Sapi, antara Hewan Suci dan Konsumsi! (Melihat Keberadaan Hewan Sapi dalam Perspektif Ajaran Saiva Siddhanta, Veda Manu Samhita, Lontar Devi Bhagavatam, Pantheisme dan Teori Ekologi Agama)

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The  majority of Hindus in Bali as agents who implemented Saiva Siddhanta’s teachings , of course they are very aware of the various attributes and everything that is inherent and related to Shiva Lord. One of the most iconic when mentioning the name of Lord Shiva is his vehicle or mount named Lembu Nandhini (Which is correlated with the cow). For the Hindu community in Bali the existence of cows is something is somewhat confusing and ambivalent. Its said because the existence of the animal is in two different sides, namely between sacred animal or being animals that are allowed consumed. This kind of question is something that should be discussed. First, from the theological point of view the existence of cattle for Hindus (especially for Hindus in Bali) these ruminants are animals that have symbolic meaning  as  non profane animals. This means  that cows are a symbol  of the purity and  seriousness of the devotees in maintaining the spirit and greatness of Lord Shiva. Second, from a philosophical point of view the fear of consuming processed beef is because Hinduism recognizes the concept of pantheism. Pantheism is a philosophical conception that sees the divine is everything. The universe in filled with the divine and all power both naturaland among humans are manifestations of the divine self. Trird, from a sociological teory point of view, especially in environmental sociology, there is a theory called culture ecology theory. In this context, cows are considered  as sacred and sacred animals, by  environmental  sociology theory  as  functional animals. So to  maintain the population and its functionality, idioms are made so that the  number of  cows is maintained. To clarify and detail the theory above, a quite interesting idea was stated by  Marvin  Harris (1996), when he developed a study of the ecological theory of religion. According to him, religious doctrines and beliefs are influenced by the environment. This view is based on Harris’ observations on Hinduism in India, which considers cows to be sacred.