2 interesting questions

[Guest guest]

in talking about vedic philosophies with folks from non-vedic

background and non-indian perspectives, i often come across

some interesting questions. here are two such questions. pls

note that both these were asked in good faith by good people

with a curiousity to know how the vedas deal with them and not

to pull my chain.

 

(1) eating eggs and meat is forbidden, you say. if the reason is

that they are jeevAtmAs, what about an artificially fertilized egg ? it

surely has no opportunity to be a living being - ever. why not eat

them.

 

(2) your pet (by the way, our family just adopted a golden retreiver

puppy - a delight who listens to vishnu sahasranama and

seems to enjoy it !) needs its diet of Alpo and other meat based

food - for its survival. what do the shAstrAs say about keeping

such food at home and feeding it .

 

(my approach is that i feed it like i am feeding it prasada and

take care of it as though i have been entrusted its life by

Narayana himself)

 

could any one of provide insight on them...

 

Narayana!

 

Vishwanath

[Guest guest]

Re: Eating eggs

 

Eating unfertilized eggs (as eggs sold in supermarkets are, by the way),

is not akin to eating meat, per se. However, there are a couple of

reasons to abstain from eggs nonetheless. First, a traditional reason --

it comes from an aesthetically displeasing part of the chicken. Certainly

not a really big reason, I know, but I have heard it mentioned.

 

Secondly, the way eggs are harvested in America in factory farms is

absolutely horrifying. Chickens are bred in 2 x 2 pens from birth,

solely for the purpose of laying eggs, and therefore do not even know

how to walk, having been denied the chance to learn how to do so.

Also, since the chickens are kept in such close proximity to one

another, they are likely to peck each other to death, so they are

mercilessly debeaked without anesthesia. Also, if any chicks are born

from the eggs that these chickens lay, most are killed as they are

considered unnecessary by-products of the egg harvest.

 

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in eating an unfertilized egg

laid by a free-range chicken, but supermarket eggs are the result of

extreme cruelty, and I therefore try to stay away from them -- though

I must admit I do not always succeed. There are often some cookies, etc.,

that I eat ignoring my conscience.

 

Re: Alpo

 

Another tough question to which I do not have an easy answer.

Vegetarians on rec.food.veg regularly discuss this issue. I think

the way you resolved it is probably a good one, given that

dogs are by nature carnivorous. It seems wrong to impose our value

systems on creatures that have inherently different requirements

from ourselves.

 

Mani

[Guest guest]

Ahem!

 

oooo Boy... this opens a *BIG* can of worms.

Me and my wife always have discussions on things like these and I end up losing

(not able to answer satisfactorily probably because of my lack of enough

knowledge)

 

To Q1 below... I have a corollary...

 

Only fairly recently we have discovered (in the last 100 or so years) that

plants

are living beings too. How is it we "kill" them - I am not talking about

fruits -

to get grains like rice, wheat etc.? Just because they don't bleed &/or

protest

does not mean they don't hurt.

 

 

About Q2 below... i have a point-of-view...

 

We are now pitting Laukeekam against Vaideekam (i think)

In olden days, the dog was never allowed inside the house! Why say "olden"

days?

As a child, when I used to visit my grandmother in a remote village near

Mysore,

the dog used to eat our leftovers from the leaves on which we ate.

Ofcourse we did not have *any control* what the dog ate in its "own private

time"

it definitely used to go from houes to house to eat!!

So the question in itself has relevance only in the modern (Laukeeka) world...

 

There are some compromises you have to make when you embrace Laukeekam, as we

all've done

by coming to this country. Why come this far? Even in India, there is

Laukeekam!!!

As a true Brahmanan you are not allowed to eat until you

do sandhyaavandnam at the Nadee Teeram (river bank) daily and not until you

see the sun!

My father used to say a cloudy day is called DurDinam (bad day). SO... No

sun... No food!!!!

 

All I can say is we all have to strike a balance. The real-life analogy is teh

balance

between work and family time. Each one of them has its own rewards. it is upto

you

how you balance them. THere is no one black/white answer.

 

My 2 cents, :-)

LakshmiNarayanan

 

 

 

 

> From uucp Tue Mar 7 16:14:27 1995

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> Tue, 07 Mar 1995 15:51:10 -0500

> VISH (Vish Vishwanath)

> prapatti

> 2 interesting questions

>

> in talking about vedic philosophies with folks from non-vedic

> background and non-indian perspectives, i often come across

> some interesting questions. here are two such questions. pls

> note that both these were asked in good faith by good people

> with a curiousity to know how the vedas deal with them and not

> to pull my chain.

>

> (1) eating eggs and meat is forbidden, you say. if the reason is

> that they are jeevAtmAs, what about an artificially fertilized egg ? it

> surely has no opportunity to be a living being - ever. why not eat

> them.

>

> (2) your pet (by the way, our family just adopted a golden retreiver

> puppy - a delight who listens to vishnu sahasranama and

> seems to enjoy it !) needs its diet of Alpo and other meat based

> food - for its survival. what do the shAstrAs say about keeping

> such food at home and feeding it .

>

> (my approach is that i feed it like i am feeding it prasada and

> take care of it as though i have been entrusted its life by

> Narayana himself)

>

> could any one of provide insight on them...

>

> Narayana!

>

> Vishwanath

>

>

>