HARE KRISHNA, i have few questions related to animal sacrifice---
1. Why animal sacrifice is mentioned in our vedas, what benefit it does to a person who performs it?
2. As we know, that the vedas gives us directions for ultimately knowing krishna (bg. 15.15). How is it that a person performing sacrifice is in the process of knowing krishna ?
Ofcourse, I'm not asking these questions with regard to Kali Yuga, since in this age the only way to know Krishna is by chanting His holy name. I'm asking how people did it before .
Replies
Hare Krsna
Why animal sacrifice is mentioned in our vedas, what benefit it does to a person who performs it?
1. Animal Sacrifice ≠ Animal Killing
For instance, it is said that an animal can be killed in a sacrifice, yet some maintain that animal killing is completely abominable. Although animal killing in a sacrifice is recommended in the Vedic literature, the animal is not considered to be killed. The sacrifice is to give a new life to the animal. Sometimes the animal is given a new animal life after being killed in the sacrifice, and sometimes the animal is promoted immediately to the human form of life. But there are different opinions among the sages. Some say that animal killing should always be avoided, and others say that for a specific sacrifice it is good. *BG 18.3 Purport )
2. To test power of Vedic Mantra
there were animals for sacrifice. That these animals were meant for sacrifice does not mean that they were meant to be killed. The great sages and realized souls assembled were performing yajñas, and their realization was tested by animal sacrifice, just as, in modern science, tests are made on animals to determine the effectiveness of a particular medicine. The brāhmaṇas entrusted with the performance of yajña were very realized souls, and to test their realization an old animal was offered in the fire and rejuvenated. That was the test of a Vedic mantra. The animals gathered were not meant to be killed and eaten. The real purpose of a sacrifice was not to replace a slaughterhouse but to test a Vedic mantra by giving an animal new life. Animals were used to test the power of Vedic mantras, not for meat. SB 4.4.6 Purport
Animal sacrifice was never the main activity of yajnas mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam ( before kali yuga).
She then reached her father’s house, where the sacrifice was being performed, and entered the arena where everyone was chanting the Vedic hymns. The great sages, brāhmaṇas and demigods were all assembled there, and there were many sacrificial animals, as well as pots made of clay, stone, gold, grass and skin, which were all requisite for the sacrifice. SB 4.4.6
There are two main offerings in fire yajna are 1.Mantras (Subtle) & 2. Fresh ingredients(gross)that contain prana such as ghee, milk, curd, fruits, grains etc. Animals are not the ingredients that are offered in yajna at all. Reviving a killed animal is only a test for effectiveness of mantra, and hence animal revival is a peripheral activity to the main yajna.
How is it that a person performing sacrifice is in the process of knowing krishna ?
The word used by Sri Krsna in BG for sacrifice is Yajna.
There are at least two ways by which humans are benefitted by yajna
1. Directly accepting prasad of yajna
yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo
mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ
bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā
ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt
The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin. SB 3.13
Here the offerings of sacrifice mentioned DO NOT refer to animal's dead body.
2. Indirectly by participating in cycle of sacrifice
Sri Krsna explains that there is a reciprocal relationship between devatas & humans in this material world.
annād bhavanti bhūtāni
parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ
yajñād bhavati parjanyo
yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ
All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties.
evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ
nānuvartayatīha yaḥ
aghāyur indriyārāmo
moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati
My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain.
Yajna sustains human life in material world.
Hare Krsna
Thank you prabhuji for the reply 🙏