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| Holy Cow |
VARANASI, INDIA I just have to ask, “Is there a McDonalds in Varanasi?” “Yes…,” Anup says, then smiles, “But they don’t serve beef. We don’t eat beef because the cow is sacred, the living symbol of mother earth. It provides milk to mothers who cannot produce their own milk. The bull, or ‘Nandi’ as we call it, is also holy, because it was the vehicle, or ‘Vahana,’ of Lord Shiva, and represents strength and virility. In this way, the ‘Nandi’ is characteristic of Lord Shiva — the same way other animals are emblematic of the gods with which they are associated; for example, the peacock is associated with Murugan and symbolizes the destruction of the ego and the owl is associated with Lakshmi and symbolizes the light of wisdom. Of course, some animals like the elephant and monkey are worshipped as deities in themselves. Elephants, because they are associated with the elephant-headed god ‘Ganesha’ and monkeys, because they are associated with the monkey god, ‘Hanuman.’ This is a stretch for me so I ask the question that has been bugging me most: “Do Hindus actually believe there was an elephant headed god or a monkey god?” Anup laughs, “To western tourists who come here, it’s mythology, plain and simple, and in some books you find here, the gods are actually described as such, but to us they are real — their stories are true, in the same way the six days of creation or the snake in the Garden of Eden are true for Christians.”
