10/04/09
When we talk about cruelty to animals and eating meat, the word Ashwamedham comes to my mind. Let us look at different meanings of this particular word "aswamedha".
1.Ashwamedha literally means Horse Sacrifice where Aswa is horse and one of the meaning of medha can be taken as sacrifice. Then there are several symbolic meanings for this word
2 Ashwa symbolizes mobility, valour and strength and "medha" symbolizes "intelligence". So Ashwamedha can be defined as "the combination of valour and strength along with wisdom and intelligence". To have a stable society we need all these. So often Ashwamedham is performed to make a strong nation.
3. Gayatri Pariwar defines Ashwa as cosmic energy and Medha as Enlightened Intelligence. So Ashwamedha is a "Cosmic energy led and guided by enlightened intelligence for collective awakening and ennobling society."
4. Shatpath Braahmana of Shukla Yajurveda has used the word Ashwamedham as a synonym to Rashtram or Nation. (Rashtram va Ashwamedham). So Ashwanedha yaagam is performed for the benefit of the nation and there is no horse sacrifice comes in that.
5, Another meaning given for Ashwa is Evil Instincts and Medha means Uprooting. So Ashwamedha is the process of uprooting evils.
So Ashwamedha can be viewed and performed either as a spiritual purification process for the benefit of the whole nation (humanity) or it can be viewed and performed as a ritualistic process and as part of it a poor horse is sacrificed in a ritualistic fashion and the meat is made available to the master of the Yanja and other Purohits.
Njanananda Saraswathi says that when we do sincere prayers with out asking for anything specific, we are doing Ashwamedham, uprooting all negative vaasanaas of our mind and contributing to the goodness of the world!
It is mazing to see how many interpretations are there for just one word. No wonder Sarasawathi Devi herself once admitted with all humility that she knows only a handful of the vast knowledge of the Brahmandam! Where do we stand?!
അനന്തമജ്ഞാതം അവര്ണനീയം
ഈ ലോക ഗോളം തിരിയുന്ന മാര്ഗം
അതിങ്കല് എങ്ങാണ്ട് ഒരിടത്തിരു
നോക്കുന്ന മര്ത്യന് കഥയെന്തു കാണ്മൂ .
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