Why Be Vegetarian

By Dr. Stephen Knapp
vedantatoday.com

On the spiritual path, there are several reasons why a
person is recommended to be vegetarian. One primary
reason is that we need to see the spiritual nature within
all living beings, and that includes the animals and
other creatures as well. Universal brotherhood means
nonviolence to both humans and animals. It consists of
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 symptom 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. Those
who eat meat, however, because of their desires to eat
animals or see them as a source of food for one's
stomach, are not so easily able to understand the
spiritual nature of all beings. After all, if you know
that all living entities are spiritual in essence, and
that all living beings that are conscious show the
symptoms of the soul within, then how can you 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, a part of the same Supreme Being. Thus, the
killing of animals shows a great lack in spiritual
awareness.

Many portions of the 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 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.

The next reason for being vegetarian is to consider the
amount of fear and suffering that animals experience in
the slaughter industry. There are countless stories of
how in fear cows cry, scream, and sometimes fall down
dead while inside or even before they are taken into the
slaughter house. Or how the veins of dead pigs are so big
that it shows they have practically exploded from the
fear the pig felt and the adrenalin that was produced
while it was being led to slaughter. This certainly
causes an immense amount of violence to permeate the
atmosphere, which goes out and falls back on us in some
form. Furthermore, the adrenalin and fear in the animal
also produces toxins which then permeate the body of
these animals, which meat-eaters ingest. People who
consume such things cannot help but be effected by it. It
causes tensions within them individually, which then
spreads in their relations 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 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 factor for being vegetarian is karm. As
Newton's third law of motion states, for every action
there must be an equal and opposite reaction. On the
universal scale this is called the law of karm, 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-yog, devotion goes beyond simple
vegetarianism, and food becomes a means of spiritual
progress. In the Bhagavad-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-yog 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.

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Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

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