VEGETARIANISM

Complied By: Sanjay Bharatha

Vegetarianism The indispensable Niyama for the Modern Age for our very Survival and Sustainability This topic may sound a bit clichd but it is worth the repeat in a variety of ways because the neglect of this very same issue is throwing at us the unimaginable and innumerable life threatening challenges which, if not met successfully, would result in a total catastrophe. All of us, to some extent, understand the moral implications of non-vegetarian food but its far reaching Spiritual, Environmental, Economic and Health & Welfare implications are either unknown or ignored as if being unimportant or negligent. Lets us consider one by one all those factors that are directly influenced by not keeping the said Niyama (principle) of vegetarianism. History of Vegetarianism: Being the land of Tapas (Penance), India is historically considered the birth place of vegetarianism. And also the scope for vegetarianism in India was always immense due to the vast variety of flora that is found there. This combined with the preference for vegetarianism resulted in hundreds of varieties of vegetarian dishes being invented in every part of this vast country catering to the specific needs of each section of multifarious population. Anyone who is a seeker of spiritual life, especially the way of Sanatana Dharma, will be aware that the right diet is one of its basic requirements. In India it was and still is largely mandatory for individuals and families involved in spiritual practices to be vegetarian. This practice is also found to be prevalent among many spiritually oriented individuals, communities and sects around the world. Indian emperor Ashoka asserted protection to fauna thus: "Twenty-six years after my coronation various animals were declared to be protected parrots, mainas, aruna, ruddy geese, wild ducks, nandimukhas, gelatas, bats, queen ants, terrapins, boneless fish, vedareyaka, gangapuputaka, sankiya fish, tortoises, porcupines, squirrels, deer, bulls, okapinda, wild asses, wild pigeons, domestic pigeons and all four-footed creatures that are neither useful nor edible.
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Those nanny goats, ewes and sows which are with young or giving milk to their young are protected, and so are young ones less than six months old. Cocks are not to be caponized, husks hiding living beings are not to be burnt and forests are not to be burnt either without reason or to kill creatures. One animal is not to be fed to another." Edicts of Ashoka, Fifth Pillar.

The earliest records of (lacto) vegetarianism come from ancient India and ancient Greece in the 6th century BCE. In both instances the diet was closely connected with the idea of nonviolence towards animals (called ahimsa in India) and was promoted by religious groups and philosophers. Traditionally in India and other vegetarian societies the only animal products acceptable for consumption were the dairy products. The Physical and Health implications of non-vegetarian food: The beautifully garnished and aromatic non-vegetarian food that is thus served, usually hides the stark truth that what is bring served is actually a stinking dead body of a helpless and deathly scared animal or bird mercilessly and painfully slaughtered for no fault its, after being subjected to untold suffering of having its throat slit and also skinned while being very much alive.

It is said that in the olden days, in India, only three diseases existed, one of which was oldage. But after the advent of flesh eating groups into India, 76 new diseases appeared for the first time. The same is the case with all such societies around the world that were introduced to flesh eating. There are certain sections in all societies which advocate flesh eating but Nature has not endowed the Humans to be carnivorous. This can be proved by certain of the observations given out by the experts who have studied this subject in all detail, which are as follows: a) Human teeth are similar in setting to that of herbivorous animals. b) The intestines of carnivorous animals are shorter and hence the food is processed and expelled quickly unlike in humans who have longer intestines like herbivorous animals. Hence flesh food is not quickly expelled in Human digestive system. c) Carnivorous animals possess larger liver and kidneys than herbivorous animals so that the waste products are easily expelled, unlike in humans. d) The amount of Hydrochloric acid produced in the digestive system of carnivorous animals is ten times more than the herbivorous animals and humans thus are conducive for digesting the flesh food, unlike in humans. And various other serious considerations for avoiding the flesh meat are as follow: According to a 2006 United Nations initiative, the livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide, and modern practices of raising animals for food contributes on a "massive scale" to deforestation, air and water pollution, land degradation, loss of topsoil, climate change, the overuse of resources including oil and water, and loss of biodiversity. Currently, 70% of all the wheat, corn and other grain produced are fed to farmed animals. This has led many proponents of vegetarianism to believe that it is ecologically irresponsible to consume meat.
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The initiative concluded that "the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. In 2006 FAO estimated that meat industry contributes 18% of all emissions of greenhouse gases. This figure was revised in 2009 by two World Bank scientists and estimated at 51% minimum. The International Resource Panel's Priority Products and Materials report, published in 2010, found that animal products caused more damage than producing construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Currently, more than half the world's crops are used to feed animals. In America, more than one-third of the fossil fuels produced are used to raise animals for food. The authors explained that Western dietary preferences for meat would be unsustainable as the world population rose to the forecast 9.1 billion by 2050. The authors concluded that a global shift towards a vegan diet was vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change. By killing millions of animals every year we are losing millions of tons of natural manure and are using chemical based fertilisers and hence the cost of food products is increasing at a very rapid pace.

 In a world of diminishing safe water supplies it is worth bearing in mind that animals fed on grain need much more water than grain crops. According to the theory of trophic dynamics, it requires 10 times as many crops to feed animals being bred for meat production as it would to feed the same number of people on a vegetarian diet. In tracking food animal production from the feed through to the dinner table, the inefficiencies of meat, milk and egg production range from a 4:1 energy input to protein output ratio up to 54:1.

A 2010 report from United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management, states that global shift towards a vegan diet is critical for mitigating global issues of hunger, fuel, poverty and the worst impacts of climate change As per the science of Ayurveda the food that we take goes on to become our mind matter after undergoing 7 transformations. And hence it has direct influence on our thoughts and thereby our actions or karma, which means on our fate too.

The result is that producing animal-based food is typically much less efficient than the direct harvesting of grains, vegetables, legumes, seeds and fruits for human consumption. A person existing chiefly on animal protein requires 10 times more land to provide adequate food than someone living on vegetable sources of protein. With relation to global warming the Carbon Dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas. Methane has about 21 times more Global Warming Potential (GWP) than Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide has 296 times the GWP of CO2. The livestock industry is a major contributor of these gases A person existing chiefly on animal protein requires 10 times more land to provide adequate food than someone living on vegetable sources of protein.

Number of cells are continuously being born in our body, which replace the older cells and in every few months the new cells actually replace all the older cells in our body, this means that the quality of new cells and hence the efficiency of our body and mind and emotions depends upon the quality of our diet. If we eat such harmful animal products we can just imagine what effect it has on us over a period of time. Apart from avoiding the above said perils one has many more advantages by turning to vegetarian food. Few are as follows: Vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index, Lower levels of cholesterol, Lower blood pressure and fewer incidences of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, dementias such as Alzheimers disease and other disorders. Soya Beans and Ground Nuts are found to possess more proteins than meat or eggs.

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The amounts of benefits we derive from animals are far greater than the benefits we derive by butchering them. Animals do a lot of hard work in the farms and elsewhere around the world thus saving a large amount of energy apart from providing free fertilisers to our crops. Hence killing animals for food is like burning the currency notes to make coffee.

Various studies have found the Health Risks associated with flesh eating as follows: Non-lean red meat, in particular, has been found to be directly associated with increased risk of cancers of the oesophagus, liver, colon, and the lungs. Animals are affected with various diseases due to many environmental, poor feeding and low immunity causes and all these are passed onto humans when they consume animal flesh.

All the suffering, fear and helpless anger cause various hormones like adrenaline to flow through its blood and get mixed with its flesh. And soon after it dies this painful death its dead body is infested with many micro-organisms that cause decay. Such flesh when ingested by humans acts as a veritable poison for the body and mind. The connection between infected animal and human illness is well established in the case of salmonella; Only recently, however, have scientists begun to suspect that there is a similar connection between animal meat and human cancer, birth defects, mutations, and many other diseases in humans.

Various very harmful enzymes are released into their blood stream while the animals are lined up for being slaughtered, due to fear, terror, anger and helplessness and thus those enzymes enter the flesh of animals prior to those being slaughtered.
Hence humans who eat animal flesh become prone to a number of incurable and strange new diseases. This diseased condition is transferred through the generations of humans, further complicating the problem.
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20% of all cows are afflicted with a variety of cancer known as bovine leukaemia virus (BLV). Studies have increasingly linked BLV with HTLV-1, the first human retrovirus discovered to cause cancer. Scientists have found that a bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV), the equivalent of the AIDS virus in cows, can also infect human cells. It is supposed that BIV may have a role in the development of a number of malignant or slow viruses in humans The proximity of animals in industrial-scale animal farming leads to an increased rate of disease transmission. Transmission of animal influenza viruses to humans has been documented, but illness from such cases is rare compared to that caused by the now common humanadapted older influenza viruses, transferred from animals to humans in the more distant past. In 1997 more cases of H5N1 avian influenza were found in chickens in Hong Kong.

Here I also intend to elaborately reproduce quotations from an excellent book on this subject by C. W. Leadbeater, called 'Vegetarianism and Occultism', published by the Theosophical Publishing House. In this book Leadbeater investigates both the physical and visible reasons and also the hidden l occult reasons for strictly avoiding all kinds of meat. Citing purely physical reasons he writes the Vegetables contain more nutriment than an equal amount of dead flesh. The proteins, which are considered to be principal benefit of consuming dead flesh, have only one origin; they are organised in plants and nowhere else. In the animal body these proteins, which the animal has observed from the vegetable kingdom during its life, are constantly passing down to disorganisation, during which organisation, decent the energy originally stored in them is released. Moreover this tissue change is accompanied by the formation of various poisons, which are found in flesh of any kind. Hence these downgraded proteins in animal flesh are of very less quality when consumed by humans because the animal has used up half of it. He further writes ' many serious diseases come from this loathsome habit of devouring dead bodies.' He quotes highly placed medical experts as saying 'Flesh is infected with terrible diseases as d cancer, consumption, fever, intestinal worms, rheumatism, gout, cerebral congestion, plies, constipation, eczema, worms, scrofa, etc., which are readily communicated to flesh eaters. The presence of uric acid in meat is also a prime cause of rime diseases.'

He further states Vigour of the body is often Vigour boasted by flesh-eaters, and he may be able to do a eaters, large amount of work in short time but he soon gets hungry and becomes weak unlike the vegetarians who have much more endurance. This is proved by history that of all tribes of Greeks, the Spartans were strongest and enduring owing to their simple vegetable diet. So is the case with Roman gladiators. He recollects the marvel of a British Officer at the enormous strength displayed by the Tamil coolies, who easily lifted the weight equivalent to that ed which was lifted by four English labourers. He further quotes Mr. H. P. Fowler as saying the flesh food owing to the excitation it exercises on the nervous system induces habits or intemperance in everything like alcohol for example. It also intensifies the lower nature of man and leaves an intense craving because flesh food doesn't fully nourish the bodily tissues, thus leading a recourse to various stimulants in order to satisfy this vague craving. Hence the drunkenness and all the poverty, wretchedness, disease and crime associated with it may be frequently traced to error in feeding.

Writing about sin of slaughter he says ' the money made in this business is strained in blood, every coin of it. And those who feed on dead flesh encourage this crime by making it remunerative and are hence sinful because whatsoever a man does through another he does himself.'

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And man has within himself matter belonging to all these higher planes, so that he is furnished with a vehicle corresponding to each of them, through which he can receive impressions and by means of which he can act. And as his physical matter is in close touch with the astral and mental matter, if he builds his physical body with the gross and undesirable matter like dead flesh and alcohol, he draws into his astral and mental bodies course and unpleasant counterpart. This is visible at once to the eye of a developed clairvoyant.

Surely a better time shall come, when we shall be free from this horrible blot upon our civilisation, then by degrees we shall all rise to a higher level and be freed from all these instinctive terrors and hatred. Thus a carnivorous diet is fatal to anything like real development or progress. In the next issue we shall know the about the principles of Saatvik Food. -- To be continued --

Sanctity of the Cow

In Sanatana Dharma, the cow is representative of divine and natural beneficence and should therefore be protected and venerated. The cow symbolizes the dharma itself.

Twice lately I have heard from psychic people that they felt the awful aura of Chicago and similar cities even miles away from it due to the ruthless murder of countless animals whose vast hosts of souls with very strong feelings of horror, pain and resentment and how these feeling recoil at all points upon human race, especially upon children. And hence such cities are terrible places to bring up children. Such slaughterhouses not only make pest-hole for the bodies of children, but for their souls as well. Many of your children are unnecessarily and inexplicably afraid. They feel the terror of they know not what. Strong forces are playing about us for which you cannot account, and you do not realise this all comes from the fact that the whole atmosphere is charged with the hostility of these murdered creatures. The stages of evolution are closely interrelated, and you cannot do this wholesale murder upon your younger brothers (animals) without feeling the effect terribly among your own innocent children.
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Kamadhenu, the sacred cow which grants all wishes and desires lives in Swargalok (heaven), emerged from the ocean of milk (Ksheerasagar) at the time of samudramanthan (the great churning of the ocean. Kamadhenu's complexion is like the white clouds. Every part of cow's body has a religious significance. Its four legs symbolize the four Vedas, and its teats the four Purusharthas. Its horns symbolize the gods, its face the sun and the moon, its shoulders Agni (the god of fire), and its legs the Himalayas. Lord Brahma created the Brahmins (priests) and the cow at the same time, the Brahmins were to recite the religious scriptures while the cow was to afford ghee (clarified butter) for offerings in religious sacrifices. Brahma also affirmed it to be the mother of gods, ought to be worshipped and anybody who killed a cow or allows another to kill it, was deemed to rot in hell, for as many years as there are hair upon his body. Cows they are honoured at least once a year, on Gopastami. During this celebration, cows are bathed and decorated in the temple and given offerings.