By Caitanya Caran Das
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THE SPIRITUAL Vol 1 Issue |
THINK BEFORE YOU
EAT
Every day, several times a day, every living being, in whichever part of
the world he may be, enjoys a universal ritual – eating.
Most people decide what they eat based mainly on taste, cost, habit,
nutrition and convenience. But for those who are a little more thoughtful, here
are some other points worth considering.
A FEW FACTS??
NUTRITION
Let us compare the nutrition values of some common vegetarian foods and
some common flesh foods:
Vegetarian foods (100 gm)
| Sr. No. | Name of food stuff |
|
|
|
Cashewnut |
|
|
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Coconut |
|
|
|
Groundnut |
|
|
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Cheese |
|
|
|
Ghee |
|
Flesh foods (100 gm)
|
|
Name of food stuff |
|
|
|
Egg |
|
|
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Fish |
|
|
|
Mutton |
|
|
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Pork |
|
|
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Beef |
|
ANATOMY
Let us compare some of the physiological features of flesh eaters, plant
eaters & human beings:
|
|
Features of flesh eaters | Features of Plant eaters | Features of human beings |
|
|
Intestinal tract only 3 times body length, so rapidly decaying meat can pass out of body quickly |
Intestinal tract 10-12 times body length, fruits do not decay as rapidly, so can pass more slowly through body |
Intestinal tract 12 times body length |
|
|
Small salivary glands in the mouth ( not needed to predigest grains and fruits ) |
Well developed salivary glands, needed to predigest grains & fruits |
Well developed salivary glands needed to predigest grains & fruits |
|
|
Acid saliva; no enzyme ptyalin to predigest grains |
Alkaline saliva; much ptyalin to predigest grains |
Alkaline saliva;
Much ptyalin to predigest grains. |
|
|
No flat back molar teeth to grind good |
Flat back molar teeth to grind food |
Flat back molar teeth to grind food |
Clearly the human body is not made for a non-vegetarian diet.
HEALTH
Due to their unnatural diet meat-eating human beings are far more
susceptible to diseases and disorders as compared to their vegetarian
counterparts. Comprehensive investigations by groups such as the National
Academy of Sciences have linked meat eating to cancer, and the Journal of
American Medicine reports: “90-97% of heart disease could be prevented by a
vegetarian diet.”
ENVIRONMENT
Meat eating also has hazardous effects on the environment, such as forest
destruction, agricultural inefficiency, soil erosion and desertification, air
pollution, water depletion and water pollution.
WORLD HUNGER
Consider the following data. One thousand acres of Soyabeans yield 1124
pound of usable protein. One thousand acres of rice yield 938 pound of usable
protein. One thousand acres of corn yield 1009 pound of usable protein. One
thousand acres of wheat yield 1043 pound of usable protein. Now consider: this
one thousand acres of Soyabeans, corn, rice or wheat, when fed to a steer, will
yield only about 125 pounds of usable protein.
These and other findings point to a disturbing conclusion: meat eating is
directly related to world hunger. A few statistics are as follows –
- If all the Soyabeans and grains fed yearly to U. S. livestock were set
aside for human consumption, it would feed 1.3 billion people. - It takes 16 pounds of grains and Soyabeans to produce 1 pound of
feedlot beef. Therefore about 20 vegetarians can be fed on the land that it
takes to feed 1 meat eater. - Feeding the average meat eater requires about 4,200 gallons of water
per day, versus 1,200 gallons per day for lacto-vegetarian diet. - While it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat, it
takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat. - Harvard nutritionist Jean Mayer has estimated that reducing meat
production by just 10 percent would release enough grain to feed 60 million
people.
In summary, millions will continue to die of thirst or
starvation, while a privileged few consume vast amounts of proteins wasting land
and water in the process. Ironically, this same meat is their own bodys’ worst
enemy.
A FEW QUOTES??
“Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live
by the death of others. We are burial places! I have since an early age abjured
the use of meat.”
Leonardo Da Vinci
“When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when a tiger wants
to murder him, he calls him ferocity.”
George Bernard Shaw
“It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely
physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the
lot of mankind.”
Albert Einstein
“I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we
should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily
wants. “
M. K. Gandhi
“The flesh eating is simply immoral, as it involves the performance of an
act which is contrary to moral feeling- killing. By killing man suppresses in
himself, unnecessarily, the highest spiritual capacity- that of sympathy and
pity towards living creatures like himself and by violating this his own
feelings become cruel.”
Leo Tolstoy
“Flesh eating is unprovoked murder.”
Benjamin Franklin
“As long as man massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he
who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.”
Pythagoras
“A dead cow or sheep lying in a pasture is recognized as carrion. The same
sort of a carcass dressed and hung up in a butcher’s stall passes as food.”
J. H. Kellogg.
THE VEDIC PERSPECTIVE
The Bhagavad Gita states that foods such as milk products, grains, fruits,
and vegetables increase the duration of life and give strength, health,
happiness, and satisfaction. Conversely, foods such as, meat, fish and fowl are
putrid, decomposed and unclean. They cause numerous hazards to physical
health.
The Srimad Bhagavatam, the summum bonum of all Vedic literature, states
that meat-eating is one of the four pillars of sinful life. Apart from bringing
severe sinful reactions, meat-eating also dulls the human intellect thus
rendering it incapable of understanding the higher dimensions of life. Therefore
real spiritual life, nay real human life, can not begin unless a human being
stops killing his younger brothers, innocent animals, just for the satisfaction
of his tongue.
A REQUEST
We request all the readers of ‘Spiritual Scientist’ to forward this
article to their friends and relatives who may have been misled and victimized
by the treacherous propaganda blitz of the meat packing industry. This will help
them to think for themselves about their dietary habits and arrive at an
intelligent and mature decision.
|
Scientist Investigating Reality from the Higher Dimensional |
I remember reading somewhere (in the Caitanya Caritamrta I think) that there are golden lotuses that grow in the celestial ganges, and the heavenly beings there eat the stems of those golden lotuses and thus their bodily forms become extremely beautiful.
However, those who eat Lord Krishna’s prasadam are consuming substances much more precious than those celestial lotuses, and thus they attain bodily forms that surpass in beauty the residents of heavenly planets.
In Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita we find this vers:
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 3.13
yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo
mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ
bhuñjate te tv aghaḿ pāpā
ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt
TRANSLATION
The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.
PURPORT
The devotees of the Supreme Lord, or the persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, are called santas, and they are always in love with the Lord as it is described in the Brahma-saḿhitā (5.38): premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. The santas, being always in a compact of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda (the giver of all pleasures), or Mukunda (the giver of liberation), or Kṛṣṇa (the all-attractive person), cannot accept anything without first offering it to the Supreme Person. Therefore, such devotees always perform yajñas in different modes of devotional service, such as śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam, arcanam, etc., and these performances of yajñas keep them always aloof from all kinds of contamination of sinful association in the material world. Others, who prepare food for self or sense gratification, are not only thieves but also the eaters of all kinds of sins. How can a person be happy if he is both a thief and sinful? It is not possible. Therefore, in order for people to become happy in all respects, they must be taught to perform the easy process of sańkīrtana-yajña, in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise, there can be no peace or happiness in the world.(end)
We also know from the Gita that different food is in different modes of nature, but even vegetarain food offered to Krsna with to much spices is also in the mode of passion, because to much spices is one of the symptoms of the mode of passion.For the cooks’s in KC ,please watch those hot chili pepers etc, remember you are cooking for Krsna ,that is a “tender youth ” and that does not like overspiced offerings- neither does his devotees
(at least those not in the mode of passion or who desire to add to the mode of passion)
KC.Prabhupada has also commented in the Nectar of Instruction vers 1:
Others are attracted by eating vegetables, creepers, spinach or milk products, but all for the satisfaction of the tongue’s demands. Such eating for sense gratification — including the use of extra quantities of spices like chili and tamarind — is to be given up by Krsna conscious persons.
Ramanujacarya has commented on this vers Gita 3.13:
Ramanuja’s Commentary
Those who prepare food from funds honestly acquired with the sole objective of worshipping the Supreme Lord Krishna who resides as the soul within themselves as well as within all the demi-gods and every living entity; and those who only partake of such duly consecrated food become absolved of all sins accumulated over iniquity subatomic and atomic impending the completion and fulfilment of self realisation of the atma or soul. But those sinful wretches who do not first offer to the Supreme Lord what was gifted to them and instead prepare and eat it appropriating it for theirselves verily eat only sin. The word agham meaning sin denotes their will be grave consequences for such sins. Ignorant of the path to atma-tattva or self realisation of the soul, such degraded persons perpetually eat sinful food insuring a hellish destination in their next life. It should be understood that everything is connected to yagna or worship in this world and the next, from both the point of view of sastra or Vedic scripture and from inference. It should also be clearly understood that the observance of yagna is essential for benefit and welfare of all mankind and that its omission purposefully or accidental is counter productive for the entire human race and is fraught with sinfulness and dire consequences.
I recall a devotee that would sometimes forget to offer the prasadam on sankirtana, and everyone took it that at least it was cooked by a devotee but actually to even “forget to offer food to Krsna” is counter productive for our advancement in
the words of Sripada Ramanujacarya
the correct headline would be: Offer you food to Krsna before you eat
Dear Devotees, Just a caution.
Please be careful about eating to many Cashews (or Cashew butter) because they are mentioned at high rate of medical values. They are very heating to the system. Ready made roasted, toasted, fried cashews and other nuts may be very toxic to the system because of rancidity. Ground Nuts = Peanuts should not be eaten raw, very heavy to digest. Few cooked peanuts in a preparation or roasted are ok especially on Ekadasis. Actually it is best to eat only six soaked almonds with peels removed in the morning.