Bali Pratha or Sacrifise Ritual
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| Devi Durga slaying the demon. |
It is the third day of the Navaratri here in Indian subcontinent. People are poised to worship the Nava Durga, the nine forms of the Goddess Durga. The worship of Devi brings wealth, joy, prosperity, abundance with the slain of inner demons like animal instinct, tamas elements like, anger, greed, envious, pretentiousness etc.
The worship of Devi is done through Tantra, and it is done through rituals. The rituals are the life style of the Hindu Community. From the birth to the death, rituals do not end. From the very instance an infant is born, there is "baptism" or "name giving ceremony" then "rice feeding ceremony" then marriage ritual, pitri rituals, Kuldevta puja rituals, Ista devta puja rituals, Rudri rituals and list goes on and it doesn't end with the death too. After the funeral rituals the deceased person's descendant then carries out the ritual in his or her name every Pitri Paksha. The rituals are never ending process of Hindu community. That is what makes us culturally rich.
Right after the conclusion of Pitri paksha, Nava ratri starts. It is the most valued time for the tantric practitioners, it is the right time to carry out the rituals, penances and to start any auspicious work. The Devi Durga is the goddess of the HEROS or Viras or Warriors. She is the goddess of the warriors because she herself is the shakti and with her prowess she had slayed the almighty demon "Mahishasura" and therefore she is known as "Mahisasur Mardini", the slayer of Mahisasura demon.
The most controversial aspect of any Devi's sadhana or rituals is the use of sacrifice or bali. Bali is one of the most important aspect of the ritual. The whole ritual is incomplete if there is no sacrifice.
In our community, especially in Nepal which is the land of the warriors people use animals as the element of sacrifice. People sacrifice goat, hens, ducks, he-buffalo etc as per the rituals of the goddess.
Now, the question arises on "why are the animals used for sacrifice?". To answer that, we should first have to know for what reasons Goddess Durga was invoked. She was invoked because the demon Mahisasura was undefeatable and he started to create havoc everywhere. It is for his killing she was invoked by the gods. Now, to win the battle with Mahisasura is not like winning the opponent in the chess game. There was a fierce battle between them and she came out as the winner. She is naturally the goddess of the warriors.
In every rituals of devi, she is first invoked and when she is invoked she has the tendency to destroy the devils and demons because that is her nature. Where Devi resides, evil disappears. Now, we all also have demons and devils and the dark forces inside us. Those dark forces are in the form of animals instincts, greed, enviousness etc. When she is invoked, we sacrifice our inner demons to her because she is the only force that can destroy the very evil dark forces that is in our roots. This is for the reason the animals are used.
The animals are symbolic representation of our inner demons and devils. The animals are the representation of our inner animals instinct. In the ritual with the slaying and the sacrifice of the outer animal the inner animal instinct also is slayed and sacrificed because both are associated through the power and association of feelings. For instance, cows are never sacrificed because cows are firstly divine for many reasons and secondly it is connected with the divinity inside us. If we sacrifice a cow, the divinity in us is also sacrificed and a person becomes a devil from inside because the divinity is now absent from that person. To harness divinity is the work of a life time and to loose it just takes a a minute if you slay a cow for whatever reasons. Therefore, cows are not allowed to be sacrificed because it destroys the divinity in us.
Now, the question arises, "Why should animals be used?", the answer to the question can be inferred from above paragraph. The animal is the symbolic representation of the inner animal instinct. It is symbolic. That is for the reason, it can be substituted with coconut. The coconut is another element that can be used along with "Kubindo" or the Wax Guard. The coconut is more preferable and easy thing to sacrifice. That is for the reason we should substitute the animals by coconuts.
Secondly, the question also arises "if the animal slaying is itself a sin or not?". To answer it from the perspective of religion and spiritualism, The animals has a soul and when they are slayed, it is not the soul of the animal that is killed, it is the body that is slayed. The soul finds another body and the process continues until the soul is liberated through penances and is only possible in and through a human body.
Now, the question arises on "why are the animals used for sacrifice?". To answer that, we should first have to know for what reasons Goddess Durga was invoked. She was invoked because the demon Mahisasura was undefeatable and he started to create havoc everywhere. It is for his killing she was invoked by the gods. Now, to win the battle with Mahisasura is not like winning the opponent in the chess game. There was a fierce battle between them and she came out as the winner. She is naturally the goddess of the warriors.
In every rituals of devi, she is first invoked and when she is invoked she has the tendency to destroy the devils and demons because that is her nature. Where Devi resides, evil disappears. Now, we all also have demons and devils and the dark forces inside us. Those dark forces are in the form of animals instincts, greed, enviousness etc. When she is invoked, we sacrifice our inner demons to her because she is the only force that can destroy the very evil dark forces that is in our roots. This is for the reason the animals are used.
The animals are symbolic representation of our inner demons and devils. The animals are the representation of our inner animals instinct. In the ritual with the slaying and the sacrifice of the outer animal the inner animal instinct also is slayed and sacrificed because both are associated through the power and association of feelings. For instance, cows are never sacrificed because cows are firstly divine for many reasons and secondly it is connected with the divinity inside us. If we sacrifice a cow, the divinity in us is also sacrificed and a person becomes a devil from inside because the divinity is now absent from that person. To harness divinity is the work of a life time and to loose it just takes a a minute if you slay a cow for whatever reasons. Therefore, cows are not allowed to be sacrificed because it destroys the divinity in us.
Now, the question arises, "Why should animals be used?", the answer to the question can be inferred from above paragraph. The animal is the symbolic representation of the inner animal instinct. It is symbolic. That is for the reason, it can be substituted with coconut. The coconut is another element that can be used along with "Kubindo" or the Wax Guard. The coconut is more preferable and easy thing to sacrifice. That is for the reason we should substitute the animals by coconuts.
Secondly, the question also arises "if the animal slaying is itself a sin or not?". To answer it from the perspective of religion and spiritualism, The animals has a soul and when they are slayed, it is not the soul of the animal that is killed, it is the body that is slayed. The soul finds another body and the process continues until the soul is liberated through penances and is only possible in and through a human body.
We Hindus believe that there are 84,00,000 lives ranging from bacteria's to humans to elephants to trees to shrubs etc. The human life is the highest in the hierarchy. When a person has gone through the lives of all the yoni's then the person attains the human body. The human body is such worthy that the soul can only be freed from the clutches of karma through human body. Human body is the medium for the salvation.
Since, the animal that has been used for the purpose of attaining divinity and is sacrificed in the name of the Goddess, the animal rises high in the hierarchy of the aforementioned lives gradually evolving to get the human body. The animals sacrifice is not only the sacrifice of our animal instinct but also the very animal instinct of the animal used. It is though violent but beneficial to both. The means may be annoying but the end is beneficial for both.
The haphazard way of killing the animals is sure for the killer to be sinned. The killer as per the law of karma, his soul find the body of an animal and then is slayed similarly. This is for the reason, animal sacrifice should only be done under proper rituals. It is like walking on the edge of the cliff, you have a high chance of falling down.
The whole sacrifice is the matter of belief. I personally am a vegetarian and I have substituted the animal with the coconut. The coconut is easy to get and is way cheaper then the use of the animals.
Personally, i think the whole "bali pratha" should exist because it is the sacrifice of our own inner animal instinct but the use of the animals should be substituted with coconut because it is more logical thing to do because if anything goes wrong in the animal sacrifice rituals, one becomes animals in the next birth through the law of karma. Why risk a human life to get an animal life?
Since, the animal that has been used for the purpose of attaining divinity and is sacrificed in the name of the Goddess, the animal rises high in the hierarchy of the aforementioned lives gradually evolving to get the human body. The animals sacrifice is not only the sacrifice of our animal instinct but also the very animal instinct of the animal used. It is though violent but beneficial to both. The means may be annoying but the end is beneficial for both.
The haphazard way of killing the animals is sure for the killer to be sinned. The killer as per the law of karma, his soul find the body of an animal and then is slayed similarly. This is for the reason, animal sacrifice should only be done under proper rituals. It is like walking on the edge of the cliff, you have a high chance of falling down.
The whole sacrifice is the matter of belief. I personally am a vegetarian and I have substituted the animal with the coconut. The coconut is easy to get and is way cheaper then the use of the animals.
Personally, i think the whole "bali pratha" should exist because it is the sacrifice of our own inner animal instinct but the use of the animals should be substituted with coconut because it is more logical thing to do because if anything goes wrong in the animal sacrifice rituals, one becomes animals in the next birth through the law of karma. Why risk a human life to get an animal life?
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