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Our sankirtana - tainted with "BLOOD OF SLAUGHTER!"

I remember, in my first few days in ISKCON, I had asked someone about how mrdangas were made and where were they made.  Clearly, I was not satisfied  with the answer and always thought, one fine day, I will get into the  details. Surely enough, I now know, our performance of sankirtan all over  the world is tainted with the blood of slaughter!

DIGESTING THE FACT:

Navadwip to Mayapur via boat crossing Ganga is a beautiful short trip.  My  recent shift to serve at dham was filled with these beautiful scenes until I  came across something ghastly!  Beautiful Cows and Bulls were transferred in  the same boat in one such trip I took in broad daylight.  A bit amazed, I  asked the neighbour sitting next to me, as to where the cows were being  taken?  The neighbour replied naively, "for slaughter"!  I asked where? he  replied - "near yogapitha"!

By now, my mouth was wide open and heart beating strongly.  I exclaimed -  "Oh Krishna, how can this be allowed in dham!".  The neighbour replied -  "Huh! how do you think your mrdanga is made?"

Next, my enquiry with the Mrdanga manufacturers got it confirmed.  It is a  huge export business!  There is a huge demand for mrdangas all over the  world, be it due to ISKCON or others, the cows are slaughtered mercilessly  so that we get mrdangas to play!  All this in the dham!  And now, it is  happenning right in Vrindavan too for the same reason!  These mrdanga makers  are doing a booming business througout the year and there is a huge, huge  supply demand gap!

SIN IN THE NAME OF RELIGION:

SRILA PRABHUPADA: If one is sinful, how can he say he is religious? Do you  think a sinful man can be truly religious? Yet this is going on. In the name  of religion, people are committing sins. I mean to say, this sinful killing  of animals, especially cows, is the main cause of humanity's current  degradation... Veda-nisidhya-karya kare veda-mukhya mane. As Lord Caitanya  said, "People are acting against every religious principle, but advertising  themselves, That am religious. I believe in religion.'" These nonsensical  things are going on. A Christian is going against the basic Christian  principle; nonetheless he is proud of being a Christian.

DR. HAUSER: Do you use leather?

SRILA PRABHUPADA: Generally we avoid it, since at the present time people  are obtaining it by sending the animals to the slaughterhouse.

DR. HAUSER: So you don't allow it?

SRILA PRABHUPADA: We don't use it. For instance, none of our shoes are made  of leather. Today there are so many substitutes, various plastics and other  things. And every one of them is nice.  But leather, in itself, it is not prohibited, because you can get it after  the animal has died a natural death. Yes. In India, those who are
flesh-eaters wait until after a cow has died, and then they come and clear  away the carcass. Then they eat the flesh and save the bones and horns and  hooves and take off the skin to make shoes, and so forth. Since they get all  their supplies for nothing, they can easily make their living.  The main idea is, sooner or later the animal will die. So let us wait for  that time. Why should we kill a living animal?

DR. HAUSER: Do you use leather in your drums?

SRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, after the cow has died a natural death, that leather  can be used.

DR. HAUSER: So you have leather drums?

SRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, that has been the way of making drums for thousands  of years. But that leather is collected only after the animal has died a  natural death. Not by killing.  So our principle is mercy. Mercy. We never needlessly kill or torment any  living being. The Lord is the all-merciful, and now, in this human form, we
can revive our relationship with Him. After traveling through untold  millions of lower forms, now we can revive our old relationship with the  all-merciful. Yes. But only if we become merciful.

DR. HAUSER: Thank you very much.

SRILA PRABHUPADA: Hare Krsna.

Room Conversation, Stockholm, Sept 1973, "Sin in the name of  religion", Published in BTG

Animal killing in the name of yajna (sacrifice) was going on and I  understand is going on now too.  This time, in the name of sankirtan yajna.  Lord Buddha appeared precisely to stop this sin in the name of religion.

PRABHUPADA: Yes. About Lord Buddha is also mentioned in the sastra that Lord  Buddha will appear in Gaya Pradesh, in the province of Gaya, and his  business will be to cheat the atheists...He promulgated this philosophy,  ahimsa, when there was unnecessary killing of animals. According to Vedas,  animal can be killed in sacrifice. That also to give a new life. But people  misinterpreted and they began to kill animals like anything with the  evidence of..., "In the Vedas animal killing is sanctioned." So Lord Buddha  appeared, just being compassionate to the poor animals. Sadaya-hrdaya-darsita-pasu- ghatam. Sadaya. He became very compassionate, that "All these poor animals are being killed unnecessarily.

" So he promulgamated a new type of religion-ahimsa paramo dharmah. "Don't commit violence. If I pinch your body, you feel pain. You should not pinch others."

WHY ARE YOU KILLING YOUR OWN FATHER AND MOTHER?

Sankirtan is the most sacred form of connecting to all-merciful.  But, that  is possible only if we become merciful to our own father and mother. 500 years back Chand Kazi stopped Lord Chaitanya's party doing sankirtana,  broke their mrdangas and threatened them.  When Lord Chaitanya with his  disobedience movement met with Chand Kazi, the Lord first asked Chand Kazi,  why are you killing your own father and mother?

"Now, Caitanya Mahaprabhu first of all inquired that the Muhammadan  magistrate... They established their relation as the uncle and nephew.  Caitanya Mahaprabhu became the nephew, and the Kazi, the magistrate, he  became the uncle. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu addressed the uncle, "My dear  uncle, why you are killing your father and mother?" So the uncle replied,  "What is that? I am killing our father and mother?" "Yes. Because the cow is  your mother. She gives milk. And the bull, he helps you in the agricultural  fields. He produces grain. So just like father and mother—mother supplies  milk and father brings grain—so they are your father and mother. How you are  killing your father and mother?"