pchienjr@uclink.berkeley.edu (Peter C Chien Jr) wrote:
>Hmm, perhaps man is omnivore! You failed to mention following. . .
>Man has several digestive enzymes...
>enteropeptidase V8
>chymotrypsin
>trypsin
>pepsin
>carboxypeptidase B
>And many others. Not all of these are required for man if he were
>completely herbivore. Some are there to aid more efficient digestion of
>the protein of meat. So there!
>--
> --Caephus
Clearly man can eat and digest meat. [It causes many problems though] That
is not the question at all. As human beings we have a choice. We are not
completely controlled by instinct like the tigers for instance. Tigers
only eat meat, they have no choice in the matter. But we can eat meat if
we want to, it is an optional thing. The vegetarian diet is much more
healthy, that has been established and is admitted by most people.
We can consider whether it is right to unnecessairly kill others and eat
their flesh. I'm sure I have the digestive enzymes which would make it
possible for me to eat and digest your body. But is it a good thing if I
kill you just to eat your flesh when there are so many alternatives? These
things arc considered by thoughtful people, others, who are no better than
animals will go on slaughtering innocent creatures without considering it.
The law of karma states that if you act violently towards others that
violence will come back on you. We are seeing it in the world at the
moment, so much suffering, so many wars, so many problems. But we don't
connect it. Many of the problems are directly caused by the unnecessary
slaughter of millions of innocent animals.
For us, as Hare Krishna's, being vegetarian is not the real question. We
are "Krishnatarians". We cook food for Krishna, offer it to Him, and eat
the prasadam He leaves. So we want to please Krishna. If you invite
someone over to your house and want to please them you will find out what
sort of food they like to eat and offer it to them. So Krishna describes
what He likes to eat in the Bhagavad-gita, He likes foods in the mode of
goodness made from grains, milk products, vegetables and fruits. So we
cook what Krishna likes and Krishna doesn't eat meat. So we are
vegetarians...
"As far as the mode of ignorance is concerned, the performer is
without knowledge, and therefore all his activities result in present
misery, and afterwards he will go on toward animal life. Animal life is
always miserable, although, under the spell of the illusory energy, maya,
the animals do not understand this. Slaughtering poor animals is also due
to the mode of ignorance. The animal killers do not know that in the
future the animal will have a body suitable to kill them. That is the law
of nature. In human society, if one kills a man he has to be hanged. That
is the law of the state. Because of ignorance, people do not perceive that
there is a complete state controlled by the Supreme Lord. Every living
creature is a son of the Supreme Lord, and He does not tolerate even an
ant's being killed. One has to pay for it. So indulgence in animal killing
for the taste of the tongue is the grossest kind of ignorance. A human
being has no need to kill animals, because God has supplied so many nice
things. If one indulges in meat-eating anyway, it is to be understood that
he is acting in ignorance and is making his future very dark. Of all kinds
of animal killing, the killing of cows is most vicious because the cow
gives us all kinds of pleasure by supplying milk. Cow slaughter is an act
of the grossest type of ignorance. In the Vedic literature (Rg Veda
9.4.64) the words gobhih prinita-matsaram indicate that one who, being
fully satisfied by milk, is desirous of killing the cow is in the grossest
ignorance." (From Srila Prabhupada's purport to Bhagavad-gita 14.6)
Chant Hare Krishna and be Happy!
Thank you. Hare Krishna!
Madhudvisa dasa
(madhudvisa@krishna.org) /sudarsana
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
Sudarsana Home madhudvisa@krishna.org