Fate of vegetarianism and Hinduism ?

[Anirudh]

Namaste,

Didn't had the patience to figure out whether my thread is a repetition.

Happen to meet a Bangladeshi father and son few days ago. They have visited Bhaarathvarsh in search of a service which was not available in their cursed land. Pardon my tone, they both annoyed the service personal to an unacceptable level. Only peaceful folks from cursed land will misbehave and abuse our hospitality.

The Son, who seemed to be in his early twenties, was questioning me regarding the food habits of Bhaarath.

1. Were we Hindus, vegetarian or non-vegetarian during vedic and pre vedic period?
2. Does Hinduism mandates its followers to be vegetarian or not?
3. Raavan is a Bhraman and a Asur. Asur consumed alcohol and non vegetarian food. Does that means Bhraman consumed alcohol and non vegetarian food?

His intentions were to prove that Vegetarianism in Hinduism is a hypocrisy. I could win over the argument by scientifically proving the advantage of Vegetarianism and how invaders have destroyed the Bhaarathiya culture but didn't had convincing answers for the questions on food taken consumed by common people during Ramayana or Mahabharata or during vedic period.

At present majority of Vegans in Bhaarath are from the Bhraman community, and there is a systematic uproot of Vedic followers from Bhaarath through various means like reservation and branding major pro Hindu organization as terrorists.

Can the members of the forum share their views on vegetarianism in Bhaarath considering various points I have raised and the fate of Hinduism in the hands of present regime?

[Webimpulse]

Namaste Anirudh,

I can't really comment on vegetarianism and its fate in Bharat, since, well, I don't live there, but if it makes you feel any better, vegetarianism is catching on, albeit slowly, in other parts of the world. If you need proof of that, here's an article from Gawker (http://gawker.com/5980153/taco-bell-pulls-super-bowl-ad-making-fun-of-veggie-eaters-after-veggie-eaters-complain?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow) on how a Taco Bell ad for the Super Bowl was pulled off the air after a lot of vegetarians complained about it for making fun of veggies on game day.

[Anirudh]

Namaste Webimpulse,

Thanks for sharing your views. Indians are migrating to western world. So not just vegetarianism but Hinduism is also catching up in other parts of the world.

[jignyAsu]

Namaste

I am very happy to learn about your interests in vegetarianism. I think the confusion begins when it is stated that all Hindus were vegetarians. There were lots of Kshatriyas who were non-vegetarians.

The Brahmins were all clearly vegetatians. They don't even eat onions and garlic, based out of the Manu Smritis. Ravana was an Asura..so how can his habits be taken seriously? Kumbakarna out of hunger devoured 100s of vanaras and asuras in battlefield...does that mean we were man eaters?

Not only Brahmins but there were other vegetarians too. Nanda Maharaja's entire village offered loads and loads of food to Sri Govardhana Giri and all were delicious vegetarian food only.

The sages didn't even eat rice..they lived on roots and tubers alone. Sage Vashista welcomes Sage Vishwamitra in the court of Dasaratha by offering "customary" roots and fruits. Sri Rama (then Bharata) rejects normal food and chose to eat roots, tubers and fruits only, just to live like the "sages of the forests".

Anyone who is interested to progress spiritually needs to be vegetarian (irrespective of caste). We all know that in Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna instructs only Sattvic food for aspirants. Random verses can be tampered or misinterpreted easily and so we should base our history on these clear commandments.

Eating beef was strictly restricted for all Hindus.

[dhyandev]

regarding ravan,I once heard a ram kathakar on tv that that when ravan came to know that vishnu himself had taken birth on earth,so he thought that my sharir is tamsik,it cannot do puja,bhakti etc so why not take enemity with Him so that if I am killed by Him I'll go direct to vaikunth.

Now his body is tamsic being a rakshas(father brahmin ,mother rakshashi) he might be eating tamsic foods.

[jignyAsu]

Hi !

This is a great subject to explore. I represent a blog dedicated to the pursuit of scientific spirituality as enummerated in the Vedas.
'http://guidingthoughts.blogspot.com/

The subject of animal sacrifice and "eating meat" by Hindus, bothered me enough to investigate it. Here's what I found.

1. The central theme of the Vedas is " I Am That" , meaning each individual soul is a component of the Supreme Consciousness (God) present in the world. By this very definition vedic religion does not endorse "meat eating". As it considers all Souls to be ONE. The degree of consciousness in them differs (accounting for degrees of intelligence) , but essentially this is the underlying principle.

An excerpt from the "complete works of Swami Vivekananda" clarifies this further. A link to that excerpt is defined here:
http://guidingthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/10/swami-vivekananda-on-eating-meat-and.html

2. As India was invaded by many races, and as cultures assimilated , Vedic religion got distorted .....
In addition to this India was riddled by famine and a growing , burgeoning population. In such an environment , survival was critical and meat eating gained momentum.

3. Going by the theme of the Vedas- animal sacrifice, did not mean the sacrifice of an "animal" but the sacrifice of the "animal within" man .

If you are interested to know more on the subject - you could drop me a line on guiding.thoughts@gmail.com and i could link you to other works of Shriram Sharma Acharya , Swami Vivekananda, Ramkrishna Paramhansa , that will leave you in no doubt that the vedas always propogated vegetraianism.

best regards
Guidingthoughts.blogspot.com
SpiritualBee.com

I am happy to see your enthusiasm in this as well. But how many Vedic statements and how many instances in ItihAsa PuranAs will we brush away like this? If we reduce everything to symbolism then who will believe in the soul, the higher planets, moksha...

Agreed and appreciated that Vedas is unique in upholding the equality of all Atmas:in men, animals and plants alike. But the real glory of Vedas lies in the fact that it never abandons anyone! Majority of the people are not aspiring for Moksha at all....if they see a very high ideal, then they will quit the entire system and go worse. How many of Buddhists do you see as vegetarians?

Having presented various lower ideals, the Vedas wait patiently for endless births till the aspirant is finally ready! Then happily it announces: athAto Brahma jignyAsa...

[philosoraptor]

3. Raavan is a Bhraman and a Asur. Asur consumed alcohol and non vegetarian food. Does that means Bhraman consumed alcohol and non vegetarian food?

What kind of ignorant moron would take the meat-eating and alcohol-drinking Raavana as some kind of model for pious behavior? Yes, he was a braahmana. He was also a rapist and a murderer. He killed his own brother-in-law during his early military capaigns and was cursed many times over for making women grieve. Yes, he was a brahmin. A very bad brahmin who was universally regarded as a villain, not as an exemplar.

Please tell your Bangladeshi friend to learn how to think.