Vegetarian
Society - Millions of people around the world live
without meat or fish and they probably each have their own reasons
for doing so. However, most vegetarians would agree
that: It’s better for
animals.
Around two million land animals are slaughtered every day in the UK
alone, just so that people can eat their
flesh.
It’s more
sustainable. Growing
grains and pulses to feed to animals is much less efficient than
eating them ourselves. The livestock industry uses huge amounts of
land, water and fossil fuels, while producing 18% of the world’s
greenhouse gas emissions and all sorts of other
pollution.
It’s a healthy
option. A
balanced vegetarian diet is one of the healthiest diets
around.
VEGETARIANISM AN ESSENTIAL KEY TO
YOGA -
Yoga
aims at disciplining the body and mind. Health of the body and mind
depends on the observance of the laws of right living. The human
being is herbivorous and frugivorous. This, any other food is
against the law of nature. Physical health is dependent on the food
we take. If we are not conscious and careful about the nourishment
of the body, we impoverish the whole system. The Body is the Temple
of God in which the Holy of Holies dwells. How, therefore, can any
impurity be admitted into this pure temple? This body is the
vehicle of the Divine to manifest Himself in His true glory. If the
blood stream is polluted by the blood of animals, no light can ever
shine in the function of the heart and this this Divine Temple is
darkened.
Judaism and
Vegetarianism-And
God said, behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is
upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the
fruit of a tree yeilding seed, to you it shall be for food. And to
every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I
have given every green herb for meat [=food]: and it was
so.Genesis
1, 29 & 30
It is
interesting to note that legislation was once introduced by
Mordecai Ben Porat in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) proposing to
outlaw meat-eating! Unfortunately, the legislation did not pass;
unfortunate because this would indeed have been an interesting
social experiment and Israel could indeed stand head and shoulders
above all nations in its respect towards
animals.
According
to the UNIVERSAL JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA,
1939 -The
Jewish attitude toward animals has always been governed by the
consideration that they, too, are God's creatures...[and] the
obligation to respect and consider the feelings and needs of these
lower creatures...The non-canonical...writings strongly urge
kindness toward animals, declaring that one who harms an animal
harms his own soul".
[1:330]
According the ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JUDAICA, 1974: -In
later rabbinic literature,...great prominence is also given to
demonstrating God's mercy to animals, and to the importance of not
causing them pain. ...The principle of kindness to animals...is as
though God's treatment of man will be according to [people's]
treatment of animals".
Hindu / Hare Krishna / Sikh /
Jain -
HINDU-Having
well considered the origin of flesh-foods, and the cruelty of
fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let man entirely abstain
from eating flesh. - Manusmriti
5.49
Hare Krishnas in War-Torn
Russia -Working in a makeshift kitchen with
ingredients they drag around town in a 10-years-old discarded
Russian ambulance, Krishna members serve simple vegetarian meals
and bake what some people consider the best bread in
Grozny. "I know
what Americans often think of us,"
Mr.
Makarov said. "They
think we are some sort of annoying cult. But we are not. Our goals
are all spiritual. If people want to learn more about us that is
great. But usually they just want food. And that's the reason we
came here."
A NAMDHARI SIKH'S
TESTIMONY-Meat-eaters
having no hatred for bloodshed develop in themselves an indifferent
attitude to the sufferings and pains of others. The future or the
world lies with men of sober habits, industrious nature, and
balanced minds, loving all and hating none. These qualities can
only be developed with a simple diet of vegetables, milk, milk
products, cereals, nuts, and fruits. Namdharis strictly believe
that every Saviour of humanity was a vegetarian and that
vegetarianism can help greatly in saving the world from coming
destruction and in establishing an everlasting
pence.
JAIN-Ahimsa
says that we have no right to inflict suffering and death onto
another living creature and, that if harmlessness were the keynote
of our lives, then this would do more to produce harmonious
conditions than any other discipline. Ahimsa is the basic principle
on which the Jaina moral code is built. In simple words, 'Live and
let live' is the creed of Jainism. As every one of us wants to
live, enjoy pleasures, and escape pain, so every other living being
wants to live, enjoy comforts, and avoid pain. If we want to
exercise our right to live, we must concede the same right to
others as well. It is a simple moral law of reciprocity. Naturally
man has no right to slaughter animals for his food or for his
pleasure. If he does so by his superiority in the cadre of
biological evolution, his action is not justifiable in any way. And
if he wants to lend a life of justice and equity in society, he
must have the highest respect for the entire animal world, nay the
sanctity of life as such. This necessitates that he must take to a
vegetarian diet.
Thakar Singh on the Karma of
Vegetarianism -Question:
Master, we all know that it's very crucial to abstain from the
eating of meat because this increases our karmas, but can you
explain in more detail the reasons for becoming
vegetarian? Thakar
Singh: We are
not to increase our burden of karmas, as you have already said.
There is value in every kind of thing we use in this world. In the
same way, if we can maintain our life very simply, with the lower
cost of this greenery, then why should we attract so much burden
and payment of karma? We are only allowed to have the fruit of the
trees and whatever is grown on the table of this earth with the
least burden. But when we eat some greenery or fruit everything is
wonderful. If you look at fruit that is ripe the colors tell you so
wonderfully that it is ripe. A fragrance is also available and when
you smell it you enjoy it and even when you remember the smell you
can enjoy. Your heart is also enjoying and your mind and body are
at peace. So my dear, God has all sympathy for us and if He has
recommended some things for us then we should accept them and we
should not impose our minds and intellects into His wisdom. That is
why in the Bible and all other scriptures man has been very clearly
told, "don't do this--do only this." Everything is clearly
explained to us. Why don't we accept these
commandments?
Islamic Duty of Compassion Towards
Animals -All
creatures on earth are sentient beings. "There is not an animal on
earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings - but they are
communities like you."
(The
Quran, 6:38)
"The
Holy Prophet Muhammad (S) was asked by his copmpanions if kindness
to animals was rewarded in the life hereafter. He replied: 'Yes,
there is a meritorious reward for kindness to every living
creature'." (Bukhari)
"The
Holy Prophet (S) condemned those who pinion or restrain animals in
any other way for the purpose of target
shooting. (Al-Masburah
and
Al-Mujaththamah)."
(Muslim)
"The Holy Prophet (S) said: 'It is a great sin for man to imprison
those animals which are in his
power'." (Muslim)
There
are numerous Islamic laws forbidding
vivisection (Al-muthia)
on a
live animal. IBn Umar reported the Holy Prophet (S) as having
condemned those who mutilate any part of an animals body while it
is alive. (Ahmad
and other authorities)
CHRISTIANITY-SAINT BASILE THE
GREAT-Love
all God's creatures, the animals, the plants. Love everything to
perceive the divine mystery in
all. Fyodor
Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)
(320-79 A.D.) Bishop of Cesarea, adjures : If one lives soberly.
"The animals will be secure; they will never pour forth their
blood; men will never cause beasts to die; the knives of cooks will
be useless; and the table will be loaded with the fruits given us
by nature, and we will be content." "There never was wine in the
Terrestrial Paradise ; they never sacrificed animals ; they never
ate meat ; wine was only invented after the
Deluge,"
The
infliction of cruelty with a clear conscience is a delight to
moralists. That is why they invented
hell.Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970)
If we
understand and feel that the greatest act of devotion and worship
to God is not to harm any of His beings, we are loving
God. Meher
Baba (1894-1969)
Ellen White, co-founder Seventh
Day Adventists (1896)
-The
diet of animals is vegetables and grains. Must the vegetables be
animalized, must they be incorporated into the system of animals,
before we get them? Must we obtain our vegetable diet by eating the
flesh of dead creatures? God provided fruit in its natural state
for our first parents. He gave to Adam charge over the garden, to
dress it, and to care for it, saying, "To you it shall be for
meat." One animal was not to destroy another animal for food."
Vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose our diet. Not an
ounce of flesh meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh
is unnatural. We are to return to God's original purpose in the
creation of man.
Buddha
vegetarian?
-
Again, there may be some people in the future who .. . being under
the influence of the taste for meat will string together in various
ways sophistic arguments to defend meat eating . But... meat eating
in any form, in any manncr, and in any place is unconditionally and
once for all prohibited... Meat eating I have not permitted to
anyone, I do not permit, I will not permit
. -
Lankavatara