Meat Production in India
India ranked
5th in meat productions.
Buffaloes in India contribute about 31% of total meat production. The contribution by cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry is 31%, 5%, 10%, 10% and 11%, respectively. The share of bovine meat is about 62% as against the small ruminants of 15%. The share of red meat is 77% , which is in line with other countries.
Gandhi's take on Cow:
On 25 July 1947, in a prayer meeting, Gandhi opposed laws that were derived from religion. He said, "In India no law can be made to ban cow-slaughter. I do not doubt that Hindus are forbidden the slaughter of cows. I have been long pledged to serve the cow but how can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus." According to Gandhi, Hindus should not demand cow slaughter laws based on their religious texts or sentiments, in the same way that Muslims should not demand laws based on Shariat (Quran, Hadith) in India or Pakistan
Despite,
Gandhi's take, many of the states banned the Cow slaughter decades back- some 3 or 4 decades back. random Cow vigilante lynching is a problem well before Modi came to power but it became a sensational news only after Modi became PM. Even Wiki paper tries to put the blame on Modi ignoring the victims before him -20 (2011), 15( 2012), 17 (2013)- I will skip long list of links. The more Modi became a popular, more that noise grows. But that is big topic itself and one thread here.
With all the worship in the Bhakti movement and rituals and dietary habits of Hindus, I'm wondering if the Hindu scriptures and are a work of 4D STS?
I does look like 4D STS work. Thank you for opening the thread. In my experience, there is more than usual religiousness exist and it could even be noisy display due to high population density. All sorts of variations exist in teachings, costumes, - good, bad, ugly and even stupid. It is not that people doesn't see it, but lack of alternatives I guess.
In West, you have materialism in the name of "reasoning" which doesn't completely explain the complexity of life and West comes with their Christianity that takes the form of religious conversions which is not taken in good spirit there. Those insecurities takes the form of Hindu revivalism.
C's , Laura's work and Forum is completely beyond all the things in the mainstream religions.
Spiritual Scenery
In india, you can see all sorts of variations, main stream religious Hindu folks combined with Yoga, Ayurveda, commentaries of the Hindu texts and others that border psychological advice, People who talk about "God as one" irrespective of religions ( like MK Gandhi with motto of "Serving people is serving God") , popular busted demi-gods like Saibaba, Nityananda,"One movement" etc. who show tricks as miracle with strong political connections. Being not tightly controlled, many things can coexist in India, but can be heavily misused too( ex: corruption).
It is not the deities that keeps popularizing the religion, but the activities of Saints/fakirs/Sufi's that convert the religious texts to solutions to the practical problems as a service. They do heavily use the religious structure in this purpose .
I found what P.D. Ouspenky wrote in in search of Miraculous is the best answer I could find.
1
. Main stream Religion : Lot of Gods in all sorts of disciplines, costumes and variations etc.
People can choose what ever they want
As a well-known scholar of Hinduism, who was also a missionary in India for a while, Klaus K. Klostermaier observes: “Many Hindu homes are lavishly decorated with color prints of a great many Hindu gods and goddesses, often joined by the gods and goddesses of other religions and the pictures of contemporary heroes. Thus side by side with Śiva and Viṣṇu and Devī one can see Jesus and Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha and Jīna Mahāvīra, Mahātmā Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and many others. But if questioned about the many gods even the illiterate villager will answer: bhagvān ek hai — the Lord is One. He may not be able to figure out in theological terms how the many gods and the one God hang together and he may not be sure about the hierarchy obtaining among the many manifestations, but he does know that ultimately there is only One and that the many somehow merge into the One.”
2.
Those who are tired of main stream Religion - Esoteric side ( Not sure Esoteric is correct or not, using it lossely )
- Way of Fakir : Impressed by other Fakir's actions and followed by blind imitation out of necessity or simply carried away by the situation without any proper structured teaching.
- Way of Monk: Strictly under the guidance of the teacher, with a focus on emotional center.
- Way of Saint: Under the guidance of the teacher with focus on intellectual center.
Other variations: G talked about people who are not interested in spiritual, but subjects of hypnotism of others who can do physically tough things like fakirs who lays down on the bed of sharp nails. You can also see fakirs lying at the side of road oblivious to the surroundings in the dirtiest areas. It could be very overwhelming to figure out what is what.
Western adaptations based on the pieces of Hindu religion: The zeal with which Western agencies took it (ex: Hare Ram, Hare Krishna), endless Fancy Yogas variations with commercial products, rigidity with which they created Vegetarianism is a Western choice is surprising for me. They did it because it suited their motives. In the Western mechanized commercial world, order is very important. So you introduce some thing in supply chain, it becomes very visible. I think that where the disconnect is.
For example, My Doctor in India always said to me "eat meat". I used to settle with eggs, until i came out of the house. I always felt surprised what I see the fervor with which Western people promote vegetarianism, bhakti in US in the name of India. Consider that India is a forest, these are only some trees.
Is mantra chanting and bhakti/Bhagvad Gita a real medium for spiritual growth or does it just feed the 4D STS?
This is very complicated question with so many words with varying meanings and answers. C's already said Knowledge ( Information utilized) in its all encompassing meaning gives progress. So any idea of one thing or one means does gives spiritual growth is probably over simplification and a trap.
In India, It is common feeling among many who looked for order - "how this country works".
With Modi, things are rapidly becoming orderly, that raised another question in my mind for a while. Is Modi another pied piper for 4D STS? I read and read for answer to this question. I wrote it
here.
I couldn't find any thing in that direction. He looked to me like another rare Eastern leader( Putin, Xi etc.) came out of non-traditional poor background bringing some balance in a world when the West is melting down.
But, we never know.