Following on from Kumudinibens letter regarding the use of milk in Hindu and Jain rituals I would like to add some points. Many India's think that milk is given by well looked after cows as was in the past.
However milk is now mass produced and the cows have become nothing but milk machines. They are kept in closed areas and fed high concentrate diet instead of grass. This is to get maximum amount of milk which leaves the cows udders swollen and she is in great pain and suffers from arthritis and many other ailments. She is artificially inseminated and when a female calf is born it is separated from the mother causing great emotional suffering.
If a male calf is born it is either killed at birth or raised for beef. Every year around 75,000 male calf's are shot at birth in the dairy industry in the UK. After three pregnancies the cow is worn out and slaughtered for pet food.
Hinduism is a dynamic religion which adepts and changes according to circumstances without losing its core beliefs. The time has come to stop using milk in our rituals. Even God's would be offended to be offered milk that comes from such cruelty.
We should start using soy, almond or oat milk. Every Hindu and Jain temple should consider this change urgently. If need be we can have a meeting about this issue under the auspices of C.B. Patel.
We also need to seriously consider completely stopping fire crackers during Diwali. It creates a lot of pollution and extremely frightens all domestic animals including cows. Cities like Delhi are literally suffocating due to the fireworks pollution.
When Lord Rama came back to Ayodhya people lit candles and that is why it is called Deepavali. And that is what we should be doing. I also believe that the burning of the effigy of Ravan is contrary to our idea of Ahimsa. Ravan was a great scholar, and a man of many abilities. His downfall was his pride or Ahankar.
We should be introspecting and getting rid of our Ahankar instead of burning Ravan's effigy. Throughout Hinduism's history sages and saints and even laymen and women have brought about reforms so that it is in tune with new and emerging challenges.
This means that it never stagnates and gets stuck in outdated practices. Regarding goat milk that Kumudiniben mentioned the process is similar and the goat gets slaughtered once it can not give any milk.
Nitin Mehta
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