Ahimsa = No Woman, quite often, in the West

[Guest guest]

When I was 19, I read Swami Prabhupada's book "The Science of Self

Realization", one afternoon in August, on a porch in the sunlight, right

before my 3rd yr of college.

 

At one point, it hit me, what he was saying about animal slaughter. I

realized I agreed with him, and that I didn't want to be party to needless

slaughter of animals, when we can so easily live off the bounty of the

Earth's vegetation.

 

Since then, 27 years ago, I have never eaten meat, fish or eggs, just like

he said in the book.

 

Nowadays, the idea of intimite love with a woman haunts me like my shadow.

Spring fever, no, it's always been there since my divorce in 95. I've

carried it as a pain causing desire, a longing, a hope, a wish, but it's

always painful. Never mind saying "Give it up", for I try. It doesn't go

away.

 

But my purpose in writing now is this: If I were a meat eater, and if I

liked having dogs in my house, I could have any pick of woman. I am trying

to "date", trying to "court" through the internet website devoted to this.

All the single woman my age range have dogs, and LOVE their dogs. Many of

them have the dogs sleep on or even in their beds at night. Yuck. I really

have never liked the stinky creatures. Oh they're find, OUTSIDE, but NEVER

inside. Even outside, they are always pooping and barking. I don't need

that.

 

Then there's the meat eating. Most people in the West, even here in Eugene

where we have lots of vegetarians SUPPOSEDLY, mostly they all eat meat. So,

ever woman in the ads, 1. Has a dog, and 2. Eats meat.

 

I tried to overlook these things. I tried hard, but I can't. It's just not

me to overlook THESE two things.

 

Let me give a couple examples about how animals appear to me:

 

I have a fish tank. These are tropical tetra fish. Small little colorful

fish from the tropics. Neon Tetras, Corie Cats, Little Black Sharks (like 1

inch long), and other ones I don't konw the names of, but they are all about

1 inch long. There's about 10 of them.

 

When I got the black sharks, there was two. After just a couple days

though, one of them obviously started dieing. Here's the odd thing: The

surviving one kept trying to push the one having trouble up to the surface,

and when it listed to one side, it would nudge it and straighten it out.

During this desperate period of assisting his dieing buddy, he would also

run around the tank real fast, seemingly alerting the other fish, who would

noticeably become disturbed, and go and "see" the dieing fish, and then

after a short look, they would slowly swim away.

 

The biggest fish however nudged the dieing one down to the bottom and

literally performed mouth to mouth recessitation. It was amazing. It died

anyway.

 

Recently the big ones time had come. I could clearly see all the other fish

being very concerned. They would visit him during his last few days.

Constantly going over to where he was laying, breathing slowly, and they

would sit there and just stare at him.

 

I can tell, absolutely clearly, that these dinky little fish can think, can

understand things like death, and sickness, and they have feelings, and

awareness. They seem to care, and be alarmed.

 

Rabbits. When I was a kid I raised Rabbits. I had cages with lots of them.

Sometimes they became so numerous my father insisted on slaughtering some of

them. We would take those chosen for death in a box to the local Rabbitry.

There, they would "clean" them for you, and hand you back your meat. They

allowed us to watch.

 

I saw a wheel barrow brought in with a cage full of Rabbits. They were all

peacefull when outside, but as SOON AS they could SEE that OTHER RABBITS

were being hung up on hooks and their heads were being instantly SLICED OFF,

they began to SCREAM. YES, SCREAM!

 

Rabbits can scream really loud. You never hear it unless they are afraid

for their lives. But they ALL started SCREAMING in the cage and darting

around inside the cage like crazy. They evaded the hand reaching in to grab

them, as best they could, and screamed until each had his neck snapped, and

hung upon the hook. These impressions stayed with me.

 

Because my LITTLE fish have feelings, I know TROUT and SALMON and ALBACORE

and TUNA and so on, all do as well. We all know Whales have families. We

all know elephants bury their dead, but the fact is, even dinky animals have

strong awareness and feelings.

 

I cannot kill them and eat them, when their is alternatives. And frankly,

eating flesh is like eating part of a human. It's incredibly gross to me.

 

But what this means, is that I cannot easily get a woman of my own race in

my own town. Oh sure, I can go to India, but then I'd have to be a Hindu

pretty much, and have the whole family over, and smell like Turmeric and

Hing for the rest of my life (I'm kidding here folks).

 

I was hoping for a lady of my own race, my own area, for the sake of shared

consciousness.

 

This is a bummer.

 

My vrata, my feelings, for animals, is greatly affecting my life, and for

it, I have to tolerate this awful shadow of pain that follows me around.

 

Maybe someday soon it will be solved. I sure hope so. I've hurt long

enough.

 

Richard MacKay Vuerst

Das Goravani

[Guest guest]

{Om Namo Narayanaya}

Dear Das,

It goes without saying that underneath all that *stuff* you are such

a softie, so caring and conscious of pain-inflicting them on even

animals leave alone humans.It is through pain, suffering, the whole

set of experiences( I am sure you have had more than your share)

that truth emerges.Believe me I have too gone through the entire

gamut of pain and that has made me stronger and more spiritual

(nothing to do with religion} and a much better person than I was.

For your sake I wish that your *wish* comes true, soon,

Best wishes

Nalini

{Om Namah Shivaya Namah Mallikarjunaya)

 

 

valist, Das Goravani <> wrote:

>

>

> When I was 19, I read Swami Prabhupada's book "The Science of Self

> Realization", one afternoon in August, on a porch in the sunlight,

right

> before my 3rd yr of college.

>

> At one point, it hit me, what he was saying about animal

slaughter. I

> realized I agreed with him, and that I didn't want to be party to

needless

> slaughter of animals, when we can so easily live off the bounty of

the

> Earth's vegetation.

>

> Since then, 27 years ago, I have never eaten meat, fish or eggs,

just like

> he said in the book.

>

> Nowadays, the idea of intimite love with a woman haunts me like my

shadow.

> Spring fever, no, it's always been there since my divorce in 95.

I've

> carried it as a pain causing desire, a longing, a hope, a wish,

but it's

> always painful. Never mind saying "Give it up", for I try. It

doesn't go

> away.

>

> But my purpose in writing now is this: If I were a meat eater,

and if I

> liked having dogs in my house, I could have any pick of woman. I

am trying

> to "date", trying to "court" through the internet website devoted

to this.

> All the single woman my age range have dogs, and LOVE their dogs.

Many of

> them have the dogs sleep on or even in their beds at night.

Yuck. I really

> have never liked the stinky creatures. Oh they're find, OUTSIDE,

but NEVER

> inside. Even outside, they are always pooping and barking. I

don't need

> that.

>

> Then there's the meat eating. Most people in the West, even here

in Eugene

> where we have lots of vegetarians SUPPOSEDLY, mostly they all eat

meat. So,

> ever woman in the ads, 1. Has a dog, and 2. Eats meat.

>

> I tried to overlook these things. I tried hard, but I can't.

It's just not

> me to overlook THESE two things.

>

> Let me give a couple examples about how animals appear to me:

>

> I have a fish tank. These are tropical tetra fish. Small little

colorful

> fish from the tropics. Neon Tetras, Corie Cats, Little Black

Sharks (like 1

> inch long), and other ones I don't konw the names of, but they are

all about

> 1 inch long. There's about 10 of them.

>

> When I got the black sharks, there was two. After just a couple

days

> though, one of them obviously started dieing. Here's the odd

thing: The

> surviving one kept trying to push the one having trouble up to the

surface,

> and when it listed to one side, it would nudge it and straighten

it out.

> During this desperate period of assisting his dieing buddy, he

would also

> run around the tank real fast, seemingly alerting the other fish,

who would

> noticeably become disturbed, and go and "see" the dieing fish, and

then

> after a short look, they would slowly swim away.

>

> The biggest fish however nudged the dieing one down to the bottom

and

> literally performed mouth to mouth recessitation. It was

amazing. It died

> anyway.

>

> Recently the big ones time had come. I could clearly see all the

other fish

> being very concerned. They would visit him during his last few

days.

> Constantly going over to where he was laying, breathing slowly,

and they

> would sit there and just stare at him.

>

> I can tell, absolutely clearly, that these dinky little fish can

think, can

> understand things like death, and sickness, and they have

feelings, and

> awareness. They seem to care, and be alarmed.

>

> Rabbits. When I was a kid I raised Rabbits. I had cages with

lots of them.

> Sometimes they became so numerous my father insisted on

slaughtering some of

> them. We would take those chosen for death in a box to the local

Rabbitry.

> There, they would "clean" them for you, and hand you back your

meat. They

> allowed us to watch.

>

> I saw a wheel barrow brought in with a cage full of Rabbits. They

were all

> peacefull when outside, but as SOON AS they could SEE that OTHER

RABBITS

> were being hung up on hooks and their heads were being instantly

SLICED OFF,

> they began to SCREAM. YES, SCREAM!

>

> Rabbits can scream really loud. You never hear it unless they are

afraid

> for their lives. But they ALL started SCREAMING in the cage and

darting

> around inside the cage like crazy. They evaded the hand reaching

in to grab

> them, as best they could, and screamed until each had his neck

snapped, and

> hung upon the hook. These impressions stayed with me.

>

> Because my LITTLE fish have feelings, I know TROUT and SALMON and

ALBACORE

> and TUNA and so on, all do as well. We all know Whales have

families. We

> all know elephants bury their dead, but the fact is, even dinky

animals have

> strong awareness and feelings.

>

> I cannot kill them and eat them, when their is alternatives. And

frankly,

> eating flesh is like eating part of a human. It's incredibly

gross to me.

>

> But what this means, is that I cannot easily get a woman of my own

race in

> my own town. Oh sure, I can go to India, but then I'd have to be

a Hindu

> pretty much, and have the whole family over, and smell like

Turmeric and

> Hing for the rest of my life (I'm kidding here folks).

>

> I was hoping for a lady of my own race, my own area, for the sake

of shared

> consciousness.

>

> This is a bummer.

>

> My vrata, my feelings, for animals, is greatly affecting my life,

and for

> it, I have to tolerate this awful shadow of pain that follows me

around.

>

> Maybe someday soon it will be solved. I sure hope so. I've hurt

long

> enough.

>

> Richard MacKay Vuerst

> Das Goravani

>