Important message for Vaishnavas.

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Varakh the Silver foil used on Sweets:The silver foils are not very expensive. They are sold by weight.Ordinarily, you can buy a packet of 160 foils for a price between Rs.100 to200. That is, approximately one rupee per foil. Not only the sweets, now adays it is also applied on fruits. Some Ayurvedic medicines also are wrappedin silver foils.They are made by hammering thin sheets of silver in middle of booklets madeof a bull's intestines. In other words, after slaughtering a bull, quicklyhis intestines are removed, and sold to the manufacturers of foils. Theskins made of old intestines are of no use. Even one-day-old intestines cannot be used, because within a few hours they stiffen. After thatthe foil manufacturer sells the bundle of foils to the sweets manufacturers.Some small foil

manufacturers sell the foils to the temples.This foil is not only dirty, it also is non-vegetarian. Even the meat-eatersdo not eat intestines. Use of these foils turn even sweets intonon-vegetarian food. A few years ago the Indian Airlines learned about this,and since then stopped using them on the sweets served in their planes.Source of Silver Foil in SweetsThis aspect is brought out in the magazine "Beauty without cruelty" and theTelevision show of Maneka Gandhi, "Heads and Tails". In India, on an averagean estimate indicates that 2,75,000 kilos of "VARAKH" is consumed. Can youestimate how many cattle/ox are sacrificed for just a bit of taste? If youare surprised as I am, after reading this article please inform as many aspossible so as to ensure that we unknowingly don't consume beef.PanBy now, a pan-lover vegetarian person may have eaten equivalent of manymiles of oxen

intestines! For them, here is an another bad news - the Chunathat they apply on pan, also is not vegetarian! That is made from the shellsof living insects. These insects are taken from the ocean, killed, andremoved from the shell. Then the shells are softened in water, dried, andground into white powder. When you put this Chuna in your mouth, you areparticipating in killing of many insects. This is no different from takinglife of a goat or a pig. Everyone wants to live, no one likes the pain ofdeath.Indian Sweets and VarakhSilver foil, or varakh, as it is generally known in India, adds glitter toIndian sweets, betel nut (Supari), Paan (betel-leaf), and fruits. It is alsoused in Ayurvedic medicines. The silver-topped sweet is even served asprashad in many temples and on auspicious and religious occasions. Varakh isalso used in flavoured syrups as in Kesar (saffron)

syrup.I