Hindu Worship - Animals

1
Hindu Worship - Animals
2
The Sacred Cow

• Is revered as the source of food and symbol of
  life
• May never be killed or eaten (no beef)
• The Cow and Worship
• Hindus do not worship the cow
• cows do not have especially charmed lives in
  India
• more accurate to say the cow is taboo in
  Hinduism, rather than sacred.
• Most rural Indian families have at least one
  dairy cow, a gentle spirit who is often treated
  as a member of the family.

3
The Sacred Cow
4
The Sacred Cow
5
Cow Veneration Continued

• The five products
• milk
• curds
• ghee butter
• urine
• dung are all used in puja
• The milk of the family cow nourishes children as
  they grow up
• cow dung (gobar) feul, building.
• Most Indians do not share the western revulsion
  at cow excrement, but instead consider it an
  earthy and useful natural product.

6
Monkey Veneration

• Animals depicted as helping the gods in Hindu
  mythology are venerated
• Monkey, or Monkey God ( Hanuman) is considered to
  be the God of power and strength
• Seen here helping Lord Rama

7
Elephant Veneration

• Elephants symbol of success
• Ganesha
• Lord of Success and Destroyer of Evils and
  Obstacles
• Also god of education, knowledge, wisdom and
  wealth
• head symbolizes the paramatman (ultimate supreme
  reality)
• his human body signifies Maya or the earthly
  existence
• The elephant head denotes wisdom and its trunk
  represents Om, the sound symbol of cosmic
  reality.