hinduism and vegetarianism

[Wannabe Yogi]

Either way, you can see how the vegetarian Hindu does not have a one-up over a meat-eating Hindu.

I look at it like this...giving up meat is a good practice for Ahimsa. There are many good practice's. The Dali Lama eats meat I would never say he would not be liberated because of it. I don't do Hatha Yoga, its a good practice still I am not a bad guy because I don't do it every day.

On some paths one must give up meat. It is not true of all paths.

 

[kaisersose]

I look at it like this...giving up meat is a good practice for Ahimsa. There are many good practice's. The Dali Lama eats meat I would never say he would not be liberated because of it. I don't do Hatha Yoga, its a good practice still I am not a bad guy because I don't do it every day.

On some paths one must give up meat. It is not true of all paths.

In closing, it is also worth noting that the majority of mankind (including Hindus) are *not* interested in Liberation. Their interest in religion is mostly limited to matters pertaining to this life - like health, affluence, safety, success & longevity.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

In closing, it is also worth noting that the majority of mankind (including Hindus) are *not* interested in Liberation. Their interest in religion is mostly limited to matters pertaining to this life - like health, affluence, safety, success & longevity.

I agree. The only thing that needs to be followed is Dharma. All of us must try to full fill our goals by good actions or our world will be a living hell. Moksha only a few desire.

 

[Madhuri]

There is no indication that meat-eating will result in more births.

The Jains take a lot of pains to not kill insects and smaller forms of life. For this reason, they prefer not to eat root vegetables - least the process of digging these vegetables out will result in the deaths of several forms of life.

But even the most devout vegetarian Hindu/Vaishnava does not share this concern. They are just not as interested as Jains in saving souls. Now if you believe the Jain will have fewer births than the HIndu, then it would be better to become a Jain. Either way, you can see how the vegetarian Hindu does not have a one-up over a meat-eating Hindu.

I would say diet and time required for liberation are not connected at all.

Well that totally wipes out the concept of karma...:areyoucra

 

[kaisersose]

Well that totally wipes out the concept of karma...

Think about this (weekend project) -

1) x eats a full rotissiere chicken and (by some definitions of Karma) x is reborn as a chicken. But for the whole rule to play out, x the chicken has to be slaughtered and eaten up by someone. So if y is that person who eats the chicken, did y really have a choice in the matter? x the chicken was predestined to be eated by someone and therefore y eating the chicken was unavoidable too. y is then reborn as a chicken next and is eaten by z and the sequence goes on forever.

2) Why is it that the lion does not accumulate bad karma on killing the deer, but a human does? Do we have any scriptural evidence stating that the lion does not accumulate bad karma?

3) Riverwolf, et al., were of the opinion that karma does not work this way. Dawood Ibrahmin will not suffer for his murders and the chicken eater will not be reborn as a chicken. That is, karma is not a justice system.

Connecting meat-eating to bad karma is a non-trivial matter. The connection raises more questions than it answers.

 

[Madhuri]

Think about this (weekend project) -

1) x eats a full rotissiere chicken and (by some definitions of Karma) x is reborn as a chicken. But for the whole rule to play out, x the chicken has to be slaughtered and eaten up by someone. So if y is that person who eats the chicken, did y really have a choice in the matter? x the chicken was predestined to be eated by someone and that was unavoidable and theefore y eating the chicken was unavoidable too. y is reborn as a chicken next and is eaten by z and the sequence goes on forever.

2) Why is it that the lion does not accumulate bad karma on killing the deer, but a human does? Do we have any scriptural evidence stating that the lion does not accumulate bad karma?

3) Riverwolf, et al., were of the opinion that karma does not work this way. Dawood Ibrahmin will not suffer for his murders and the chicken eater will not be reborn as a chicken. That is, karma is not a justice system.

Connecting meat-eating to bad karma is a non-trivial matter. The connection raises more questions than it answers.

This is easy to answer:

1) If a chicken karmically must suffer and be killed it does not follow that it must be a human who does so in a very particular manner. If everyone stopped eating chickens today, there would still be millions, billions of souls that had eaten chicken in previous lives and will pay karmically in some way. Not necessarily by a human or through the meat industry.

2) A lion does not accumulate the same sort of karma that a human does because the lion does not have the brain capacity to understand the consequences of his actions. Same with a young child, or a brain damaged person. Innocence and intention play a part in karmic reaction (ie. killing someone on purpose vs by accident = different outcome).

3) Read the scriptures is all I have to say.