Non-vegetarianism
Is being non-vegetarian a sin?
No. It is not a sin. Some people argue that killing an animal is sin. Then plucking plant, fruits, and vegetables is also sinful. Because, plants also have the life and they have buddhi or brain also. If we obstruct the source of sunlight, the plants will move their branches towards sunlight. It has been proved. So, killing animal or plant is one and the same. Apart from that God himself created certain species as flesh eaters, if He is concerned about the animals’ life, then he wouldn’t have created them in this manner. Secondly, whatever is born has to die one way or other. So, just because we leave them in the earth, it is not going to save anything. Plus, no scriptures say that people have to be vegetarian.
The scriptures say that we have to control our senses. So, even a person who is not eating non-vegetarian finds difficult to control his tongue is not good as per scriptures. Again scriptures talk about Ahimsa, non-cruelty, which includes cruel thinking and cruel words. Without foregoing cruel thinking and cruel words stopping animal killing is not true ahimsa. So, one who foregoes cruel thinking and cruel words only should think about the cruelty involved in killing animals. I have seen lots of vegetarians, who use frequently bad, teasing and cursing words. It is of no meaning to use such words and claim to be a vegetarian.
Nevertheless, we all kill lots of species everyday. We kill ants, mosquitoes, insects, rats, etc., (we constantly invent new technologies to kill them cleverly). All those vegetables reach the hands of vegetarians after using pesticides and killing many insects. Apart from that when we have fever, we use antibiotics to kill all the bacteria and the vegetarians are not going to die for the sack of those bacteria. Even if he dies for them they also will die along with him. Though these killings are done for safety reasons, whether those species are killed for food or for safety, it is all done for selfish motive only. So, it doesn’t make any difference.
Further, all those vegetarians wear silk clothes, leather goods, which are all made up of killing some species only.
Finally, the vegetarians feel pride about their vegetarianism and thinks that those flesh eaters are lower grade. I think this is the only negative advantage gained by vegetarianism.
Is being non-vegetarian harmful to health?
No. As we can see from the present world, where majority eats non-veg and it is proved that it is not harmful and in fact it is a must for those who are doing heavy works. All the medical research institutes recommend eating non-vegetarian foods.
But…
If we want to be peaceful, then the need for being vegetarian arises. If we want peace or shanti we have to advance in spirituality. By the way spirituality does not mean sainthood. The true spirituality aims at 24 hours and 365 days blissfulness, which none of the worldly wealth can buy. For spirituality, we need a proper stage. Michael Jackson or AR Rahman need a proper stage for their performance, they cannot perform in folklore stages. For Bharatanatiyam to perform, we need a specific type of stage. Similarly, spirituality cannot be done in any way as we think. There needs to be some specific stages for it to grow. Those stages require good qualities on the forefront.
A man doesn’t get angry just like that, unless he is pricked by someone or some incidents. So, the anger is sleeping inside a person and someone has to wake it up. Similarly all the good and bad qualities like, jealous, pride, coward, magnanimity, hatred, joy, etc., are all sleeping inside and they are woken up by someone or some incidents. When we associate with satvic or good natured people and by constantly getting exposed to their good natures, good impressions are repeatedly falling on us and our sleeping good qualities are waken up. That is why the scriptures insist on Satsang, the company of good people, and that is why Christianity made Sunday exclusively for get together prayer and Islam made Friday for get together prayer.
We can notice some people are always angry, but when we enquire they will say “in the past I was not like that but, recently I become in this sort”. Because, when they are constantly exposed to anger pricking situations, they become always angry. When we go to pleasant places like hill station or water falls automatically those pleasantness clings to us. The environment wakes up the pleasantness, which was sleeping within us. Similarly, when we sit in an irritating situation, we feel uncomfortable. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the external environment wakes them up and it is up to us to select the environment, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
In this regard, the foods we eat are also capable of waking some qualities in us. Non vegetarian foods have the capacity to wake the negative qualities. Because, non vegetarian foods are not meant for human being. Prior to the invention of making fire, the human should have eaten only vegetables. Because, without cooking we cannot either chew or eat the food; and our stomach cannot digest those foods. Even now if people eat half cooked or half boiled non veg stuff, indigestion or stomach upset happens. In order to make the food digestible, we add lots of ginger, garlic, etc., which are all again capable of elevating the negative qualities. You can very well understand this point by observing the difference between the calmness of vegetable eating animals and flesh eating animals. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the foods are capable of waking them up and it is up to us to select the foods, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
So, choosing vegetarianism or non-vegetarianism is not on the basis of sinfulness or harmfulness; it is purely based on the individual preference for peace, shanti.
No. It is not a sin. Some people argue that killing an animal is sin. Then plucking plant, fruits, and vegetables is also sinful. Because, plants also have the life and they have buddhi or brain also. If we obstruct the source of sunlight, the plants will move their branches towards sunlight. It has been proved. So, killing animal or plant is one and the same. Apart from that God himself created certain species as flesh eaters, if He is concerned about the animals’ life, then he wouldn’t have created them in this manner. Secondly, whatever is born has to die one way or other. So, just because we leave them in the earth, it is not going to save anything. Plus, no scriptures say that people have to be vegetarian.
The scriptures say that we have to control our senses. So, even a person who is not eating non-vegetarian finds difficult to control his tongue is not good as per scriptures. Again scriptures talk about Ahimsa, non-cruelty, which includes cruel thinking and cruel words. Without foregoing cruel thinking and cruel words stopping animal killing is not true ahimsa. So, one who foregoes cruel thinking and cruel words only should think about the cruelty involved in killing animals. I have seen lots of vegetarians, who use frequently bad, teasing and cursing words. It is of no meaning to use such words and claim to be a vegetarian.
Nevertheless, we all kill lots of species everyday. We kill ants, mosquitoes, insects, rats, etc., (we constantly invent new technologies to kill them cleverly). All those vegetables reach the hands of vegetarians after using pesticides and killing many insects. Apart from that when we have fever, we use antibiotics to kill all the bacteria and the vegetarians are not going to die for the sack of those bacteria. Even if he dies for them they also will die along with him. Though these killings are done for safety reasons, whether those species are killed for food or for safety, it is all done for selfish motive only. So, it doesn’t make any difference.
Further, all those vegetarians wear silk clothes, leather goods, which are all made up of killing some species only.
Finally, the vegetarians feel pride about their vegetarianism and thinks that those flesh eaters are lower grade. I think this is the only negative advantage gained by vegetarianism.
Is being non-vegetarian harmful to health?
No. As we can see from the present world, where majority eats non-veg and it is proved that it is not harmful and in fact it is a must for those who are doing heavy works. All the medical research institutes recommend eating non-vegetarian foods.
But…
If we want to be peaceful, then the need for being vegetarian arises. If we want peace or shanti we have to advance in spirituality. By the way spirituality does not mean sainthood. The true spirituality aims at 24 hours and 365 days blissfulness, which none of the worldly wealth can buy. For spirituality, we need a proper stage. Michael Jackson or AR Rahman need a proper stage for their performance, they cannot perform in folklore stages. For Bharatanatiyam to perform, we need a specific type of stage. Similarly, spirituality cannot be done in any way as we think. There needs to be some specific stages for it to grow. Those stages require good qualities on the forefront.
A man doesn’t get angry just like that, unless he is pricked by someone or some incidents. So, the anger is sleeping inside a person and someone has to wake it up. Similarly all the good and bad qualities like, jealous, pride, coward, magnanimity, hatred, joy, etc., are all sleeping inside and they are woken up by someone or some incidents. When we associate with satvic or good natured people and by constantly getting exposed to their good natures, good impressions are repeatedly falling on us and our sleeping good qualities are waken up. That is why the scriptures insist on Satsang, the company of good people, and that is why Christianity made Sunday exclusively for get together prayer and Islam made Friday for get together prayer.
We can notice some people are always angry, but when we enquire they will say “in the past I was not like that but, recently I become in this sort”. Because, when they are constantly exposed to anger pricking situations, they become always angry. When we go to pleasant places like hill station or water falls automatically those pleasantness clings to us. The environment wakes up the pleasantness, which was sleeping within us. Similarly, when we sit in an irritating situation, we feel uncomfortable. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the external environment wakes them up and it is up to us to select the environment, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
In this regard, the foods we eat are also capable of waking some qualities in us. Non vegetarian foods have the capacity to wake the negative qualities. Because, non vegetarian foods are not meant for human being. Prior to the invention of making fire, the human should have eaten only vegetables. Because, without cooking we cannot either chew or eat the food; and our stomach cannot digest those foods. Even now if people eat half cooked or half boiled non veg stuff, indigestion or stomach upset happens. In order to make the food digestible, we add lots of ginger, garlic, etc., which are all again capable of elevating the negative qualities. You can very well understand this point by observing the difference between the calmness of vegetable eating animals and flesh eating animals. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the foods are capable of waking them up and it is up to us to select the foods, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
So, choosing vegetarianism or non-vegetarianism is not on the basis of sinfulness or harmfulness; it is purely based on the individual preference for peace, shanti.
However, being vegetarian alone will not guarantee peace. It is one among the qualities, which makes the stage for peace.
If your ultimate goal is getting peace, shanti then try to become a vegetarian if not tomorrow, over a period. Otherwise, you can happily live with non-vegetarian food. There is no sin or harm.
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