For the yogis practitioner animals are considered sentient beings and because of this the law of ahimsa applies.We should treat them with ultimate respect and compassion. Many yoga methods teach about vegetarianism and some even go as far to forbid meat in the diet just as it is forbidden in the Hindu religion. Many yoga students may not be interested at first into a diet of non meat products but through yoga’s teachings they can change their views.
Meat according to the tradition in considered tamasic, heavy and sluggish for the body to digest. Yogi’s seek to increase sattva, a balanced state of nature not the opposite found in meat, so we must master the gunas the qualities of nature to find this sattva , balanced lifestyle state.
Morally yogis are also aware of the cruel and violent deaths animals receive in order to feed human beings. The death of another being goes against all yogic teachings. Meat consumers never think of how the chicken got to their table via being on the supermarket shelf. The journey that that animal has taken sometimes from birth, held against it’s will, tortured and cruelly slaughtered to land on our plate. If we treated another human being like that it would be considered insanely cruel , so what is the difference?
The Dalai Lama has said
” I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many alternatives. After all, man can live without meat. It is only carnivorous animals that have to subsist on flesh. Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventures, and for hides and furs is a phenomenon which is at once disgusting and distressing. In our approach to life, the ultimate truth which confronts us squarely and unmistakably is the desire for peace, security and happiness. Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.”
The Dalai Lama has wrestled himself with vegetarianism as many Tibetans because of their sparse mountainous climate which doesn’t lend itself easily to crop growing are meat eaters. He tries not to eat meat regularly and still maintains to this day that the best thing you can do for the planet is become a vegetarian. In Buddhism there is a strong link with the Buddha being a vegetarian as the highest moral teaching is not to harm another sentient being. In fact it is stated in the texts that the Buddha ordered the monastic community not to eat meat when the animal had been slaughtered for the purpose of feeding the monks and nuns.
Research has also agreed upon the health benefits of a vegetarian diet against a diet made up of animal products. Most of the grain produced in the world goes to feed the animals that are slaughtered for food. If we didn’t kill these animals the many people who are starving in the world could be fed as well as a reduction on the pollution of the world through the methane gases produced from slaughter houses.
To live in a world of happiness and to promote peace we must make peace with the animals and recognise all beings as equal. Make a conscious choice with your knife and fork , choose a meal that causes the least harm to everone else and receive the full blessings of the teachings of ahimsa.
Please look to GoVeg.com
Andrea Kwiatkowski
Dec 2008
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