Please help

[iamwhatisayiam 0]

Peace to all,

sorry to say im a non vegeterian, I was raised this way, and at 18 i still live with my parents. but nonetheless I want to chant Hare Krsna, is there anyway I can chant until i become a vegeterian.any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated.Peace

[meez 0]

Of course. Chant all you like and take things at your own pace so you are comfortable with the choices you make. If you are a devotee, focus on Krishna, and things will fall into place for you. Be well my friend.

[iamwhatisayiam 0]

thanks for your help, i feel better knowing that at least i can chant.thanks

[ananda 0]

Please chant to your heart's desire. Slowly we will be purified. Dont worry about that. But lets start the chanting of Lord Krishna's names. You can chant anywhere anytime...bathroom, driving, eating, sleeping, etc.

 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

[iamwhatisayiam 0]

Thanks for your answer it was so helpful

[iamwhatisayiam 0]

Im learning of the magnominity of chanting Gaura-Nitai, its wonderful!!

[KrishnasGirl 0]

 

Im learning of the magnominity of chanting Gaura-Nitai, its wonderful!!

 

i'm sure slowly, you will become a vegetarian. dont worry things will come naturally haribol!

[Mahatma Dasa 0]

Haribol!

 

All glories to Srila prabhupada

 

Please accept my humble obeisances.

 

I too was bought up in a 'normal' western family of meat eaters and alcohol drinkers.

 

I met some devotees in the street in 1983 when I was 18 and received a science of self realisation and a Bhagavad Gita. Despite being a virtual atheist they still took pity on me.

 

After doing some reading I was impressed enough to say to my mom that I was interested in going vegetarian, but got a big negative response, so shelved my plans (being a total non-cook).

 

Although initially attracted by the KC philosophy, I thought I could not

follow as I was not able to go vegi. I thought perhaps I'll be a devotee in my next life, as I did not think I could gve up all my bad habits such as meat eating, drinking smoking etc. I chanted the maha mantra a couple of times and then put the books away on my bookshelf and carried on with my materialistic life.

 

Twenty years passed and I regained an interest in spiritual matters after some deaths in my family. I dug out my old books (very discoloured and tatty by now) and re-read them, and the message hit me so hard that I became determined to follow KC this time.

 

It took me a while to go vegi. This time my wife was doing the objecting rather than my mom (although she still was unimpressed by my decision)

 

I just made the change gradually, by eating vegi whenever I got chance,

and requesting chicken or fish rather than red meat, when eating with my family.

 

By eating cereals for breakfast I could tell myself that I had gone one-third vegi, and by putting only vegi stuff in my lunch box I could tell myself that I was two thirds of the way there. Everytime I ate out I would choose a vegi option. When I cooked the evening family meal I would choose veggie pizza or a vegi alternative meat replacement meal from the supermarket. Eventually I was down to eating meat only a few times a week.

 

I carried on like this for a while but eventually 'bit the bullet' and declared that I could no longer face eating any more corpses. Not a popular move, but as I was almost all the way there it was not too much of a change. What usually happened was that I would have a vegi alternative with my veg and potatos while the rest of the family ate a bit of corpse. Thank Krishna for the Linda McCartney range of veggie foods available in the UK!

After investing in a few vegi cook books including some KC ones such as The Higher Taste, I was able to come up with a few more healthier meals.

 

Also because of the bother of cooking different meals my wife and daughter now eat many vegetarian meals each week as well, although they still have fish or occasionally chicken a few times.

 

So keep chanting and pray to Lord Krishna for help in becoming veggie, and you will get there. Eventually you will leave home at some point and so be able to choose to eat what is right.

 

I don't know which country you live in so apologies if some of these suggestions are not appropriate:

 

Breakfast suggestions:

Branflakes, Muesli, Wholemeal toast with apricot jam, Yoghurt with fruit, Weetabix, Granola, Porridge with dried fruit, Veggie sausages baked beans and wholemeal toast

Lunches

Sandwiches: Salad Baguette, Cheese and pickle, Peanut butter, sliced veggie meat alternatives

 

Light meals:

Baked beans on toast, Cheese on Toast, Veggie sausage hot dogs, veggie burger chips and salad, pasta and salad. Lentil or bean soup

with wholemeal bread, Vegetarian pizza and chips, Pitta breads stuffed with salad, grated cheese and spicy yogurt dressing

 

Snacks: Get extra nutrition by eating an apple, orange, a banana,

or a few pieces of dried fruit such as apricots, figs or dates (lots of iron in these!) each day

Evening meals: many of these can be bought ready made if you have not got time to make them yourself (or are too lazy!)

Cheese and Tomato pizza, chips, salad.

Veggie sausage, mash and mixed veg.

Kidney beans & mixed veg in curry sauce with rice or naan bread.

Cauliflower cheese with macaroni and mixed veg

Vegetarian chile-con-carne

Sweet and sour stir-fry with noodles and marinated tofu chunks.

Nutloaf, mixed veg and potatoes with veg gravy.

Cous Cous, pine nuts mixed veg and mint yoghurt

Goats cheese risotto

Pasta in tomato pasta sauce with grated cheddar/parmesan and mixed veg.

Pasta salad with cashews with dressing egg free mayo

Lentil stew

 

Puddings:

Ice cream and fruit

Rice pudding

Custard and bananas

Fruit yoghurt

Semolina

Egg free cakes

 

Do a websearch for ideas. Kurma dasa's website at kurma.net is very good

 

 

Check out any health food stores if you have any near you.

 

Hope this helps. In the meantime keep chanting as much as you possibly can and reading Srila Prabhupadas books (many can be uploaded for free from Hare Krishna wesbites such as krishna.com)

 

Hare Krishna

Mahatma Dasa:eek:

[bhaktajan 0]

Dear iamwhatisayiam,

Just a few mentions, incase you're not aware of it:

The Hare Krishna's are known as the 'Food religion'.

The most mundane gastronomical factor in vegetarian eating is 'texture', or chew-ability.

Aside from nutritional needs —tofu, fried cheese curd**, wheat gluten* derived vegi-meats, tempeh provide the eater the sensation and variety of

textures that we all have been accustomed & expected to find in our food.

The way temple visitors transition from Karma laden meat foods is to eat temple cooked food as often as humanly possible—the result simply is that one literally develops a 'Higher Taste'. One becomes acclimated to expect only such first class cooking—because "it tastes out of this world".

Vegetarian foods also have the rule of karmic reaction connected with it —to address this the Hare Krishna adherents practice & teach how to "offer" their food to God before consuming it themselves. Thus, the food-stuffs are called 'prasadam', mercy.

Ghee** will provide the taste and savory-ness that is expected in meat dishes (this can be thought of as a secret ingredient that most meat eaters would not recognize the source of).

Meats, fish, eggs, garlic, vinegar & alcohol will all act as aphrodisiacs that leaves a person passionately agitated for sex. [Vulgar recollection of what I have said in my youth: "If she'd put that in her mouth an swallow it gladly then, she'd likely do other vulgar things also"].

Personally I have always considered as a Samurai warrior would:

Vegetarianism avoids unexpected & petty karmic hindrances.

Remember or look-up the Reasons for Good Friday meals of no red meat [i can't remember the details right now].

Jesus was a vegetarian.

My own acid wit appeal to thought-full meateaters:

1) "In heaven, does God say: "What are we having for lunch? Oh, Look, a rabbit running across the garden. Watch this. Swooooshè,popè,bam,èboom—who wants the dark meat?"

2) "If animals have no soul, then why are they animated? Are they robots? Machines?"

3) "I never eat anything that was born as a result of sexual intercourse, especially sub-humans."

Manu-samhita says "amonst all the potential meat foods, eating birds —have the least karma".

[*Gluten protein is made this way:

—Make a plain ball of kneaded dough from an entire 5 pound bag (2.2 Kilos) of Whole Wheat Flour.

—Cook immediately, or, Soak in water overnight to make it denser.

—In a large bowl filled with water, Knead the ball submersed in this water.

—Knead the dough. As the water becomes clouded with the starch that leaches out, drain- off the water and replace with clear water.

—Repeat this 'kneading and water changing' until the water stays clear (about 20 minutes of kneading). The 5 pounds has been reduced to approx. 3 pounds.

—The result is a Glutinous ball with all the starch gone.

—Pinch off pieces and drop into boiling water***, as if making dumplings.

—Boil the bits of gluten for 90 minute on a high flame, and heavily season the broth.

—Lastly, drain off all the water (opt). Refrigerate.

[ ***Option: before cooking, leave the ball a bowl over-night in the refrigerator to allow the remaining water to seep out—it will get really dense]

[**Cheese curd (pot-cheese) is milk that is bought to a simmer and then a table spoon of lemon juice is added—instantly the curds and whey form —pour though a Cheese cloth, Hang the bag to drain cheese until it's a dense ball, Remove cheese, and cut into pieces and fry or eat as is. Salt & Spicing, or even powdered sugar, etc., can be added to before hanging for flavoring.]

[**Ghee is 'butter-oil' made from butter that is melted on a low flame and skimmed of all the fat that rises to the surface until there is only this clear golden oil left. Factoid: it stays edible indefinitely even without refrigeration]

Your long winded servant in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">Krishna</st1:place>'s service,

Bhaktajan

[madanbhakta 0]

 

Peace to all,

sorry to say im a non vegeterian, I was raised this way, and at 18 i still live with my parents. but nonetheless I want to chant Hare Krsna, is there anyway I can chant until i become a vegeterian.any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated.Peace

Hay iamwhatisayiam, Haribol!

 

I am 19 myself, and I still live with my mother. My whole family (extended) and all are Filipino Christians, coming from various sects of Christianity, and I am the only one who has deviated from that norm. I simply see Gaudiya philosophy as my personal way of life, and even moreso, Krishna is my love!

 

If you are independent like me, then I am sure that you can begin cooking food for yourself. If you are served by the cooking of your mother or father, then you will have to wait until you can move out to wholly practice bhakti yoga.

 

Just chant as you feel for now; if you only feel like doing one round, or sixteen rounds, then do it. There is no reason why you can't! ^___^ Krishna knows your heart, and I am sure He also knows of your sincerity to know Him and love Him through His Name. Just continue chanting, reading Scripture, hanging out with devotees, and eat as much vegetarian food as possible (first dedicating it to Krishna. "Lord Krishna, I just want to offer this food as an oblation of my servitude for Thee." Just say something from your heart and chant the Mahamantra a few times... you can memorise the Sanskrit prayers later ).

 

Eat prasadam, dance, and chant. That's what Prabhupada wanted!

 

Radhe Shyam,

madanbhakta.