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Dear Sankethi Bandhus and friends of Sankethis…
It was brought to my notice about the recent Soma Yaaga that took place in a village called Mattur in Shivamoga district of Karnataka. India. It is said in the media that Sankethi priests (from Mattur & near by villages included) along with other priests from neighboring states (Andhra & Tamilnadu) performed a very rare Yaaga during last week of April 2016 and sacrificed goats as part of the ritual.
Certain Yaagas are done in a particular way and according to old tradition (Vedic age practices…) animals are to be sacrificed. The question is do we have to follow those old traditions, in order to please the GOD for the general benefit of the society or mankind? Nowadays we are better educated with modern facilities & opportunities to understand / interpret the rituals and help the society and the mankind with out sacrificing animals.
Sankethis are Advaitees and followers of Guru Adi Shankara who condemned Human & Animal sacrifices more than 1200 years ago. But the reality is still people in the society continue the cruelty in the name of business like Meat Industry. We should be ashamed of slaughtering animals and breeding animals to consume. We live in a hypocritical world; don’t we develop a relationship with an animal in a farm? Yet we don’t feel guilty for killing & consuming the innocent soul whom we loved (pretended perhaps). We should not forget that we live in a society where sometimes media can target certain sects and try to humiliate entire community.
My point is we, as Sankethis do not support certain type of Yaagas where animal sacrifices are warranted. We believe in “Ahimsa” and thus we support Vegetarianism as well. Whatever happened in the name of religious Yaaga in one of our Sankethi Grama by few Sankethis (less than a dozen) doesn’t reflect the belief of entire Sankethi or Brahmin community. I came to know that in spite of majority of people from Mattur & Hosahalli protesting the animal sacrifice, the Yaaga was performed, which is a real shame and we, particularly North American Sankethis do not support this.
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