Can I Worship Ganesha and Eat Beef
A recent ad from the meat industry, seeking to promote lamb as a food that people from a broad range of religious backgrounds can consume, has given offence to many Hindus in Australia and internationally.
In Commonwealth of australia, the advertizement prompted a complaint by the High Commission of India. In the U.s., Hindu organisations issued a argument protesting the airing of such an ad.
While the ad was initially released in Australia, it apace made its way onto YouTube, where it had recorded over a one thousand thousand views at the fourth dimension of writing.
The ad features a host of deities from diverse religions sitting down to a meal of lamb. These diners include Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, Kuan Yin (the Buddhist goddess of compassion) and Confucius, likewise as Greek Gods Dionysus, Aphrodite, Thor, Isis and the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. Prophet Muhammad is left out as his depiction is considered highly offensive to Muslims.
Even so, on this guest list is a highly revered and dearest Hindu deity, Ganesha, readily recognisable by his elephant caput. As a scholar of Indic traditions, I can come across why Hindus are upset.
Animal sacrifice and Hinduism
Vegetarianism is an of import part of Hindu religious worship. To be sure, not all Hindus do vegetarianism. According to a 2006 survey, merely 31 per cent of Republic of india'south population, habitation to the vast bulk of the world'southward Hindus, are vegetarian.
It is also true that there are some Hindu deities who are offered meat. Most famously, goats are regularly offered to the Hindu goddess Kali. Meat offerings are also not uncommon in Nepal, a majority Hindu nation.
But the vast majority of food offerings to Hindu deities today are vegetarian in nature. This writer has witnessed, for example, offerings of gourds, cucumbers and bananas being made to the goddess Kali at worship services in both the US and India, despite the fact that this goddess is considered to be violent and is widely associated with animate being sacrifice.
These nutrient offerings have religious significance. After beingness reverently presented to the deities, they are distributed to worshippers as "prasad". Prasad represents the blessing of the deities in render for the worship and devotion they have received.
Vegetarianism through the centuries
Hindu vegetarianism adult gradually. In ancient times there were Hindus who ate meat, including beef, and meat was part of many religious rituals.
Later texts condemn the violence in meat offerings. "Bhagavata Purana," an ancient Hindu text from the Vaishnava tradition, for example, condemns violence against animals to feed oneself. In this tradition, the popular deity Krishna is also worshipped as the protector of cows.
"Manu Smriti," considered to be the authoritative volume on Hindu codes dating from roughly 300 to 100 B.C., also condemns meat-eating, saying "Whoever does violence to harmless creatures out of a wish for his own happiness does not increment his happiness anywhere, neither when he is live nor when he is dead."
Indeed, by the eighth century religious rituals had become largely vegetarian. It was at this time that an influential scholar and reformer, Shankara, promoted the replacement of meat offerings to Hindu deities with vegetarian substitutes. Meat, due to its association with death, came to be seen equally ritually impure.
Today, roughly 55 per cent of Brahmins in India are vegetarian.
Who is Ganesha?
Coming back to the ad, what does information technology mean for Hindus when Ganesha is depicted in an advert serving lamb?
For many Hindus, Ganesha is a beloved deity who is considered to be the "remover of obstacles". Equally such, he is invoked at the start of any venture (including worship offered to other deities). Virtually recognisable for his elephant head, he is the son of Shiva, the supreme being for the Hindus and his consort, Parvati.
While at least one ancient text, the Manava Gṛhyaśāstra, suggests that at 1 time, Ganesha may have been offered meat, in gimmicky exercise this has been replaced with vegetarian food, the virtually popular of which is the "ladoo" – a delightful Indian ball-shaped sweet fabricated from chickpea flour, unremarkably yellow or orange in colour. It is common for Ganesha to be depicted holding a plate of ladoos.
The chief rationale for vegetarianism is the principle of "ahimsa", or doing no deliberate harm to whatever living being. This value is promoted not only in Hindu traditions, merely among the Jains (a community that is well-nigh exclusively vegetarian) and Buddhists in Bharat.
While vegetarianism may not be universal amid Hindus – nor have they always adept it – the platonic it represents is held in high regard. This makes an image of Ganesha sitting downwards to swallow lamb jarring, to say the to the lowest degree, for many Hindus.
Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown Higher. This commodity was originally published on The Chat. Read the original article.
Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2017/09/21/why-its-offensive-offer-lamb-dinner-hindu-god-ganesha
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