Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Why Be Vegetarian ...by Green Yatra
Posted by
Green Yatra
at
3:41 PM
On the
spiritual path, there are several reasons why it is recommended that a person choose
to be vegetarian. One primary reason is that we need to see the spiritual
nature within all living beings that includes animals and other creatures as
well. Universal brotherhood means nonviolence to both humans and animals. It
consists of the understanding that animals also have souls. They are alive,
conscious, and feel pain and these are the indications of the presence of
consciousness, which is the indication of the soul. Even the Bible (Genesis 1.21; 1.24;
1.30; 2.7; and in many other places) refers to both animals and people as nefesh chayah—living
souls. However, those who eat meat, because of their desires to eat animals or
see them as a source of food for one’s stomach, cannot easily understand the
spiritual nature of all beings. After all, if all living entities are spiritual
in essence, and all living beings that are conscious show an indication of the
soul within, then how can one kill them unnecessarily? Any living creature is
also the same as we are in the respect that it is also a child of the same father,
or part of the same Supreme Being. Thus, the killing of animals shows a great
lack in spiritual awareness.
Many
portions of Vedic literature describe how the Supreme Being is the
maintainer of innumerable living entities, humans as well as the animals, and
is alive in the heart of every living being. Only those with spiritual
consciousness can see the same Supreme Being in His expansion as a Supersoul within
every creature. To be kind and spiritual toward humans and be a killer or enemy
toward animals is not a balanced philosophy, and exhibits one’s spiritual
ignorance.
Another
reason for being vegetarian is to consider the amount of fear and suffering
that animals experience in slaughter houses. There are countless stories of how
cows cry and scream in fear and sometimes fall down dead while inside or even
before they are taken to the slaughter house, or how the veins of dead pigs are
so big, which indicates that they have practically exploded from the fear and
adrenalin produced while it was led to slaughter. Moreover, the adrenalin and
fear in the animal also produces toxins that permeate the body of these
animals, which meat-eaters ingest. People who consume these toxins cannot help
but be affected by it. It causes tensions within them individually, which then spreads
in their relationship with others.
The
ancient Vedic text of the Manu-samhita (5.45-8)
says, “He who injures innoxious beings from a wish to give himself
pleasure never finds happiness, neither living nor dead. He who does
not seek to cause the suffering of bonds and death to living creatures, but
desires the good of all beings, obtains endless bliss. . . Meat can never be
obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is
detrimental to the attainment of heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun the use
of meat.”
The
Bible (Romans 14.21)
also says, “It is neither good to eat flesh, nor to drink wine.” Another
biblical commandment (Exodus 23.5)
instructs us to help animals in pain, even if they belong to an enemy.
The
Buddhist scripture (Sutta-Nipata 393)
also advises: “Let him not destroy or cause to be destroyed any life at all, or
sanction the acts of those who do so. Let him refrain from even hurting any
creature, both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world.” It
is also said in the Buddhist scripture, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, “The eating of
meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion.”
For
Jews, the Talmud (Avodah Zorah 18B)
forbids the association with hunters, not to mention engaging in hunting.
In
the New Testament Jesus preferred mercy over sacrifice (Matthew 9.13; 12.7)
and was opposed to the buying and selling of animals for sacrifice (Matthew 21.12-14; Mark 11.15; John 2.14-15). One
of the missions of Jesus was to do away with animal sacrifice and cruelty to
animals (Hebrews 10.5-10).
We
especially find in the book of Isaiah, where
Jesus scorns the slaughter and bloodshed of humans and animals. He declares
(1.15) that God does not hear the prayers of animal killers: “But your
iniquities have separated you and your God. And your sins have hid His face
from you, so that He does not hear. For your hands are stained with blood. . .
Their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed innocent blood. . .
they know not the ways of peace.” Isaiah also laments that he saw, “Joy and
merrymaking, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and
drinking of wine, as you thought, ‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”
(22.13)
It is
also established in the Bible (Isaiah 66.3),
“He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man.” In this regard St.
Basil (320-379 A.D.) taught, “The steam of meat darkens the light of the
spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts.”
Thus,
we should find alternatives to killing animals to satisfy our appetites,
especially when there are plenty of other healthy foods available. Otherwise,
there must be reactions to such violence. We cannot expect peace in the world
if we go on unnecessarily killing so many millions of animals for meat
consumption or through abuse.
The
third reason for being vegetarian is karma. As Newton's third law of motion
states that for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. On
the universal scale this is called the law of karma, meaning what goes around
comes around. This affects every individual, as well as communities and
countries. As the nation sows, so shall it reap. This is something we
should take very seriously, especially in our attempt to bring peace, harmony,
and unity into the world. If so much violence is produced by the killing of
animals, where do you think the reactions to this violence goes? It comes back
to us in so many ways, such as the form of neighborhood
and community crime, and on up
to world wars. Violence breeds violence. Therefore, this will continue
unless we know how to change.
Isaac Bashevis Singer,
who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, asked, “How can we pray to God for mercy
if we ourselves have no mercy? How can we speak of rights and justice if we
take an innocent creature and shed its blood?” He went on to say, “I personally
believe that as long as human beings will go shedding the blood of animals,
there will never be any peace.”
In
conclusion, we can mention the March 10, 1966 issue of L’Osservatore della Domenica,
the Vatican weekly newspaper, in which Msgr.Ferdinando Lambruschini wrote:
“Man’s conduct with regard to animals should be regulated by right reason,
which prohibits the infliction of purposeless pain and suffering on them. To
ill treat them, and make them suffer without reason, is an act of deplorable
cruelty to be condemned from a Christian point of view. To make them suffer for
one’s own pleasure is an exhibition of sadism which every moralist must
denounce.” Eating animals for the pleasure of one’s tongue when there are
plenty of other foods available certainly fits into this form of
sadism. It stands to reason that this is counterproductive to any peace and
unity or spiritual progress we wish to make. It is one of the things we need to
consider seriously if we want to improve ourselves or the world. So here are a
few reasons why a genuinely spiritual person will choose to be vegetarian.
BEYOND
VEGETARIANISM
In the
process of bhakti-yoga, devotion goes beyond simple vegetarianism, and
food becomes a means of spiritual progress. In theBhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says, “All
that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all
austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me.”
So offering what we eat to the Lord is an integral part of bhakti-yoga and
makes the food blessed with spiritual potencies. Then such food is called prasadam, or the mercy of
the Lord.
The
Lord also describes what He accepts as offerings: “If one
offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I
will accept it.” Thus, we can see that the Lord accepts fruits, grains, and
vegetarian foods. The Lord does not accept foods like meat, fish or eggs, but
only those that are pure and naturally available without harming others.
So on
the spiritual path eating food that is first offered to God is the ultimate
perfection of a vegetarian diet. The Vedic literature explains that the purpose
of human life is reawakening the soul’s original relationship with God, and
accepting prasadam is
the way to help us reach that goal.
visit www.greenyatra.org for more notes and information
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