Hindus are known to show respect, even perform worship, to certain animals and things in nature (e.g. trees, rivers etc.), and they often practice vegetarianism by avoiding eating meat. These Hindu traditions have more to do with considerations for life as sacred and nature as special. The adoration and respect for nature (rivers, trees, animals etc.) by people reflects a sense of gratitude for the benefits received from them. Furthermore, the practice of not eating meat is not to imply that they are afraid of eating meat for some unknown and weird reasons. There is no apprehension that eating meat would make them dangerous and harmful like certain carnivores, e.g. lions and rats etc. which in spite of eating meat tend to feared by humans, even respected sometimes, for their awesome power or ability to cause harm.

Hinduism, like Judaism, is a very ancient religion and it includes customs and traditions from long ago. Like some of the Judaic books of Old Testament, the Hindu Vedic and Puranic texts indicate numerous incidents of strange practices and customs in the past. They basically reflect conditions during early civilization when life for humans must have been quite tough and precarious and people had to depend heavily on nature and animals to survive.

When the civilization was during infancy, humans noticed that a number of creatures could consume certain foods or do some things which they couldn’t do themselves. In addition, some of these creatures were capable of causing enormous harm to people, including bringing diseases etc. They considered these creatures, with potential to pose a danger to human life, as special, even worthy of avoiding their wrath and menace.

On the other hand, there were some animals and things in nature (trees, rivers and mountains etc.) which benefited humans and helped them survive long ago - humans considered them special. All these creatures and things in nature which were deemed special, whether for being beneficial to humans or dangerous and harmful to them, were accorded some kind of respect, even in the form of worship. Thus the practice of honoring and worshipping things in nature (certain animals, rivers, trees and mountains etc.) basically arose when humans long ago encountered much peril and had to struggle hard and depend heavily on nature to stay alive.

Some of the ancient traditions and customs, such as the practice of honoring and worshipping things in nature which originated during early civilization, still continue among Hindus. On the other hand, the later religions -- arising afterwards and perhaps out of Hinduism or Judaism -- tried to abandon many early civilization practices and worships, such as that involving nature and animals etc., from their dogmas and literatures because they were not deemed significant any longer. As a result there are fewer such practices in other, basically of a later date, religions. Note that Hinduism has more number of such ancient customs because it is the oldest religion. In any case, as indicated above, even though the animals and things in nature might be respected and revered by Hindus, it is not in the spirit of treating them and worshipping them as or equal to God.

In conclusion, the reverential treatment to various animals and things in nature is accorded because of their special powers (traits) and benefits to humans (APPENDIX) and not because people regard these animals and things as God or equal to God. Incidentally, Brahman or God can be invoked in prayer by many names (Agni, Savitar, Indra, Visnu, Siva et al.) and sometimes worshipped symbolically by using agni and surya etc. But that type of worship using special (blissful and powerful) symbols is not to imply that agni (fire) or surya (sun) is God, but it simply indicates that God is the ultimate source of power to agni and surya etc. (used as the worship symbols).

Reference: http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/coffeehouse/Why-are-guys-so-picky-as-to-what-you-eat-819295.htm#819328

APPENDIX
Neem panacea to stem ryots' suicide

The Neem Foundation, in collaboration with the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, has been engaged in a fight against the tragic suicide cases of farmers in Vidarbha by training them to make their own pesticides and fertilisers from a Neem tree.
Reference: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Nagpur/Neem_panacea_to_stem_ryots_suicide/articleshow/2929736.cms

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By: Dr. Subhash C. Sharma
Email: [email protected]
Date: April 7, 2008

link to: Related topics by the author