Re: Leather, meat and rennet ?
Namaste Alekandar,
I agree with Renuka ji to a great extent. In my opinion,
a) All Hindus are not vegetarian. So, being a non-vegetarian doesn't make you a non-Hindu.
b) Ahimsaa is to be practised but carefully. Why ? You can never be a 100 % non-killer and survive. Every second, your system is killing billions of bacteria which try to act on our body. Every time you take food, you are killing billions of bacteria in cooking, digesting etc. Yes, if you can feel the pains that anything goes into for using the stuff for your food, it is better to avoid that. You can still eat and remain a Hindu but it is not good for you spiritually. We can see chicken being killed and the pain it suffers while being killed, so I won't advise eating chicken. However, if I am stranded in a place where, I can't survive without chicken then may be I would start eating chicken because either I kill myself (which is himsa) or I kill the chicken (which is another himsa) and as humans are better evolved for spiritual growth, I would prefer saving the human body than a chicken body.
c) Mosquitoes and other insects which are harmful and dangerous to our body should be killed as it is our dharma to save the body that we have against its natural enemies. When I fall sick and I take medicines I am killing billions of bacteria to save this body but this himsa is unavoidable as either I kill my body or kill the enemy bacteria, mosquitoes, animals, human enemies ... my human dharma is to kill those unless I reach a stage where I can control these beings with my spiritual strength.
d) Leather made of naturally dead animals are ok to use. However, if painful killing of animals is resorted to get leather/hide and if I come to know of it, I would avoid it.
OM
"Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"
Bookmarks