A-Higher-Taste

A Higher Taste

Vegetarianism

Vedic Scriptures

Those whom claim themself to follow the instructions of God should abstrain from meat eating but in this age humans aren totally ignorant of it. Below are the verses from the vedic scriptures which totally objects animal killing, meat eating, intoxications & also offering meat into the Yajna (fire sacrifice).

Aahavaniiye maamsapratishedha
That which is used in Yajna (fire sacrifice) must be vegetarian. (Katyayana Sutra)

Maa himsyaat sarvabhuutaani
No creature/animal should be killed. (Rig Veda)

Yah paurusheyena kravishaa samankte yo ashvyena pashunaa yaatudhaanah,
Yo aghyaayaa bharati kshiiramagne teshaam shirshaani harasaapi vrshcha
The evil person who kills or eats the meat of a horse or cow deserves to be terminated. (Rig Veda 10.87.16)

Maamsapaakapratishedhashcha tadvat
Killing and eating meat is totally prohibited. (Mimamsa Sutra 10.3.65)

Suraam matsyaan madhu maamsamaasavam krsaraudanam,
Dhuurttaih pravartitam hyetannaitad vedeshu kalpitam
It is only the evil-minded hypocrites who started telling that Vedic Yajnas involve intoxicants and meat eating. It is not in the Vedas. (Mahabharata, ShaantiParvan 265.9)
[This comment must have been around the time, far beyond the Bharata Battle and in post-Vedic times, when many customs arrived in the Vedic Heartland, which were totally foreign to its culture]

Akhaadannanumodamshcha bhaavadoshena maanavah,
Yo�numodati hanyantam so�pi doshena lipyate
The one who himself doesn�t eat meat but even if he gives his consent to eat meat or to kill an animal, he becomes equally sinful as them. (MahaBaratha, AnushasanaParvan 115.39)

Ijyaayajnashrutikrtairyaa maargairabudho�dhamah,
Hanyaajjantuun maamsagrdhnuh sa vai narakabhaangnarah
The meat eater who kills an animal in the name of Vedic Yajna or tells that it is a requirement of the Yajna is a sinner and he will be a person who will dwell in hell. (MahaBaratha, AnushasanaParvan 115.43)

Aahartaa chaanumantaa cha vishastaa krayavikrayii,
Samskartaa chopabhoktaa cha khaadakaah sarva eva te
The one who brings an animal to be killed, the one who buys an animal to be killed, the one who sells, buys, cooks and eats the meat are all sinners. (MahaBaratha, AnushasanaParvan 115.45)

Na dadyaadaamisham shraaddhe na chaadyaad dharmatattvavit,
Munyannaih, syaatparaa priitiryathaa na pashuhimsayaa
It is Dharma that in the Shraaddha (last rituals of the dead ones) feast he should never offer meat nor should eat meat. Only vegetarian food must be offered because meat is obtained by killing. (Bhagavatam 7.15.7)

Naitaadrshah paro dharmo nrnaam saddharmaamichchhataam,
Nyaaso dandasya bhuuteshu manovaakkaayajasya yah
This is the best Dharma to observe for everyone that one should not hurt other beings even in his thoughts.
(Bhaagavatam 7.15.8)

Manu strongly admonishes that one should never drink and should never even smell any intoxicant like wine. (ManuSmrti 11.146-149)

Manu asserts that selling, buying, cooking and eating meat is a sin which is as great as killing an animal itself. (ManuSmrti 5.15)

Gaudii Paishtii cha Maadhvii cha Vijneyaa trividhaa suraa.
Yathaivaika tathaa sarvaa na paatavyaa dvijottamaih.
Yaksharakshah pishaachaannam madyam maamsam suraasavam.
Tad braahmena naattavyam devaanaamashnataa havih.
Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas should never drink wine, liquor or intoxicants of any kinds, because intoxicants, wine, liquor and meat of animals are the food of Yakshas, Rakshasas and Pishachas (all kind of non-Vedic people or even demons). So they mustn�t consumed. (ManuSmrti 11.94 - 95)

Islam

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (Salam) was asked by his companions if kindness to animals was rewarded in the life hereafter. He replied: 'Yes, there is a meritorious reward for kindness to every living creature'.
(Bukhari)

Status of animal according to Holy Quran : All creatures on earth are sentient beings. "There is not an animal on earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings - but they are communities like you."
(The Quran, 6:38)

The Holy Prophet (Salam) forbids the beating or the branding of animals. Once he saw a donkey branded on its face and said: 'May Allah condemn the one who branded it'. (Muslim)

There are numerous Islamic laws forbidding vivisection (Al-muthia) on a live animal. Ibn Umar reported the Holy Prophet (Salam) as having condemned those who mutilate any part of an animals body while it is alive. (Ahmad and other authorities)

Buddhism

In Buddhist teaching, volume upon volume has been written regarding cause and consequence, but the basic concept is a simple one. "Good is rewarded with good; evil is rewarded with evil; and the rewarding of good and evil is only a matter of time." Viewed from this concept, we will have to pay for every piece of flesh we eat with a piece of flesh, and with a life for every creature's life that we take. Viewed over the long term, eating meat is an extremely frightening prospect. Before their death, living creatures experience not joy, and not fear, but anger; not complaint, but hatred and resentment. And who receives the "reward" for taking these lives?

Another sutra says : "That which has blood and flesh will be rejected by the gods and not eaten by the saints; all in heaven distance themselves far from one who eats meat; his breath is always foul. Meat is not a good thing, meat is not pure, it is born in evil and spoils in merit and virtue; it is rejected by all the gods and saints!"

All Buddhists must follow 5 Sila. But they don't follow the first Sila whish is 'Do not kill'. Sila means Ethic or Rule. The Five Sila are 1]do not kill, 2]do not steal, 3]do not lie/cheat, 4]do not do sexual affair/abuse, 5]do not consume anything which can make you addicted (like alcohol, tobacco, opium, narcotic, etc). The purpose of Five Sila is preventing negative karma.

Christianity

And God said, behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yeilding seed, to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat [=food]: and it was so.
Genesis 1, 29 & 30

Thou shalt not kill.
Exodus 20:13 (The Bible)

FACTS ON WHY BE A VEGETARIAN :

1. It�s Healthier
Vegetarians are healthier than people who eat meat. It�s a fact. Scientific studies show that vegetarians suffer much less from illnesses like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and other common health problems. A major study reported in the British Medical Journal in 1994 found that, of 5000 meat-eaters and 6000 non-meat eaters, vegetarians had 40% less risk of cancer and 30% less risk of heart disease than the meat-eaters and were 20% less likely to die of any cause. (Oxford Vegetarian Study)

A US study of 50,000 vegetarians showed a very low rate of cancer (Seventh Day Adventist Study, Massachussets). It has been estimated that by following a low-fat vegetarian diet, the risk of food poisoning is decreased by 80%. More evidence of the benefits of a vegetarian diet is being found each year.

2. It�s Humane
Billions of animals are killed in slaughterhouses around the world. In the US, some half a million are killed each hour, while in the UK over 600 million are killed each year. A proportional number are killed in Australia. It is nothing more than an undercover massacre. Animals suffer enormously in the process. Quite apart from the terror of being killed, they undergo pain and fear through routine stock mutilations and during transportation to saleyards and abattoirs.

Most animals eaten in Australia today are intensively raised in dark, sunless sheds where they are fed a diet of processed foods. In most cases antibiotics, growth-promotants and hormones are routinely administered. As biological entities, these animals are treated as little more than meat machines. We would be horrified if our pet cat or dog was treated in this way, so why should we subject other animals to such cruelty? The fact that the killing is done by someone else makes it easy to eat meat but, by eating it, we are really condemning the next animal in line. Have you ever really stopped to think about the cruelty we systematically inflict on other species simply by eating them?

3. It�s Economical
Meat is expensive, both economically and agriculturally. With so many starving people in the world today it is a criminal waste of food to produce it. Meat-animals are fed perfectly good plant food which could have been fed directly to starving people. For instance, it takes 17 kilos of corn, beans, grain, etc, to produce one kilo of beef in feedlot cattle. This is like investing $17.00 in a bank term deposit and withdrawing $1.00 at maturity! It required massive reserves of land to grow the crops which are used as animal feed. About 70% of crops grown in the US are fed to animals and not to humans. Meanwhile, a child dies of starvation somewhere in the world every two seconds. As the world human population grows, so too does the need for the dwindling reserves of arable land on which to grow crops to feed it.

4. It�s Environmentally Friendly
In Central America, entire forests are felled or burnt to provide land for grazing cattle. Most of these cattle end up as second-quality hamburger meat for the North American junk food market. Being hard-hooved, cattle erode the vulnerable topsoil, while each animal produces over 300 litres of methane (a �greenhouse� gas) per day. Also, the trees which are felled to clear land for cattle ranching are left to rot. The termites which then feed on them produce even more methane than the cattle.

Weight for weight, cattle alone outweigh the entire human population of our planet. A recent Greenpeace report told how the dairy industry of California uses enough water to supply a city of 22 million people. The effluent produced from intensive piggeries, cattle feedlots and broiler units is polluting our river systems. A NSW government newsletter pointed out that the late Homebush abattoirs was the single greatest industrial polluter of Sydney�s coastal waters.

5. Exploding Some Myths
Understandably, people are a bit apprehensive about changing their diet. Everyone seems to know �someone� who looks as pale as a bleached potato since giving up meat! The truth is that a well-balanced vegetarian diet provides all the protein and nutrients needed for a vigorous and healthy life (American Dietary Association Study). What is seldom pointed out are the millions of conventional eaters who suffer from constipation, malnutrition, gout and a host of other problems and diseases brought on by a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in their diet, combined with the adverse effects of meat.

A study carried out the by University of Surrey in Britain found that vegetarians were better nourished than meat eaters, and much closer to the �ideal� diet recommended by the government�s own health advisers.

6. Aren't We Designed To Eat Meat?
Not at all. Many people say that we are meat-eaters because we have sharp teeth. This is like judging a book by its cover. Look inside and you will find out what is really going on.

Our digestive system resembles that of the herbivores and the frugivores (fruit-eaters). It consists of a very long intestine allowing slow digestion of nutrients. By contrast, carnivores have a short digestive tract designed so that meat can quickly pass through the body before it putrefies and becomes toxic. To compensate for this rapid transition, carnivores have a stomach acid concentration 10 times greater than that of vegetarian mammals (including humans) to enable them to quickly digest the meat. When humans eat meat it begins to putrefy before leaving the body, often resulting in disorders as diverse as constipation and bowel cancer if eaten persistently over a period of time. Sure, the more fibre eaten with meat, the quicker it passes through the intestines, but why eat meat at all? Only vegetable matter contains fibre and a good vegetarian diet provides all the fibre the body needs without having to add extra�artificially�. If you are serious about lowering your cholesterol intake, a vegetarian diet is the best way to go since only animal products contain cholesterol.

7. What do I Eat?
Most people imagine vegetarian eating to be meat and two �veg� minus the meat. To a conventional meat-eater this sounds like someone being sold a car with the engine missing! Nothing could be further from the truth. Vegetarian eating is about eating a wide variety of foods prepared in an abundance of different ways.

Being a good vegetarian means being adventurous and open-minded about food. It is not simply about eating a predictable menu day-in, day-out. Many vegetarian staples had their origin in different countries hundreds of years ago � pasta from China (and later Italy), tofu from China, and tempeh from Indonesia. Tofu is bean curd made from soya beans. Tempeh is a sort of nut-flavoured cheese made from fermented soy beans. It is rich in enzymes and easily digested. Both can be bought at health food stores and larger supermarkets. These are not merely substitutes for meat, but nutritious food in themselves which have proved to be an excellent source of protein for centuries.

8. Where Do I Get My Protein?
Protein is naturally very plentiful. It occurs in every living thing, plant and animal. Apart from fruit and vegetables, good sources of protein include pasta, lentils, rice, potatoes, soy beans, chick peas, nuts, seeds, grains, & also dairy products.

The amount you need depends on different personal attributes (weight, height, etc) and the daily requirement varies considerably from 20 to 90 grams per day. By eating a variety of foods each day you should easily meet your individual requirements. In fact, the nutritional attitude to protein has changed dramatically in recent years. The old-fashioned notion that �YOU CAN NEVER GET TOO MUCH PROTEIN� has been PROVED WRONG. Excess protein not used by the body has to be broken down and excreted as waste. In fact, a major culprit in many human degenerative diseases is a protein overdose. For example, calcium loss in osteoporosis has been linked largely to an excess of high-protein foods.

9. What about Minerals like Iron and Calcium?
A sound vegetarian diet should provide all needed nutrients. The presence of vitamin C with iron in the diet will help iron absorption by up to 30%. It is a myth that you have to eat meat to get sufficient iron - my son shocked his school doctor when giving blood, which he did on a regular basis, in that his iron levels were among the highest in the entire school. Why is that? He put it down to his couple of pieces of wholemeal toast with very liberal amounts of Marmite spread on it. Iron is readily available in breakfast cereals, whole grain products, soy products, legumes and leafy green vegetables. Tiredness is not necessarily caused by iron deficiency. It may also be caused by lack of sleep, depression, stress and poor (usually junk food) eating habits.

Calcium is found in all unprocessed vegetable foods in amounts that are sufficient to meet the needs of both adults and growing children. Whatever the calcium intake, the intestine absorbs sufficient calcium to meet the body�s needs. Good sources of calcium are sesame seeds, tofu, almonds, soy beans, parsley, green vegetables and fortified soy milk. A recent dietary study on 6,500 Chinese found that even those who ate no animal products actually consumed twice the amount of iron as the average North American. In spite of the fact that dairy products were not eaten, osteoporosis was almost unknown.

10. Making the Change
To make any change is not easy, particularly when it involves explanations to friends and family. However, making a change that you know will take an enormous burden off the environmental stresses of the planet, that will improve your health and ultimately save millions of animals from cruelty makes it easy.

Already in the US and Britain there is a massive change towards a meat-free diet. Some half a million people are adopting a vegetarian lifestyle each year in the US while the number of British vegetarians is now 4 million. The trend is catching in Australia and New Zealand where many, mainly young people, are realising that they want a healthy and humane future.
Whether you go vegetarian overnight or over a period of time does not matter. The important thing is to get on the track. Even cutting down on meat consumption will make an enormous difference.

Now is the time to make the change. Let�s make it a goal for the whole planet. Remember � You�re in good company!

11. Famous Vegetarians
Pythagoras, Plutarch, Leonardo Da Vinci, Tolstoy, Shelley, George Bernard Shaw, Gandhi, Thoreau, Bob Dylan, Joanna Lumley, George Harrison, Paul and Linda McCartney, Michael Jackson, Martina Navratilova, Hayley Mills, William Shatner, Sir Mark Oliphant, Cliff Young, Peter Singer, Bob Barker, Spike Milligan, Nigel Hawthorne, Annie Besant, Anthony Robbins, Peter Sumner, Chrissie Hynde, Tim McCartney-Snape, Peter Brock, Lynda Stoner, Johnny Weissmuller (the first Tarzan), Julie Christie, Morissey (The Smiths), Marty Feldman, Murray Rose, Paavo Nurmi (9 Olympic medals), Andreas Cahling (body building champion), Dave Scott (6-time Ironman Triathlon winner), k.d.lang, Belinda Carlisle, Edwin Moses, Sean Hughes, Bryan Adams, Dennis Weaver, Woody Harrelson, Killer Kowalski (champion wrestler), Alicia Silverstone, Annalise Braakensiek, Vanessa Amorosi, Greg Chappell, Jerry Seinfeld, Uri Geller, Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin, James Cromwell, Radha Mitchell, Daniel Johns (silverchair), Susie Porter, Joaquin Phoenix, Josef Brown, Daniel Jones (Savage Garden) ...... to name a few.