Why one should be a Vegetarian?

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Thank you Sadaji for a cogent discussion of the subject.

 

In this context there is a famous passage in Chandogya Upanishad:

VII:xxvi:2 :

 

aahaarashuddhau sattvashuddhiH

sattvashuddhau dhruvaa smR^itiH

smR^itilambhe sarvagranthiinaa.n vipramokshaH

tasmai mR^iditakashhaayaaya tamasaH paara.n darshayati bhagavaan

sanatkumaaraH

ta.n skanda iti aachakshate .

 

"When nourishment is pure, nature is pure.

When nature is pure, memory becomes firm.

When memory remains firm, there is release from all knots of the

heart.

To such a one who has the stains wiped away, the venerable

Sanatkumara, shows the further shore of darkness.

Him they call Skanda."

 

[tr. S. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads.]

 

In Shankara's commentaries elsewhere, he has included in 'aahaara',

all intake through the sense organs, and not just food.

 

Gita has advised 'saatvika'(pure)[XVII:8] and 'mita'(little)[VI:16]

aahara for progress in yoga.

 

The basic cause of lack of happiness is the the loss of memory

[vismR^iti, apohanam] of one's own true Nature, Self.

 

Saint Tukaram, in one of his most famous hymns ['abhangas'] pleads

with God: hechi daana de gaa devaa . tujhaa visara na vhaavhaa .

Give me only this gift , O God! that I may never forget you.

 

[As an aside, Shri Ganapati Muni called Ramana Maharshi as an

avataara of Skanda.]

 

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

 

 

 

advaitin , "Kuntimaddi Sadananda"

<k_sadananda@h...> wrote:

>

> Sub: Does Hinduism require one to be a vegetarian