VEGETARIANISM - A FEW THOUGHTS
VEGETARIANISM -A FEW THOUGHTS
In this write up I am presenting some of my thoughts on the vegetarian food habit.
I am not going to justify why I am or I am not a vegetarian. That is not the purpose.
I will only write about some of the interesting things that I heard about the concept of
vegetarianism.
Buddhism
Recently I read Ambethkar's book on Buddhist Dhamma principles. The book throws up new insights into the life and teachings of Buddha negating some of commonly held beliefs about Buddha. That was of course my first comprehensive reading of Buddha. But still, more
than anything else I was fascinated by his non insistence of vegetarian food by Gautama Buddha,
In Ambethkar's view, though Buddha advocates ahimsa and not killing any living being he permits eating of non vegetarian food even by his monks.
Though this is contested by some of Buddhist sects like mahayana buddhism,
this is the predominant view held by Buddhists all over the world. Ambetkar says even Buddhist monks are permitted to take meat as long as it is not prepared or killed specifically for them. It is like a jackal eating over the remnants of deer meat left over by tigers in a forest. The jackal gets to eat the flesh of the animal which it did not partake in the act of killing and hence is not responsible for the death of the animal. That was how, it was said that Buddhists justify monks' taking meat and other flesh of animals when offered to them by people, as it was not prepared for them to be consumed by them, And they are not responsible for the sinful act of killing of the animal.
Gandhi and his views on vegetarianism
This buddhist vegetarian debate in the Book on Dhammapada is exactly why I ventured into
writing this article on vegetarian habits and its origins. Before going into the origins let's digress a
little and look into Gandhi's views on vegetarianism. We all know that M K Gandhi was a staunch
advocate of vegetarianism. When he started to leave England for Barrister study, taking only vegetarian food under all circumstances was one of his vows to his mother and he honestly kept his promise not just when he was in England but throughout his life. Gandhi was also under the influence of a Jain monk Raj chandra who was instrumental into shaping many of Gandhi's ideals like ahimsa and satyagraha which many believed that Gandhi had got from his jain influence. Gandhi started his first writing on vegetarianism in London vegetarian society's journal which he also edited when he was studying in London. He joined London vegetarian Society in the 1890s. This was the first attempt at serious writing by Gandhi. It is very interesting to note here that Gandhi was probably the first nutritionist of the world as he was writing on food & nutrition for the journal in the 1890s itself.
Gandhi was really shocked to read Swamy Vivekananda's call to the Indians to eat flesh freely
because of the weak state of health of our countrymen. Quite interestingly, Swamy goes as far as to say that if you incur any sin thereby throw it to him that he would bear it. Unlike Vivekananda, Gandhi did not subscribe to the view it was because of vegetarian diet Indians were weak but due to practice of child marriages among indians, girls had to bear children at the ripe young age of 13 or 14 which resulted in weak offspring.
Gandhi's thought on vegetarians stemmed from moral basis as summarized in his own words.
"A vegetarian is made of sterner stuff. Why? Because it is for the building of the spirit and not of the body. Man is more than meat. It is the spirit in man for which we are concerned. Therefore vegetarians should have that moral basis that a man was not born carnivorous animal, but born to live on the fruits and herbs that the earth grows".(Address to the London Vegetarians society, 20.11.1931)
Vedathri's take on the concept of vegetarian
Vethathri Maharishi was one of yogic masters and philosophers. His institution for yogic learning is called Arivuthirukovil in Tamilnadu and his disciples believe him to be a reincarnation of another great saint Ramalinga Adigalar. His teachings were based primarily on Buddhism, in my view. He was a votary of vegetarian food. Vethathri was of the view that we must eat only the farthest on evolutionary cycle from us i.e plants.Animals and birds are closest in evolution cycle to humans and hence they resemble more to human species and their footprints would affect human mind & health adversely. He was also of the view that plants were the closest to the creator and it would have less harmful imprints of life cycle. He also thought that plants do not have as much sensory perception as animals hence do not feel any pain at all.
Osho's view
Indian guru Acharya Rajneesh (Osho) never advocated any particular food for his disciples. On vegetarian food he had this interesting observation ... "those who have more human sensitivity would prefer only to be vegetarians". He also didn't allow non veg food in his Ashram. He was of the view that it was simply human aesthetics and it had nothing to with any religion. y.
Brahmins and vegetarianism
Many identify Brahmins with vegetarianism. But in the opinion of Ambethkar only the majority of South and West indian Brahmin sects are vegetarians and some of the sects of North and East india are non veg eaters.This, I think, would be a surprise to many people and to most South brahmins themselves. There are vedic hymns which contain animal sacrifices and eating of animals by Brahmins after yagnas.So we can presume that during the vedic period there was no vegetarian habit among brahmins. As we had seen earlier buddhists are also not vegetarians. From time immemorial, Jains shun non vegetarian stuff and they are the people who strongly advocate ahimsa or non killing of any living beings. So it is very likely that they must have started the practice of vegetarianism. There are people who believe that Brahmins are the original beginners of vegetarianism.But there is no definite historical background for it.
UN climate study
According to a recent report in Nature.com, the special report on climate change and land by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change describes plant based diet as major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change and includes a policy recommendation to reduce meat
consumption in the world. One of the ecologists who was a part of the climate committee says, though they do not like to tell what to eat to others, it would be beneficial, for human health and climate, if people in many rich countries consumed less meat.The article further elaborates with a chart what if people eat less meat and how it would be beneficial for reducing green house emissions.
Human ancestors were nearly All vegetarians - Scientific American journal
As per a write up by Rob dun in Scientific American journal, human ancestors were all nearly
vegetarians. Though many paint our ancestors as big bad hunters who relished meaty diet, neanderthal men consumed much much more plant material than previously suspected, the article claims. It discusses on the eating habits of primates like monkeys and apes which have more or less similar digestive tract like humans The diets of nearly all monkeys and apes are composed of nuts, leaves, insects and an odd snack of a bird. Meat is a rare treat, if eaten at all. Plants are what apes and even earlier ancestors ate; they were our diet most of our thirty million years during which our bodies, guts or digestive system, were evolving. Our digestive system DID evolve to deal with agriculture and processing. It is true the article does not come to any conclusion on the matter, it is very important to know many of ancestors majorly had plants diet and not meat as believed earlier.
Conclusion
Even now majority of Indian as well as the world are meat eaters, the 'Vegetarian only' campaign also goes on unabated not just since the times of Gandhi but for hundreds of years. We cannot say for sure which diet is ideal for an individual as it depends on so many factors. But if I were to go for paleo diet as an alternative, for my age and sensitivity, I would go for a vegetarian paleo diet because of the benefits and aesthetics.
Reference sources::
1 Buddha and his Dhamma - Ambethkar collective works Volume 22
2 Vethathri maharishi மனவளக்கலை தொகுதிகள்
3 Nature.com: 8.8.19 Article " Eat less meat:UN climate change report calls
for change to human diet
4 Scientific American Journal - Guest Blog July 23, 2012 - Article by Rob Dunn
Human Ancestors were nearly All vegetarians
5 Gandhi Before India : Ramachandra Guha
6 The Moral basis of vegetarianism : Write up by M K Gandhi
7 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/opinion/coronavirus-meat-vegetarianism.html?smid=wa-share ***************************************************
In this write up I am presenting some of my thoughts on the vegetarian food habit.
I am not going to justify why I am or I am not a vegetarian. That is not the purpose.
I will only write about some of the interesting things that I heard about the concept of
vegetarianism.
Buddhism
Recently I read Ambethkar's book on Buddhist Dhamma principles. The book throws up new insights into the life and teachings of Buddha negating some of commonly held beliefs about Buddha. That was of course my first comprehensive reading of Buddha. But still, more
than anything else I was fascinated by his non insistence of vegetarian food by Gautama Buddha,
In Ambethkar's view, though Buddha advocates ahimsa and not killing any living being he permits eating of non vegetarian food even by his monks.
Though this is contested by some of Buddhist sects like mahayana buddhism,
this is the predominant view held by Buddhists all over the world. Ambetkar says even Buddhist monks are permitted to take meat as long as it is not prepared or killed specifically for them. It is like a jackal eating over the remnants of deer meat left over by tigers in a forest. The jackal gets to eat the flesh of the animal which it did not partake in the act of killing and hence is not responsible for the death of the animal. That was how, it was said that Buddhists justify monks' taking meat and other flesh of animals when offered to them by people, as it was not prepared for them to be consumed by them, And they are not responsible for the sinful act of killing of the animal.
Gandhi and his views on vegetarianism
This buddhist vegetarian debate in the Book on Dhammapada is exactly why I ventured into
writing this article on vegetarian habits and its origins. Before going into the origins let's digress a
little and look into Gandhi's views on vegetarianism. We all know that M K Gandhi was a staunch
advocate of vegetarianism. When he started to leave England for Barrister study, taking only vegetarian food under all circumstances was one of his vows to his mother and he honestly kept his promise not just when he was in England but throughout his life. Gandhi was also under the influence of a Jain monk Raj chandra who was instrumental into shaping many of Gandhi's ideals like ahimsa and satyagraha which many believed that Gandhi had got from his jain influence. Gandhi started his first writing on vegetarianism in London vegetarian society's journal which he also edited when he was studying in London. He joined London vegetarian Society in the 1890s. This was the first attempt at serious writing by Gandhi. It is very interesting to note here that Gandhi was probably the first nutritionist of the world as he was writing on food & nutrition for the journal in the 1890s itself.
Gandhi was really shocked to read Swamy Vivekananda's call to the Indians to eat flesh freely
because of the weak state of health of our countrymen. Quite interestingly, Swamy goes as far as to say that if you incur any sin thereby throw it to him that he would bear it. Unlike Vivekananda, Gandhi did not subscribe to the view it was because of vegetarian diet Indians were weak but due to practice of child marriages among indians, girls had to bear children at the ripe young age of 13 or 14 which resulted in weak offspring.
Gandhi's thought on vegetarians stemmed from moral basis as summarized in his own words.
"A vegetarian is made of sterner stuff. Why? Because it is for the building of the spirit and not of the body. Man is more than meat. It is the spirit in man for which we are concerned. Therefore vegetarians should have that moral basis that a man was not born carnivorous animal, but born to live on the fruits and herbs that the earth grows".(Address to the London Vegetarians society, 20.11.1931)
Vedathri's take on the concept of vegetarian
Vethathri Maharishi was one of yogic masters and philosophers. His institution for yogic learning is called Arivuthirukovil in Tamilnadu and his disciples believe him to be a reincarnation of another great saint Ramalinga Adigalar. His teachings were based primarily on Buddhism, in my view. He was a votary of vegetarian food. Vethathri was of the view that we must eat only the farthest on evolutionary cycle from us i.e plants.Animals and birds are closest in evolution cycle to humans and hence they resemble more to human species and their footprints would affect human mind & health adversely. He was also of the view that plants were the closest to the creator and it would have less harmful imprints of life cycle. He also thought that plants do not have as much sensory perception as animals hence do not feel any pain at all.
Osho's view
Indian guru Acharya Rajneesh (Osho) never advocated any particular food for his disciples. On vegetarian food he had this interesting observation ... "those who have more human sensitivity would prefer only to be vegetarians". He also didn't allow non veg food in his Ashram. He was of the view that it was simply human aesthetics and it had nothing to with any religion. y.
Brahmins and vegetarianism
Many identify Brahmins with vegetarianism. But in the opinion of Ambethkar only the majority of South and West indian Brahmin sects are vegetarians and some of the sects of North and East india are non veg eaters.This, I think, would be a surprise to many people and to most South brahmins themselves. There are vedic hymns which contain animal sacrifices and eating of animals by Brahmins after yagnas.So we can presume that during the vedic period there was no vegetarian habit among brahmins. As we had seen earlier buddhists are also not vegetarians. From time immemorial, Jains shun non vegetarian stuff and they are the people who strongly advocate ahimsa or non killing of any living beings. So it is very likely that they must have started the practice of vegetarianism. There are people who believe that Brahmins are the original beginners of vegetarianism.But there is no definite historical background for it.
UN climate study
According to a recent report in Nature.com, the special report on climate change and land by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change describes plant based diet as major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change and includes a policy recommendation to reduce meat
consumption in the world. One of the ecologists who was a part of the climate committee says, though they do not like to tell what to eat to others, it would be beneficial, for human health and climate, if people in many rich countries consumed less meat.The article further elaborates with a chart what if people eat less meat and how it would be beneficial for reducing green house emissions.
Human ancestors were nearly All vegetarians - Scientific American journal
As per a write up by Rob dun in Scientific American journal, human ancestors were all nearly
vegetarians. Though many paint our ancestors as big bad hunters who relished meaty diet, neanderthal men consumed much much more plant material than previously suspected, the article claims. It discusses on the eating habits of primates like monkeys and apes which have more or less similar digestive tract like humans The diets of nearly all monkeys and apes are composed of nuts, leaves, insects and an odd snack of a bird. Meat is a rare treat, if eaten at all. Plants are what apes and even earlier ancestors ate; they were our diet most of our thirty million years during which our bodies, guts or digestive system, were evolving. Our digestive system DID evolve to deal with agriculture and processing. It is true the article does not come to any conclusion on the matter, it is very important to know many of ancestors majorly had plants diet and not meat as believed earlier.
Conclusion
Even now majority of Indian as well as the world are meat eaters, the 'Vegetarian only' campaign also goes on unabated not just since the times of Gandhi but for hundreds of years. We cannot say for sure which diet is ideal for an individual as it depends on so many factors. But if I were to go for paleo diet as an alternative, for my age and sensitivity, I would go for a vegetarian paleo diet because of the benefits and aesthetics.
Reference sources::
1 Buddha and his Dhamma - Ambethkar collective works Volume 22
2 Vethathri maharishi மனவளக்கலை தொகுதிகள்
3 Nature.com: 8.8.19 Article " Eat less meat:UN climate change report calls
for change to human diet
4 Scientific American Journal - Guest Blog July 23, 2012 - Article by Rob Dunn
Human Ancestors were nearly All vegetarians
5 Gandhi Before India : Ramachandra Guha
6 The Moral basis of vegetarianism : Write up by M K Gandhi
7 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/opinion/coronavirus-meat-vegetarianism.html?smid=wa-share ***************************************************
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