Vaishnava Woman marries snake

[Guest guest]

What do you think of this? It's made international news.

 

news./s/afp/20060602/wl_sthasia_afp/afplifestyleindiasocietysnakemarriageoffbeat_060602114353

[mt_thejet 0]

yeh i read about this too.

seems pretty weird to me.

[Guest guest]

This woman is obviously crazy, end of story. You have crazy people all over the world, India is no exeption. The western press loves to spread news like this as it would show Indians as being backwards and ignorant and indeed, some surely are. What's worse is they had a priest chanting vedic mantras during the wedding (he probably just did it for money and fame). But this will give the wrong impression that Hinduism accepts this kind of marriage. Even Indian press like time of India reported this, so they could distance themselves from Hinduism. This event is going to contribute to the western worldview that Hindus are an ignorant immoral people with a false religion. Even though we all try to clear misconceptions about Hinduism, events like this will knock us back to square one. But just imagine...the poor snake has no say on whether or not he wants to marry this woman or not.

 

Where is it that she is a Vaishnava? She seems more like the type that follows tribal practices than any genuine Hindu tradition. I do not think the Vedas sanction marriage between humans and animals at all, so this marriage is really a false marriage. However due to the power of the media, our voices will not be heard.

[Guest guest]

 

Where is it that she is a Vaishnava? She seems more like the type that follows tribal practices than any genuine Hindu tradition. I do not think the Vedas sanction marriage between humans and animals at all, so this marriage is really a false marriage. However due to the power of the media, our voices will not be heard.

 

"Das, from a lower caste, converted to the animal-loving vegetarian Vaishnav sect whose local elders gave her permission to marry the cobra, the world's largest venomous snake that can grow up to five metres."

 

Source: hindustantimes.com/news/181_1711610,00110002.htm

[Guest guest]

I agree that it is a shame that it seems to always be these types of stories that the western press reports, when speaking about Hinduism. Although most of the western press is agnostic and not Christian, they are still unconsciously controlled in their reporting by the Christian world-view, which has always looked at Hindus as pagan idolaters. Just type in google, and see what Christian sites say about Hinduism: it is not pretty.

 

Anyhow, this story reflects the beauty of Hinduism in a sense. That we are a tolerant religion. That every soul of various development and understanding, can each find a place under our tent and be Hindu. From the Self-Realized Master to someone of tamasic understanding, NONE are condemned. They are each approaching their spirituality from their own level. And so we do not go around condemning those of lesser understanding, who have more primitive practices. We let them be.

[Guest guest]

 

 

Anyhow, this story reflects the beauty of Hinduism in a sense. That we are a tolerant religion. That every soul of various development and understanding, can each find a place under our tent and be Hindu. From the Self-Realized Master to someone of tamasic understanding, NONE are condemned. They are each approaching their spirituality from their own level. And so we do not go around condemning those of lesser understanding, who have more primitive practices. We let them be.

 

I know we are tolerant and believe this is due to tamasic understanding, but it is our duty to educate all. We do not condemn, but why not educate? If this woman and her community were educated this would have never happened. You should never encourage this sort of nonsense. What sort of relationship is she going to have with a snake? Are they going to go to temple to pray together? Are they going to go to the movies, visit restaurants, shopping, etc? I believe her poor husband would be turned away by authories every time. I hope she doesn't plan on having childeren with him!

 

Maybe it's because this woman was low caste, that they allowed her to marry a snake, to show how stupid her community is. Would they do the same if a Brahmin girl wanted to marry a snake? Would any of you allow any girl in your family to marry an animal? I bet you wouldn't, so why tolerate it when someone else does?

 

It's this attitude that encourages superstition and this attitude that has allowed false god-men to fool society. Rather than showing Hindus as tolerant it is really showing Hindus are a backwards people who do not care about educating their society. On one of the news links I read that some women have married other animals, including dogs!

Hindus, if you do not reform your society then please don't complain when your people convert to other religions that do not tolerate these acts.

 

I DO NOT believe in marrying animals, if these people do then they are living in deep ignorance and this is not the Hinduism I follow.

[Guest guest]

 

It's this attitude that encourages superstition and this attitude that has allowed false god-men to fool society. Rather than showing Hindus as tolerant it is really showing Hindus are a backwards people who do not care about educating their society. On one of the news links I read that some women have married other animals, including dogs!

 

I read this too, and agree it must be seriously frowned upon. Bestiality is considered degradable by all civilized people. I am not sure she was engaging in such relations with the dog? but in the west, certainly this is where our mind would go when we hear of such stories.

 

Not knowing these people, it can be hard to determine their mindset. They may just be like children in their minds (with no sexual thoughts), thinking the animal is some soul-mate from a previous life? Frankly, I do not know. But do not agree with animal marriages.

[Guest guest]

Here is something to think about. There may be a deeper mystery at work here. Maybe this woman and the villagers know more than they are letting on. The snake might not just be any snake!

 

Posted in the Shakti Sadhana email list which appears on this forum:

 

Janardana Dasa writes: "in discussing this story with my daughter she reminded me that according to the legends in India and those adjoining areas that used to be part of PUNYA BHUMI (thailand, Burma, Malaysia, etc.) NAGAS in some instances, actually transform themselves into the most attractive/beautiful humans.

It is said that sometimes some humans are granted the boon of witnessing this. So this may be the hidden part of the story that makes this story, on the surface, seem foolish to the casual/mundane observer. Therefore, from an esoteric viewpoint this may not be as dumb as it seems."

See: audarya-fellowship.com/forums/shakti-sadhana/402521-another-example-media-bias-against-hinduism.html