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An arrogant priesthood, desirous of eating animal food and drinking intoxicating liquors, which they could not do under the established humane custom of protecting animals, is a capable of misinterpreting and murdering the sccred Truth, Sacrifice the interests of poor, dumb creatures so that their depraved palates may be satisfied. The priesthood always opposes the spread of knowledge and is the foremost advocate of caste. The low class man--the Shadra-cannot, in his opinion, even hear the sacred word; his very shadow pollutes the Brahmin. It there are Brahmins in India advocating caste and opposing the spread of education, there are Brahmins in other countries, too, that play the same part in civilization or in retarding civilization. Your mordern Christianity that emphasizes the literal interpretation of vicarious atonement would be worse than the Brahmin system of sacrificing animals. Salvation consists in bringing out the immortal and Higher Self of man, which self, being within him, must be unfolded through his own exertions. Our lower nature, our faults and sins have to be worked out by ourselves, and the death of one individual cannot remove the sins of the rest; if it can, where is the necessity of living a righteous life so much emphasized by Jesus ? Every man is the maker of his destiny and he must bring about his own salvation.
There was another reasou for introducing the system of animal sacrifices. There are powerful
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