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Hindus worship monkeys and elephants. Can you tell me why

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prasad1

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This post is on behalf of Mr. TKS
My son when he was in 7th grade was asked a question like - "Hey I heard you guys worship monkeys and elephants. Can you tell me why". Since the question was not made to mock he tried to answer. The teacher in the class heard that and asked him to explain to the class as a whole next day. If there is interest I can summarize what he said though that may be off topic for this thread....

Before I share some points that he prepared with our help and delivered to the class next day I want to ask our members how you would advise an Indian/Hindu child put in a spot like this to answer :)

My point is that though he is an American he answered in a way that made people view positively about India without making things up.
 
Would that show that one should not be judged by form or appearance but by what is beneath it ?
 
Hindus do puja to Elephants, and cows, as one of the representative of Brahman.

Contrary to popular belief in the West, Hindu deities are not "individual gods", indicating a polytheistic faith. They are, rather, different representations of particular aspects of the one god, the source, known as Brahman. The "human" or physical representation of Brahman's aspects or attributes in the form of deities is a vehicle for the devotee to focus his or her attention, devotion or meditation on that particular aspect or attribute in a form more easily visualized and held in the mind.

Hindu Deities & Their Meanings


Animal Deities

Hindus see divinity in all living creatures. Animal deities therefore, occupy an important place in Hindu dharma. Animals, for example, are very common as form of transport for various Gods and Goddesses.Animals also appear as independent divine creatures.


http://www.helium.com/items/561466-u...od-in-hinduism

"Hinduism is a difficult religion for an outsider to understand. Wrapping your head around gods that belong to one god, divinity in all creatures and things, and an all encompassing energy can be confusing. The important thing to realize is that Hindu's are constantly striving to seek the highest power of spiritual knowledge. Striving to be God himself through enlightenment is a key objective, and although there may be thousands of separate gods, there is only one God, Brahman."
 
When we worship Hanuman(Monkey form),it is because of his Bhagthi and servetohis Master God Ram.Other traits of Hanuman are also taken in.With Hanuman in Mind we worship monkeys.
Ganesha(elephant form) removes hurdles in your actions from star.So elephants are worshiped keeping in Mind Ganesha.
Cows are worshiped keeping in mind Goddess Laksmi.
So on so froth,All these worships are carried out keeping in mind they are Good Doers.We gain moral support by these worships.
Alwan
 
Good post. We not only worship animals, but also trees and plants, weapons (Ayudha pooja) and books (the material source of knowledge). Hindus see god in every thing which has life or just a matter. We worship, Darts, mountains (Thiruvannamalai, Kailash). Hinduism is just simple but is complex to know for others.
 
Hinduism believes that everything we see here - right from the blade of a grass to the biggest whale in the ocean - is expression or manifestation of the Divine or Supreme power.

It does not believe that heaven is a golden globe hanging somewhere high in the sky and that God lives there in His ivory tower.

Heaven and Hell are right here and right now.

We personify every aspect in human life as a God /Goddess.

There are separate gods for health, wealth, learning, success, courage, endurance, perseverance, creation, destruction and maintenance of the creation.

It goes to the extent of saying each of us is a God - but with a few limitations.

So if you and I can be Gods, why not a bull, a cow, an elephant a snake and a monkey???
 
Would that show that one should not be judged by form or appearance but by what is beneath it ?

Dear Sravna:

I will judge by the form, appearance AND what's is beneath it!

Not by someone else' interpretation of what's inside it!!

This interpretation is the crux of the issue.... for example, what's really inside the Idol?

This interpretation varies with the MINDSET of the person who is analyzing it... whether or not he/she is burdened by

TRADITION and/or
FEAR and/or
SUPERSTITION.

My two cents on this issue.

Regards.

Y
 
Dear Sravna:

I will judge by the form, appearance AND what's is beneath it!

Not by someone else' interpretation of what's inside it!!


Y

uncle, you mean, you will be judging & pricing Edward Munch's painting by the gross weight of the linen canvas, huh!
 
Umm not sure why (some) humans consider monkeys and elephants to be inferior to us? After all, we cannot touch our forehead with our nose or hang from a tree branch using a tail. :)
 
Sri Prasad ji

Thanks so much for starting this thread like Sri Ravi ji was suggesting.

I was thinking a different thread about answering questions that growing children in modern India and children of PIO ask.

Over the weekend I will start and answer to the first post.

Here let the "adult-children" can have their opportunity to assert the same old ideas again :deadhorse:

LoL
 
Man lives neither by intuition like the animals, :panda:

nor by intelligence the way he was supposed to! :nerd:

Man is the weirdest creature in God's creation

since he is neither an animal nor a human but

IS a wrong combination of a man and an animal. :doh:

Umm not sure why (some) humans consider monkeys and elephants to be inferior to us? After all, we cannot touch our forehead with our nose or hang from a tree branch using a tail. :)
 
When I was a teen..I was always faced with questions from some non hindus who would ask

"Hindus pray to idols,snakes,elephants etc..tell me why?"

I used to have only one answer to all these types..

"I dont owe you an explanation..if you still want to know..become a Hindu and I will tell you why, till then its why cast pearls in front of swine..that's what your religion said"

I never wasted my time with such people who just want to ridicule or have a hidden agenda..so I simply screw them up at the onset itself and watch them fly away.
Doesnt matter if friendship is lost..cos who needs such friends.
 
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When we can't DRIVE home our point with a HAMMER

the next best option is :decision:

to SCREW them away using a long handled SCREW DRIVER! :)


When I was a teen..I was always faced with questions from some non hindus who would ask

"Hindus pray to idols,snakes,elephants etc..tell me why?"

I used to have only one answer to all these types..

"I dont owe you an explanation..if you still want to know..become a Hindu and I will tell you why, till then its why caste pearls in front of swine..that's what your religion said"

I never wasted my time with such people who just want to ridicule or have a hidden agenda..so I simply screw them up at the onset itself and watch them fly away.
Doesnt matter if friendship is lost..cos who needs such friends.
 
This post is on behalf of Mr. TKS
My son when he was in 7th grade was asked a question like - "Hey I heard you guys worship monkeys and elephants. Can you tell me why". Since the question was not made to mock he tried to answer. The teacher in the class heard that and asked him to explain to the class as a whole next day. If there is interest I can summarize what he said though that may be off topic for this thread....

Before I share some points that he prepared with our help and delivered to the class next day I want to ask our members how you would advise an Indian/Hindu child put in a spot like this to answer :)

My point is that though he is an American he answered in a way that made people view positively about India without making things up.

Prasad:

Here is one way I think I would tackle this problem. I would be curious to know how you did.

For NRIs, I think the best way to tackle such questions in practice is through analogies.
Catholic christians believe in angels, demons, and saints who are considered inferior to God.
They do not consider these beings as gods, though they are sometimes the object of prayer
and veneration. However, Christian churches which teach praying to saints insist that such
prayer is only proper when limited to asking for the angel or saint's intercession to God. They
do not teach that saints possess any powers of their own, and any miracle attributable to
their intercession is the product of the power of God and not any supernatural power of the
saint. This stance is primarily practiced in traditional Catholicism, Anglicanism, Oriental Orthodoxy,
and Eastern Orthodoxy. Majority of Protestant denominations hold God as being the only
appropriate object of prayer.

The multitude of deities in Hinduism, much like the angels and demons of Christians,
have a subordinate and secondary status vis-a-vis the One Supreme God, the Brahman.
This stance amounts to a desire for union with the Brahman through the worship of
different cosmic principles manifested through all creation. This perspective meshes
with a belief in reincarnation - a vehicle for working out the results of your karmic deeds.
Thus, a bad karma may lead to an atman being born as a monkey or elephant, which are
also sparks of the one absolute cosmic principle, aka Brahman. So, when people worship
( a better terminology would be to show reverence to) a monkey, or an elephant,
it is ideologically not very different from the reverence one human shows to another human
through folded hands, saying namaste.
 
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we worship what we know :)

Hindus worship monkeys and elephants. Can you tell me why?.

monkey-saint-yogaguru.jpg

animal-funny-pic-Elephant.jpg
 
We can tell anyone these lines;

1)"when almost the whole world worships money..what is so wrong if I worship a monkey or an elephant or any living object ?"

2)"when we women are supposed to worship our husbands I dont see any harm worshiping a monkey"
 
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We can tell anyone these lines;

1)"when almost the whole world worships money..what is so wrong if I worship a monkey or an elephant or any living object ?"

2)"when we women are supposed to worship our husbands I dont see any harm worshiping a monkey"


A pretty low blow!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Prasad:

Here is one way I think I would tackle this problem. I would be curious to know how you did.

For NRIs, I think the best way to tackle such questions in practice is through analogies.
Catholic christians believe in angels, demons, and saints who are considered inferior to God.
They do not consider these beings as gods, though they are sometimes the object of prayer
and veneration. However, Christian churches which teach praying to saints insist that such
prayer is only proper when limited to asking for the angel or saint's intercession to God. They
do not teach that saints possess any powers of their own, and any miracle attributable to
their intercession is the product of the power of God and not any supernatural power of the
saint. This stance is primarily practiced in traditional Catholicism, Anglicanism, Oriental Orthodoxy,
and Eastern Orthodoxy. Majority of Protestant denominations hold God as being the only
appropriate object of prayer.

The multitude of deities in Hinduism, much like the angels and demons of Christians,
have a subordinate and secondary status vis-a-vis the One Supreme God, the Brahman.
This stance amounts to a desire for union with the Brahman through the worship of
different cosmic principles manifested through all creation. This perspective meshes
with a belief in reincarnation - a vehicle for working out the results of your karmic deeds.
Thus, a bad karma may lead to an atman being born as a monkey or elephant, which are
also sparks of the one absolute cosmic principle, aka Brahman. So, when people worship
( a better terminology would be to show reverence to) a monkey, or an elephant,
it is ideologically not very different from the reverence one human shows to another human
through folded hands, saying namaste.

The above is not correct from my understanding.. Indians tend to make up things .. :)
 
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This would have sounded so much better! :)

கல் ஆனாலும் கணவன்! :brick:

ஃ புல் ஆனாலும் புருஷன்!!
:spit:

We can tell anyone these lines;

1)"when almost the whole world worships money..what is so wrong if I worship a monkey or an elephant or any living object ?"

2)"when we women are supposed to worship our husbands I dont see any harm worshiping a monkey"
 
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