question - vegetarian foods

[Guest guest]

One of my American Friend asked me the following question

and I do not know how to answer it and it also made me

thinking:

 

" Is it not bad karma to pull a green plant for eating?

When you pull potatoes, carrots, ginger, etc, etc are

you not killing that whole plant? Is it any different

to killing an animal if we consider all souls are equal?"

 

It would be greatly appreciated if someone could please

answer this question.

 

Thank you,

Shanti

 

>

> 1. Vegetarian foods - meat products

> "murali_chris" <murali_chris

[Guest guest]

Your friend is correct that one gets karma through

even seemingly nonviolent acts like pulling vegetables,

since even by such acts one might be harming microbes

or insects. This is not a justification for eating meat,

however, since animals suffer more than plants due to

their more developed consciousness.

 

In order to eat without fear of karma, one should offer

everything one prepares to the Lord as an offering to

Him.

 

The Lord says in Bhagavad-Giitaa:

 

yaj~na-shishtaashinaH santo muchyante sarva-kilbisaiH |

bhunjate te tv agham paapaa ye pachanty aatma-kaaranaat ||

giitaa 3.13

 

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of

sins because they eat food which is offered first for

sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense

enjoyment, verily eat only sin. (bhagavad-giitaa

3.13)

 

Hence, our dharma requires not just being vegetarian,

but eating only those foods that are offered to the

Lord.

 

 

Yours,

H. Krishna Susarla

 

>

> " Is it not bad karma to pull a green plant for eating?

> When you pull potatoes, carrots, ginger, etc, etc are

> you not killing that whole plant? Is it any different

> to killing an animal if we consider all souls are equal?"

[Guest guest]

Dear Krishna Susarla,

 

Beautifully put, excellent.

 

Well, all I would like to say is that:

 

Thinking differs, if someone thinks that meat eating is not right, then he

is right according to him. If someone says that meat eating is based on the

"jananaa marana principle" then even he is right. It is all based on the concept

of relativity as proposed by Einstein.

 

It is better to have an individual approach in this regard.

 

Love and light,

S.R.Sudarshan Iyengar

 

 

-

Krishna Susarla

Saturday, June 15, 2002 10:53 PM

RE: question - vegetarian foods

 

 

 

 

Your friend is correct that one gets karma through

even seemingly nonviolent acts like pulling vegetables,

since even by such acts one might be harming microbes

or insects. This is not a justification for eating meat,

however, since animals suffer more than plants due to

their more developed consciousness.

 

In order to eat without fear of karma, one should offer

everything one prepares to the Lord as an offering to

Him.

 

The Lord says in Bhagavad-Giitaa:

 

yaj~na-shishtaashinaH santo muchyante sarva-kilbisaiH |

bhunjate te tv agham paapaa ye pachanty aatma-kaaranaat ||

giitaa 3.13

 

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of

sins because they eat food which is offered first for

sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense

enjoyment, verily eat only sin. (bhagavad-giitaa

3.13)

 

Hence, our dharma requires not just being vegetarian,

but eating only those foods that are offered to the

Lord.

 

 

Yours,

H. Krishna Susarla

 

>

> " Is it not bad karma to pull a green plant for eating?

> When you pull potatoes, carrots, ginger, etc, etc are

> you not killing that whole plant? Is it any different

> to killing an animal if we consider all souls are equal?"

 

 

Jai SrimanNarayana

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Sri:

SrimathE RAmAnujAya nama:

Sri Sri Sri Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

Dear devotee,

 

I am just sharing my views(hence need not be right).

 

> " Is it not bad karma to pull a green plant for eating?

> When you pull potatoes, carrots, ginger, etc, etc are

> you not killing that whole plant? Is it any different

> to killing an animal if we consider all souls are equal?"

 

Yes,partly true. But one thing you should notice is

that there are stages in plants life. Some plants are

"annual",some are biennial,and some are perennial.

The vegetables(tube varieties and other types)

have short span.

 

One main difference between animals and vegetables

is that,when you cut a potatoe,it doesn't jump around

and say "don't cut me" on the other hand animals are

going to resist you cutting them. Here of course I'm

not talking about viruses/amoeba types but normal veg/non-

veg foods that we consume. For the above reasons one

prefers to be a vegetarian!

 

I just said what came to my mind.

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam

gita

[Guest guest]

Dear Sudarshan,

 

Thank you for your comments.

 

Having an individual approach to spiritual life is a

nice thing. But having a shaastrically based approach

is more important, and effective.

 

You have written to me, and more or less said as much

here, that you prefer not to read any books, but rather

you like to have your "own approach."

 

Please be aware of what Lord Krishna states in Bhagavad-giitaa:

 

yaH shaastra-vidhim utsR^ijya vartate kaama-kaarataH |

na sa siddhim avaapnoti na sukha.m na paraa.m gatim ||

giitaa 16.23 ||

He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according

to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness,

nor the supreme destination. (bhagavad-giitaa 16.23)

 

tasmaach chhaastra.m pramaaNa.m te kaaryaakaarya-vyavasthitau |

j~naatvaa shaastra-vidhaanokta.m karma kartum ihaarhasi ||

giitaa 16.24 ||

One should therefore understand what is duty and what is not

duty by the regulations of scriptures. Knowing such rules and

regulations, one should act so that he may gradually be

elevated.

 

These are very strong statements, and we would do well to

heed them. No doubt it is very difficult to follow the

regulations of shaastra, especially when living in this

materialistic age, when our senses are constantly being

challenged for sense gratification. Still, we should at

least try to do so. No good can come of discarding the

shaastras in favor of unqualified opinions.

 

For example, in a science class, one cannot simply say that

he has an opinion as to why things are, and that his opinion

is just as good as any other opinion. He must refer to the

appropriate textbook which contains the accumulated knowledge

of all previous scientists. There is right and wrong, and

merely giving an opinion does not make it correct.

 

Similarly, in Sanaatana-dharma, we have our authoritative

source of knowledge, the Vedas, and we should consult them

for guidance on proper behavior and right knowledge.

 

As far as meat-eating is concerned, many of us may not really

need the shaastras to understand that it is wrong. We can see

or understand that the practice of killing animals is very

cruel and painful, and so we can understand that it is

forbidden conduct. But if there is any doubt in this matter,

we can always consult the shaastras.

 

samutpatti.m cha maa.msasya vadhabandhau cha dehinaam |

prasamiikShya nivarteta sarvamaa.msasya bhakShaNaat || ms 5.49 ||

 

Having well considered the (disgusting) origin of flesh and

the (cruelty of) fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let

him entirely abstain from eating flesh (manu-smR^iti 5.49).

 

warm regards,

H. Krishna Susarla

[Guest guest]

hello

this concept of karma can also be applied to making

judgements and passing remarks about the actions of

others. hindus have been falsily priding and preaching

on the virtues of good karma to rest of the world

when it is clearly said not to comment on the actions

of others but look into yourself first.

 

so dont worry whether eating meat is good or bad karma

but focus on the virtues of judging all the others

instead judge yourself constantly whether you are fair

and just.

 

krishna

LIFE IS SHORT , LET'S MAKE IT SWEET

[Guest guest]

Dear Krishna Susarla,

 

You wrote:

 

> Having an individual approach to spiritual life is a

> nice thing. But having a shaastrically based

> approach is more important, and effective.

 

Pardon me for my ignorance of Hindu theological terms,

but I gather you are addressing the issue of religious

and social law. This is a matter with which I have

some degree of experience, although that experience is

within the context of western thought. For me, the

following ideas from Steiner have been most helpful.

 

"There is no law enforced by family authority that was

not once intuitively conceived and formulated as such

by an ancestor. Even the conventional laws of

morality are first established by specific persons.

And the laws of the state always arise in the heads of

state officials. Those minds have set up laws over

other people, and no one becomes unfree except by

forgetting that origin and making the laws either into

extra-human commandments, into objective ethical

concepts of duty independent of human participation,

or into the commanding voice of one's own falsely

conceived, mystically compelling inner self. But

those who do not overlook the origin, but seek the

human being within it, will see it as belonging to the

same world of ideas from which they too draw their

moral intuitions. If they believe that they have

better intuitions, then they try to substitute their

own for the existing ones; if they find that the

existing ones are justified, then they act in

accordance with them as if they were their own."

 

R. Steiner, "Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path"

 

This ties directly to your following statement

concerning eating meat.

 

> As far as meat-eating is concerned, many of us may

> not really need the shaastras to understand that it

> is wrong. We can see or understand that the

> practice of killing animals is very cruel and

> painful, and so we can understand that it is

> forbidden conduct. But if there is any doubt in this

> matter, we can always consult the shaastras.

>

> "Having well considered the (disgusting) origin of

> flesh and the (cruelty of) fettering and slaying

> corporeal beings, let him entirely abstain from

> eating flesh" (manu-smR^iti 5.49).

 

You have addressed this practice from the standpoint

of law and from the standpoint of emotional appeal...

the Realms of Dark Inertia and Passion. Where is the

Realm of Lucidity? This is a matter of global concern

for a variety of reasons. However, I believe we must

search for the solution entirely within the Realm of

Lucidity as Lord Krishna has instructed. Nothing less

will stand before the court of modern opinion.

 

Here in the West, we are instructed that the human

body cannot make three of the essential amino acids.

I do not know how this conclusion was derived. That

bothers me as I have found that many of the theorems

which drive western civilization have been contrived

to sustain economic hegemony. How can we investigate

this claim? If it is true, how can we best supply

these missing amino acids? How do we build a new

supply and distribution system for the proposed

solution? How do we address the Alaskan population

who cannot survive without eating meat?

 

I mean to cast no aspersions here, but such complex

issues do not readily yield to simplistic injunctions

and emotional appeals. In this area, perhaps more

that any other, perhaps Steiner's suggestion is the

only possible answer.

 

donJuan 19Jun02

 

Be patient with all that is unresolved in your heart,

And try to love the questions themselves.

Do not seek for the answers that cannot be given,

For you would not be able to live with them.

And the point is to live everything.

Live the question now,

And perhaps, without knowing it,

You will live someday into the answers.

 

--- Ranier Marie Rilke, German Poet, 1875-1926

[Guest guest]

Dear DJQ

 

I would like to add to what Sri Narendar Reddy wrote.

 

a)

SrI-vaishNava philosophy or theology is not enforced through law.

SrI-VaishNava-s are vedantic philosphers who understand and respect

every individual's personal beliefs and opinions.

 

The SrI-VaishNava guru does not go out looking for people to impose

his principles forcibly on.

If a sincere seeker himself approaches, then the SrI-vaishNava guru

teaches philosophy and theology etc merely as guidelines.

It is entirely upto the seeker to take it or leave it.

 

If the seeker does not agree, the vaishNava guru does not declare

fatwaa, jihaad or a crusade war.

 

b) Have you ever wondered about herbivorous animals like horses that

live healthy & strong ?

 

 

c) Sure. An Alaskan cannot be vegetarian. but SrIvaishNava-s do not

compell them (or anybody for that matter) to be vegetarians.

 

Regards

 

//Ramkumar