A lot of animals (domestic and wild) are respected, admired and have a special place in Hindu mythology. For example Fishes in the ocean are considered an avatar of Lord Vishnu whereas monkeys are seen as Lord Hanuman.
One more animal which is considered auspicious is a crocodile. ‘Makara’ (Crocodile in Sanskrit), a sea creature in Hindu mythology which is seen as vahana of many Gods and goddesses.
Recently, a dangerous crocodile entered into the Khodiyar Mata temple in Gujarat’s Mahisagar district on Sunday. We all know what a hungry crocodile can do when it sees its prey. It is capable of taking down all the powerful creatures because its bite force is so strong enough to outsmart its opponents with such ease.
When people saw the crocodile, instead of panicking and getting scared of the reptile, they had a surprising and unexpected reaction to it.
Soon as the forest department learnt that the 6 feet long crocodile that had entered into the Khodiyar Mata temple, they rushed to the spot only to rescue it.
RM Parmar, Mahisagar Deputy Conservator of Forests reportedly added that the people at the temple delayed the rescue operations by around two hours.
“When our personnel reached there to rescue the crocodile, people opposed it. We waited for two hours as we did not want to hurt religious sentiments. However, later, we managed to get the reptile to a nearby pond,” Parmar told India Today.
He also notified that water bodies in the river such as Mahisagar river have a large number of crocodiles. These dangerous reptiles are known to travel upto 4-5 km in search for food.
“The crocodile, around four years old, may have entered the temple late night to rest. We rescue around 30-35 crocodiles every year,” Parmar added.
People’s opinion:
The concept of worshipping each and everything in nature was included in Sanatan Dharma only so that people will respect and conserve nature and hence protect the ecosystem. Not because these are Gods or something. But alas people are so blinded by superstitions that they think these are Gods and worshipping them will get them Punya.
This attitude of our fellow people is the reason other religion people mock at our religion, you guys are sending out a wrong message on what Sanatan Dharma is. There’s just one creator (in different forms to different ppl) but we must respect and love all His creations. Don’t put sindurs and flowers on these creatures and foolishly pray to them.
More to follow..