Did Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura eat meat?

11-29-2002, 09:02 PM

Haribol.

I've recently come across a text that suggest that
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura may have eaten meat at some
point in his life.

The evidence comes from 'Svalikitha Jivani,' an
autobiographical text written by Srila Bhaktivinoda
Thakura in the form of a letter to his seventh son,
Srila Lalita Prasada Thakura.

I suspected that it may be a spurious and/or invented
text, but it seems that this text is rather authentic
and has been used for consultation by Rupa-vilas das,
who wrote the 'Seventh Goswami' bioraphy of Srila
Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Below are the relavant verses:

"225. Everyone in Chapra became my friends. The
lawyer, Kesab Babu, always supported my point of view.
The Judge Saheb also was favourable towards me. The
people of Chapra made many kinds of pickle. A certain
type of vinegar pickle was the best. I began to make
it. [Their] mustard oil pickle had a pleasant taste
and I began to make that also. At that time I ate a
lot of fish and meat. I had known that killing animals
was bad for a long time, but I had a strong desire to
enjoy fish and meat."

"226. I ate a lot of fish in Chapra, but it was not
very good. Therefore, I ate more goat meat. After the
prolonged eating of food of this kind combined with
red chillies and mustard seed pickle, I developed a
bleeding ulcer. The first [attack] occurred on a full
moon day. Gradually I got pains every new moon and
full moon day. It took 5 to 7 days from the day the
pain started for it to go away. So much suffering!
When the pain [started] I automatically suffered from
vomiting and diarrhea for 10 to 17 hours. At first I
went to the doctor, and a close friend, Manohar Babu,
gave me medical treatment. Thereafter, I tried Moslem
natural medicine. Finally, Mahendra Mama brought some
Ayur Vedic herbs from the jungle and a local Vaidya
made a little medicine."

I looked long and hard, and was finally able to find
an online copy of this text at:

http://www.raganuga.com/cgi-bin/raga...fd5de9664095b\
76403;act=ST;f=8;t=375;st=0

So if it is true that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura ate
meat, how does this fit in with the perception of a
liberated soul according to Srila Prabhupada's
teachings?

Jay

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