Apastambha sutras

[satay]

Who is 'most'?

[rameshonweb]

Satay
Iam not sure if there were some vegetarians, but iam sure that most of the kings,bhrahmins were non vegetarians, thats the reason i said most..

[dhruva023]

Could you please tell us how you came on that conclusion?

[rameshonweb]

I came to that conclusion because, I read myself the apastambha sutras that says what meats to eat on what days by brahmins.

[Baobobtree]

Namaste Ramesh.

First of all one must understand that Smriti texts, like the Apastambha Sutras are always secondary in authority to Sruti texts like the Vedas.If they contradict Sruti these texts are not considered to be authentic Vedic texts, and are disregarded, or the particular contradicting verse is seen as a later interpolation, and disregarded. Now, as to whether Sruti texts permit meat eating is a bit of debate. To give you an alternate view about the nature of Vedic sacrifices that supposedly involve meat, I'd read through this link- http://www.aryasamaj.org/eng_art/A_c...erstanding.htm

[Sudarshan]

How can a person claiming to do Yoga whose first yama rule is ahiMsa eat meat? No Yogis of the past ate meat. You should eat plants only if you should. Advanced yogis subsist on just air and divine energy - read the story of Dhruva where he cuts on his food one by one - initially light plant food, then only water, then only air and then only on the cosmic energy. You can eat meat certainly but dont claim yourself to be a prospective sAdhaka. If you are so cruel as to kill animals to satisfy your taste buds then how is it that you obtain a tranquil mind which demands love of all creatures and mankind? And how do you kill a creature you love? With plants you have no choice because you have to live.

The scriptures have tAmasic, rAjasik and sAttvik meanings. They are meant for different adhikArins. Most of the vedic scripture is allegorical in nature and using the veda to support non vegetarianism is a tAmasik interpretation. That is akin to some followers of quran using the quran to bomb planes and cities.

Some of the himsa yajnas were done by pUrva mImAmsakas who expected to get heaven by 'killing the animals'. I think those who killed animals for such purposes went only to the hell instead - andhaM tamaH pravishanti ye.avidyaamupaasate. Vedanta supercedes pUrva mImAmsa and is above the ignorant karma kANda practices of the mImAmsakas. ( and hence has no place for ignorant ritual killings).