What do you personally think about the Hindu belief that the cos is sacred?

Question

I'm writing a paper and wanted to get a couple of opinions on what you think, there's people who are starving and the Hindu belief is not to slaughter the cow and treat it well. For if they slaughter the cow consequences will be suffered. What's you opinion on that?

I mean cow is sacred not cos.. my mistake, sorry.

Answer 1

Although Hindus respect and honor the cow, they do not worship them in the same sense in which they worship God. To the Hindu all living things to be sacred, an attitude reflected in reverence for the cow.

One of the things that strike a visitor to India is the permeable boundaries between the human and the animal. In Western culture people will keep a dog or keep a cat, and maybe a cockatiel or parakeet. But if a person sees even an ant or a spider inside the house they do all that they can to remove that being. In India, animals are everywhere. Animals are in the streets, animals wander in and out of people's houses. Birds fly through people's windows and take food from their table. There is an intimacy with the animal realm that is almost inconceivable to us.

In Hinduism, the cow is seen as a generous, ever-giving source, which takes nothing but that which is necessary for its own sustenance in return. Hindus treat the cow with the same respect accorded to the mother, as the cow is a vital sustainer of life, providing milk and a means of ploughing the earth to grow crops. The cow represents Hindu values of selfless service, strength, dignity, and non-violence. Although not all Hindus are vegetarian, they traditionally abstain from eating beef.

The cow is deemed sacred and is integrated into the daily life of Indians in a way that has been criticized by the West. But Western scholars have studied the cow and have discovered that the five gifts of the cow are tremendous for the sustenance and maintenance of India's people.

The five gifts of the cow are the gift of milk and the gift of urine (used as a cleanser due to its high ammonia content). The third gift of the cow, which is very important, is dung, an important source for fuel. Most cooking fires for the poor are drawn from cow dung, which is gathered by women and shaped into patties and sold. So it's also an economic resource. The last two gifts of the cow are generally associated with low-caste people, but when a cow dies (presumably a natural death) the meat of the cow will be eaten by certain classes or castes of people, and then those castes will take the skin of the cow and process it for leather. Those two items would be only used by the low-castes.

When I was traveling through parts of India last year I began to look at cattle entirely differently. They are not put to pasture to ruin the land in herds. Instead they are taken each morning to a different area where they are staked for the day. You see them on traffic islands, in yards, in the country, in fields, alongside goats and other livestock. The cattle that ramble through the city are beautifully cared for on the whole. The sickest ones I saw were often in the country. They sit majestically in the street, in parks, and people who passed them by often touch them and make a sacred sign similar to the Christian sign of the cross. These cattle are almost regal; they are not just blind dumb heifers as in the West. They wander about with their udders hanging low. When I asked my companion who milked the, he told me that the beggars often do this as their only regular source of food.

Answer 2

I read lots of history, coz I am interested. I’ve read a bit about Hitler and his regime. Recently there was a program on NatGeo, about a guy, who is doing some research on Hitlers last days. He went to KGB museum, to see the remains of Hitler– his pistol, cigarette box, the teeth, it seems Hitler had golden teeth and gums. Hitler got it done that way, coz he did not want to visit the dentist too often, and wanted a permanent solution. I have wondered how Hitler got to use the Swastika which is a Hindu religious symbol for his Nazi regime. The swastika was employed by various American Indian tribes, the Navahos in particular, for whom it was a sort of good luck sign. For some other tribes, it was a representation of the four directions, and embodied the concept that the sacred place of human beings is at the center of the 4 directions. The Swastika can be found in all Ganesha pictures..with ‘Shubh Labh’ written along. It is the symbol of prosperity. The Swastika is used widely throughout the world even today, by Hindus, Buddhists and the Jains. What does it symbolize ? The most important thing of course, the Sun. It depicts the sun circling through the sky. It basically was the Good Luck or Sun symbol known as the Wheel of life. This one is about Hitlers connection to it. I did a bit research to know how Hitler chose the Swastika for this symbol and here is the story. In Europe, in 1870, the German Archeologist Heinrich Schliemann, was digging. That’s what archeologists do. He was digging up Troy and Mycenae (I am sure you remember these places, from Brad Pitt starrer – Troy ). He dug out many things that had Swastika symbol on them. Heinrich was not a racist, but he popularized the symbol in his books and writings, stating that it was the symbol of the Aryans. Long before Hitler – the fanatical Aryan supremacist – Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels – used the Swastika symbol for this cult in 1907. But, but, but, the German Nazis did not call it Swastika. They called it Hakenfreuz ie Hook – Cross or Thorshamarr or The hammer of Thor. For the Germans also, it depicted the Suns movement, and the Wheel of life. They used the symbol in both clockwise – Doesil and the counterclockwise – Widdershins directions, but both meant the same, and not opposites. The Nazi’s used the Clock wise Swastika, ie the Doesil Thorshamarr. Many anti-semitic and militarist groups adopted the symbol around 1920s. Hitler is supposed to have been influenced by Jorg Lanz and adopted the symbol around the same time. It is one of the most effective political symbols ever devised.

Answer 3

Do you know why the cow is sacred? The cow once fed these people with a great personal sacrifice, so they promised never to eat it again out of respect. This is their belief and is one of the best reason for religious abstinence of a food that I have ever heard. I believe their gods and the cows would forgive them if they broke down and ate it, but they choose to keep their word. It is honorable and worth our respect.

Answer 4

Hello. The Hindus are in need of the GOSPEL truth and story found in God's word. They need to see that the only thing sacred is He and the things of God. They need to find a savior to redeem them from their belief in reincarnation and the caste system. They don't eat the cows as the fear it could be a loved one who's returned as a cow. Sad. The caste system in which they espouse to is bad as they cannot help a poor soul who needs help... for if they do it'll mess up their karma and they won't be better in the next life (essentially). Reincarnation does not ever happen, for God's word says: It is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment (Heb. 9:27). So there's no reincarnation nor karma... though there is the law of sowing and reaping... that is in effect for all. So the Hindus need the truth of Jesus to free them and lift them to a state of blessedness. There is also NO enlightenment for fallen sinful man than to be enlightened by the Spirit of the Living God to know Him and His word.

Answer 5

Hinduism consider the cow to be sacred for two reason.The cow is the servant of Lord Shiva,a Hindu God,and it helped the the Neolithic Hindus to survive by helping them to plow the land,use it feces as fertilizer,gave them milk to make them strong,etc.Which was the formation of a civilization.

Answer 6

OPINION: I think cows are, if nothing else, sacred just becuase of their gentleness and beauty.

If you've ever nuzzled a cow, let them lick or suck your hand, or lay with them in the grass........you too could feel that way.

Answer 7

*BECAUSE* Cows is there god.. and I think we should respect their religion... It's not like they are saying that "GOD" came down to earth in "HUMAN" form and killed himself so he could save us when he could have just said "BE SAVED" and we would have been saved anyway.... (I still respect Christianity) SO we should just leave them and there religion alone.