My reasons for being a Vegetarian

[Seeker]

My readings and understandings of various scriptures have led me to believe the following.

1 - the highest goal for any living being is attainment of moksha.
2 - Moksha is attained by any living being , while in the act of living. Dead and unborn do not attain moksha.
3- A true teacher (Guru) not only attains moksha , but helps others find the path.
4- Being an impediment to other living beings attainment of moksha pushes you down the path of evolution.
5- Moksha is attainable by every living being including animals , insects and plants.

If I follow these five principles , I can eat seeds & fruits (unborn) , leaves , eggs & dairy products (no need to kill the food provider). But I cant eat mushrooms , roots & bulbs (kills the food provider when I collect my food, thus violating principle 4). Personally I don't eat egg though I don't see no harm in it.

As far as opiates and alcohols are concerned , they are habit forming and the could cause illusions (veiling the reality and enhancing Maya). Hence I don't consume these.

[Seeker]

Today a Mormon friend showed me how to harvest potato without harming the plant. He constructs a chicken wire cylindrical fence around the plant and filled it with soil leaving only few branches above ground. When potatoes grow below the soil level he was harvesting them from above the ground level without killing the plant.

Creative indeed.

[Aum namah Śivāya]

नमस्ते Seeker,

Is it true that any animal or plant can reach mokṣa? I thought I had heard that only human beings are able to reach mokṣa, but I may be wrong.

ॐ नमः शिवाय

[realdemigod]

As far as I know only human bodies with developed mind, which can discriminate between good and bad..real and unreal..can attain moksha

[Seeker]

Om Namasivaya,

ANS,

I was also under the impression that only humans attain moksha , which was reinforced by my dabbling into Abrahamic religions.

Later when I read about Ramana Maharishi telling people that his cow ‘Lakshmi’ has attained moksha , I started digging deeper. This question was posed to the sage and he came out and said that (one of the books I read , but don’t recall the name) all living beings are capable of attaining moksha . It is just that humans in a male body have much higher chance due to the disposition & freedom. In western countries where women enjoy considerable freedom, even this gender barrier is gone.


I haven’t found any narratives in Hindu scriptures that only humans attain moksha.

Even in Viveka Chudamani (which I consider is an excellent extract of Upanishad wisdom) I find the following quotes in first chapter:

“2.For all beings a human birth is difficult to obtain, more so is a male body; rarer than that is Brahmanahood; rarer still is the attachment to the path of Vedic religion; higher than this is erudition in the scriptures; discrimination between the Self and not-Self, Realisation, and continuing in a state of identity with Brahman – these come next in order. (This kind of) Mukti (Liberation) is not to be attained except through the well-earned merits of a hundred crore of births
3. These are three things which are rare indeed and are due to the grace of God – namely, a human birth, the longing for Liberation, and the protecting care of a perfected sage
4. The man who, having by some means obtained a human birth, with a male body and mastery of the Vedas to boot, is foolish enough not to exert himself for self-liberation, verily commits suicide, for he kills himself by clinging to things unreal
5. What greater fool is there than the man who having obtained a rare human body, and a masculine body too, neglects to achieve the real end of this life ?
“
*hundred crore = 1 billion.

My interpretation is that the sage states only about the higher probabilities that a male birth has in attaining moksha. He is not excluding any other life forms.

I could be wrong.

On a side topic , this may be the reason Hindus accord high status for cows –for she provides nourishment to us in addition to her own offspring , thus elevating her status among animals. In case of Lakshmi, she provided nourishments to the sage, thus gaining the maharishi’s favor and moksha.