Q - becoming a vegetarian

[Guest guest]

Jai Srimannarayana:

 

Others have replied to the question of why we should be vegetarian rather than

non-vegetarains. Let us add other "scientific" reasons. We have to cross the

threshold of violence and become more "rajas," or worse "tamas," before we can

eat meat. There were scientific reasons, long before religious reasons, why

vegetarianism is preferable. The human body is constituted in a way that best

performs on vegetarian diet. Heavy foods, which are generally animal-based, such

as eggs, cheese, beef, bacon and such others are rich in cholesterol (C27+H46+O)

which is a kind of animal fat. The problem that cholesterol causes to the

cardio-vascular system is too well-known to need elaboration. The sedentary

life-styles that most of us have, further confounds the problem. Animal-based

foods are difficult to digest. The average Americans, eating mainly animal

foods, almost always carry about 8 to 9 pounds of fecal materials in his

digestive (mainly intestines) tracts and hence their problems of larger

incidence of cases of constipation, bad (rajas and tamas) attitudes and even

colon cancer, not to speak of body odours and foul smells. We are what we eat.

Our sages and gurus therefore recommended vegetarian foods. They had the wisdom

to visualize these situations. Their knowledge was encyclopedic and not

compartmentalized like ours. Let us therefore have at least the wisdom to follow

their advice and cut down on our medical bills.

 

Sri Ramanuja da:sa:nuda:san,

Sudhanva Char