Tag: Spirituality

Killing Plants for Food – Are Vegetarians Ethical?

Posted on by Mukul Saran

 

A Pew Research survey in 2021 affirmed that a significant proportion (39% of Hindus is vegetarian. This is not a recent fad; it is a cultural trait inspired by Hindu philosophy. We consider all life as sacred. Extinguishing life merely to please human palette is unethical.  Healthy vegetarian alternatives are plentiful.

But then, plants have life too. “At the microlevel, plants are composed of cells, and cells are the hallmark of a living being”, as Fares Gafaf writes on Quora. ChatGPT casually points out: they share characteristics of living organisms – ability to grow, reproduce, react to environment, carry out metabolic processes, and to maintain homeostasis.

So, the ‘sacredness of life’ argument breaks down. How then, do we justify vegetarianism?

Our very existence is violent. Inevitably, when we eat, we must resort to ‘violence’. Each living organism must feed on another to survive. Nature is filled with examples of red in tooth and claw. Look in your own backyard: you will find spiders trapping bugs for food. In turn, lizards will swallow the spiders.

We humans are blessed with a capability, unique amongst all living beings, to regulate our natural instincts and make conscious choices that balance numerous, often conflicting, dimensions. Food is one such choice.

We happen to be at the top of the natural food chain. This position comes with a responsibility to protect nature while partaking from it. Charged with this ‘conservatorship’, our principal ethical goal is to minimize our footprint on nature. We must treat it with respect, consume only what we need, replenish what we reap, and thank it for our sustenance.

‘But what justifies the preference for taking plant-life for food, over animal life’, you may ask.

In addition to ‘sacredness of life’, Hinduism holds compassion for all living beings as a key human trait. This derives from the view that all life comes from and is part of a single conscious source, some may call God. All living beings – animals, birds, fishes, insects and even plants – are simply different shapes and forms of that One Divine consciousness.

A loving compassion for life helps in our own human and spiritual growth. Many traditions and festivals are based on this paradigm. Asking forgiveness when taking plants for food is a practice still seen amongst Hindus. Feeding ants, crows, birds, cows and even milk to snakes are other examples of compassionate practices in Hindu life.

Plants do have life, as animals do. Yet there is a difference. As encyclopedia Brittanica elaborates “Given that plants do not have pain receptors, nerves, or a brain, they do not feel pain as we members of the animal kingdom understand it.” On the other hand, animals are capable of experiencing pain, pleasure, and perhaps, emotions.  

Sacrificing plants for food is therefore a more compassionate act. It is a less damaging and ‘painless’ violence that humans can inflict on nature. Jainism emphasizes that eating plants is also violence, but less damaging to nature and to spiritual growth since plants are ‘ek indriya jeev’ (i.e. souls born with a single sense organ- touch). Eating animals endowed with five senses is more karmically binding. It is incumbent on us therefore, to keep our footprint minimal. In simple terms, this also means to conserve and to replenish what we take from nature for our use.

This insistence on keeping our damage footprint on nature minimal while practicing compassion to spur own growth is what enables vegetarian Hindus to stay ethical in their choice of food and be at peace with their conscience.

Diwali Sunshine – Greetings!

Posted on by Mukul Saran

 

Diwali always comes with a new message of hope and gaiety.

It also brings with it an opportunity to introspect on what it means to lead a life of Dharma. This word is often found incorrectly translated as religion. It has many other meanings with subtle differences, but ‘religion’ is not one of them.

 

Rangoli-A tradition of devotion

Dharma refers to our human duty or discerned responsibility, inspired by and dedicated to the Universal Consciousness that unifies us all. That consciousness is our source and our destination. It is one where all our differences arise and dissolve. It is the One that powers the Sun, as also our mind-body-intellect. 

From this Divine consciousness which transcends all fractured identities, arises our dharma, our human duty to help create joy and happiness for every one. We celebrate the victory of good over evil, of light over darkness, of knowledge over ignorance, but this battle is truly a perpetual one, within ourselves, that we must win each year, each day, each moment of our lives.

Wish everyone a joyous victory! Shubh Deepawali.

Kanyadaan – Donating Your Daughter?

Posted on by Mukul Saran

Outfits like Maanyavar do not care about our traditions. They know their customers well. Their recent ad, featuring Ms Alia Bhatt, which interprets Kanyadaan as a regressive custom treating women as objects of donation, is not a mere aberration.  At an earlier wedding, a pundit ji derided the custom with impunity and called for its elimination. A few hands applauded while others listened in silence. I sat flabbergasted!

The ad deserves credit for an emotionally seductive message, delivered with finesse, that Kanyadaan is regressive. Millions of unsuspecting Hindus with a deeper & very different understanding of the tradition are turned into villains and victims at once! They are labeled and ridiculed as patriarchic and regressive.

How could those protesting the ad justify the ‘patriarchy & insult’ this ritual promotes for females? Is Kanyadaan a regressive custom?

Ill-considered modern interpretations, devoid of any cultural/religious context, feelings or meaning, underlie the misplaced feeling. Hindu view that postulates both male & female energies as equal halves and complimentary parts of the whole is ignored, just as the symbolism and purpose of the ritual are.

For perspective, Bollywood can claim credit for turning women into objects of pleasure. The star icons peddling these messages of ‘respect for women’ are the foremost in disrobing women of their respect. And the uninformed activists, with misplaced pride, will accept all of that as ‘modern’.

Now back to the point….

 

What is a Daan?

Examine ‘bali-daan – a soldier giving up his most precious ‘property’ – his life. Does he merely ‘donate’ a ‘possession’?  Any such degeneration of meaning is an outcome of irreverence. Further, would you view this act as something he must do in exchange for what he’s paid – a transaction? No, the word carries sanctity – it’s an act of sacrifice, dedication, samarpan, not just a materialistic exchange of goods.  ‘Daan’ can be used in multiple ways; the context and the emotion impart it meaning and dignity.  

 

What is KanyaDaan?

Kanyadaan is a ritual performed by parents, and sometimes by the father, during a Hindu wedding. It entails placing their daughter’s hand in the groom’s for marriage. The ritual resembles ‘giving away’ of the bride by her father in a Christian marriage.  Some interpret this act of love as insulting and patriarchic because it is perceived as a  giving away of  ‘property’; parents are seen to ‘own’ their daughter. This is merely a matter of perspective.

 

Message & Symbolism

To begin to understand, ask the parent’s perspective as they place their daughter’s hand in groom’s. Think of the emotion they endure as they entrust the safety, honor and happiness of their daughter to another man and family. Imagine the tears of joy and pain in their eyes. It is this emotion that defines it – an act of offering, gifting away a piece of their heart, not a possession. This ritual prepares a father and the mother, to accept the eventual separation of their daughter from them.

Simultaneously, it carries a message to the groom: ‘her parents, while offering their daughter’s hand in marriage, do so with the desire and hope that you will offer her the same love and care that they have invested in her upbringing.’

Change your perspective and you see the poignancy of that moment – a moment of letting go.

 

Spiritual Underpinning:

This tradition, and the entire Hindu marriage, rests on a deeper spiritual meaning and purpose.

Hinduism considers marriage as an earthly re-enactment of the eternal Divine relationship between Bhagwan Vishnu and Mata Lakshmi. The groom is welcomed as such. The bride’s parents entrust and reunite Her beloved with Her through Kanyadaan.

The ritual is a reminder to treat this spiritual union with respect in which none is lesser than the other, and the two are equal parts of a Divine whole. Respect for women is an intrinsic outcome of the Hindu worldview.

This religious imagery is not arbitrary… it ties into the larger Hindu vision of creation, and specifically humans, as inherently divine. Importantly, there’s a sense of reverence in this act. See it in that light, and all negativity disappears.

What one does not possess or own, one cannot donate. This is true of both children and wealth in a Hindu view. Parents are but guardians on earth. These lines from Khalil Jibran express this beautifully

“They come through you but not from you
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you”

This paradigm does not support ‘ownership’, nor a materialistic ‘donation’ or ‘gifting’ of a bride. Kanyadaan is a respectful ceremony intended to lovingly give up ‘guardianship’.  Modern templates and vocabulary are woefully inadequate to comprehend this worldview and must be discarded.

 

In the End

Kanyadaan does not belong on the totem-pole of social evils.  Hindus are good about recognizing what truly matters, e.g. sati-pratha, child-marriage, animal sacrifices etc and removing them from our midst.

Tens of millions of women who have gone through kanyadaan feel no ignominy. A particularly poignant testimony came from a friend in a social media conversation:

“it is a very emotional post to me and writing with tears…true reflection of a father…Can’t forget that drop of tear that fell from my father’s eyes on the day of my departure (विदाई) from their house, my departure from country and then his departure…I grabbed all those tears and they come out when I remember him that’s the best gift I have as a daughter!”

What needs change is not the ritual but the willingness to seek a deeper understanding & expression of its true significance and symbolism.

Do not demean yourselves with ill considered modern reinventions. Learn your religion. You will discover a very different and uplifting worldview than you might imagine.

Yes it is the 21st century, and these ideas are even more relevant today than ever before. They are perennially progressive.

Robots in a Theme Park – On Consciousness

Posted on by Mukul Saran

The 1973 movie, Westworld features a theme park with simulated people (humanoid robots). Ordinary folks like us could let themselves go, and safely engage in otherwise undesirable or unsafe fantasies with these ‘people’ – such as fighting, shooting and more.  When technical malfunctions begin affecting them, the amusement park transforms into a world of robots acting on their own whims. Futuristic?              

Not really. Our human world is another theme park. Aren’t we just robotic beings acting on our own whims, our desires, our egos?

I hear your protests – this analogy is far-fetched! These robots are not the thinking, feeling machines that we humans are. I concede, at least not yet. Nevertheless don’t we share some fundamental similarities?  

To your point, this robot in the picture can hardly be compared to a human skeleton!  The robots’ shape follows their function – shuffle loads, sort mail, vacuum floors, walk our dogs, offer companionship, or be the ‘people’ of theme parks. They are not always similar to humans, even superficially!

However, the more complex the function they serve the closer they must be to us –  ‘arms’ to manipulate objects,  ‘legs’ to move around, ‘eyes’ to ‘see’ around obstacles, ‘ears’  for our voice commands and even touch-sensitivity for touch commands.  They must all have a ‘brain’ (hardware and software) to control these senses and their actions. Even so, these brains can’t learn & perform functions they have not been programmed for. Most certainly they don’t understand feelings.

But as artificial intelligence opens up these possibilities, such machines could conceivably grow into ‘humanoid robots’ – robots with human-like abilities to sense, act, learn, and yes, even ‘feel’ like those of Westworld.

So what is the point? Humans are not unlike robots, even if different in lots of ways. There is one deeper similarity that generally escapes our attention, and is worth dwelling on.

Without electricity, the robots are just powerless machines. Their internal systems need it to perform the intended functions. Which electricity do we speak of here – that which permeates the air around us as electrons, protons, ions? No that does not drive robots; it must be ‘harnessed’. This ‘organized’ energy is the ‘life-blood’ for working robots. It simply flows through the components. In the process it enables them to perform their function. That energy just flows, but it does not perform any actions itself. It is there; it just is. Fundamentally, the robots owe their living, active existence and capabilities to this energy.

Of course, today’s robots do not understand this! But will they never? They might very well do. 

Pause to wonder the capabilities the cognitive robots of the future.  A recent article published by ScienceNews.org conjectures this possibility: “A robot with a sense of touch may one day “feel” pain, both its own physical pain and empathy for the pain of its human companions. Such touchy-feely robots are still far off, but advances in robotic touch-sensing are bringing that possibility closer to reality.“  A projection further into the future allows us to imagine a day when robots could have a mind of their own, an ego of sorts –  not dissimilar to humans!  And this brings us full circle to the question – how, then, would these ‘humanoid robots’ be different from ‘robotic humans’?  

Humans are a fully functional, complex machine. Our body is equipped with organs to navigate & manipulate, with five senses to interact with the outside world, and with a brain for intelligence. But, to parallel a robot, what ‘electricity’ activates our hardware and firmware and bring it alive as a thinking, feeling being? What ‘organized’ electricity powers the human machine and gives it life, it’s powers of thought and action?

Our living bodies are powered by a ‘harnessed’ conscious energy that otherwise pervades the universe, the fundamental entity on which existence rests!  Without it, the body is simply an assembly of organs – lifeless and useless – quite similar to the assembly of components that a robot is without electricity. That ‘organized’ conscious energy is what enables the ‘robotic’ humans to feel, think and act as it ‘flows’ through them. That is what gives life to the purely biological, chemical and physical processes of the robotic human machine.  Life is not born out of these processes; the processes are born out of life. While our bodies are the robotic vehicles that feel, think and act, we owe our thoughts and actions to that consciousness in which they are inspired, and which enables the body and mind to act.

We are robots in the theme park of this world. We are unaware of our life-blood, our ‘electric’ conscious energy being the inspirer of all our thoughts, deeds, and in turn, the results.  Our ego – that association of self with the body-mind-intellect – acts to blind us to the real us – the conscious energy, the soul, that powers our machines.

 

Can Hindus Ever RIP?

Posted on by Mukul Saran

With each passing away of an Indian celebrity, the social media gets flooded with shorthand RIP messages. What does one make of these – just short-hand expressions of condolence or a prayer for the departed soul?  Can Hindus ever RIP? Let’s decode what a RIP prayer would mean for a dead Hindu.

RIP is a Christian term first found on tombstones in the 18th century. It reflects the belief that the soul and the body are separated at death and must ‘rest’ until resurrection when they will be reunited and be with the Lord in Heaven. Only Christian faithful will have peace. Others will be eternally damned in Hell. So, can Hindus ever RIP?

The closest Hindu conception of ‘rest’ in the afterlife is when the ‘Jeevatma’, upon leaving the dead body, may enjoy Heaven as a reward for its good karma on earth. It must resume the cycle of rebirth and suffering upon completion of its term. But heaven is not what the jeevatma needs. It’s ultimate destination is Moksha, a liberation from the cycle of reincarnations and attainment of unending bliss.

Wishing RIP to a Hindu is like wishing the Chandrayaan mission success in reaching the earth’s orbit, rather than in landing successfully on the moon!

Words are tied to ideas, values and beliefs, e.g. words like ‘Chairman’ have fallen out of favor as they tend to associate only men with positions of authority, subconsciously.  The city of Trivendrum is better referred to by its original name Tiruvananthpuram, which means the ‘town of Lord Anantha’, rather than the meaningless one coined by the British.

Foreign words, like RIP, reinforce foreign concepts. They dissociate the vocabulary from our native values, ideas and beliefs. Without continuous nourishment, these cultural traits wither and die. It is essential, therefore, that Hindus use the traditional terminology to help sustain our paradigm of life. It is at the root of our culture and traditions.

Only then will our future generations know what it means to say ‘Om Shanti’.

Om symbolizes the formless infinite from which all creation arises and dissolves into. Shanti refers not just to peace, but to Bliss that is an unchanging characteristic of the infinite soul. Om Shanti is a prayer that the jeevatma gets off the cycles of reincarnation, realizing its own True nature – an inseparable part of the infinite whole Paramatma – conscious, eternal and blissful.