Why Only Vegetarianism?
Dear all , i am presenting here some of the facts of why we need to be vegetarians to evolve spiritually.
First of all if we study our body anatomy it resembles herbivorous(plant eaters) but god created
us as Omnivorous as we have the JeevaSudantra (freewill) to select or do good or evil. But from the
anatomy we see our inherent body structure is to be of vegetarians. Our body digestive fluid acidity,
teeth structure, length of digestive system all resemble herbivorous.
Leaving aside science, let us use our common sense to evaluate why we need to be vegetarians.
As human we preach love and compassion and expect the same from others. It is also said getting a
human birth is very rare. When we kill animals for food we clearly see the animals suffer the pain. It runs
away fearing for the life and reacts in a same way like humans.
Imagine the pain a animal suffers in slaughter houses or imagine a fish taken from water and
now think and how we feel when we drown in water. If we care for these sufferings how can we expect
god to help us in our trouble. For any progress on spirituality we need compassion and Love. "Anbe
Sivam" or "Love is god". By eating flesh or animals we are killing the love. That's why vallalar has said
people who eat non-veg food will never get the grace of lord and their life will be determined only
according to their fate.
It is said removing the soul from a body forcefully is the highest pain a soul can suffer. We are
forcefully removing the soul from a animal body and making it to suffer. As per the law of karma we are
forced to suffer the same pain and fear either in this birth or other.
Some people argue that plant too has life. Yes plant too has life in it but its consciousness is very
poor or ill developed and the pain it suffers is far too meager or insignificant as the plant does not have
nervous system and sensory system as that of a animal (say a cow , sheep or fish). That's why our
scriptures tell that plants were with consciousness of 1st level or very basic consciousness. Also we can't
produce our own food we need to depend on plants which have the capability to produce its own food.
See the beauty of god's creation, god has given the capability for plants to produce its food but
made it senses or consciousness so minimal. Clearly this shows the plant food is for humans. Also god has
given the capability for humans to regrow a plant (rice, wheat, etc) from plant seedbut we can't do so
for animals.
Now let us see what great saints and siddhars who have reached the highest state have told
about non-eating.
1. Vallalar :
He is the latest great saint we had who have achieved the greatest state in spirituality and who has
overcome death by converting his physical body to spritualbody.
In his writings he says "My Intelligence is going beyond universe and universes". He clearly says who
ever eats flesh of other beings is not eligible to get the grace of lord. He also says if a person has got
siddhi to raise another person from death and if that person eats meat then he too cannot overcome
the repeated cycle of birth and death. This great soul who advocated there is no difference in person
based on birth, language , religion has divided people as Agavinathaar and
Puravinathaar. Puravinathar is a person who eats meat and not virutuous and this type of person can
never receive the grace of the lord. But any person by leaving side meat eating can become eligible for
receiving the grace and can become Agavinathar.
2. Thriuvalluvar :
Has written a complete stanza(10 Couplets) denouncing meat eating.
3. Thirumoolar , Manichavasagar:
Has condemned meat eating and condemns the meat eaters as Pulaiyars (???????? ).
4. All the major philosophies of Advaitam (by AdhiSankarar), Dwaitam(Madvacharyar) and
Visistadvaidam (Ramanujar) advocates eating only vegetarian food for progress in
sprituality.
5. Jainism also condemns meat eating strongly.
So all major religions condemn meat eating.
There are also saints who have reached lord despite meat eating. If we look at their history we see
they have undergone lot of physical sufferings in their life before attaining divinity. That's why vallalar
when asked lord if anyone in anyplace has reached divinity like him without undergoing much difficulity,
lord has told that he is the only person to realize him without undergoing much difficulty. This vallalar
attributes to his jeevakarunyam. (Compassion he had for all the souls).
Just think even the great souls has to undergo this sufferings to clean their karma despite their
extreme devotion like kannapanayanaar. We as a ordinary humans can we undergo such sufferings? So
the supreme lord's law were same to all, if you commit wrong you will be punished accordingly. But if
we repent and stop them any one can reach the supreme lord.
We accumulate lot of bad karma by eating non-veg food which will prevent us from progressing
towards spirituality and we need extreme effort to overcome this karma.
Today all our knowledge and views were influenced by what we read and what we see. So it is always
better to read the works of great saints like vallalar, Thiruvalluvaar who have attained lord and follow
them.
We have seen all the great saints condemning meat eating, so we need to shun this meat eating for any
one to progress on spirituality.
Vegetarianism alone will not bring one closer to divinity but it will help one to do penance effectively
and makes one good human with love and compassion towards all living beings around us.
