Vegetarianism - Plants have life too. (Seek Answers)

[Guest guest]

Respected bhakthas,

 

Adiyen have been having some basic questions abt vegetarianism.

 

Is that we should follow vegetaranism only with eating habits?

 

What abt using silk cloths (we even use them to decorate deities!)?.

 

Presumably, silk is got by killing thousands of silk worms! How is this

killing different from killing animals to eat!

 

If anyone have read a recent news article in sifynews,

(http://headlines.sify.com/219news3.html ), which says even toothpaste we

use has some "non-veg" stuff.

 

Also, it seems even agarbathis have some "non-veg" stuff.

 

Pls note that Adiyen is not for "non-vegetarianism" whatsoever, but would

like to have some convincing answers from elite members of this group.

 

Thank you so much,

 

Adiyen,

 

Sathyanarayana Ramanujadasan.

 

 

============================================================

Sathya.Kaliyamoorthy

Doctoral Candidate

Bio-robotics lab http://biorobots.cwru.edu/

Dept of Mechanical Engg

Case Western Reserve Univ. http://www.cwru.edu

Cleveland, OHIO

USA

[Guest guest]

Dear Sathya,

 

Vegetarianism or the concept of non violence (ahimsa)

should be followed not only in terms of eating habit

but other conducts as well. The ahimsa simply means

not to put other living entities in distress.

 

As far as possible killing another living entity is

forbidden. The sastras says that the lord is situated

in the heart of all living entity. Krsna says this in

Gita, iswara sarva bhutanam hrydesi arjuna ( my

spelling may be wrong).

 

However for survival we need food, we kill plant as

the conciousness as well as the pain is less than

animal, eben that we need to offer to the lord as take

as prasadam. Krsna says in Gita, patram puspham palam

toyam yo me bhaktya prayachiti........ a leaf, flower,

fruit or even water if offerd with devotion I will

accept with joy. He further says, yad karosi, yad

asnani, yad johusi dadasi yat...... to put it simply

do all actions as an offering unto me.

 

Other acaryas in the group can comment further.

 

Bala

Beijing.

[Guest guest]

srImathE rAmAnujAya namaha

srImadh varavara munayE namaha

 

Dear Members,

 

It is a well known fact that the plants have life too. Then how can we

justify eating the plants? This is the main question. The answer for this

is simple and two fold.

 

1. If we cannot eat even plant, what are we to eat. Just common sense

reasoning. The least disturbed consumable is the plant. So, may be this is

the reason that the vegetarians are allowed to eat the plant.

 

2. Please note that we are not killing any plant, if at all we follow the

AhAra niyamams set by our poorvAchAryAs, strictly. As per the A.N we are

supposed to eat only the vegetable portion and the fruit portion of a

plant, without cutting the plant in entirety (Even incase of plants like

spinach, though we cut the leaves, we are not to fully destroy the plants).

In this way, the plant remains, and we are only cutting the portion that we

are asked to. This could be the main reason why our A.N states that we

should not eat the roots of the planta as it grows underground, because it

will kill the entire plant. The most important point here is that if you

pluck the fruit or the vegetable, you are not killing it, but only cutting

of that portion which will go waste if it is not used. So it is permitted

 

In general to survive we need to eat something and as per the first point

above, eating of the plants is justified and as per the second point above,

we are not killing any living things.

 

The above are only what came into my mind. If there is anything wrong or

foolish in the above statements, please forgive me.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear devotees,

 

Vegetarianism

 

Another interesting way to look at this is to refer to the sloka in the

Bhagavat Gita where Lord Sri Krishna declares that He would accept patram,

pushpam, phalam ...

 

This resolves the issue at one level If we are to take only prasadam - what

is first offered with devotion and love to the Lord, we can only eat what

the Lord accepts So, patram, pushpam, phalam ie vegetarian items is what is

permitted

 

But that opens up another issue - can there be Karma or sin in eating

prasadam? I would like to think that there is definitely no karma in

prasadam on the contrary there are stories in the puranas that glorify the

potency and transcendental nature of prasadam

 

Now as for items that are vegetarian and not prasadam - that is a different

issue

 

I would like to hear from the many many wonderful other devotees in this

group on this matter

 

This is my first posting since the time I have been actively following this

group - as I am a part of a fairly active and large multi religious group

that promotes vegetarianism here and I hence felt the need to understand

more from a scriptural perspective

 

with all humility

varadakrishna

[Guest guest]

bhakti-list, "Varadakrishna" <varadakrishna@g...> wrote:

> Another interesting way to look at this is to refer to the sloka in

the

> Bhagavat Gita where Lord Sri Krishna declares that He would accept

patram,

> pushpam, phalam ...

>

> This resolves the issue at one level If we are to take only

prasadam - what

> is first offered with devotion and love to the Lord, we can only

eat what

> the Lord accepts So, patram, pushpam, phalam ie vegetarian items

is what is

> permitted

 

Dear Varadakrishna,

 

You are correct that the vegetarian lifestyle is recommended and

highly preferred for a Vaishnava. However, when Lord Krishna

tells us that he will accept even 'patram pushpam, phalam, toyam'

(a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or some water) as offering, it has

no bearing on vegetarianism. Lord Krishna seeks to impress upon

us how easy it is to worship him -- one need not go to great

efforts as required by mundane endeavors or other deities, nor

does one need to be of high status, high birth, or of great wealth.

He is pleased by the love that is in the heart, and not by the

immensity of the offering. For is He not described as 'satyakAma',

one whose desires are immediately satisfied by His own will?

If so, he needs nothing material from us.

 

To compare, I urge you to peruse Tiruvaymoli 1.6 -- parivadil

Isanai paadi -- with the beautiful commentaries that form

the Bhagavad Visayam. This aspect of the Lord's teaching of

the Gita is fully mirrored in this set of ten verses.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

Mani