{"id":24558,"date":"2020-04-13T14:04:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T11:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/?p=24558"},"modified":"2020-04-13T14:04:14","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T11:04:14","slug":"6-are-hindus-forbidden-to-eat-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/sanatana-dharma\/14-questions-people-ask-about-hinduism\/6-are-hindus-forbidden-to-eat-meat","title":{"rendered":"6. Are Hindus forbidden to eat meat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are Hindus forbidden to eat meat?<\/span><\/samp><\/h3>\n

Hindus teach vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other beings. But in today\u2019s world not all Hindus are vegetarians.<\/span><\/samp><\/h3>\n

O<\/span><\/span>UR RELIGION DOES NOT<\/span>\u00a0lay down rigid \u201cdo\u2019s and don\u2019ts.\u201d There are no commandments. Hinduism gives us the wisdom to make up our own mind on what we put in our body, for it is the only one we have\u2014in this life, at least. Vegetarians are more numerous in the South of India than in the North. This is because of the North\u2019s cooler climactic conditions and past Islamic influence. Priests and religious leaders are definitely vegetarian, so as to maintain a high level of purity and spiritual consciousness to fulfill their responsibilities, and to awaken the refined areas of their nature. Soldiers and law-enforcement officers are generally not vegetarians, because they have to keep alive their aggressive forces in order to perform their work. To practice yoga and be successful in meditation, it is mandatory to be vegetarian. It is a matter of wisdom\u2014the application of knowledge at any given moment. Today, about twenty percent of all Hindus are vegetarians.<\/samp><\/p>\n

Elaboration:<\/strong>\u00a0This can be a touchy subject. There are several ways to respond, depending on who is asking and the background in which he was raised. But the overlying principle that defines the Hindu answer to this query is\u00a0ahimsa<\/em>\u2014refraining from injuring, physically, mentally or emotionally, anyone or any living creature. The Hindu who wishes to strictly follow the path of noninjury naturally adopts a vegetarian diet. It\u2019s a matter of conscience more than anything else.<\/samp><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/samp><\/p>\n

Vendors at a market are selling fruits, vegetables, grains, spices and sweets\u2014a potpourri of foods that great cooks creatively combine in one of the world\u2019s most sumptuous cuisines. Hindus understand the sound reasons against eating meat, and many abstain entirely. With such a savory and healthy diet, there is no need to consume flesh.<\/em><\/span>
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When we eat meat, fish, fowl and eggs, we absorb the vibration of the instinctive creatures into our nerve system. This chemically alters our consciousness and amplifies our lower nature, which is prone to fear, anger, jealousy, confusion, resentment and the like. Many Hindu swamis advise followers to be well-established vegetarians prior to initiation into mantra, and to remain vegetarian thereafter. But most do not insist upon vegetarianism for those not seeking initiation. Swamis have learned that families who are vegetarian have fewer problems than those who are not.<\/samp><\/p>\n

Poignant scriptural citations counsel against eating meat. The\u00a0Yajur Veda<\/em>\u00a0(36.18) calls for kindliness toward all creatures living on the Earth, in the air and in the water. The\u00a0Tirukural<\/em>, a 2,200-year-old masterpiece of ethics, states, \u201cWhen a man realizes that meat is the butchered flesh of another creature, he will abstain from eating it\u201d (257). The\u00a0Manu Dharma Shastras<\/em>\u00a0state, \u201cHaving well considered the origin of flesh and the cruelty of fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let one entirely abstain from eating flesh,\u201d and \u201cWhen the diet is pure, the mind and heart are pure.\u201d For guidance in this and all matters, Hindus also rely on their own guru, community elders, their own conscience and their knowledge of the benefits of abstaining from meat and enjoying a wholesome vegetarian diet. Of course, there are good Hindus who eat meat, and there are not-so-good Hindus who are vegetarians.<\/samp><\/p>\n

Today in America and Europe millions of people are vegetarians because they want to live a long time and be healthy. Many feel a moral obligation to shun the mentality of violence to which meat-eating gives rise. There are good books on vegetarianism, such as\u00a0Diet for a New America<\/em>. There is also a fine magazine called\u00a0Vegetarian Times<\/em>. The booklet \u201cHow to Win an Argument with a Meat-Eater\u201d is online at:\u00a0www.himalayanacademy.com\/books\/pamphlets\/WinMeatEaterArgument.html<\/a><\/span>.<\/samp><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are Hindus forbidden to eat meat? Hindus teach vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other beings. But in today\u2019s world not all Hindus are vegetarians. OUR RELIGION DOES NOT\u00a0lay down rigid \u201cdo\u2019s and don\u2019ts.\u201d There are no commandments. Hinduism gives us the wisdom to make up our own mind on what we put in our body, for it is the only one we have\u2014in this life, at least. Vegetarians are more numerous in the South of India than in the North. This is because of the North\u2019s cooler climactic conditions and past Islamic influence. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-14-questions-people-ask-about-hinduism","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}