'Animal sacrifice reflects inner consciousness, peace'

'Animal sacrifice reflects inner consciousness, peace'

I Wayan Juniartha and Ayuning Hati, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Animal sacrifice is almost inseparable from traditional
Balinese Hindu ritual. The practice owes its origin to the deep
influence of the Bhairawa and Tantrayana teachings over the
Sivaistic Balinese Hindus.

All the paraphernalia involved in the ritual is comparable to
that used by the followers of Kalais, one of the Hindu sects that
resembles the Bhairawa or leftist Tantrayana in India. The
difference lies in the presentation.

"In Bali, the entire caru offerings, especially meats and rice
as well as alcoholic drinks, are not eaten and are left as
offerings. In the Bhairawa sect, these offerings must be tasted
and eaten by the followers," culture scholar Mas Ruscitadewi
said.

Chief editor of the influential Hindu magazine Sarad, Ketut
Sumartha, said: "The Bhairawa and Tantrayana put great emphasis
on the importance of rasa (taste) in preparing the offerings. The
word caru, which in Bali generally refers to animal sacrifice, in
fact, literally means tasteful."

Sumartha said a sacrifice needs to be tasteful as it is given
as a meal to the Bhuta, who is interpreted as an evil spirit or
demon.

"That's why the most common way of sacrificing animals is by
killing them, and later cooking the meats into various
traditional delicacies that are later placed alongside other
offerings comprising fruits, leaves and flowers. The meals are
cooked with strong spices and served accompanied by traditional
alcoholic liquor, arak, tuak, and brem, which are appropriate for
the evil spirits," Sumarta told.

Other ways of sacrificing animals are drowning them alive in
the sea, a ritual known as Pakelem, and slitting their throats
and dripping their blood onto the ground, or Penyambleh.

In the Pemarisudha Karipubhaya ceremony, some 79 animals were
sacrificed. They included one deer, one small antelope, one
civet, three bulls, three cows, seven goats, two turtles, five
swans, two black dogs, seven pigs, 23 chickens and 20 ducks of
various colors. Seven of them were designated as Pakelem, eleven
as Penyambleh, and the rest were cooked as various traditional
meals of lawar and satay.

Contemporary interpretation places Bhuta Kala as various types
of forces or elements of nature, known in Bali as Panca Maha
Bhuta, which comprise apah (liquid/water), bayu (wind), teja
(heat/fire), pertiwi (solid element, soil) and akasa (space).

Balinese Tri Hita Karana teaching requires that the harmonious
balance and relationship between man and the gods (Parahyangan),
between men (Pawongan), and between man and the nature
(Palemahan) must be continuously maintained or otherwise bad
things shall happen, which could take the form of a natural
disaster, outbreak of disease or bloodshed as happened when a
bomb exploded in the tourist resort of Kuta.

This interpretation shifts the responsibility over the
occurrence of bad things from the devilish works of menacing evil
spirits to man's inability to comply with the Tri Hita Karana
teachings. Consequently, sacrifice has new meanings.

"It's not only a meal or an appeasement for evil spirits, but,
more importantly, it is the way through which man maintains or
restores the balance and harmony of Tri Hita Karana. Through caru
man pays his debts to nature, thus pacifying the forces of
nature," Sumarta said.

It is no wonder that the highest level of sacrifice is called
Tawur, which literally means payment. In the Pemarisudha
Karipubhaya ceremony, the Tawur Agung (great sacrifice) ritual
was held at the blast site, while the rest of the ritual was
conducted at the Segara temple, next to the famous Kuta beach.

Yet, Sumarta believes that Hindu followers must move toward a
more spiritual meaning of sacrifice by realizing that the
ultimate sacrifice is Mecaru di Deweke, or sacrificing oneself.

"Through sacrificing animals, our wise ancestors have tried to
send us an important message that we must try to eradicate our
animal instincts and behavior within ourselves.Mecaru di Deweke
means killing our ego, greed, hatred, and all those inhumane
characteristics that have clouded our inner consciousness," he
said.

Failing to do so, Hindu believers eventually will find
themselves in a very ironic situation in which sacrifice disturbs
the harmony and balance between man and nature instead of
maintaining them.

"By regularly and continuously sacrificing animals, including
rare ones, we will soon reach a stage where the caru rituals pose
a danger to the sustainability of our ecosystem, and thus disrupt
the balance and harmony of Tri Hita Karana," he said.

Sumarta is looking ahead to a time when Hindu followers
conduct a caru by conserving nature, releasing rare animals into
the wilderness or planting trees.