VEG OR NON-VEG : "TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT !"

Food at a subtle level, it too is made up of the sattva, raja and tama components.
The proportions of these subtle components vary depending on the type of food.
Sattva stands for purity and knowledge while tama denotes ignorance and inertia.
Anything that has a higher sattva component assists our spiritual journey and anything that is tama predominant has a tendency

to diminish or obstruct our spiritual practice..

Vegetarian food has more sattvic qualities than Non-vegetarian food while

Non-vegetarian food has more Tamasic qualities than Vegetarian food.

The reason for the increased tama in non-vegetarian food is because of the extent of suffering of the animal,

when it is being killed.
Also the thoughts of anger and revenge and pain in the animal when being killed are far more pronounced as compared

to a plant which has a rudimentary mind and intellect.
This is the main reason in the increased tama component.
While due to the higher sattvikta in fruits they are offered to God is ritualistic worship.

When tama predominant food is ingested on a regular basis the body is burdened with an excess of the tama component.
A rise in tama component in a person has many negative side-effects.
This tama component can only disintegrate if one is regularly doing spiritual practice.
However since most people do not do spiritual practice this tama component accumulates in a person’s body, mind and intellect.


Question : Botanical science tells us that plants also-have life.

Then where lays the difference between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food?
There are two kinds of life on earth, animate and inanimate. Men, beasts, birds, fish etc. are animate life while trees and

other plants are inanimate life. Fruits ripen on the trees and then fall of by themselves, branches and leaves may be chopped off a

tree and new one arises in their place. Many plants are propagated by their cuttings. Others can be transplanted.

But all this is not possible with birds and animals. No limb of an animal can grow by itself after cutting.

Man cannot produce animals like plants from earth.

All the living beings are made up of five elements - the earth, water, fire, air and sky.
All these five are present in man clearly and predominantly.
Only four elements - earth, water, fire and air are predominant in animals.
While in birds only three air, water and fire are predominant.
Two elements - earth and fire - make up the insects.
And only one element of water is predominant in fruits, leaves and vegetables etc.

The rest four elements are in sleeping state in vegetables and plants.

Therefore, eating vegetable foods consumes the minimum of factors.
Saints and Sages do not pluck fruits from the trees, but they eat only those fruits which have fallen by themselves on ripening.
Minimum damage to life is the basic criterion. There is no harm in obtaining fruits from trees but harm lies in their cutting.


Question : Even when man treads the earth, many ants and insects are trodden under foot.

So, what is different if other animals are killed?
A man's character is judged by his intentions and deliberate actions.

If a man deliberately and knowingly crushes under his feet any harmless animal, then it is violence.

But if involuntarily or in unavoidable circumstances, some insects are killed, then it is an exceptional situation.

But to kill others without any specific reason or to abet killing for food is plain murder.


Question : Plants are also having life, so killing plants should also be a sin. Why is veg food better than non-veg in terms of killing or committing "sin"?
It is true that plants also have "life" and killing plants is also sin. So the best way to observe total non-violence is to take only those fruits which have naturally fallen from the trees or plants. In this way we are doing harm to no one. But everyone can not follow that vow. We have to take food in order to survive and sustain this body. It is a necessity of survival. But we need to take that path which is less sinful and does less harm to other jivas (living entities).

Now there are two reasons to say that vegetarian food is having insignificant sin. Many of the plants like rice, wheat, etc., are having life only for one crop time. Once their yield is over, they die naturally, even if we don't cut them. So by cutting those plants (which have already died) we are doing less sin or no sin at all. In many other plants, like mango, coconut, etc., by plucking the fruit, we are not killing the plants, and so we are doing very minimal sin or no sin at all. So vegetarian food is less sinful. More over, it is inevitable for our survival, but non-vegetarian food is a luxury to us and we can survive even if we avoid that.

Next we need to know why certain acts are sinful. Each and every life (whether plant, animal, or human) has come to this world because of their past Karma’s and they have to live to the maximum doing "sadhana" (spiritual practices), so that they can clear their karmic debts & may get a better birth next life or finally get "moksha" (liberation) .
By killing them, we are cutting short their opportunities to do "sadhana" towards their liberation (moksha). Thus it is much more sinful.


Question : Don’t plants also experience pain when killed?
Yes, plants too experience pain when killed or parts of it are severed. The comprehension of pain however is less than animals. This is because the mind and intellect of a plant is rudimentary as compared to animals. However if a fruit or vegetable is plucked when it is fully ripe or has fallen from a tree there is relatively no pain to the plant.


Question : Does not eating meat give more strength?
Meat-eating gives the body not strength but a kind of unhealthy stimulation. The body receives an excess of nitrogen which creates uric acid and other harmful compounds in the blood stream. Just to expel these compounds from the body, a lot of energy is needed which the body's defense mechanism pumps up in a hurry to meet the emergency. This is mistaken as an input of energy, although in fact it is a depletion of the body's reservoirs of energy.


Question : In olden days, the sages used to eat meat? There is an incident of Agasthya Muni eating meat in the "Vathapi - Ilvala" story.
Yes, we do see some mention about such things in very old stories. We need to understand clearly why and under what circumstances they used to consume meat.
Firstly, they used to take meat, but not as their regular food.
The animal would be offered to 'yajna', the sacred fire, and then the sages, having very high yogic power, would consume the meat as a prasada of the yajna. Due to this auspicious activity (of yajna), the animal would go to the heavens.
In the story of Agusthya Muni, when he said ' vathapi jirno bhava', he was digested immediately. Such was the power of the sages in those days.
In olden days even if they consumed meat, they used to keep up their spiritual balance due to their yogic power or "tapas" (severe austerity).
But now in the present age of kali-yuga, our mental powers and concentration powers are getting reduced. We are loosing our purity and peace of mind due to various reasons. As such, the sattvic atmosphere and sattvic qualities are reducing because we are not doing enough japa, tapa, etc.
So if we start consuming meat we will loose all our good mental qualities very quickly.