Has anyone else here noticed that there are persons from India owners of grocery stores selling beef? Isn't that supposed to be against their religion? I have read that if you harm cattle in India you might provoke physical attack by the devotees. Any thoughts about this seeming paradox?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_cow

BTW
Perhaps I should have asked these individuals if they were Hindues. But even if they are Moslems that too places them in a bad position because they are selling pork.

So the only alternative view is that they perhaps are Christian.

RickJ

There are religious groups who hold cows to be sacred - and yes, many of them are Indians, but it's not an "Indian" thing.

Starman

True I realised this after I posted. Looked for the delete button, couldn't find it and overlooked the cancel button. I better go have lunch to get my brain working properly.

valinors_sorrow

Maybe its just a case of "when in Rome . . ." ?
It wouldn't be the first time someone traded in thier original faith for a new way of life, if that is the case too.

orange

Yup not everyone in India is Hindu... India is quite a large country and has lots of different subgroups and cultures. I have known people from India who are Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian, too. Plus I have a friend who is a non-religious Hindu, and she eats beef, just like non-religious Jews often eat pork.

Starman

I have considered asking them personally but keep getting these images of one of them jumping over the counter and coming at me cause I ticked him off by perhaps reminding him of something he'd rather not think about. So I figured I'd just shop and keep the little bit of health I still enjoy intact.


"Yer a better man than I am Gunga Din!"

Morganite

It is not aginst the religion of an Indian to sell beef unless the particular Indian happens to be a Hindu. You will not find a practising Mulim selling pork or pork products. Muslims might not sell beef but not because of any religous herem. Just as you will not find a practising Christian telling lies. I have not found any Hindus selling beef or Muslims selling pork, although I did know one Muslim who enjoyed a bacon sandwich. He was obviously weak in the faith.

Are you sure that cows are held by Indian Hindus to be 'Gods'? The following, which I have italicised, is a contribution to a chat room on this very subject. I offer it for your consideration.

The Hindu does not worship the cow, has never worshipped the cow, and is not likely to ever worship the cow. To continue to propagate this delusion is only indicative of ignorance and laziness, but the Hindu has nothing to do with it. The cow is not even sacred, in the way it has been misunderstood by Europeans. The cow is literally taboo, a very different animal indeed from the sacred cow of popular delusion. Taboos in sociological terms are both positive and negative, as in taboos that must be respected and deferred to, as well as taboos that deal with what is abhorrent.

The cow is Aghanya--that which may not be slaughtered. It is true that later sects began to call the cow "the mother" and even wrote some dubious scripture to support this, but it was a rather childish transference of reverence from the mother to the cow because both provide milk! The "milk-debt" was culturally a very strong more, and it was felt that it would not be fair to leave the cow out of its share of respect for contributing to your health. Nevertheless, the cow was originally only Aghanya.

This set of circumstances arose for many reasons. Strange as it may seem, the Vedic age was a beef-eating one, and animals were constantly being slaughtered. The reaction against flesh foods set in with the advent of Jainism and Buddhism, and a remarkable cultural revolution took place, in that, a predominantly flesh-eating country became a predominantly vegetarian one. The many pastoral tribes that inhabited India could not afford to sacrifice their cow wealth for meat. In fact, that is the real reason it became Aghanya. The norms of the time dictated that you sacrifice your best animal, usually the stud bull, for the feast when a distinguished visitor came by. As these worthies multiplied in numbers, the quality of the herds began to decline. You could not escape this obligation, as substitution of another animal would be regarded as a deadly insult. To save animals thus marked out, as well as in deference to the new trends, the inviolability of the cow came into being.

The sub-continent has a mass of intricacies that are sociological rather than religious, but unless one is prepared to look deeper that the surface, it is possible to become confused as to where one stops and the other begins. It is probbale that mnayu raised in the cultures are unsure fo teh distinctions themselves in every cZAse, but they do exost so we ought not to be fooled by laws that are non-existent or by 'religious' rules that are not religious.

Wilkipedia offers:

[The cow] is considered sacred and its protection is a recurrent theme in which she is symbolic of abundance, of the sanctity of all life and of the earth that gives much while asking nothing in return. Most Hindus respect the cow as a matriarchal figure for her gentle qualities and providing nurturing milk and its products for a largely vegetarian diet. Hindus do not worship the cow, a common misconception, yet it holds an honoured place in society and most will not eat beef in general.

Sacred Cows for thought?



MRGANITE

Starman

Well, I guess I spoke in ignorance and was lazy. That's why I wanted to cancel the post as soon as I realized it but by that time it had already received an answer.

In any case thanx for the very informative response.

Sacred Cows
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_cow


BTW
I am very opposed to the dissemination of misinformation about any religious faith so this mistake is not something I take lightly. I offer my apologies to anyone on this forum who might be of the Hindu faith.