The book Food for the Spirit, Vegetarianism and the World Religions, observes, “Despite popular knowledge of meat eating’s adverse effects, the non-vegetarian diet became increasingly widespread among Hindus after the two major invasions by foreign powers, first the Muslims and later the British. With them came the desire to be ‘civilized,’ to eat as did the saheeb. Those actually trained in Vedic knowledge, however, never adopted a meat-oriented diet, and the pious Hindu still observes vegetarian principles as a matter of religious duty.
“That vegetarianism has always been widespread in India is clear from the earliest Vedic texts. This was observed by the ancient traveler Megasthenes and also by Fa-hsien, a Chinese Buddhist monk who, in the fifth century, traveled to India in order to obtain authentic copies of the scriptures.
“These scriptures unambiguously support the meatless way of life. The Manusmriti declares that one should ‘refrain from eating all kinds of meat,’ for such eating involves killing and leads to Karmic bondage (bandha) [5.49]. Elsewhere in the Vedic literature, the last of the great Vedic kings, Maharaja Parikshit, is quoted as saying that ‘only the animal-killer cannot relish the message of the Absolute Truth [Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14].'"
To be contd...
- Abhimanyu
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