Vanakkam,
I am happy to see that food habits/veg-non-veg of various people of the forum are respected. To be honest I was fearing that this tread may turn into a "bash the meat eaters" tread.
While I understand the concerns raised by YajvanJi for example, there are some things to take into consideration. In US or India, it is absolutely easy to be veg. There is everything available for everyone, including veg products, veg restaurants, knowledge of veg cuisine....All of this doesn't exist, or so few, in others countries. In my country for exemple, there is no veg restaurant. Zero around me for kilometers and kilometers away. Vegs and natural products are really expensive, I cannot afford most of them, most of my friends do. Like many I have not been raised in a veg family, I'm born in a country where all kind of meat is the basics of food since thousand and thousand of years....So I have no knowledge of veg cuisine. And even with that, what can I do, drooling before tasty veg recettes without having the money to buy half of the ingredients ?
I can't eat carrots, potatoes, salads and pasta all the time I'll be sick
But in India it's so easy not to eat meat, all the culinary culture is centered around it. If one day I have to live in India or in a country where veg is available and affordable like US, well, I'll turn veg without any problem But for now, I can't be starving until this day
I think many living in those kind of countries have this problem. It's not always a question of willpower, when you are in a country with a strong culture that is not centered around veg cuisine, you can't go against it. Unless you have time to shop and money.
But that does not make "meat eaters" devoid of compassion. If they cannot practice Ahimsa by being fully veg, they can practice Ahimsa in another way. It can be some kind of penance "I can't do that for now, but here, I make efforts to show you that I'm a good person and attonement for sin" until they can fully bloom and being veg
Aum Namah Shivaya
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