Sathya Upanishad - Pt. 5

MEAT EATING

Q5: Swami!  What is wrong or sinful in meat eating?  After all, it is a type of food.  Some say that it results in killing a living being and that is therefore a sin; if so, plants are also proved to be living objects as per the experiments conducted by J. C. Bose.  Then will we not be committing a sin even while restricting to vegetarian food?

A: My dear child, it is a fact that plants also have life like animals.  But animals are endowed with mind and nervous system too while the plants do not possess the same.  The animals cry and weep when they are being killed.  It is not the case with plants; as such equating killing of animals and destruction of plants is faulty logic.  Further, killing the animals and eating their flesh leads to the creeping or dissemination of the animal qualities and behaviour into man (meaning that man acquires the beastly qualities by eating animal flesh).  Thus follows our acquiring the beastly qualities - tamasic nature - of the buffaloes or the sheep.  Hence meat eating should be discarded.  Food conditions the nature of the mind. Mind guides the thinking.  Thinking results in action.  Actions lead to commensurate or matching results and effects.  This chain of action between the food we eat and the results of our actions highlights the fact that meat eating leads to beastly actions and the concomitant evil effects.

(To be continued)

(From the book "Divine Directions" by Prof. K. Anil Kumar)