Vedic
texts provide several references of karmic dangers from animal killing and eating
and also indicate that meat eating should be given up to achieve spiritual progress.
References from Mahabharata Anushasana Parva: Discussion between Yuddhishthira
and Bhisma Dev on benefits of sustaining oneself on a Satvic diet and
consequences of eating flesh.
Mahabharata, Anu.115.9-12: “The highly
wise seven celestial Rishis, the Valakshillyas, and those Rishis who drink the
rays of the sun, all speak highly of abstention from meat. The self-created
Manu has said that the man who does not eat meat, or who does not kill living
creatures, or who does not cause them to be killed, is a friend of all
creatures. Such a man is incapable of being oppressed by any creature. He
enjoys the confidence of all living beings. He always enjoys the praise of the
pious. The virtuous Narada has said that that man who wishes to multiply his
own flesh by eating the flesh of other creatures meets with disaster.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.16:
“That man, who having eaten meat, gives it up afterwards wins merit by such a
deed that is so great that a study of all the Vedas or a performance, O
Bharata, of all the sacrifices [Vedic rituals], cannot give its like.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.18:
“That learned person who gives to all living creatures the gift of complete
assurance is forsooth regarded as the giver of life-breaths in this world.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.20:
“Men gifted with intelligence and purified souls should always treat others as
they themselves wish to be treated. It is seen that even those men who are
endued with learning and who seek to acquire the greatest good in the shape of
liberation, are not free of the fear of death.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.21-23: “What necessity be said of those innocent and healthy
creatures gifted with love of life, when they are sought to be killed by sinful
wretches living by slaughter? Therefore, O King, know that the discarding of
meat is the highest refuge of religion, of the celestial region, and of
happiness. Abstention of injury [to others] is the highest religion. It is,
again, the highest penance. It is also the highest truth from which all duty
emanates.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.24-25:
“Flesh cannot be had from grass or wood or stone. Unless a living creature is
killed it cannot be procured. Hence is the fault of eating flesh. The
celestials who live upon Svaha, Svadha, and nectar, are given to truth and
sincerity. Those persons, however, who are for satisfying the sensation of
taste, should be known as Rakshasas [flesh-eating demons] pervaded by the
quality of Darkness.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.29-32:
“If there were nobody who ate flesh, then there would be nobody to slay living
creatures. The man who slays living creatures kills them for the sake of the
person who eats flesh. If flesh were not considered as food, there would then
be no destruction of living creatures. It is for the sake of the eater that the
destruction of living entities is carried on in the world. Since, O you of
great splendor, the period of life is shortened by persons who kill living
creatures or cause them to be killed, it is clear that the person who seeks his
own good should give up meat altogether. Those dreadful persons who are engaged
in the destruction of living beings never find protectors when they are in
need. Such persons should always be molested and punished even as beast of
prey.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.33: “The sins
generated by violence curtail the life of the perpetrator. Therefore, even
those who are anxious for their own welfare should abstain from meat-eating.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.34-36:
“That man who seeks to multiply his own flesh by (eating) the flesh of others
has to live in this world in great anxiety, and after death has to take birth
in indifferent races and families. High Rishis given to the observance of vows
and self-control have said that abstention from meat is worthy of praise, productive
of fame and Heaven, and a great satisfaction itself. This I heard formerly, O
son of Kunti, from Markandeya when that Rishi discoursed on the sins of eating
flesh.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.38-39:
“He who purchases flesh, kills living creatures through his money. He who eats
flesh, kills living beings through his eating. He who binds or seizes and
actually kills living creatures is the slaughterer. These are the three sorts
of slaughter through each of these acts. He who does not himself eat flesh but approves
of an act of slaughter, becomes stained with the sin of slaughter.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.40:
“The purchaser of flesh performs violence by his wealth; he who eats flesh does
so by enjoying its taste; the killer does violence by actually tying and killing
the animal. Thus, there are three forms of killing. He who brings flesh or
sends for it, he who cuts off the limbs of an animal, and he who purchases,
sells, or cooks flesh and eats it-all these are to be considered meat-eaters.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.44-48:
“That wretched man who kills living creatures for the sake of those who would
eat them commits great sin. The eater’s sin is not as great. That wretched man
who, following the path of religious rites and sacrifices as laid down in the
Vedas, would kill a living creature from a desire to eats its flesh, will
certainly go to hell. That man who having eaten flesh abstains from it
afterwards acquires great merit on account of such abstention from sin. He who
arranges for obtaining flesh, he who approves of those arrangements, he who
kills, he who buys or sells, he who cooks, and he who eats it, [acquire the sin
of those who] are all considered as eaters of flesh. [Therefore] that man who
wishes to avoid disaster should abstain from the meat of every living
creature.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.47: “He who desires
to augment his own flesh by eating the flesh of other creatures, lives in
misery in whatever species he may take his [next] birth.”
Mahabharata, Anu.115.52-53:
“Listen to me, O king of kings, as I tell you this, O sinless one, there is
absolute happiness in abstaining from meat, O king. He who practices severe
austerities for a century, and he who abstains from meat, are both equally
meritorious. This is my opinion.”
Mahabharata, Anu.116.1:
“Yudhisthira said: Alas, those cruel men who, not caring for various other
sorts of food, want only flesh, are really like great Rakshasas [meat-eating
demons].”
Mahabharata, Anu.116.11-13:
“Bhishma said: That man who wishes to increase his own flesh by the meat of
another living creature is such that there is none meaner and more cruel than
he. In this world there is nothing that is dearer to a creature than his life.
Hence, one should show mercy to the lives of others as he does to his own life.
Forsooth, O son, flesh has its origin in the vital seed. There is great sin
attached to its eating, as, indeed, there is merit in abstaining from it.”
Mahabharata, Anu.116.19:
“There is nothing, O delighter of the Kurus, that is equal in point of merit,
either in this world or in the next, to the practice of mercy to all living
creatures.”
Mahabharata, Anu.116.32-35:
“Hence a person of purified soul should be merciful to all living creatures.
That man, O king, who abstains from every kind of meat from his birth forsooth,
acquires a large space in the celestial region. They who eat the flesh of
animals who are desirous of life, are themselves [later] eaten by the animals
they eat. This is my opinion. Since he has eaten me, I shall eat him in return.
This, O Bharata, forms the character as Mamsah [meaning flesh] of Mamsah [me
he, or “me he” will eat for having eaten him]. The destroyer is always slain.
After him the eater meets with the same fate.”
Mahabharata, Anu.116.36-37: “He
who acts with hostility towards another becomes victim of similar deeds done by
that other. Whatever acts one does in whatever bodies, he has to suffer the
consequences thereof in those bodies.”
Mahabharata, Anu.116.38-39: “Abstention
from cruelty is the highest Religion. Abstention from cruelty is the greatest
self-restraint. Abstention from cruelty is the highest gift. Abstention from
cruelty is the highest penance. Abstention from cruelty is the highest
sacrifice. Abstention from cruelty is the highest power. Abstention from
cruelty is the greatest friend. Abstention from cruelty is the greatest
happiness.”
Mahabharata, Anu.116.40: “Gifts made in
all sacrifices [rituals], ablutions performed in all sacred water, and the
merit which one acquires from making all kinds of gifts mentioned in the
scriptures, all these do not equal in merit abstention from cruelty.”
References
from Bhagavad Gita:
Bhagavad Gita 3.13: Many people question what Lord Krishna says, or if He says
anything at all, about whether to be vegetarian or not. Actually, He provides
some important insights. Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita: “The devotees of
the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is
offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense
enjoyment, verily eat only sin.”
Bhagavad Gita 9.26-28: So, food should be first offered in sacrifice, or ritual,
but what ritual is this? He explains quite clearly that all food, as well as
anything else, should first be offered to Him. “If one offers Me with love and
devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it. O son of Kunti,
all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as
all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me. In
this way you will be freed from all reactions to good and evil deeds, and by
this principle of renunciation you will be liberated and come to Me.”
Bhagavad Gita 11.5.14: They who are
ignorant, though wicked and haughty, kill animals without feelings or remorse
or fear of punishment. In their next lives, such sinful persons will be eaten
by the same creatures they have killed.
References from Manusmriti:
Manusmriti 5.37-38: “If
he has a strong desire (for meat) he may make an animal of clarified butter or
one of flour (and eat that); but let him never seek to destroy an animal
without a (lawful) reason. As many hairs as the slain beast has, so often
indeed will he who killed it without a (lawful) reason suffer a violent death
in future births.”
Manusmriti 5.45: “He who
injures harmless creatures from a wish to give himself pleasure, never finds
happiness in this life or the next.”
Manusmriti 5.48-49: “Meat
can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to
sentient beings is detrimental to the attainment of heavenly bliss; let him
therefore shun the use of meat. Having well considered the disgusting origin of
flesh and the cruelty of fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let him
entirely abstain from eating flesh.”
Manusmriti 5.51-52: “He
who permits the slaughter 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 slayers of the animal. There is no greater
sinner than that man who though not worshiping the gods or the ancestors, seeks
to increase the bulk of his own flesh by the flesh of other beings.”
Benefits (rewards) of subsisting on a pure and Satvic diet:
Manusmriti 5.46-47: “He
who does not seek to cause the sufferings of bonds and death to living
creatures, (but) desires the good of all (beings), obtains endless bliss. He
who does not injure any (creature) attains without an effort what he thinks of,
what he undertakes, and what he fixes his mind on.”
Manusmriti 5.54-55: “By
subsisting on pure fruits and roots, and by eating food fit for ascetics in the
forest, one does not gain so great a reward as by entirely avoiding the use of
flesh. Me he [mam sah] will devour in the next world, whose flesh I eat in this
life; the wise declare this to be the real meaning of the word ‘flesh’ [mam sah].”
Manusmriti 6.60: “By not
killing any living being, one becomes fit for salvation.”
Reference from Vedas:
Rig Veda
10.87.16: “One who partakes of human flesh,
the flesh of a horse or of another animal, and deprives others of milk by
slaughtering cows, O King, if such a fiend does not desist by other means, then
you should not hesitate to cut off his head.”
Atharva Veda 6.140.2: ‘‘O
teeth! You eat rice, you eat barley, you gram and you eat sesame. These cereals
are specifically meant for you. Do not kill those who are capable of being
fathers and mothers’’.
Atharva Veda 8.6.23: We ought to
destroy those who eat cooked as well as uncooked meat, meat involving
destruction of males and females, foetus and eggs.
Atharva Veda 10.1.29: It is
definitely a great sin to kill innocents. Do not kill our cows, horses and
people.
Yajur Veda 1.1: "Protect the animals of people
performing Yajna, protect animals because they are essential for the prosperity
of Yajman (performer of Yajna)"
This is the very first mantra of Yajurveda clearly stating
to protect animals. It is false claim that animals were slaughtered in yajna.
Yajur Veda 6.11: Protect the animals.
Yajur Veda 14.8: Protect the bipeds and quadrupeds!
Yajur Veda 40.7: “Those who see all beings as souls
do not feel infatuation or anguish at their sight, for they experience oneness
with them”.
References from Bhagavat Purana:
Bhagavata
Purana 11.5.14: “Those who are ignorant of real
dharma and, though wicked and haughty, account themselves virtuous, kill
animals without any feeling of remorse or fear of punishment. Further, in their
next lives, such sinful persons will be eaten by the same creatures they have
killed in this world.”
Bhagavata
Purana (7.14.9): Animals, birds and flies - one should consider them like one's own
children, and not differentiate between one's children and these creatures.
References
from Brahmarpanam:
Traditionally
we pary and offer the food to God and only after that take food as prasad (consecrated offering).
We should partake food with a sathwic (pure, serene) mind. Our
ancestors recommended offering of food to God before partaking. Food so
partaken becomes prasad (consecrated
offering). Prayer cleanses the food of the three impurities caused by the
absence of cleanliness of the vessel, cleanliness of the food stuff, and
cleanliness in the process of cooking. It is necessary to get rid of these
three impurities to purify the food, for pure food goes into the making of a
pure mind. It is not possible to ensure the purity of the cooking process
because we do not know what thoughts rage in the mind of the man who prepares
the food. Similarly, we cannot ensure the cleanliness of the food ingredients
because we do not know whether it was acquired in a righteous way by the person
who sold it to us. Hence, it is essential on our part to offer food to God in
the form of prayer so that these three impurities do not afflict our mind.
Brahmarpanam
Brahma Havir BrahmagnauBrahmanahutaṃ,
Brahmaiva Tena Gantavyam BrahmakarmaSamadhinah.
The act of offering is God.
The oblation is God. By God it is offered into the Fire of God. God is That
which is to be attained by him who performs action pertaining to God.
