Does God Want Man to Eat Meat?

[radharani#473]

to lose my right to be conscious is a hellish state in my view.

 

i think it's possible to become so non-animalistic that the body ceases to desire food, or to be able to digest it with one's 'animal' parts. i can go for awhile without rennet-cheese, but my body stops accepting food, i dont absorb it. i need the animal enzymes to be able to eat; our pure spirits dont need to eat

[radharani#473]

as far as which animals should be eaten, if you get to a point where you cant be vegetarian and still survive on earth, without cannibalizing your friends, i think the torah provides that information. in egyptian images, you dont see cow headed people but you do see dog headed people; i think this is a clue that dogs should be looked at as non-meat animals, closer to the evolution of conscious humans

[radharani#473]

i think the phenomenon of crooked teeth is a result of eating dogs and horses

[radharani#473]

if i was eating for my tongue, i dont know what i would eat, because i hate all food. maybe i would eat eggless cake

[radharani#473]

i battle nutritional issues on a daily basis. there was a point where if i had someone to 'cook my food for me' i could have remained a vegetarian, most likely. but radharani lives in the sky, doing nothing but lounging around all day with krsna . .. . kali-radharani-candravali-binai-dhrtrastra is not insane

[Guest guest]

 

to lose my right to be conscious is a hellish state in my view.

 

I understand.. but nature provides us a body suitable for our level of consciousness. So we are really getting what we need at the time.

 

As far as regressing to animal form, there are 2 schools of thought on this. One that it means literally reincarnating as an animal, and 2 that it means reincarnating as a bestial human, overcome by animalistic tendencies. Regardless, animals are incarnated jivas too. And so we should look at them with a heart of ahimsa. We should basically only kill animals if they are attacking us (self-defense), not for food.

[Guest guest]

 

as far as which animals should be eaten, if you get to a point where you cant be vegetarian and still survive on earth, without cannibalizing your friends, i think the torah provides that information. in egyptian images, you dont see cow headed people but you do see dog headed people; i think this is a clue that dogs should be looked at as non-meat animals, closer to the evolution of conscious humans

 

if one must eat an animal for some sort of health reasons or what have you, they should at least always avoid cows. If you have to, you can eat fish or chicken. But avoid the cow meat for sure.

[Guest guest]

 

i battle nutritional issues on a daily basis. there was a point where if i had someone to 'cook my food for me' i could have remained a vegetarian

 

you might want to check out an indian cookbook, or if you are not able to cook, see if you can find a local indian resturaunt. They have many tasty dishes.

[renuka]

 

 

amanitvam adambhitvam

ahimsa ksantir arjavam

acaryopasanam shaucam

sthairyam atma-vinigrahah

(9)

indriyarthesu vairagyam

anahankara eva ca

janma-mrityu-jara-vyadhi-

duhkha-dosanudarshanam

(10)

ashaktir anabhisvangah

putra-dara-grhadisu

nityam ca sama-cittatvam

istanistopapattisu

(11)

mayi cananya-yogena

bhaktir avyabhicarini

vivikta-desa-sevitvam

aratir jana-samsadi

(12)

adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam

tattva-jnanartha-darshanam

etaj jnanam iti proktam

ajnanam yad ato ’nyatha

 

"Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance." <TABLE class="Panel SearchResultsPanel" width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD class=Content>

 

 

Bhagavad Gita 13.8-12

 

 

 

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Here Krishna declares Non-Voilence as Knowledge. The actual injunction is to eat food that can be acquired with least voilence. Man cannot survive on lifeless stones. Every living organism feeds on another living organism. This is a cycle.As rational human beings with thirst to acquire knowledge one should strive to be as non-voilent as possible. Hence one chooses fruits, vegetables, grains and milk products.

 

Ifnfact even these food stuffs would result in bad karma to a certain extant as its sources are also living entities. Hence one offers his food stuffs to Lord Krishna and accept His remnants. The food remnants of the Lord is called prasad. Prasad is spritualised food neccesary for one's spiritual growth.

 

One may ask why not do the same with meat?

It is not possible because in Bhagavad Gita Krishna says

 

 

patram puspam phalam toyam

yo me bhaktya prayacchati

tad aham bhakty-upahrtam

asnami prayatatmanah

 

"If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it." Bhagavad Gita 9.26

 

Hence one should offer vegetarian food to Krishna and thereby eat only prasad.

 

More over Srila Prabhupada says,

 

'Nonviolence is generally taken to mean not killing or destroying the body, but actually nonviolence means not to put others into distress. People in general are trapped by ignorance in the material concept of life, and they perpetually suffer material pains. So unless one elevates people to spiritual knowledge, one is practicing violence. ' BG Texts 8-12 Purport

 

Since we are what we eat we should eat prasad and become non- voilent. Preach devotional service to all and become non-voilent in the true sense.

[Guest guest]

the only way to get moksh is to act and follow what the supreme wants. god has made it clear that meat eating or any other actions such as drinking smoking, etc is strictly not allowed.

 

so what the creator says you should follow or you will have to suffer the pains in yampuri

 

also these reasons about making man herbivores and stuff is just plain stupid.

if god wants his disciples to achieve him he has to be strong enough to withstand gods maya so it does not matter how god made us, what is important is that we get final redemption

[Guest guest]

 

the only way to get moksh is to act and follow what the supreme wants. god has made it clear that meat eating or any other actions such as drinking smoking, etc is strictly not allowed.

 

where is smoking and drinking mentioned? I do not smoke or drink, but this is a Gaudiya rule, not a hard rule on Moksha. Jesus drank wine, and he said he represented God.

[Gaea]

 

Jesus drank wine, and he said he represented God.

 

And Narasimhdeva ripped the belly of a king with his bare hands but that doesn't mean we can.

 

Everything an avatar of godly person, like Christ/Prabhupada, does is according to the time, the place and people. That's why there are subtle and sometimes gross differences between leaders.

 

As for smoking etc., i don't suppose the heavens are denied to you because of these but the fact is that when your mind is attached to these things then that much of your mind is not attached to god.

[Guest guest]

 

And Narasimhdeva ripped the belly of a king with his bare hands but that doesn't mean we can.

 

Everything an avatar of godly person, like Christ/Prabhupada, does is according to the time, the place and people. That's why there are subtle and sometimes gross differences between leaders.

 

As for smoking etc., i don't suppose the heavens are denied to you because of these but the fact is that when your mind is attached to these things then that much of your mind is not attached to god.

 

unfortunately there is a lot of cultural customs around the world that include wine drinking. In Italian families it is customary to drink wine at meals. Of course it's also customary to eat meatballs and sausage so one has to throw the customs out the window to follow their spiritual path.

[Nrsinghadev]

 

I heard an ISKCON Swami say it is ok to eat a cow if it has died a natural death? Is this true? I have a dvd where he states this.

I heard Prabhupada speak of the eating of cows who died a natural death several time in his lectures, where he said something like "if you want to eat it you just wait until it's dead, then eat it. There are so many cows, you won't have to wait long until one dies, just don't kill them." However, it should be noted that he was telling this to non-devotees (present at the lecture) who are addicted to eating meat. Perhaps the Swamiji on the DVD was also addressing this same message to the nondevotee crowd. In any way, it was my foolish and erronous understanding that I assumed the swamiji was instructing the devotees. Obviously a devotee can never partake of meateating of any kind, what to speak of cow-eating.

 

 

 

Then how do you explain the existence of peoples like the Inuit, who traditionally subsisted practically solely on meat and fish? I think from your point of view this must be "inexplicable"... (this discussion is getting boring, by the way, I admit....)

What is inexplicable about this? No one said it was impossible, it's just not what the body is suited to. A car runs best on the fuel it is designed to combust. It may run on an alternative fuelsource but it will not run as good on it as it's intended source of fuel.

What's more inexplicable is who on earth would want to live on such a cold and barren land and live off the local wildlife ! Though on a positive note, at least they don't kill cows or maintain regular slaughterhouses.

 

Haribol!

[tensriram]

God has not asked you to eat!

You eat on your own to meet your urge to eat!!

Now you ask - Does God want me to eat meat!!!

[nitai16108]

Hare Krishna

 

All Glories to Srila Prabhupad

 

All the other sastras can say that animals are food.but what did Lord Krishna says in Bhagavd Gita is true because "Krisnastu bhagavan svayam" which means that Bhagavan is the word which can only fit to Lord Krishna

because he is "sad aisvarya purna" who is having all the aisvariya i.e Opulences fully and permanently.So what krishna says is Dharma !

 

In Brahma-Samhita Lord Brahma Glorifies Lord Krishna in first Sloka as

 

TEXT 1

 

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam

 

SYNONYMS

 

isvarah--the controller; paramah--supreme; krsnah--Lord Krsna; sat--comprising eternal existence; cit--absolute knowledge; ananda--and absolute bliss; vigrahah--whose form; anadih--without beginning; adih--the origin; govindah--Lord Govinda; sarva-karana-karanam--the cause of all causes.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Krsna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.

 

 

In Bhagavad Gita Krishna says (9.26):

 

 

TEXT-26

patram puspam phalam toyam

yo me bhaktya prayacchati

tad aham bhakty-upahrtam

asnami prayatatmanah

 

SYNONYMS

 

patram--a leaf; puspam--a flower; phalam--a fruit; toyam--water; yah--whoever; me--unto Me; bhaktya--with devotion; prayacchati--offers; tat--that; aham--I; bhakti-upahrtam--offered in devotion; asnami--accept; prayata-atmanah--of one in pure consciousness.

 

TRANSLATION

 

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.

 

PURPORT

 

Here Lord Krsna, having established that He is the only enjoyer, the primeval Lord, and the real object of all sacrificial offerings, reveals what types of sacrifices He desires to be offered. If one wishes to engage in devotional service to the Supreme in order to be purified and reach the goal of life--the transcendental loving service of God--then he should find out what the Lord desires of him. One who loves Krsna will give Him whatever He wants, and he avoids offering anything which is undesirable or unasked for. Thus, meat, fish and eggs should not be offered to Krsna. If He desired such things as offerings, He would have said so. Instead He clearly requests that a leaf, fruit, flowers and water be given to Him, and He says of this offering, "I will accept it." Therefore, we should understand that He will not accept meat, fish and eggs. Vegetables, grains, fruits, milk and water are the proper foods for human beings and are prescribed by Lord Krsna Himself. Whatever else we eat cannot be offered to Him, since He will not accept it. Thus we cannot be acting on the level of loving devotion if we offer such foods.

In the Third Chapter, verse thirteen, Sri Krsna explains that only the remains of sacrifice are purified and fit for consumption by those who are seeking advancement in life and release from the clutches of the material entanglement. Those who do not make an offering of their food, He says in the same verse, are said to be eating only sin. In other words, their every mouthful is simply deepening their involvement in the complexities of material nature. But preparing nice, simple vegetable dishes, offering them before the picture or Deity of Lord Krsna and bowing down and praying for Him to accept such a humble offering, enable one to advance steadily in life, to purify the body, and to create fine brain tissues which will lead to clear thinking. Above all, the offering should be made with an attitude of love. Krsna has no need of food, since He already possesses everything that be, yet He will accept the offering of one who desires to please Him in that way. The important element, in preparation, in serving and in offering, is to act with love for Krsna.

The impersonalist philosophers, who wish to maintain that the Absolute Truth is without senses, cannot comprehend this verse of Bhagavad-gita. To them, it is either a metaphor or proof of the mundane character of Krsna, the speaker of the Gita. But, in actuality, Krsna, the Supreme Godhead, has senses, and it is stated that His senses are interchangeable; in other words, one sense can perform the function of any other. This is what it means to say that Krsna is absolute. Lacking senses, He could hardly be considered full in all opulences. In the Seventh Chapter, Krsna has explained that He impregnates the living entities into material nature. This is done by His looking upon material nature. And so in this instance, Krsna's hearing the devotee's words of love in offering foodstuffs is wholly identical with His eating and actually tasting. This point should be emphasized: because of His absolute position, His hearing is wholly identical with His eating and tasting. Only the devotee, who accepts Krsna as He describes Himself, without interpretation, can understand that the Supreme Absolute Truth can eat food and enjoy it.

 

If Lord Krishna Would have been likened To Accept meat Then he would have been mentioned in this sloka.

 

Lord Krishna likes only the above said that he will accept when he's given a leaf, a flower, fruit or water with love not Meat or anything else. Another important thing is that we have to eat only the remanents of what Lord Krrishna eats. So if Lord Krishnaa is not accepting that then we should not Eat those things like meat egg, etc..

 

Hare Krishna

[VedantaVisharad]

Who said Hindus are not meat eaters? Bengali Brahmins eat fish, Kerala hindus eat fish. In fact nowhere in the vedic rituals, its said that one should be vegetarian. All sacrifices were made with a "pasu" or animal whic was then eaten as prasad. In the Ashwamedha or Horse sacrifice, a horse was killed and eaten by these vedic pundits! In fact it was Adi Sankara, in 7th century AD, who banned animal sacrifice and instead made the use of clay images of animals for the fire rituals of Vedas (c Sankara and Mandana Misra in Sankara Digvijayam).

 

It is not what u eat, but how u eat that matters. If u eat meat or vegetarian food, eat only for living. Do not live for eating!

[Vrindavan]

>> Adolf Hitler did not have tendencies toward vegetarianism!

 

 

how do you know for sure ?

he is a vegetarian is wrong ?

[Bhakta Harry]

 

where is smoking and drinking mentioned? I do not smoke or drink, but this is a Gaudiya rule, not a hard rule on Moksha. Jesus drank wine, and he said he represented God.

 

This is a common misapprehension. The following quote from "The Four Principles Of Freedom" by Satyaraja Das, 1994 is quite definitive on this subject.

 

 

We are sometimes told that great saints, the emblems of sobriety, have endorsed the taking of alcoholic beverages. But there is no foundation for such claims. It is just a rationale to drink and then pat oneself on one's back that he is following in the footsteps of some great religious personality. This is especially the habit of adherents to the Western religious traditions. Take Jesus and the Bible for example. In Biblical times, all fruit of the vine was called wine, whether it was fermented or not. There are thirteen different words used in Hebrew and Chalde, and four in Greek. The common word in Greek was oinos. This Greek word corresponds to yain in Hebrew, vinum in Latin, and wine in English. However, in classical Biblical usage these words refer simply to grape juice.

In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Bible, the Hebrew word for grape juice is translated thirty-three times as the Greek word oinos. It is also used to denote other kinds of drinks, such as lotus fruit and dates.

According to Professor Samuel Lee of Cambridge University, the root of this word in Hebrew is yain or wine. The word does not generally refer to intoxicating liquor made by fermentation, but more so to a thick, non-intoxicating syrup produced by boiling to make it storable. The grape syrup was stored in new wineskins to prevent fermentation. It was referred to as "new wine," even though it was only grape juice. The thick syrup was similar to our grape jellies and would be squeegeed onto bread or dissolved in water, to be reconstituted as a very desirable grape drink.

 

 

I know this is true because I have lived in the Greece for many years and they still do the same today in rural districts with fruit juices.

However Lord Jesus may have drunk alcoholic wine at some time or other due to certain mitigating circumstances, however he was never doing so as a sense enjoyer.

[bhups]

In order to answer this, you need to read the book The Ayurveda Encyclopedia - Natural Secrets to Healing, Prevention & Longevity. This will explain type of body build ups and the effects of certain foods on the body and mind.

 

technically we cant eat ANY MEAT, canned foods, garlic, onions, mushrooms, white flour, pasteurised dairy, white sugar etc as they are classed in the rajasic/tamasic category and affect the mind to do spritual activities.

eating foods that are sattwic are excellent for spritualaity and very good for yoga. If we want spritual bliss, we need to change our habbits of eating.

 

enjoy

[tensriram]

The carniverous animals kill and eat meat

Biped animals are of two types of people the Carniverous and the Herbiverous ; To pretend we are not animals we have changed the names to Vegitarian and non Vegitarian and tried to class all biped animals in one as human beings.

Further, just like animals we have three classes of behaviour or Gunas which also shade our eating habits. The satvic have only grass , fruits and vegitables. The tamasic relish only meat The Rajasic have a choice of both!

 

Environment also contibutes. In desert and icy cold areas where vegitation is scarce have no option to live but on animals;( and live like them) when they migrate to greener pastures try to relish "Vegi" with but old habits die hard and the taste bud's continue to ask for blood. The struggle for survival is harsh and make's these people fierce. Their meyhods would appear to be tamasic bodering Rajasic when they come into contact with the green pastures. It is ordained by God that they live this style when no other option exists.

 

Where there is plenty of vegitation , there are both the carniverous and herbiverous animals.Bipeds of both too categories are found. The options they have are plenty, and their inclinations are also diversified. Those who cutivate deep observation and study the environment and the need to conserve the environment, take out the least of nature for their survival and are largly vegitarian and tend to be satvic.

 

The tamasic consume the maximum with minimum effort . Tons of vegitation, suffice to serve a large population, the cow, goat or turkey feeds and this is eaten by them- are they not gluttons indirectly eating atons of veg when a few pounds could have satisfied them. Truly they are the rakshasas.

 

Both have to live to witness the dance of life as ordained but with a balance to ensure a tilt towards the former. This calls for effort and understanding and have more to be Vegitarian- with or without understanding the underlying need

[bhups]

"where vegetation is scarce have no option to live but on animals"

 

this is what separates us from humans and animals, this is where we decide if the population is getting too big for the place, slow it down.

 

We are called humans as we have the ability to use our brain to decide what is best for everyone.

 

Where in somlia where the diease is great and food is short, they what to make more babies... VERY stupid!

[Guest]

The Vasudev Mahatmyam states clearly that meat should not be eaten no matter what. Read it in the Skand Puran.

[Vrindavan]

can you quote it too, please ?

[gramo]

No action can produce a retributive effect unless it is done with the consciousness of personal doership and responsibility. Man shall be punished by retributive justice, for man has the freedom to act and he is responsible for what he does. But animals have not been endowed with such a freedom and power of understanding and reason; so what they do is just the expression of the instinctive natural promptings in them and this is included in the scheme of the universal nature. Still they are subject to the laws of nature. Nature is beyond moral laws. Moral conduct is only for man, meant to restrict his behaviour and lead him on to universal consciousness through gradual ascent along the evolutionary ladder.

 

Cutting vegetables is not Himsa. There is no real consciousness in plants and trees, although there is life in them. There is life in plants, sensation in animals, mentality in human beings and spirituality in sages. There is no Visesha Ahankara (ego) and reflection of Chaitanya ( pure consciousness) in plants and trees. Hence they cannot experience pain. The tree will not say, "I am experiencing pain". The mind in plants and trees is not developed. It is quite rudimentary. It is Jada (inert) and insentient. Life on earth will be impossible if we take cutting vegetables also as Himsa. This is only splitting the hairs.