yogic view of why not to eat meat , by Swami Sivananda

[Guest guest]

QUESTION #202: On what grounds do you prohibit meat-eating?

ANSWER: On medical, psychological, moral and spiritual grounds. The mind is made

up of the essence of the food that a man takes. Tamasic food results in a

Tamasic mind. Meat is Tamasic and hence should be avoided.

When an animal is killed or butchered, a contraction of its nervous system takes

place on account of fear. (And you might have felt certain disturbances in your

own stomach when you have experienced fear.) This leads to the secretion of

certain poisons in the liver, etc., of the animal. These poisons are cumulative

in their nature and are never removed or lost during the process of boiling or

cooking meat. Hence, meat-eating is poisonous and dangerous in the long run.

There is no difference between you and an animal when both are considered as

souls inhabiting the bodies. From whichever source you derive the right to live

and enjoy in this material body, from that very same source, the souls of these

animals have derived equal rights to live and enjoy in their material bodies.

Hence, you do not possess the moral right to kill a single living being, however

small it may be.

Last. but not the least, there is One Consciousness which has expressed itself

in the form of the various beings, animate and inanimate. And this makes you one

with all beings. When you have known this, will you consciously hurt any being?

Can you willingly and joyously cut your own fingers and cook them and eat them?

Knowing this oneness alone is the purpose of your coming again and again into

the mundane plane. You can know, feel and experience this oneness only when you

stop injuring and hurting others and begin to love all as your own Self. Verily,

the animals are thy own Self. Thou alone art residing in these animals as the

individual souls and thou alone art manifest in the form of the material bodies

in which these souls reside. Hence, wake up; stop meat-eating and butchering the

animals. Develop love for them and promote oneness.

 

* All these quotes are from Swami Sivananda's book

'May I Answer That?', available for purchase

on line at http://www.sivananda.org/yogastore/

 

-signed, Stacie, San Francisco, CA