|    One day, while the Buddha was staying at Jetavana, the monks asked him 
if there was any benefit in  sacrificing goats and other animals as 
offerings . 
 
"No, " replied the  Buddha. "No good ever comes from taking life." Then 
he told his story. 
 
Long, long ago, when Brahmadatta  was reigning in Varanasi,  a brahmin decided to offer a Feast for the  Dead and bought a goat to sacrifice. He said to his students,  "Take this goat down to the river, bathe him, hang a garland around his neck,  feed him some grain and bring him 
back." 
 
They led the goat to the river.  While they were brushing it, the goat 
started to laugh and then weep  loudly. 
 
The students hurriedly took the goat  back to their master and told him what had happened at the river.   Hearing the story, the master asked 
the animal why it had laughed and  then wept. 
 
"In times past, " the  goat began, "I was a brahmin who taught the 
Vedas like you. I, too,  sacrificed a goat as an offering for a Feast 
for the Dead. Because of killing  that single goat, I have had my head
cut off 499 times. I laughed  aloud when I realized that this is my 
last birth as an animal to be  sacrificed. Today I will be freed from 
my misery. On the other hand, I  cried when I realized that, because of 
killing me, you too, will be  doomed to lose your head five hundred 
times. It was out of pity for you  that I cried."  
 
"Well, goat," said the  brahmin, "in that case, I am not going to kill you."  
 
"Brahmin!" exclaimed  the goat. "Whether or not you kill me, I cannot 
escape death today." 
 
"Don't worry," the  brahmin assured the goat. "I will guard you." 
 
"You don't understand,"  the goat told him. "Your protection is weak.
The force of my evil deed is very  strong." 
 
The brahmin untied the goat and  said to his students, " Protect him " .  
 
After the goat was freed, he  stretched out its neck to reach a  bush
growing near the top of a large  rock. At that very instant a lightning
bolt hit the rock, breaking off a  sharp piece of stone which flew
through the air and cut off the  goat's head. A crowd of people
gathered around and began to talk  excitedly about the accident. 
 
A tree deva had observed  everything and drawing a lesson from the incident, admonished the crowd: "If people only knew that the penalty would be rebirth into sorrow,  they would cease from taking life. A horrible doom awaits one who  slays." The spirit urged them only to do 
good, to spend their lives in  charity and meritorious works. 
 
The Buddha ended his lesson,  identifying that Birth saying, "In those 
days I was that deva." ~   Matakabhatta Jataka (Jataka No. 18)
How sad that we have forgotten  the magical status of the Goat in every
mythology across the world.  Mythology is not simply story : much of it 
is actual history that has been  made easier to believe , much of it 
conveys the ethos and culture of  the time. My favourite god  is the
Greek  Pan ( the name means  All), half goat , half man , flute player
and lord of the forest creatures.  The tradition of half animal half
man only shows the closeness of  all creatures – just as we have the
snake – man traditions in India
Let us look at the goat's place  in all religions. There are hundreds
of goat fertility spirits but  here are some major temples and gods.: 
 
There is a carving of a goat in  the Jokhang at Lhasa, Tibet.  This
commemorates Dungtse Rama Gyelmo,  the goat that filled the lake  with
earth so that the great shrine  could be built there. The animal
vehicle of Damchen Garway Nagpo  the Blacksmith, a sworn protector of
Tibetan Buddhism, is a brown  goat. 
 
In Indian cosmogony, Prakriti,  the mother is depicted as a female 
goat.  Her colors of red,  black and white represent the 3 gunas of the
Hindu samkhya metaphysical  system. 
 
The Hindu Goddess Kali 's vehicle  is the black goat. Strangely enough
, goats are sacrificed to her  everyday at Kalighat in Kolkata – I'm
not so sure I would want my  nearest companion to be killed . 
 
Agni, the Vedic fire deity, rides  Mesha his ram, and in Hindu tantric
practice the manipura chakra  whose symbol is fire is depicted as a
ram. Kubera the Hindu deity of  wealth, is depicted sometimes as a ram 
 
The famous Temple  of Apollo at Delphi,  Greece was built in the 6th 
century BC,  on an  inaccessible rocky spur of Mt.   Parnassos because
goats browsing there had been  heard to speak.   Amalthea  was a Greek 
nymph, who as a nanny goat nursed  the infant Zeus, the head of the 
Greek Gods .  One of her  horns was broken off and Zeus transformed it 
into the cornucopia [horn of  plenty].  A star associated with her is 
considered the source of  lightning. The sacred animal of Athena is the 
goat. 
     Odin is the head of the  Scandinavian  Norse gods. His steed is Heidrun 
      the goat  and from her  udders comes the mead that feeds the warriors
      of Valhalla. 
   
      The Egyptian God of the sun ,  Amon-Ra  and Amen -- a word that seals
      the prayers of at least 2 of our  widest contemporary religions -- was
      depicted with a ram's head or as  a sun-disc with ram's horns. Which 
      means that when you say Amen or  Ameen , it is in part praying to a
      goat headed God . Then you eat  him ? 
     
      To 
      join the animal welfare movement contact : gandhim@nic.in 
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