Why Veg?

A participant on the Bangalore Utsav wrote...

Hi dear Bawa!

This is Pratap who is doing Utsav course presently in Bangalore...I got pretty inspired by you and I hope to carry on applying the things you have taught us within these few days.But I have few doubts on the arguments to justify the reasons for not taking non veg, and tea coffee.

I myself don't take any non-veg or alcohol or even tea coffee....but to convince people not to take them I fail to a certain extent.

Here are some arguments they through at me and I would be happy if you clarify those.

• The chicken are made to be eaten...otherwise their number will grow in such a proportion that it will destroy the balance of earth.If you don't destroy them they will eat up every thing any ways...
• If you tell egg is a non veg then why do you take milk then...that is also another animal product and also most of the eggs you take do not have fertilizing power...hence actually you don't kill any future chicken also...
• Why should we avoid Tea and Coffee...as they are also some tree's product....completely vegetarian..

My reply:

1. chicken are grown on factory farms... no chicken that we eat is "wild". Read up www.goveg.com to see under what atrocious conditions these poor birds are literally manufactured... if people stop eating chicken or for that matter meat, millions upon millions of acres of land that is used to make food for animals could be used for humans or could be returned to their original forest state making bigger lungs for the planet to breathe, besides millions of tonnes of animal waste (shit, urine, etc) that is regularly dumped into rivers and seas would be eliminated... to give you an idea:

The US has farmland that is the size of the entire Indian subcontinent!! 8/10th to 9/10th of this land is used to grow feed for animals... can u imagine? the US actually imports food grain for human consumption... in the US annually 15 billion animals are processed (grow and butchered) for human consumption... 99.99% of these are factory produced... so in a nutshell, if we stop eating meat, balance will not be destroyed, it will be regained! We are loosing about 1 acre of rain forest almost every few minutes to create grazing lands for animals who other people eat... so many species of animals, insects, birds and trees have gone extinct, and we DONT know how to get them back... movies like Jurassic park not withstanding!

Aquifers are huge underground water storages, US and India have the biggest in the world, and because of animal farming in both these countries, and indiscriminate use of this water, we have managed to deplete (there is not enough rain water going in, and too much water being pumped out, as well as huge amounts of toxic waste being dumped in rivers and oceans) in less than 60 years, what nature had made for 5 million years... acres and acres of land have been desertified... where there was once luch green forest, not there is cracked, parched earth...

right now, because of insensitive idiots who eat meat, and profit making bottom line focused buffoons who make this meat, a huge percentage of humanity is either dying of hunger and hunger related diseases, and another huge percentage is really suffering from over eating and obesity related diseases!

How about fish? Mass fishing has destroyed the ocean ecology, only 20%of the fish caught are fit for human consumption, rest are just dumped back in the ocean after they are dead... these fish are caught by trawlers the size of a football field, and they scour the deep seas to get to the fish... other fish are grown on factory farms, where they are fed a dangerous cocktail of chemicals to give them colour, or make them grow faster, or resistant to disease because of over crowding... and they are also fed fish which are farmed from the ocean... The ocean ecology is very very fragile and thru this mass fishing and factory fish farms, humans have managed to make many oceanic flora and fauna already extinct!

2. It has been argued that milk is also not good for you, you are right, that milk is also an animal product... however over here i bow down to the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda which says milk is ok... PROVIDED it comes from free range cows, not from factory cows... i myself have hardly any dairy... mostly soy products, also milk and milk products provide the body with Vitamin B12, which is not available in any plant product... btw, an excellent source for omega 3 is flaxseed oil instead of fish...

3. tea and coffee is definitely not non veg, but they are stimulants and not so good for your body in the long run... a bit of tea and coffee now and then is absolutely ok :) ... however, they do get in the way of you having a good experience during meditation and for sure will affect your ability to focus and concentrate... however like i said, once in a while, now and then tea and coffee is absolutely fine, and when i say tea i mean our indian chai, which is not so good for you... herbal tea of any sort can be therapeutic :)

SO PLEASE!! STOP EATING NON VEG FOOD!! and tell others, cajole others, to stop as well... this is one of the biggest steps we can take towards a greener, more humane, more healthy lifestyle and planet!!

You may read up books by John Robbins on this subject, they are very well written... as well as watch the IMAX movie the Blue Planet

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa