RE Vegetarianism

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavathas,

 

I like to add to the discussion on Vegetarianism, based on Gita.

I noted many of you refer to Gita in this connection. However,

Gita has never explicitly said anything against meat consumption.

Gita is pragnatic and is for all ages, all places and all people.

My father used to say that, Gita is sarvaanukUka shAstram.

Being that, nowhere it speaks against meat consumption.

 

In Chapter 17,verses 8-10 of the Bhagavadgita, the food habits of people as

a function of their full-blown Satvic, Rajasic, or Tamasic temperaments are

described.

 

The Satvic people relish a smooth, firm, pleasant (to both the eyes and the

belly), satisfying, and savory foods that promote longeivity, virtue,

strength, health, happiness and satisfaction.

 

The Rajasic people prefer food that are pungent, sour, salty, excessively

hot, harsh, astringent, scorching and causing pain, misery, and sickness

(perhaps to both the consumer and/or the consumed).

 

The Tamasic people desire foods that are stale, tasteless, putrid, left-over,

and the rejected.

 

The tone with which a "shwapacha" (a dog cooker) is referred to in the

Bhagavadgita (Chapter 5, Verse 18) implies that people who ate dog meat were

looked down by all but a true Pundit. We also know that the word "shwapacha"

was used in India to describe out-castes.

 

Thus, it is clear that the Gita does not outrightly denounce eating meat or

vividly glorify vegetarianism. However, the flavor with which the satvic

food has been described in particular and the setting of the entire Gita in

general, perhaps conveys a subtle message against eating meat.

 

Gita (being a universal philosophy) realizes that in certain circumstances

consumption of meat may be inevitable for self preservation. After all, our

body is a temple of God and serves as a vehicle for our spiritual upliftment.

Thus, body should be cared for as a prelude to Dharmic accomplishments ("

Shareeram Adhyam Khalu Dharma Sadhanam").

 

For instance, what one should do if the choice is between starving for the sa

ke of principles(belief or religious injunction) or eating meat? The answer

to this question can be seen in Verses 5 & 6 of Chapter 17. In these verses

Gita denounces wrong ways of starving and in acts undertaken

over-enthusiastically in the name of religion. These two verses are

interesting because they show that such abuses by misguided people were

common enough to arouse denounciation by the Lord.

 

Perhaps the relation between food and temperament is mutually complementary.

In other words, the type of food consumed may influence one's temperament

(you are what you eat) as much as one's temperament motivates the

individual's preference for a particular type of food (you eat based on who

you are).

 

At any given time the world is composed of people having varying degrees of

Satvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic qualities ( it is also wrong to think that the

Saatvic individuals are found only among vegetarians or that all vegetarians

are saatvic people- for e.g., Adolf Hitler was a vegetrian!).

 

Human nature in combination with nurture (the environment) has resulted in a

wide assortment of foods we have come to know in this world.

>From times immemorial India has had a far greater respect for the spiritual

than any other nation in the world (India is referred to by others as the

"empire of the spirit"). In such an atmosphere our ancestors have succeded

over the years in compiling a variety of rather uniquely balanced

lacto-vegetarian diets (with regional variations) which have withstood the

test of time.

 

These diets are also pretty much favored by the modern science. The two

components the modern science objects in our lacto-vegetarian diets are

"Ghee"(found in foods from all regions of India) and coconut oil (regional).

Probably ghee was essential in those times when there was much physical

exercise. The objection to coconut oil is rather inconclusive, as it has not

been investigated in the context of rest of the diet.

 

It is in our interest to hold back on ghee from these nearly perfect

lacto-vegetarian diets. Ghee is rich is fat plus cholesterol. Perhaps the way

ghee was made traditionally in india, the cholesterol might have been

transformed (Ghee was made

from butter, which was made from yogurt, that is fermented milk. During

fermentation, bacterial transformation of cholesterol is a good possibility).

 

Daasan

 

K. Sreekrishna Tatachar