Saturday, August 25, 2018

Reason why Hinduism suggest not to eat Meat.



 Diet in Hinduism varies with its diverse traditions. The ancient and medieval Hindu texts do not explicitly prohibit eating meat, but they do strongly recommend ahimsa—non-violence against all life forms including animals. Many Hindus prefer a vegetarian or  lacto-vegetarian lifestyle, and methods of food production that are in sync with nature, compassionate, and respectful of other life forms as well as nature.
The diet of Hindus usually does not include eggs, fish or meat. However, if included, Hindus often favor jhatka (quick death) style preparation of meat since Hindus believe that this method minimizes trauma and suffering to the animal.

Ancient Hindu texts describe the whole of creation as a vast food chain, and the cosmos as a giant food cycle.

Hindu mendicants (sannyasin) avoid preparing their own food, relying either on begging for leftovers or harvesting seeds and fruits from forests, as this minimizes the likely harm to other life forms and nature.
The Vedic texts have conflicting verses, which scholars have interpreted to mean support or opposition to meat-based food. A group states that some Vedic hymns mention animal sacrifice and therefore support non-vegetarianism. According to Marvin Harris, the Vedic literature is contradictory, with some suggesting ritual slaughter and meat consumption, while others suggesting a taboo on meat eating.
The Upanishads and Sutra texts of Hinduism discuss moderate diet and proper nutrition, as well as Aharatattva (dietetics).The Upanishads and Sutra texts invoke the concept of virtuous self-restraint in matters of food, while the Samhitas discuss what and when certain foods are suitable. A few Hindu texts such as Hathayoga Pradipika combine both.
The Bhagavad Gita includes verses on diet and moderation in food in Chapter 6. It states in verse 6.16 that a Yogi must neither eat too much nor too little, neither sleep too much nor too little.Understanding and regulating one’s established habits about eating, sleeping and recreation is suggested as essential to the practice of yoga in verse 6.17.
The Manusmriti discusses diet in chapter 5, where like other Hindu texts, it includes verses that strongly discourage meat eating, as well as verses where meat eating is declared appropriate in times of adversity and various circumstances, recommending that the meat in such circumstances be produced with minimal harm and suffering to the animal. The verses 5.48-5.52 of Manusmriti explain the reason for avoiding meat as follows (abridged),
One can never obtain meat without causing injury to living beings... he should therefore abstain from meat. Reflecting on how meat is obtained and on how embodied creatures are tied up and killed, he should quit eating any kind of meat... The man who authorizes, the man who butchers, the man who slaughters, the man who buys or sells, the man who cooks, the man who serves, and the man who eats – these are all killers. There is no greater sinner than a man who, outside of an offering to gods or ancestors, wants to make his own flesh thrive at the expense of someone else's.

Vegetarianism is the key to good health and happiness. The Hindu view is multidimensional, including the ecological, medical and spiritual, as is evident in the following excerpts from Hinduism Today: Besides being an expression of compassion for animals, vegetarianism is followed for ecological and health rationales Reasons In the past fifty years, millions of meat-eaters -- Hindus and non-Hindus -- have made the personal decision to stop eating the flesh of other creatures. There are five major motivations for such a decision:
1.      The Dharmic Law Reason
2.       The Karmic Consequences Reason
3.      The Spiritual Reason
4.      The Health Reason
5.      The Ecological Reason

History
 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 Sahib. 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. In the Mahabharat, for instance, the great warrior Bheesma explains to Yuddhishtira, eldest of the Paandav princes, that the meat of animals is like the flesh of one's own son. Similarly, the Manusmriti declares that one should `refrain from eating all kinds of meat,' for such eating involves killing and leads to Karmic bondage (Bandh) [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 [Shrimad Bhagvatam 10.1.4].'"

Scientific Logic
In nature, if we observe the teeth arrangement of carnivorous animals they have extra pair of canine teeth. Without this set of teeth, they cannot tear and eat meat but somehow in human case nature decided not to give it to you.
Furthermore, if we look at jaw moment of herbivorous animals they have cutting and grinding action and all the carnivorous animals they only have cutting action and human have cutting and grinding action.
Why the design difference between animals?
 When you eat starchy foods, the starches are broken down into sugars, including glucose, maltotriose and maltose, by an enzyme called amylase found in your saliva and small intestine. All the herbivorous animals have this enzyme in their mouth where the digestion starts itself. Carnivors donot have such enzyme and they donot need to break foods into smaller pieces so they just tear and swallow it.
Let’s go deeper into elementary cannel , if you look at the length of elementary cannel of carnivorous animal, it is 3 times the length of body whereas in herbivorous and humans it is nearly 6 times the length of body.  Why this design difference?
Meat always travels through body very slowly and vegetables matter travel fast so carnivors have small intestine. In your present system if you put some cooked meat then it would take 48-50 hrs to pass through the system. And science tells that rotten of meat takes faster in summer and it is always summer inside our system. Rotten meat indicates heavy bacterial attack on it.
Because of these reasons, Hinduism sculptures doesnot suggest us to eat meat.

YV Nitesh
25th Aug, 2018

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