Let us be Vegetarians

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Dear Friends, Here is few reasons why we should only eat Vegetarian food. There are more reasons. The article is also attached.Thanks Why We Should Adopt a Vegetarian Diet? Udayabhanu Panickar "I look my age. It is everyone else who looks older than they are. But what can you expect from people who eat corpses." George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) said, when asked at age 84 how he maintained such a youthful appearance. He was a vegetarian. This is one reason we should be

vegetarians. But there are more reasons why we should be vegetarians. Here are a few little facts (explanations) on some of them. Health The vegetarian diet is the best. It provides a wider range of nutrients and imposes less burdens and impurities on our body. Vegetarians are less vulnerable to major diseases including cancer and thus live a healthier, more conscientious and may be, even longer life and above all vegetarians shall encounter less and smaller medical bills. Vegetarians’ immune system is stronger, bodies purer, more refined

and skin more beautiful. The flesh eaters face just the opposite and they ingest excessive amounts of cholesterol, making them dangerously susceptible to heart attacks. But unfortunately the majority of the humans simply can’t give up the taste of animal fat and steroids they consume along with the flesh. This is because of the addiction they get due to the consumption of animal fat and the chemicals added in the name of preservation of the flesh at the processing facilities. Majority of the factory animals and birds from which the flesh comes to the market are fed on steroids and hormones, not on natural food. Consuming or handling dead flesh is dangerous, because it spreads lot of germs which causes sickness. Even living close to Factory Farms and meat processing facilities is dangerous. They are polluting and poisoning the air and water, which creates chronic sickness and brain damage and that leads to more untimely death. Many scientific and Medical studies have concluded that eating flesh can seriously damage human health. According to a recent study the vegetarians even smell better. Economic sense. Does it make economic sense to raise animals for food? To produce 1 pound of flesh (accounted for beef production) it takes about 17 lb of vegetation, which is mostly vegetarian food for human consumption such as lentils, corn, beans and grains. It is like investing $17.00 in a bank term deposit and getting back just one dollar at maturity. The vegetation used to produce this one lb of flesh could be used to feed at least 20 people while the one lb flesh it produces may, at the most feed two people. Does it makes any sense to feed an animal 17 lbs of vegetation, provide shelter, allow some time to grow, and then cut it’s throat and kill

it and get 1 lb of flesh which is even unhealthy and dangerous to consume? It will be better just to take that 17 lbs of vegetation and feed on it directly? The reason why people die of starvation (a child dies every two seconds) is because of this slaughterhouse mentality. With every animal we kill for eating, we are killing many more Human beings also. If the millions of acres of land, which is now being used to grow food for animals, are used to grow food for humans directly, there would be at least 10 times more food than currently available. Thus there would be no poverty. About 70% of the crops grown in the US are fed to animals and not to humans. The action of converting 17 lbs of vegetarian food into one pound of flesh food, so that at most 2 people can eat instead of 20 is the major cause of starvation in this world, not Indians and Chinese people eating more food as Mr Bush or Ms Rice claimed. If everyone in the world became vegetarian, there would be no such thing as starvation and poverty. Would The Absolute, our Lord, want us to turn 17 lb of vegetarian food in to one pound of dangerous flesh (non-vegetarian) food, absolutely not! The Ecology Our habitat, this planet earth is suffering in large measure. The reason is an escalating loss of species, animals and plants due to the destruction of ancient rain forests to create pasturelands for livestock. This leads to the loss of topsoil and the consequent increase of water impurities and air pollution. All these have been traced to a single reason, which is the flesh eating habit of the human spices. No other decision that we can make as individuals or as a group can have such a far-reaching positive effect on the improvement of our planetary ecology as the decision not to eat flesh. People seeking to save the planet for future generations, (our own children and grand children) should make a decision not to eat flesh. The Environment The flesh addiction of the people is poisoning and depleting our potable water, reducing the positively functional land, and clean air. More than half the water used in the United States goes to animal growth, which could easily be avoided if people stop eating flesh. The spiritual What we ingest affects our consciousness, emotions and experiential patterns. If we want to live in higher consciousness, in peace and happiness we have to love all creatures. In other words, if we have to live with the nature in peace, we should live in the nature in a natural way. And eating flesh is not natural for human. If we love all creatures, (Our vedah teaches us that we should) we cannot eat flesh of any kind, meat, fish, chicken, shellfish, fowl or eggs. By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal flesh, we introduces into our body and mind the elements of anger,

jealousy, fear, anxiety, suspicion and terrible fear including the fear of death, all of which are locked into the flesh of the butchered creatures. When we eat vegetarian food we are avoiding this. Vegetarian food gives us a higher level of consciousness, and thus that is the more desirable choice. Our level of consciousness at death will determine our next life in a body. If we have eaten animals (flesh) all our life, or even the later part of it, our final thoughts will be of that animals and we will take birth in the animal kingdom. If we have lived a life of charity and generosity by helping the needy, our final thoughts will be that of charity and

generosity, and we will take birth on a different plane of spiritual enlightenment with a much better consciousness. "When the Supreme Lord obtains a body, and when He leaves it, He takes these (refer bhagawad geetha xv-7) and goes with them as the wind takes the scents from their retreats, the flowers.†“Presiding over the ear, the eye, taste, smell and touch, and also the mind, this one avails him self of the values relating to the senses. (bhagawad geetha xv 8 and 9). In other words the living entity in this material world carries his various conceptions of life from one body to the other as the air carries the smell of flowers. So to reach our goal of the merger with the brahman, we must avoid flesh food. "Whatever manifested aspect, a man might think of at death when he leaves the body, that, O son of Kunthi, he reaches, whose thoughts always conform to that particular life-expression. (bhagawad geetha viii 6). The dhammapada says that, all that we are is the result of what we have thought. So it is clear that we carry over what we think, and if we keep on eating flesh, we are bound to think of it and carry it over. As the law of non-injury, (ahimsa) is our dharmam, we are spiritualey bound not to

eat flesh. It is our dharmam and we must not shirk it or shrink it at any level. How can we eat flesh when “He who sees the Supreme Lord abiding in a state of equality in all beings, within the perishing and the non-perishing, he sees.†“For he who sees the Lord seated equally everywhere destroys not the Self by the Self; and then he attains the supreme goal.†(bhagawad geetha 13.27-28) “How he who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh can practice true compassion?†“Riches cannot be found in the hands of the thriftless. Nor can compassion be found in the hearts of those who eat meat.†“Goodness is never one with the minds of these two: one who wields a weapon and one who feasts on a creature's flesh.†“If you ask, ‘What is kindness and what is unkind?’ it is not killing and killing. Thus, eating flesh is never virtuous.†“Life is perpetuated by not eating meat. The clenched jaws of hell hold those who do.†“If the world did not purchase and consume meat, there would be none to slaughter and

offer meat for sale.†(thirukkural 251 to 256.) I have to conclude this again with this: "I look my age. It is everyone else who looks older than they are. But what can you expect from people who eat corpses." George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) said when asked at age 84 how he maintained such a youthful appearance. He was a vegetarian. Sajan Sukumaran <sajan_sukumaran wrote: Krishnaa Guruvayoorappaa! Namasthe to all devotee friends. My name is Sajan. From Kodungallur. I am a

new member to this community of Guruvayoorappa bhakthas. I got membership to this group in last April, but remain silent for all this time watching the mails and participating the Namarchana. I came across this group accidentally, last year during the Ramayana month while searching for online Ramayanam. Since then I have been visiting the guruvayur.com everyday to read the Mahabhagavatam. When I apply for the membership, my intention was only to join the Namarchana. While going through the mails, I found it worth being a member of this community. I found answers to lot of my questions here. A number of great scholars are there among this community. We need only members who are able to ask genuine qestions. Then only we can exploit the wisdom of our gurus. Otherwise we have to satisfy with only what they deliver through their writings. I really

enjoy being a member of this group. The first result of being a member is that I became a pure vegetarian. Since long time I have been thinking about being a vegetarian. But the work atmosphere is not favorable for that. Now I am away from home, in Kuwait, staying with chronic non vegetarians, found it very difficult to follow. Here, anywhere you go, chicken is the main menu. Rice and potatos are the secondary things. After going through the discussions in the group, the words "don't make your stomach a graveyard" deeply touched me. The very same day I decided not to eat non veg. Now I feel very comfortable with the vegetarian even though it consumes some additional time and effort. Thank Guruvayoorappan who brought me to this group. Thank you all. May Guruvayoorappan shower his blessings to all members to continue in the path of Bhakthimarga. May he bless the whole world

to bring in peace and harmony. Thank you the owners, moderators,gurus and all other members. Om Namo Narayanaya Sajan Sincerely, Udayabhanu Panickar aum namahh Shivaaya The vow not to kill is great indeed, And greater still is non-eating of the flesh; There would be no butcher if there is non to eat, In eating thus abides the cruder ill, as he is the reason for the killing.