Carrots, onions and garlic

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Can any devotee please reply to this question?

 

Q. As per the references below how is it that we eat carrots? I know Srila

Prabhupada made Carrot Halavah on ekadasi...How is it different from the

garlic and onions? Is there any specific reference in any of our scriptures

(like Hari-bhakti-vilasa for eg) regarding not to eat carrots, onions or

garlic? Do they eat carrots at all in Gaudiya Math or did Shrila

Bhaktisiddhanta allow eating carrots or red lentils as per his strict

standards?

 

>As per the story below (I don't know the source scripture but will try to

>find out), onion and garlic came from the dead body of a murdered cow and

>therefore they are considered like eating meat. They break the

>non-vegetarian principle from the sastric point of view. Strict

>vegetarians don't eat onion nor garlic. Since meat is tamasic they are also

>tamasic food. They may have some medicinal value like even wine is used in

>medicines sometimes. Thus they are taboo for devotees.

>

>"Once, in Satya Yuga the risis were performing gomedha and

>asvamedha sacrefices for the welfare of the whole universe. A cow or a

>horse would be cut into pieces and placed in the fire. Afterwards the risis

>would utter mantras and the same animal would come alive in a beautiful

>young body. One time the risi who was about to perform a gomedha sacrefice,

>his wife was pregnant. She had a very strong desire to eat and she had

>heard that if, during pregnancy one has a desire to eat and does not

>fullfill this, then the baby that will be born will always have saliva

>coming from its mouth. Very strange, she desired strongly to eat meat, thus

>she decided to keep one piece of meat of the cow's body that was offered in

>sacrefice. She hid it and was making a plan to eat it very soon. At that

>time the risi was finishing the sacrifice and uttered all the mantras for

>the new young cow to come to life. However when he saw the new cow, he

>noticed that there was a little part missing from her left side. He went

>into meditation and realized that his wife had taken away a piece of meat

>during the sacrifice. Now his wife also understood what happened and

>quickly threw the meat far away. Due to the effect of the mantras uttered

>by the risi there was now life in this piece of meat. Then the blood of

>this meat became red lentils, the bones became garlic and the meat became

>onions and carrots. Thus these foods are never taken by any vaisnava

>because it is not vegetarian. Plus it is in the mode of ignorance."