Vedic scripture proclaims that

ahimsa, nonhurtfulness, is a

primary religious obligation in

fulfillment of dharma, divine law.

.

There are more than a few hindus

today who guiltily abandoned the vegetarian

ways of their own parents and grandparents

when they decided to be “secular” and “modern.”

But our ancient seers had it right when

they advocated living without killing animals

for food. Today vegetarianism is a worldwide

movement with adherents among all religions,

daily gaining converts

through one or more of

the five basic reasons

to adhere to a meatless

diet: dharma, karma,

consciousness, health

and environment. Each

is explored in the following

pages, which

conclude with an examination

of the harmful

effects of eating meat.

Just how widespread is this movement? In the UK, polls show more

than 15 percent of teenagers are vegetarians, and six percent of the

general population. In America, eight percent of teens and three

percent of the general population declare themselves vegetarian. It

is a movement with a broad base, for one can find advocates as

diverse as philosophers Plato and Nietzsche, politicians Benjamin

Franklin and Gandhi, Beatle Paul McCartney and Rastifarian singer

Bob Marley, actresses Brooke Shields, Drew Barrymore, Alicia Silverstone,

and actors David Duchovny, Richard Gere and Brad Pitt.

It’s also helped that a multitude of rigorous scientific studies have

proven the health benefits of the vegetarian diet.

Vegetarianism, an Ancient Hindu Ethic

Vegetarianism was for thousands of years a principle of health and

environmental

ethics

throughout India. Though Muslim and Christian

colonization radically undermined and eroded this ideal, it remains

to this day a cardinal ethic of Hindu thought and practice. A

subtle sense of guilt persists among Hindus who eat meat, and even

they will abstain at special times. For India’s ancient thinkers, life is

seen as the very stuff of the Divine, an emanation of the Source and

part of a cosmic continuum. They further hold that each life form,

even water and trees, possesses consciousness and energy. Nonviolence,

ahimsa, the primary basis of vegetarianism, has long been

central to the religious traditions of India—especially Hinduism,

Buddhism and Jainism. Religion in India has consistently upheld

the sanctity of life, whether human or animal.

The Sanskrit word for vegetarianism is shakahara, and one following

a vegetarian diet is a shakahari. Hindu vegetarians commonly

consume milk products, but not eggs, which are definitely a meat

product, containing cholesterol

which is only present in animal

flesh. The term for meat-eating is

mansahara, and the meat-eater is

called mansahari.

Ahara means

“to consume or eat,” shaka means

“vegetable,”

and mansa means

“meat or flesh.” The very word

mansa, “meat,” conveys a deep

appreciation of life’s sacredness

and an understanding of the law

of karma by which the consequence

of each action returns to

the doer. As explained in the 2,000-

year-old Manu Dharma Shastra,

5.55, “The learned declare that

the meaning of mansa (flesh) is,

‘he (sa) will eat me (mam) in the

other world whose flesh I eat here.’

” There developed early in India an

unparalleled concern for harmony

among life forms, and this led to a

common ethos based on noninjuriousness

and a minimal consumption of natural resources—in other

words, to compassion and simplicity. If Homo sapiens is to survive

his present predicament, he will have to rediscover these two primary

ethical virtues.

Is Vegetarianism Integral to Noninjury?

In Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s book, Dancing with Siva,

this question is addressed as follows: “Hindus teach vegetarianism as

a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other beings, for to consume

meat, fish, fowl or eggs is to participate indirectly in acts of cruelty

and violence against the animal kingdom. The abhorrence of injury

and killing of any kind leads quite naturally to a vegetarian diet,

shakahara. The meat-eater’s desire for meat drives another to kill

and provide that meat. The act of the butcher begins with the desire

of the consumer. Meat-eating contributes to a mentality of violence,

for with the chemically complex meat ingested, one absorbs the

slaughtered creature’s fear, pain and terror. These qualities are nour-

confusion. When the individual’s consciousness lifts and expands, he

will abhor violence and not be able to even digest the meat, fish, fowl

and eggs he was formerly consuming. India’s greatest saints have

confirmed that one cannot eat meat and live a peaceful, harmonious

life. Man’s appetite for meat inflicts devastating harm on Earth itself,

stripping its precious forests to make way for pastures. The Tirukural

candidly states, ‘How can he practice true compassion who eats

the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh? Greater than a thousand

ghee offerings consumed in

sacrificial fires is not to sacrifice

and consume any living creature.’ ”

Amazingly, some people define

vegetarian as a diet which excludes

the meat of animals but does permit

fish and eggs. But what really

is vegetarianism? Vegetarian foods

include grains, fruits, vegetables,

legumes and dairy products. Natural,

fresh foods, locally grown without

insecticides or chemical fertilizers,

are preferred. A vegetarian

diet does not include meat, fish,

fowl, shellfish or eggs. For good

health, even certain vegetarian

foods are minimized: frozen and

canned foods, highly processed

foods, such as white rice, white

sugar and white flour; and “junk”

foods and beverages—those with

abundant chemical additives, such

as artificial sweeteners, colorings,

flavorings and preservatives.

According to Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, “In my forty

years of ministry it has become quite evident that vegetarian families

have far fewer problems than those who are not vegetarian. If

children are raised as vegetarians, every day they are exposed to

nonviolence as a principle of peace and compassion. Every day they

are growing up they are remembering and being reminded to not

kill. They won’t even kill another creature to eat, to feed themselves.

And if they won’t kill another creature to feed themselves, they will

be much less likely to do acts of violence against people.”

Vegetarian Animals

Vegetarians come in all sizes and shapes, but the elephant is the largest

of all, with a sophisticated social life, loving and affectionately

caring for its own. Elephants live long, vigorous lives, have a very

large brain and, of course, are renowned for their excellent memory.

They do not suffer any weakness for not eating meat. In fact, so many

muscular and the most intelligent

animals—the horse, the cow, giraffe,

zebra, rhinoceros,

the apes,

and more—are lifelong vegetarians

and friends of men. Lean animals,

thin and wiry, who are feared by

man and beasts alike, are all hunters

and killers and eaters of flesh—

tigers, sharks, hawks, wolves and

the like. No one fears a gentle

vegetarian, but all have reason to

fear the unpredictable meat-eater.

Scriptures admonish that it is

wise to fear what should be feared.

Food and Consciousness

Food is the source of the body’s

chemistry, and what we ingest affects

our consciousness, emotions

and experiential patterns. If one

wants to live in higher consciousness,

in peace and happiness and

love for all creatures, then he cannot

eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl

or eggs. By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one

introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety, suspicion

and the terrible fear of death, all of which is locked into the

flesh of butchered creatures. It is said that in ancient India meat

would be fed to the soldiers during military campaigns, especially

before combat, to bring them into lower consciousness so that they

would forget their religious values. They performed these deeds in

fulfillment of a warrior’s way—with not the least restraint of conscience.

The inner law is ever so simple—not eating meat, fish, foul

or eggs is essential to awaken consciousness into the seven higher

chakras (the uttara-chakras), up to the crown. Nonkilling—

and noneating of that which is killed—is a must to pass from realms

below the muladhara

Dharma

How many there are who resent the very mention of becoming a

vegetarian, whose instinctive nature is repelled by the idea because

they intuit the road ahead. They sense that once the more sattvic

diet of pure foods is taken in place of meats (and other dead foods,

packaged, processed and cellophane-wrapped) they will feel a great

guilt occasioned by their transgressions

of dharma, as they have

so well perfected over the years

their adharmic ways. Adharma

means all that stands against Indian

spirituality, against the path

of the good and the pure and the

natural, against dharma in all of

its intricate dimensions. None of

the specialized dharmas—stri

dharma, the duties of women; purusha

dharma, the duties of men;

ashrama dharma, the responsibility

of one’s stage of life; varna

dharma, one’s position in society;

and svadharma, one’s own perfect

pattern—even when performed

properly will have the same results

without fulfilling this virtue.

Even rita dharma, cosmic order, is

upset by man’s insatiable, aggressive

appetites expressed through

flesh-consuming.

Hindus Were the First Vegetarians

The book, Food for the Spirit, Vegetarianism and the World Religions,

observes: “Despite popular knowledge of meat-eating’s

adverse effects, the nonvegetarian diet became increasingly widespread

among Hindus after the two major invasions by foreign powers,

first the Muslims and later the British. With them came the desire

to be ‘civilized,’ to eat as did the saheeb. Those actually trained

in Vedic knowledge, however, never adopted a meat-oriented diet,

and the pious Hindu still observes vegetarian principles as a matter

of religious duty.

“That vegetarianism has always been widespread in India is clear

from the earliest Vedic texts. This was observed by the ancient traveler

Megasthenes and also by Fa-hsien, a Chinese Buddhist monk

who, in the fifth century, traveled to India in order to obtain authentic

copies of the scriptures. These scriptures unambiguously

support the meatless way of life. In the Mahabharata, for instance,

the great warrior Bhishma explains to Yudhishthira, eldest of the

Pandava princes, that the meat of animals is like the flesh of one’s

own son, and that the foolish person who eats meat must be considered

the vilest of human beings [Anu. 114.11]. The eating of ‘dirty’

food, it warns, is not as terrible as

the eating of flesh [Shanti. 141.88]

(it must be remembered that the

brahmins of ancient India exalted

cleanliness to a divine principle).

“Similarly, the Manusmriti declares

that one should ‘refrain from

eating all kinds of meat,’ for such

eating involves killing and leads to

karmic bondage (bandha) [5.49].

Elsewhere in the Vedic literature,

the last of the great Vedic kings,

Maharaja Parikshit, is quoted as

saying that ‘only the animal-killer

cannot relish the message of the

Absolute Truth [Shrimad Bhagavatam

10.1.4].’”

Common Dietary Concerns

Those considering a vegetarian

diet generally worry about getting

enough nutrients, since the

belief that meat is a necessary

part of keeping strong and healthy

is still extremely widespread. Recently a group of eminent doctors

called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM),

themselves members of the American Medical Association, have

decided to change the US consciousness on human nutrition, particularly

among the medical community. The PCRM is a nonprofit

organization based in Washington, D.C., consisting of doctors and

laypersons working together for compassionate and effective medical

practice, research and health promotion. Founded in 1985, the

PCRM is supported by over 3,000 physicians and 50,000 laypersons.

PCRM president (and vegetarian) Neal D. Barnard, M.D., is a popular

speaker and the author of The Power of Your Plate. Armed with

decades of nutritional research data, PCRM addresses these dietary

concerns head-on:

“The fact is, it is very easy to have a well-balanced diet with vegetarian

foods. Vegetarian foods provide plenty of protein. Careful

combining of foods is not necessary.

Any normal variety of plant

foods provides more than enough

protein for the body’s needs. Although

there is somewhat less

protein in a vegetarian diet than

a meat-eater’s diet, this is actually

an advantage. Excess protein

has been linked to kidney stones,

osteoporosis, and possibly heart

disease and some cancers. A diet

focused on beans, whole grains

and vegetables contains adequate

amounts of protein without the

‘overdose’ most meat-eaters get.”

Other concerns are allayed by

the PCRM as follows: 

1. Calcium is easy to find in a

vegetarian diet. Many dark, green

leafy vegetables and beans are

loaded with calcium, and some

orange juices and cereals are calcium-

fortified.

2. Iron is plentiful in whole

grains, beans and fruits.

3. Vitamin B12: There is a misconception that without eating meat

one cannot obtain sufficient vitamin B12, which is an essential nutrient.

This is simply not true. The PCRM advises: “Although cases of

B12 deficiency are very uncommon, it is important to make sure that

one has a reliable source of the vitamin. Good sources include all

common multiple vitamins (including vegetarian vitamins), fortified

cereals and soy milk.” Vitamin B12 is widely available in brewers

yeast and other potent dietary supplements.

4. Nutritional needs increase during pregnancy. The American

Dietetic Association has found vegan diets adequate for fulfilling nutritional

needs during pregnancy, but pregnant women and nursing

mothers should supplement their diets with vitamins B12 and D.

5. Vegetarian children also have

high nutritional needs, but these,

too, are met with a vegetarian diet.

A vegetarian menu is “life-extending.”

As children, vegetarians may

grow more gradually, reach puberty

somewhat later, and live substantially

longer than meat-eaters.

Be sure to include a reliable source

of vitamin B12.

Those interested in supporting

or learning more about the work

of the Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine should visit:

Converting to Vegetarianism

Making the transition from carnivore

to herbivore is not as hard as

you might think. According to the

book, The New Vegetarians, by Sonia

Partridge and Paul Amato, 73%

of vegetarian converts stated that

the transition was not difficult. It

is easier for people who do some homework on the subject and have

a bit of cooking skill. The time it takes for people to totally convert

varies greatly. About 70% of people make the transition gradually,

while 30% stop all at once. Red meat is almost always abandoned

within the first year, followed by fowl, fish and eggs.

One recommended method for the transition is to set a series of

goals for yourself. Start simply with getting through one day without

meat. Then, try one weekend, then one week. Make a realistic timetable

for reaching each goal. Two to three months might be reason-

able for some people, while six months to a year might be better for

others. Rewards can also help. For a major accomplishment such as

a week without meat, treat yourself to a nice vegetarian meal out.

One can also take a formal Hindu vow of vegetarianism, shakahara

vrata,   The vow may

be taken privately, before elders or

parents or as part of a temple ceremony.

It reads in part, “I accept

the principle of shakahara as the

method by which I may acknowledge

my compassion, my karuna,

for all living beings. As an act of

dedication, I am resolved this day

to begin (or continue) the regular

practice of eating a strict vegetarian

diet and not eating meat, fish,

shellfish, fowl or eggs.”

The most common problem

with conversion is not knowing

enough about the vegetarian diet.

Some people decide to be vegetarian

but have no idea what to

eat, and end up with soggy vegetables

and undercooked brown

rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They become discouraged

and rightly wonder how they will survive. But decent vegetarian

food isn’t boring. A little research will put your mind at ease.

Get some vegetarian cookbooks. Ask restaurant waiters which

menu items are vegetarian. Search online for vegetarian recipes.

Vegetarians are often asked “Don’t you miss eating meat?” For about

half of beginning vegetarians the answer is yes, acording to The New

Vegetarians. They miss the texture and flavor of meat in the early

weeks and months. Almost everyone though, gets over this within six

months to a year and for many it becomes nauseating even to think

about eating meat. Eighty-two percent of fully adapted vegetarians

say there is no way they would consider eating flesh again.

Conclusion

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

writes, “Modern meats

are killed by chemical treatment

of the animals, the hormones

of fear and chemistry of

death before and during slaughter,

killed again by refrigerating

them, killed again by grinding

them, killed again by preserving

them, killed again by packaging

them, killed again by freezing

them, killed again by storing

and shipping them, and finally

really killed by cooking them to

death. How can such so-called

food nourish a human being?

“Why should we ever think of

eating meat, fish, foul, eggs, anything

with eyes or, as some say,

with two or more senses. The

cock-a-doodle-doo who wakes us

up in the morning is dinner on

the table at night. How gruesome.

How ruthless to thus forever close the eyes of an animal, or have

someone else do it for them in order that they may buy the carcass,

closing their eyes to the fact, which is even worse, and keeping

their own eyes closed to that creature’s suffering to consume it

without conscience during jovial small talk over the dinner table.

How easy in turn for such a person to turn and maim or kill a fellow

human in the same way in times of stress as a natural reaction,

in ‘justifiable righteousness.’” As the Tirukural proclaims, compassion

cannot be found in the hearts of those who eat meat

 




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