Sentient beings : practicalities of Advaita Vedanta (#2 CONTINUED)

[Guest guest]

Namasté Dear List,

 

Thank you very much for the various replies received, and for the

questions contained in some of them which I shall try to respond to:

 

1 The name I use is " Raga " , which is female or male Sanskrit name.

Therefore, I am female or male, depending on the Sanskrit writing.

" Rajah " is merely the Internet email address name used by this

GROUP - we are a number of people who are " poor " (financially) who use one

PC and various names as our needs arise. In this case, this is Raga

writing.

 

2 The basic question asked by us is, since we believe in reincarnation,

we must be vegetarians because we would be killing reincarnated

souls in other life forms, that is, also inflicting suffering and pain,

on them, which to a non-Hindu is in contradiction to Hindu beliefs.

 

3 Bringing Hitler into the discussion about Advaita Vendantism in the

context of my question, is I suggest, deliberately irrelevant because

he was not a Hindu and has nothing to do with the question. Hitler

was also a homosexual, a mass murderer and thug - these have nothing

whatsoever to do with the question.

 

4 There are many " good " vegetarians and " bad " vegetarians, as there are

meat-eaters - but that was not my query, which I humbly repeat :

reincarnation versus killing sentient life - how does that line up with

eating meat in the basic Hindu belief of reverence for all life?

 

5 Sri Swami Sivanabda writes, ( " Bliss Divine " )

" Diet is of three kinds, viz., Sattvic diet, Rajasic diet, and Tamasic diet.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna: " The food which is dear to

each is threefold. The food which increases vitality, energy, vigour, health,

and joy and which are delicious, bland, substantial, and agreeable are dear to

the pure. The passionate persons desire foods that are bitter, sour, saline,

excessively hot, pungent, dry, and burning, and which produce pain, grief, and

disease. The food which is stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, and impure, is dear

to the Tamasic " .

Milk, barley, wheat, cereals, butter, cheese, tomatoes, honey, dates, fruits,

almonds, and sugar-candy are all Sattvic food-stuffs. They render the mind pure

and calm and play a very important part in the practices of spiritual aspirants,

in the mental development of the student, and in the personality- power of the

leaders of mankind. Fish, eggs, meat, salt, chillies, and asafoetida are Rajasic

food-stuffs; they excite passion and make the mind restless, unsteady, and

uncontrollable. Beef, wine, garlic, onions, and tobacco are Tamasic food-stuffs.

They exercise a very unwholesome influence on the human mind and fill it with

emotions of anger, darkness, and inertia. "

 

6 Dear friend Sunder writes:

All who have not reached this stage are saadhakas, and there is

no need to 'confess' publicly as to what stage each one is at in this

process!

and:

Better than those who just know, are those who practise what they have

understood

[Manu Smriti 12:103]

 

YES!

 

BUT - we make public statements (for 8000 years) about our reverence for life,

so when someone else wants to know where we stand on the issue, don't you

think it would be good to answer their question rather than evade a world-wide

search for Love and sanity in a global bloodbath of hatred and cruelty?

And if we practise what we say we are, the we must support anti-cruelty?????

 

Yours in humility

 

Raga

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Mahatma Gandhi's life was an example of what one should aim

for. Thakur asked us to follow at least 1/100 of what he practised.

Ramana Maharshi asked us to know our own nature first [svaruupa]

before trying to solve the world's problems.

 

Where is the question of where we stand, or of evasion?

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

 

 

 

Ramakrishna, " Rajah " <rajah@x> wrote:

> Namasté Dear List,

 

> 6 Dear friend Sunder writes:

> All who have not reached this stage are saadhakas, and there

is

> no need to 'confess' publicly as to what stage each one is at

in this

> process!

> and:

> Better than those who just know, are those who practise what they

have understood

> [Manu Smriti 12:103]

>

> YES!

>

> BUT - we make public statements (for 8000 years) about our

reverence for life,

> so when someone else wants to know where we stand on the issue,

don't you

> think it would be good to answer their question rather than evade

a world-wide

> search for Love and sanity in a global bloodbath of hatred and

cruelty?

> And if we practise what we say we are, the we must support anti-

cruelty?????

>

> Yours in humility

>

> Raga