Collection of Paramachraya's speeches

"Hindu Dharma" is a book published by Bharatiya VidyaBhavan which contains English translation of two volumes of the TamilBook "Deivatthin Kural"; which is a collection of invaluable andengrossing speeches of Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra SaraswathiMahaSwamiji.
http://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap24.htm
Animal Sacrifice in the Age of Kali
Anargument runs thus: In the eons gone by mankind possessed highideals and noble character. Men could sacrifice animals for thewell-being of the world because they had great affection in theirhearts and were selfless. They offered even cows and horses insacrifice and had meat for sraddha. As householders, in theirmiddle years, they followed the karmamarga (the path of works)and performed rites to please the deities for the good of theworld. But, in doing so, they desired no rewards. Later, theyrenounced all works, all puja, all observances, to becomesannyasins delighting themselves in their Atman. They were men ofsuch refinement and noble character that, if their brother, aking, died heirless they begot a son by his wife without anypassion in their hearts and without a bit detracting from theirbrahmacharya. Their only motive was that the kingdom should notbe plunged in anarchy for want of an heir to the throne.
Inour own Kali age we do not have such men who are desireless intheir actions, who can subdue their minds and give up all worksto become ascetics and who will remain chaste at heart even inthe company of women. So it is contended that the following areto be eschewed in the Kali age: horse and cow sacrifices, meat inthe sraddha ceremony, sannyasa, begetting a son by the husband'sbrother. As authority we have the following verse:
Asvalambhamgavalambham sanyasam palapatrikam
Devarenasutotpattim kalau panca vivarjayet
Accordingto one view "asvalambham" in this verse should besubstituted with "agniyadhanam". If you accept this version it would meanthat even those sacrifices in which animals are not killed shouldnot be performed. In other words it would mean a totalprohibition of all sacrifices. The very first in the haviryajnacategory is agniyadhana. If that were to be prohibited it wouldmean that, apart from small sacrifices called"pakayajnas", no yajna can be performed.
Accordingto great men such a view is wrong. Sankara Bhagavatpada, whosemission in life was the re-establishment of Vedic dharma, did notstop with the admonishment that Vedas must be chanted every day("Vedo nityam adhiyatam"). He insisted that ritesimposed on us by the Vedas must be performed: ""Taduditam karma svanusthiyatam. " Of Vedic rites,sacrifices occupy the foremost place. If they are to be eschewedwhat other Vedic rites are we to perform? It may be that certaintypes of sacrifices need not be gone through in the age of Kali.
If,according to the verse, agniyadhana is interdicted, and no bigsacrifice is to be performed in the age of Kali, why shouldgavalambha (cow sacrifice) have been mentioned in the prohibitedcategory? If agniyadhana is not permissible, it goes withoutsaying that gavalambha also is prohibited. So, apart from certaintypes, all sacrifices are to be performed at all times.
Accordingto another verse quoted from the Dharmasastra, so long as thevarnasrama system is followed in the age of Kali, in howeversmall a measure, and so long as the sound of the Vedas pervadesthe air, works like agniyadhana must be performed and thesannyasasrama followed, the stage of life in which there is nokarma. The prohibition in Kali applies to certain types of animalsacrifices, meat in sraddha ceremonies and begetting a son by thehusband's brother.JAYA JAYA SANKARA HARA HARA SANKARA
Thwameva Maathaa Cha Pithaa Thwameva Thwameva Bhandhuscha Sakhaa Thwameva Thwameva Vidhyaa Dhravinam Thwameva Thwameva Sarvam Mama Dheva Dheva.