Tables Flashcards
Allowing abortion (ahiṁsā)
Sushruta-Samhita insists abortion is justified if pregnancy/delivery risks mother’s life.
Garbha-Upanishad feels ensoulment only takes place in the 7th month.
Common sense ahiṁsā from sexual abuse or rape.
Rights of embryo (ahiṁsā)
Every body has paramatman, thus a temple of God.
Vedas - Viṣṇu as “protector of the unborn child”.
Atharva-Veda - abortion worse than killing one’s own parents, eating beef, or killing a brahmana.
Prahlāda was taught the glories of God in his mother’s womb, confirming embryo as a fully sentient being.
Animal rights (ahiṁsā)
Puruṣa-sūkta models all creation as divine.
Viṣṇu incarnates in every species for its upliftment.
All beings have an ātmā, so ahiṁsā must be shown (BG).
“There is no exception to the law of Karma… man reaps what he sows.” (Atharva-Veda).
Justified violation of animals (ahiṁsā)
Circle of life is sustained through sacrifice (BG). Human beings, as the most evolved species, have a responsibility to even ‘cull’ other species if ecologically necessary.
Similarly, animal experimentation = save specie extinction or scientific research.
Ritualised sacrifice and meat eating > uncontrolled slaughter houses.
Prohibiting war and W.M.D. (ahiṁsā)
“Ahiṁsā paramaḥ dharma”
Puruṣa-sūkta shows universe as the body of God. War and WMD destroys this body.
Krishna as the father of all - war = fratricide.
Gandhi as a powerful advocate for ahiṁsā.
Allowing war and W.M.D. (ahiṁsā)
“Dharma hiṁsā tathaiva ca” - never refrain from violence to protect dharma.
Krishna incarnates again and again to establish dharma and wipe out adharma (BG).
Yudhiṣṭhira turned to war as a last resort after every means for peace.
Gandhi on violence as the lesser of two evils.
WMD as a deterrent.
Examples of rights given to women by secular government
Allowed divorce (proper grounds)
Equal rights on inheritance
Sati Prevention Act
Protection from domestic violence
Prohibition of child marriage
Sexual harassment punishable by death
In favour for celibacy
Viṣṇu Purāṇa - ‘thinking of enjoying another’s wife… reborn a creepy insect’.
Repay direct ancestors.
Ahiṁsā as opposed to neglecting illegitimate child.
Practical consierations (unwanted abortion, STDs)
Leniency over celibacy
Vedic god Varuna with multiple romantic partners.
Atharva-veda allows ‘gandharva marriage’, which famously bore Bharata.
Gandhi inadvertently demonstrated narcissism and exploitation with testing one’s celibacy.
Bisexuality as the norm
Sāṁkhya puruṣa and prakṛti.
All Vedic marriages refer to hetrosexual couples.
Sex is for procreation in Grhastha.
New children repays ancestor debts.
Remembering and respecting homosexuality
Varuna engaging in homosexual relations.
Hindū scriptures relatively silent, no big deal.
Kāma-sutra.
Manu finding reprehensible is not the act, but the self-centeredness. But, this goes for contraceptive sex, too, so it is wrong to single out homosexuals.
ātmā and a Paramātmā.
Vasudha eva kutumbhakam - humanity is one family.
Secularism’s values and intentions and how Hinduism aligns
Individual sanctity –>
Equality
Freedom
Fraternity
Flexibility and individual conscience
