150 Billion animals slaughtered worldwide every year

Namaste

Follwing my thoughts on animal slaughtering.

http://www.adaptt.org/killcounter.html
Where do all these souls come from and where do they go?

Years ago I met a Tibetean nun, she opend me an astonishing view: To be slaughtered is the animal‘s karma. Every vegetarian prevents that the animal‘s karma can be fulfilled.
Can this be a valid point?

When I came in contact with Tamils I wondered that they all eat meat. I asked one lady why? She told me that she is a shudra and she has to eat meat, it sounded like it’s a must.
Does vegetarianism depend on caste in India?

Anyhow, I think there must be a cosmic plan behind what happens to the animals. Otherwise it would not happen.

Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita II.11: ‚ … the wise do not lament for the dead and the living.‘

Krishna says these words to a kshatriya, whos dharma is to fight in the war, where humans and animals must be killed.

Would He say the same to a vegetarian in the sense of ‚eat meat, don‘t lament …‘?

Please share yours with me.

Thank you!

Namaste,

In general animal killing or meat eating does not jive with Hinduism. But many people find various reasons to validate meat in their diets. Some even go to the extent of killing an animal and calling it 'animal sacrifice' to appease one or the other deity, and then enjoying the meat so obtained. It is all a personal choice and the more evolved a person becomes, the less desire he has for sense gratification.

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Originally Posted by Indialover

Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita II.11: ‚ … the wise do not lament for the dead and the living.‘

Krishna says these words to a kshatriya, whos dharma is to fight in the war, where humans and animals must be killed.

Would He say the same to a vegetarian in the sense of ‚eat meat, don‘t lament …‘?

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The science of Extrapolation is alive and well. :) Did not expect this kind of reasoning from a long time staunch Hindu.

Pranam.

Vannakkam: There are hundreds of excuses to use to not be vegetarian, but that it is the animal's destiny is a new one to me. I'm with B, it's about the soul's evolution. Reminds me of an old wartime drinking song ...

There are hundreds of reasons for drinking,
And one has just entered my head,
If a man can't drink when he's living,
How in heck can he drink if he's dead?"

Aum Namasivaya

Namaste Indialover,

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Years ago I met a Tibetean nun, she opend me an astonishing view: To be slaughtered is the animal‘s karma. Every vegetarian prevents that the animal‘s karma can be fulfilled.
Can this be a valid point?

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Sounds like complete rubbish, even the Buddha himself said that Laws Karma is to complex to understand fully so one shouldn't speculate, so it sounds like a justification, just like when people say that a vegetarian kills more living beings than a meat eater, but have no real answer that more crops are grown for the meat industry than for humans. There are many poor arguments put up by people who advocate eating meat, because at the end of the day each person wants to justify what he does. And even if there was some truth in it by not killing the animal one shortens the samsaric cycle.

I don't see it as a cosmic plan but rather merely the reality that when religious Dharmic principles are practiced less then its replaced by mans greed, and that's all the abdominal meat industry is, pure greed, and now its not only destroying the animals lives, but humans health and the environment at large. There are so many antibiotics given to animals now that humans are building up an immunity so when they get ill the antibiotics will not work so well. What to speak of other ill effects on the health.

Quote:

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Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita II.11: ‚ … the wise do not lament for the dead and the living.‘

Krishna says these words to a Kshatriya, whos dharma is to fight in the war, where humans and animals must be killed.

Would He say the same to a vegetarian in the sense of ‚eat meat, don‘t lament …‘?

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Absolutely not, when Sri Krsna spoke this verse it has a whole load of history and context connected to it in the Mahabharata, Arjuna was fighting for Dharma and throughout Mahabharata both Sri Krsna and the Pandavas tried all means to avoid war, it came as a last resort and it was at the point of no return, so Arjuna had to fight, when it comes to the animal slaughter industry most of us have choice in diet, and if we do use choice we need to exercise that choice in the mode goodness. If we are to take Bhagavad Gita as guideline nowhere does it say apart from people in lower modes of nature eat meat, and then Sri Krsna says that only one in goodness and developed divine virtues attains to Him, Sri Krsna says if one wants to please him He accepts fruits, flowers and water. I think personally its a very lamentable condition whats going on, but one also needs to be detached as there is only so much we can do, I find it deplorable when suffering is looked upon and someone says it's their karma, sounds like a cop out.

Also this verse is where Sri Krsna is starting to bring in the teachings of atma tattva, the Bhagavad Gita is not just a Kshatriya's code book, it universal to the science of self realization, which includes numerous depths of knowledge in summarized concentrated form.

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When I came in contact with Tamils I wondered that they all eat meat. I asked one lady why? She told me that she is a shudra and she has to eat meat, it sounded like it’s a must.
Does vegetarianism depend on caste in India?

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This situation is rather more delicate, sometimes due to poverty people don't have the privileged of choosing exactly what they eat.

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Originally Posted by Indialover

Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita II.11: ‚ … the wise do not lament for the dead and the living.‘

Krishna says these words to a kshatriya, whos dharma is to fight in the war, where humans and animals must be killed.

Would He say the same to a vegetarian in the sense of ‚eat meat, don‘t lament …‘?

Please share yours with me.

Thank you!

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Namaste Ji,

I think that Sri Krishna's words are applicable only to that particular context -- of Sri Krishna instructing to a warrior. To decide whether Sri Krishna's instruction to Arjuna is right or wrong, we have to first consider if Pandavas and Kauravas settling for a war is correct decision. Having decided on a war, what is the point in lamenting over killing relatives and such? What I am trying to convey is that if it is our dharma to fight for something and this fight is justified, we should not be overly concerned about the consequences. I do not believe this teaching has much to do with eating animals for living. Say, someone can be a vegetarian too, and still be a warrior who would fight involving killing humans and animals in a just war. So I do not believe that Sri Krishna is going to say to a vegetarian to eat meat and not to lament. :)

Namaste

Seems I did not find the right words and examples – I apologize. It was never my tendency to debase Bhagavad Gita or Lord Krishnas words.

I read Bhagavad Gita and the commentary of Shankaracharya in my language and made up my own mind too.

For me one oft he base messages in chapter 2 is ‚dont worry about the immortal soul, it is just moving from one body to another.‘

This is uplifting for someone who was born into a religion that denies rebirth, where you have only one life and at the end only one choice - heaven or hell.

Thank you all for your statements.

I will be more careful in the future.

Pranam

Namaste Indialover ji,

When I posted reply#5, I had not seen Markandeya ji's reply previously. Either I didn't read properly or his post appeared after I posted, I had missed his reply and did not know he already answered what I was trying to convey. So because of that, it seems like stressing on that 1 point about Sri Krishna's advice to Arjuna. Sorry for the repetition and no such stressing was implied. :)

Thanks,

Viraja