Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hari bol! I'm relatively new to Krishna consciouness and was talking to some friends about the benefits of being a vegetarian. One of friends however, said in the the Laws of Manu (Chapter 5) that is OK to eat meat under certain sacrificial circumstances. Can somebody provide some more light on this issue from a Krishna conscious perspective as I can't understand why there would be need to a sacrifice any animal after all that I learnt about compassion for other souls. Thanks you in advance! Your slow learning servant, ravi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Haribol, It is like this: 1) When we desire something, Lord reciprocates out of his mercy 2) Now Krishna does NOT want us to eat meat - but we still express desire to do so (in previous lives). 3) Therefore Krishna out of mercy allows for meat-eating in the animal sacrifice law that you talk of. However, this animal sacrifice can only be carried out by QUALIFIED BRAHMINS... In this age, everybody is of Sudra quality at the highest...THERE ARE NO QUALIFIED BRAHMINS...therefore NOBODY can perform these sacrifices, therefore you still suffer bad karma by eating meat in THIS AGE... Even in the previous ages, when there were Qualified Brahmins, they would not eat meat if they were REAL Brahmins, because they would realise the sick nature of having to sacrifice an animal and offer to God. A REAL Brahmin would not perform such a sacrifice, because by nature he is PEACEFUL, and NON-VIOLENT... Also, the Manu Law Codes also show an explicit injunction against eating meat - the four regulative principles (one of the four is not to engage in meat eating)... Hence, anybody eating meat even if sacrificed, is using one exception to go against the well-established rule... The one who does that surely expresses a desire to eat meat for him to ignore the rest of the Manu Law Codes, and just follow that particular law... I hope that helps, HAribol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Dear Guest, Thank you for you fast response /images/graemlins/smile.gif Yes I see what you are saying. It's makes sense. Just to broaden the subject a bit more though, why does Sri Krishna allow us to fufil our desires for this particular regulative principle. Or to put it another way, why is their not any laws that allow say sacrificial "drinking of alcohol, or gambling or illicit sex?". I know these statements are quite silly because the effects of such are quite obvious, but then again the same can be argued for eatin meat in the first place. I just find it little hard to understand that Krishna would actually give us a way to carry out our selfish acts in the name of a sacrifice? Hope you see my point. Please accept my apologies if any1 feels offended by the crudeness of my statements. Hare Krishna! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Haribol, That is quite alright - no need to apologise - keep asking questions, its the only way to strengthen your faith and defeat doubt!! I can't speak from any authority on alcohol, gambling or illicit sex. But from what you just said, about the effects being obvious, Krishna maybe realised that they should not be encouraged at all, since they lead to even more misery. The effect of alcohol - violence, aggression, disease. Effect of Gambling - lose the things that God has given you...Effect of Illicit Sex - rape, broken marriages, children without parents... However, people who want to enjoy such things will acheive there desire in Heaven, where such things are allowed - but they will still suffer distress from birth, death, old age, and disease...For example the whole thing about Illicit sex is not immoral in Indraloka (heaven)...but the people in heaven have been so pious in previous lives, that they are intelligent enough to realise that even Heaven is a place of suffering, full of the four miseries... I hope that helps, Haribol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hari bol! Why would Krishna provide us the facility to fall down even more through what seems a "pious activity". I hope you understand what I'm trying to say is... I haven't yet come across any other Vedic instructions where a person is allowed to perform some activity (wheteher sacrificial or not) in the name of the Lord that would actually be an inhibitor to their spiritual advancement. I understand we have free will and that we want to maybe eat meat or do soething else according to our own desire and then we end up paying back the reaction through our karma. However this animal sacrificial is hard to understand because it's like Krishna wants us to go downhill?! rather than uphill back to him. /images/graemlins/frown.gif Then you also say some of these actions are OK to do in the heavenly planets. Yet they still have karma so does it not affect them. For example it's fine to have immoral sex or eat an animal because you are in the heavenly planet. Does Karma not apply to them, or do people up their generally do partake these activities or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 1) animal sacrifice is there so that the people who desire it can do it - but impossible in this age - so what is the argument about? Krishna does not want us to go downhill - but if someone is going to eat meat anyway, he's so merciful that he makes it so that at least they can eat in a way that they offer to God rather then eat totally in sin - but the animal sacrifice is such a disgusting process that Krishna meant it to discourage people from performing them...in this age this is irrelevant anyway cos nobody is qualified to perform animal sacrifice, so nobody escapes karma of meat eating... 2) heavenly planets - sex is not immoral - i.e. no karma for illicit sex (in my understanding) but there people are intelligent enough to realise that the pleasure is temporary and they soon will realise the right path... i didn't say anything about alcohol or meat for heavenly planets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 ok cool thanks for your answers. Yes I know the meat eating question is not releveant for this age as you kindly stated before but I was trying to understand more on principal rather than circumstance. also sorry to mis quote you about the alcohol, meat in heaven, i thought thats what u meant, obviously not. thanks for ur knowledge and time - i learnt a lot. Thanks to admin for setting this board up aswell so ppl like me can increase our knowledge of the almight infinite Krishna /images/graemlins/wink.gif HARE KRSNA!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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