleman adheres to crappy
principles of the LTTE? 

FYI, I have read a brief translation of the Rg Veda (I forgot the author's
name). It didn't appeal to me either. Most of the things that I came
across were on different types of Gods who have to be appeased. The whole
universe is considered as one big sacrifice (!). Then there is one chapter
in which Indrani talks about how great Indra is (with pretty blatant
sexual remarks). I can post that chapter if guys are interested. 

I consider the Vedas as religious texts belonging to the yester years.
Sure there have been several ingredients in them which formed the basis
for the Indian philosophical systems. The Vedic Aryans had social hierarchy
not as rigid as it is today according to historians. They had Rajanya,
Brahmana and bourgeois classes. How rigidly they adhered to it we don't
know. It seems such a division existed even among the Aryans who settled
in the Iranian lands. 

Why is Mr. Vishnu living among people who openly preached white color
skin to be superior not long ago? Material comforts? 

Learn this fact. The whole world is full of shit one way or the other.
You clean up one, another one emerges. What does one do in the mean time?
Try to remain clean at the personal level. Blaming people of yesteryears
will not bring any solutions to the present day problems. You cannot look
at things of the past from the twentieth century view. Even now prejudice
exists. It is going to exist as long as human beings exist. It is a kind
of emotion. 


If you don't like the Veda, be my guest. I know that lots of guys who get
turned on by your remarks on Vedas, haven't looked at even the translations
of them once. They believe what their elders have been saying - that the
Vedas contain all the truth about the world; that there are lots of
hidden technological secrets which the Germans stole to make their rockets
etc.. 

It is wrong to psyche oneself into hating a community by piling up all
kinds of junk and wrong interpretations. Sure there have been terrible
things committed in the past. While the Vedas have lot of crap in them,
there must be a lot of good things said in them too. The best thing an
individual would do is to ignore the bad aspects and build himself with
the good aspects. But you seem to be building Nazi like hatred with
whatever you read.

The reality is not as bad as you make it out to be.

So give up these prejudiced analysis and contribute something useful for
everyone.

Partha sarathy
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil,soc.culture.indian,alt.culture.tamil,alt.culture.karnataka,soc.culture.indian.telugu,alt.culture.kerala