To be a Vegetarian

[Guest guest]

Om sai ram,

I am a vegetarian,but i always had this query in my mind and as this topic

of being vegetarian is discussed i would like to ask about plants having

life too,as they grow and bloom, so are we commiting a sin by cutting them

for our needs and if not then in what way?I am looking for an answer to this

and no way intentionally arguing on being vegetarian.

Malini-dubai.

[Guest guest]

Sairam,

dear Malini sister,

Does not the plant grow again when the branch is cut.?

Do not the fruits fall and decay otherwise?

do not the plucking of vegetables from the plant and leaves from spinach

actually spur more growth?

they are all designed that way eventhough Dr Jagadish chandra Bose

concluded that plants have feelings too.

Sairam

Crishnan

Malini Chawla wrote:

 Om sai ram,

I am a vegetarian,but i always had this query in my mind and as

this topic

of being vegetarian is discussed i would like to ask about plants

having

life too,as they grow and bloom, so are we commiting a sin by cutting

them

for our needs and if not then in what way?I am looking for an answer

to this

and no way intentionally arguing on being vegetarian.

Malini-dubai.

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram Malini,

 

Sure that can be a very irking question.

 

Swami had mentioned that there is life in veggies, but no the type of life in

animals. Then animals are effected by emotions as much as we humans are. Lastly

animals have the same red blood in their veins as we have. And so also for body

parts.

 

Veggies have been tested to show that there is life in them - but, then let us

not forget what Swami has said that Birds and bests do not fall sick - beacuse

they do not cook the food they eat. So eaten raw, veggies are more healthy and

life giving - cause they are living. A simple grain becomes living when you

sprout it.

 

Sai Ram - Be Happy

 

JP

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Malini Chawla wrote:

Om sai ram,I am a vegetarian,but i always had this query in my mind and as this

topic of being vegetarian is discussed i would like to ask about plants having

life too,as they grow and bloom, so are we commiting a sin by cutting them for

our needs and if not then in what way?I am looking for an answer to this and no

way intentionally arguing on being vegetarian.Malini-dubai.

[Guest guest]

To express an opinion, body being an important tool given to us for our

spiritual advancement, preserving body and its health must be one of our

duties. Life cannot be sustained without life and probably that is why we

cannot live by eating rocks or mud (relatively non-living but considering that

each atom/atma is life, there are no 'non-living' things at all in this

universe He created). The option we are left with is to be content with the

lowest forms of life for our basic food needs and that is plants. By being a

vegetarian we make sure that, for pleasing our tongues alone, we do not hurt

any higher forms of life.

Man is the highest form of life in the created material world but even when

people prefer non-vegetarian food, they do not consume human beings as food. So

each one of us are in fact drawing a line about the food we ought to avoid,

whether we are vegetarians or non-vegetarians.

And if we are medically advised to have a particular food or if the food

available where we live is only of one category, I think it can never be taboo

as the purpose of it all is to preserve the precious tool called our body.

Sai Ram.

India Matrimony: Find your partner online.

[Guest guest]

Om Sai Ram Malini Chawla.

 

Plant "death" is different than animal or human death. Plants do not die,

because they are not "alive" in the Bibical sense of the word.

 

Plants do not have a central nervous system, nor do they have blood.

According to scripture only organisms with blood in them are "alive".

 

Humans and animals also posses a state of conciousness that plants can not.

 

The Hebrew word "nephesh" is the word used in the Bible for consciousness.

Nephesh is only used in application to man and animals. Plants are not

concious creatures.

 

Sin brought death to man and animals only. Plants do not truly die in the

sense that humans and animals do. Though they are alive in a biological

sense, they do not have a spirit, consciousness or soul, but feelings..

 

Plant grow again when the branch is cut.

When the fruit fall or decayed, it is replaced with another fruit..

Plucking of vegetables from the plant and leaves from spinach actually spur

more growth?

 

Man, the crown of creation, has set himself apart from other life-forms,

regarding animals and plants as dumb and insentient. .

 

Do animals feel pain?

The weight of scientific evidence shows they do. Mammals have languages of

their own to transmit inner feelings-aggression, fear-to their fellows.

Birds show astounding cognitive ability, conductingelaborate courting

rituals and displaying great passion and devotion to lifelong partners.

Within each species, whether insect, fish, plant, or even microbes, life

exists inglorious and surprising variety, rich in sensation and creating a

marvelously complex web of interaction with its surroundings.

 

Another angle from the Creator.

 

What did animals who appear today as carnivorous eat in the Garden of Eden?

 

The Bible tells us that they all ate plants. We look at the animals in the

world today and see that many of them have teeth for eating meat. How, and

when did this change?

 

God changed the diet of humans in Genesis 9 when Noah got off the ark. I

believe that one of the reasons God did this was that many of the plants

that had nourished man before the flood had now died off (or were not as

plentiful after the flood). Plant degeneration would also effect the

nutritional value of plants.

 

If animals were created to eat plants then why do many of them have

structures that appear to be created to cause harm? Like Tigers, dogs, Etc.?

None of these harmful things existed prior to the curse God placed on the

earth when Adam sinned.

 

Spiders did not spin webs to catch insects. This is one of the many changes

that occured after "the fall".

 

I believe that this is how carnivorous behavior began, with a distortion or

breakdown of the genetic messages in tooth and jaw formation. Some

herbivorous creatures became carnivorous and were transformed similar to the

caterpillar/butterfly transition. The radioactive elements probably made an

even more disastrous debut on earth as they were spewed forth at the flood

when the earth was torn asunder and "all the fountains of the deep burst

open.

 

As animals became carnivorous some were (and others became) better adapted

to prey on a particular other kind of animal. The tongue of an ant-eater

could be the result of natural selection (a biblical concept) those with

longer thinner tongues (if that is what is needed to get the ants) would be

more likely to reproduce and pass the genes for a long tongue onto their

offspring. This is not evolution. They are did not become fish, or birds.

And the tongue is still a tongue.

 

Vegetarian Piranha-There is evidence that Piranha were once vegetarian as

well.

Were Dinosaurs once vegetarian?

Anytime we see a movie about dinosaurs they are shown in battle with another

dinosaur. Why would God create such vicious creatures? There is no question

that God created the dinosaurs , he did not create them to be monsters.

Take the Tyrannosaurus for example. This enormous dinosaur is seen as a

savage hunter, ripping apart everything he sees. But since the bible says

that all animals were created to be vegetarian (until death came into the

world), many Christians have been confused about the teeth of dinosaurs.

There are some people who believe that T-rex used its strong teeth and

powerful jaws to eat vegetation. And while I am in agreement that dinosaurs

were created to eat plants, the teeth of the t-rex that we see in movies

were not suitable for eating vegetation.

 

Did God give them sharp teeth to eat plants? -I believe that the fossilized

T-rex skulls we find today have different teeth than the ones God originally

gave them.

 

Incisivosaurus gauthieri" -The January 2003 issue of National Geographic

reports that the remains of a dinosaur with "beaver-like incisors" has been

found in China's Liaoning Province. The find, named Incisivosaurus

gauthieri" belongs to the theropods (a group of meat eating dinosaurs which

includes Tyrannosaurus rex). It is clear from finds such as this, and others

(such as Heterodontosaurus) that many dinosaurs started as vegetarian, and

degenerated enough in their dentition to develop teeth for eating meat.

 

The animals in the Garden of Eden were far more complex than our minds could

fathom. A degeneration from this perfect state would still be a very complex

creature, it does not have to be an impoverished one as you say. We do not

know if all animals degenerated at the same rate, it is my guess that they

did not. Each would degenerate in different ways and at different rates.

The Bible has the answer. Animals and man lived together peacefully in the

beginning, and will do so again in when Christ returns.

 

The lion who wouldn't eat meat -A lion that would only eat cooked grain,

raw eggs and milk. He cites this as evidence that lions once ate only

vegetation. While I agree this is a clear biblical teaching..

 

Why are some animals still vegetarian?-I do believe in the bible and what

God created. But you say that all animals were meant to vegetarians. Why are

their still some vegetarians today and some carnivores?You go into quite a

treatise on how carnivores degenerated from the fall to the flood, but why?

Could not God have simply transformed them when He pronounced the curse on

Adam and Eve? Or failing that, just "tweaked" their DNA so all their

offspring were born with the appropriate attributes? If it took hundreds of

years for animals to degenerate into carnivores, will it take hundreds of

years for them to become vegetarians again after Christ returns? I think

not.No the change back to a vegetarian diet will be miraculous and instant.

But this does not preclude that the transformation to carnivous did not

occur over time. Adam did not physically die instantly, it was a process.

But the ressurection of his body when Christ returns will not be a process,

it will be instant.

 

 

-

"Malini Chawla" <malinichawla

<saibabanews>

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 12:55 PM

[saibabanews] Re: To be a Vegetarian

 

 

> Om sai ram,

> I am a vegetarian,but i always had this query in my mind and as this topic

> of being vegetarian is discussed i would like to ask about plants having

> life too,as they grow and bloom, so are we commiting a sin by cutting them

> for our needs and if not then in what way?I am looking for an answer to

this

> and no way intentionally arguing on being vegetarian.

> Malini-dubai.

[Guest guest]

I have read in a book named "Footsteps To God" in which swamiji answer to some

questions which you have mentioned.

 

While addressing Summer Course 1992,Swamiji said,"many physicians advise eating

fish and meat as it strengthens the body with proteins.They consider only

muscular strength and have no thoughts for spiritual at all.We do get these

needed proteins from milk,curds and butter.So why become animalistic by

consuming animal food?This leads to animal tendency in our behavior

too.Food,head,God are very much interconnected." If killing sheep,goats and

poultry be bad,how about consuming vegetable food,for the vegetables too have

life principle (PRANA).This is what modern people ask.

Swamiji answers:"prior to surgical operation choloform is administered.There too

is prana,but one is unaware of operations like cutting ,stitching etc.In plants

and trees too there is PRANA but they do not have PRAJNA (awareness).No pain is

felt and no sin is incurred if one consumes vegetarian food.

 

I hope this answers your question.

 

Sai Ram

D.Bharath Rama Rao.

 

 

Malini Chawla <malinichawla (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Om sai ram,I am a vegetarian,but i always had this query in my mind and as this

topic of being vegetarian is discussed i would like to ask about plants having

life too,as they grow and bloom, so are we commiting a sin by cutting them for

our needs and if not then in what way?I am looking for an answer to this and no

way intentionally arguing on being vegetarian.Malini-dubai.

[Guest guest]

Om Sai Ram

I thankyou all the Sai followers on sharing your knowledge and experiences

with me,it has increased my vision and gives me satisfaction on being

vegetarian as it is a step to spiritualism.

So wish you all healthy eating and positive thinking and continue to

propogate positive vibes.

 

Malini-Dubai