Mummy, why are we vegetarian? (2)

 

When you feel the suffering of every living thing in your heart that is consciousness.

Bhagavad Gita

In the previous post – https://littlesteps2freedom.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/mummy-why-are-we-vegetarian-1/ we looked at how agriculture was introduced in ancient India by sage Manu, which was an important step to take people towards a vegetarian diet.

As a result of agriculture, communities were established and people no longer needed to lead a nomadic life. They worked on land and grew crops but old habits die hard. They found it difficult to give up on an animal based diet. Also, humans and animals were being used for sacrifice during religious rituals and opportunities to consume meat always came up.

The sages knew, cultural practices and attitudes towards food were hard to change. It is interesting to note that there was no force, judgement or fanaticism on their part. The idea was to educate and awaken people and also provide alternatives to enable change. They kept up the patience and perseverance.

The next step was to discourage human and animal sacrifice. Religion was a sensitive area and such sacrifice was practiced fervently. Would people be willing to change? What alternatives did they have?

Enter the humble coconut! This little creation of nature was going to be the next tool to take people another step closer to a compassionate and non violent way of living. The sages had an ace up their sleeves.

The coconut had a face, eyes, nose and hair. Why not use this for sacrifice? Coconuts were cracked into two halves and the water was splashed onto the deities that were smeared with vermillion to give the ‘red’ effect. Not a bad idea!

Somehow people were convinced, although it would have been an extremely uphill task to change their mindsets. Whatever was sacrificed during such rituals, was also required to be shared within the community. Sharing of meat was quite bothersome, it just meant a lot more hunting. Coconuts were a welcome change!

Imagine, every time you felt like baking a delicious cake but had to make enough for the whole neighborhood? Better to just drop the idea!! Who likes cake anyway?

It wasn’t so difficult to share pieces of coconut. Coconuts were readily available, easy to store and healthier too. This practice then became so ingrained into people’s lives that till this day, coconuts are offered during worship in Hindu religious ceremonies and temples all around the world. How many millions of lives must have been saved till today through this change in perspective.

So far so good. People were learning to trust each other and live in harmony within communities. They had an abundant supply of food crops . Religious practices were changing and human and animal sacrifice were halted. Such changes in lifestyle, worship and diet were helping in bringing about inner change.

Religion was the upholder of higher values of life and a vegetarian diet happened to fulfill this criteria. This created a strong link between religion and vegetarianism. Religion was a powerful platform to initiate a major change in food and worship.

Therefore, it does make sense when people say – ‘We are vegetarian because of religion’, although this understanding may not be a comprehensive one. Vegetarianism was not only limited to religion but was also instrumental in raising people’s level of consciousness. They were being taken towards a more ‘Sattwic’ way of life!

According to Vedic philosophy, the entire universe including the human mind, body and intellect as well as food, are shaped by the three ‘gunas’ or qualities/characteristics, namely Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas.

The gunas of the food we eat, directly affects the mind and our attitudes, good or bad. To move closer to the spirit within we need to understand our inner nature and how to elevate it….Here, we enter the realm of spirituality.

So the old adage, ‘You are what you eat’, is true after all!

What are these Gunas, how do they affect our mind and body. How are these connected to spirituality?

These questions will be dealt with in the following post.

Mummy, why are we vegetarian? (3)