WHALING GROUP PROPOSES COMPROMISE

WHALING PLAN TO ALLOW HUNTS IN RETURN
FOR REDUCING THE NUMBER OF ANIMALS KILLED

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An ad hoc group within the International Whaling Commission suggested yesterday that the board condone commercial whaling for the first time in nearly 30 years in exchange for reducing the number of whales killed each year. The draft plan aims to break a deadlock between countries that favor whaling and those that oppose it. Only three countries - Japan, Norway, and Iceland - still hunt whales, though they have the support of dozens of other members of the IWC. The proposal would allow Japan to continue its hunt of the mammals on a quota basis, while suspending its hunts for the purposes of “research”. The proposal comes days after Australia threatened to take Japan to the International Criminal Court if it does not stop whaling in the Southern Ocean. Japan has described the Australian threat as “unfortunate” and rejected suggestions its current hunt is illegal. Japan kills hundreds of whales each year on the grounds that it is “scientific whaling,” a permissible practice under IWC rules. Environmentalists described the plan as a “disaster for whales” and a return to the bad old days of free-for-all whale hunting.

The IWC proposal said its aim was to reduce the number of whales culled under the scientific loophole which it admits has led to an increase rather than a reduction in the number of whales killed since the moratorium was put into place in 1986. In 1990, 300 whales were hunted annually for commercial or scientific purposes. In the past five years almost 2,000 whales were killed each year.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Narada told Parvata Muni: “Daily he (the hunter) used to kill big animals. ... Now he is feeling for the destruction of small animals, of small creatures. Even ants or any small creature maybe walking or moving on the ground.” … So, this is ahimsa. “How could he get this knowledge?” Then they said: “Lord Krishna has given that knowledge.” … Parvata Muni said: “It is a blessings of you, oh Narada, your blessings. ... He has no sympathy, nothing. But now he could get that sympathy by your grace.” It is only the Namam, Divine Name can change them, if the Divine Name is in the proper process obtained from a realized soul.

“Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj :
“Narada Muni and the cruel hunter”
Lecture in Ljubljana, Slovenia - 26.6.1999.