Are Hindus forbidden to eat meat?

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Are Hindus forbidden to eat meat?

 

A: Hindus teach vegetarianism as a way to live with minimum of hurt

to other beings. But in today's world not all Hindus are vegetarian.

 

Longer Answer: Vegetarians are more numerous in the South of India

than in the North. This is because of the North's cooler climactic

conditions and past Islamic influence. Our religion does not lay down

rigid " do's and don'ts. " There are no commandments. Hinduism gives us

the wisdom to make up our own mind on what we put in our body, for it

is the only one we have -- in this life, at least. Priests and

religious leaders are definitely vegetarian, so as to maintain a high

level of purity and spiritual consciousness to fulfill their

responsibilities, and to awaken the more refined areas of their

nature. Soldiers and law-enforcement officers are generally not

vegetarians, because they have to keep alive their aggressive forces

in order to perform their work. To practice yoga and be successful in

meditation, it is mandatory to be vegetarian. It is a matter of

wisdom -- the application of knowledge at any given moment. Today,

about twenty or thirty percent of all Hindus are vegetarians.

 

Explanation: This can be a very touchy subject. When you are asked

this question, there are several ways that you can go, depending on

who is asking and the background in which they were raised. But there

is an overlying principle which gives the Hindu answer to this query.

It is called ahimsa, refraining from injuring, physically, mentally

or emotionally, anyone or any living creature. The Hindu who wishes

to strictly follow the path of noninjury to all creatures naturally

adopts a vegetarian diet. It's really a matter of conscience more

than anything else.

 

When we eat meat, fish, fowl and eggs, we absorb the vibration of the

instinctive creatures into our nerve system. This chemically alters

our consciousness and amplifies our lower nature, which is prone to

fear, anger, jealousy, confusion, resentment and the like. Many Hindu

swamis advise followers to be well-established vegetarians prior to

initiation into mantra, and then to remain vegetarian thereafter. But

most do not insist upon vegetarianism for those not seeking

initiation. Swamis have learned that families who are vegetarian have

fewer problems than those who are not.

 

There are many scriptural citations that counsel not eating meat,

such as in the Vedas, Tirukural and Manu Dharma Shastras. For

guidance in this and all matters, Hindus also rely on their own guru,

community elders, their own conscience and their knowledge of the

benefits of abstaining from meat and enjoying a wholesome vegetarian

diet. Of course, there are good Hindus who eat meat, and there are

not-so-good Hindus who are vegetarians.

 

Today in America and Europe there are millions of people who are

vegetarians simply because they want to live a long time and be

healthy. Many feel a moral obligation to shun the mentality of

violence to which meat-eating gives rise. There are some good books

on vegetarianism, such as Diet for a New America by John Robbins.

There is also a fine magazine dedicated to the subject, called

Vegetarian Times.

 

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