Back to Content

Sin-free Living Divine Nature Sin of Meat Eating -Quotes from Manu Smriti How To Win Arguments with a Meat Eater God Conscious Investing Divine Nature Sin of Meat Eating Quotes from Manu Smriti  V.51:  He who permits the slaugher of an animal, he who cuts it up, he who kills it, he who buys or sells meat, he who cooks it, he who serves it up, and he who eats it, must all be considered as the slayer of the animal. VV.55:  Me he (mam sah) will devour in the next life, whose flesh I eat in this life;  the wise declare this to be the real meaning of the word ‘flesh (mamsah). --xxx-- How to Win an Argument with a Meat Eater Data Taken from The New York Times, 20 June 1989, reworded by SV The Hunger Argument  A child starves to death every two seconds.  About 60M people worldwide die of starvation each year.   If Americans (about 243M) reduce their intake of meat by 10%, then 60M people could be adequately fed with the grains saved.  Only 20% of the corn grown in the U. S. is eaten by people; 80% is fed to the livestock for meat.  95% of the oats grown in the U. S. is fed to the livestock.  1.3B people could be fed with the grain and soybeans that is now fed to the U.S. meat producing livestock.  99% of protein is wasted by cycling grain through livestock.  16 pounds of grain and soybeans are needed to produce just a pound of beef.  An acre of farm can produce 20,000 pounds of potatoes or only 165 pounds of beef.  56% of U.S. farmland is devoted to beef production. The Environmental Argument  The cause of global warming is  the greenhouse effect.  The primary cause of greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.  50 times more fossil fuels are needed to produce a meat centered diet vs. a vegetarian diet.  75% of U.S. topsoil is lost to date.  85% of the topsoil lost is directly related to livestock raising.  260M acres of U.S. forest is cleared for crop land to produce meat centered diet.  55 square feet area of tropical rain forest is consumed in every quarter pound hamburger.  U.S. imports 200M pounds of meat annually from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama.  The average per capita meat consumption in these countries, however, is less than eaten by an average U.S. house cat.  Currently, 1,000 species become extinct each year due to the destruction of tropical rain forests for meat production and other uses. The Cancer Argument  There is 4 times increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat 4 times a week vs. less than once a week.  The risk is 3 times for women who take eggs daily vs. less than once a week.  There is 3 times increased risk of fetal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week.  There is 3.6 times increased risk of fatal prostrate cancer for men who eat meat daily vs. sparingly or not at all. The Natural Resources Argument  More than half of the total water used for all purposes in U.S. is used for meat livestock.  The amount of water used in production of average steer is  sufficient to float a destroyer.  To grow a pound of wheat requires only 25 gallons of water; to grow a pound of meat requires 2,500 gallons of water.  If the water used by meat industry was not subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer, the cost of common hamburger would be $35 per pound.  If water was no longer subsidized, the current cost of protein from beefsteak would be $89 per pound.  If every human ate a meat centered diet, the world's known oil reserves would last only 13 years.  However, if human beings no longer ate meat the reserves would last for 260 years.  6.8M barrels of oil is imported into U.S. daily.  34.5% of petro-chemical fertilizer is returned as meat by most efficient factory farming, whereas 32.8% of organic fertilizer is returned as food energy from least efficient farming.  33% of raw materials are consumed by U.S. to produce the present meat centered diet. The Cholesterol Argument  There are 125 U.S. medical schools.  Of these, only 30 require a course in nutrition.  Nutrition training received by an average U.S. physician during 4 years in medical school is for 25 hours only.  The most common cause of death in U.S. is heart attack.  Heart attack kills every 45 seconds in the U.S..  The average U.S. man's risk of death from heart attack is 50 %.  However, the risk is only 15% for one who avoids the meat centered diet.  The meat industry claims you should not be concerned about your blood cholesterol if it is "normal."  However, your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries when your blood cholesterol is "normal" is over 50%. The Antibiotic Argument  55% of U.S. antibiotics are fed to livestock.  13% of staphylococci infections were resistant to penicillin in 1960.  In 1988, the percentage was 91.  The European Economic Community has banned to routinely feeding antibiotics to livestock.  In contrast, the U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries fully and completely support to routinely feeding antibiotics to livestock. The Pesticide Argument  Only 1% of pesticide residues appear in the U.S. diet supplied by grains.  Only 4% of pesticide residues appear in the U.S. diet supplied by fruits.  23% of pesticide residues appear in the U.S. diet supplied by dairy products.  55% of pesticide residues appear in the U.S. diet supplied by meat.  The pesticide contamination of breast milk from meat eating mothers vs. non-meat eating is 35 times higher.  The USDA tells us that meat is inspected.  The fact is, only less than 0.00004% of slaughtered animals are inspected for residues of toxins chemicals including dioxin and DDT. The Ethical Argument  500,000 animals are killed for meat every hour in U.S..  The occupation of slaughter house worker has the highest turn over rate in U.S..  That occupation also has the highest rate of on-the-job injury in U.S..  It costs only 1¢ to render an animal unconscious with "captive bolt pistol" before slaughtering.  Still, the meat industry is not using "captive bolt pistol" and kills the animals while they are fully conscious. The Survival Argument  Athlete Dave Scott who is 6 times winner of Ironman Triathlon is a pure vegetarian.  The largest meat eaters that ever lived were tyrannosaurs rex.  They have been extinct since 100M BC God Conscious Investing The internet has provided a means by which now any one can easily find out information about stocks and buy or sell stocks using internet.  Investing in stocks is a speculative business, and therefore saintly people avoid it.  Stock investing has all the excitement of gambling and ills of gambling. The dharma of vaishyas (mercantile class of the Vedic society,) however, is to do business.  Therefore, Hindus interested in investing should invest only in businesses that are kosher.  Hindus should avoid buying stocks or supporting the following kinds of businesses related to: killing of cows, animals, birds, for food and fur, etc.  This is to promote non violence and compassion to animals. wine, liquor, beer, tobacco, and other intoxicants and drugs.  This is to keep society sober, to be able to understand dharma and God. illicit or immoral sex activities.  This includes brothels, pornography, obscene movies/videos, nude or erotic dancing, condoms, etc.  This is to conserve sex energy and transform it into love for God.  The side benefits of the conservation of energy are:  strong and healthy body, mind, and children.  Also, it eliminates "Romeo's" in the society who chase girls for sex.  Consequently, the the female class feel more safe from attacks or harrassments. casinos, gambling, horse races, etc.  This is to promote the idea that it is not good to get something for nothing.  Gamblers want money and riches without providing any useful (problem solving) product or service to the society.  So dharma discourages gambling. production and sale of guns and weapons for non kshatriya classes of the society.  kshatriyas (religiously trained police, military, and guards) are supposed to be trained to uphold their dharma and should know when to use weapon(s) and when not.  So, this is to discourage having weapons in wrong hands with wrong minds that cause undue deaths and murders in society. genetic science and engineering.  This branch of science has promises to remove genetic diseases and bringing other benefits to society, but the society and the genetic scientists and engineers in general at this time are not sufficiently God conscious to use the new knowledge and technology morally or ethically.  So, if promoted, it would bring many problems to the society that would not be possible to solve later.  Once a gene is out of the bottle (a new form of life is out,) it may not be possible to put him back in the bottle (go back to original life forms God designed.)      --- According to the Vedic culture the aim of genetic science is to bring forth physically, mentally, and intellectually healthy God conscious children in this world, and not bring unwanted children as the by-products of irresponsible sex indulgence. This science is already provided in the Vedic literature.  Almost all the parents of great saintly people have strictly followed this science to have such great children. So, if you are talented in recognizing which mutual funds and stocks are kosher per the above guidelines, please share your knowledge with Panchajanya readers. If there is no such a mutual fund, it could be made available if sufficient people agree to invest God consciously.  Jai Sri Krishna!  - sv Other Links  http://student.anu.edu.au:80/Clubs/Hare_Krishna_Vegetarian_Society/veggie.html  http://arrs.envirolink.org/quotes/equality.html