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/...-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
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