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WINNING ARGUMENT 2/27
Section: 2 >>>>>> Continued from last message >>>>>>>
the Divine, an emanation of the Source and part of a cosmic
continuum. They further hold that each life form, even water
and trees, possesses consciousness and energy. Nonviolence,
ahimsa, the primary basis of vegetarianism, has long been
central to the religious traditions of India-especially
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Religion in India has
consistently upheld the sanctity of life, whether human, animal
or, in the case of the Jains, elemental.
The Sanskrit for vegetarianism is Shakahara, and one following
a vegetarian diet is a shakahari. The term for meat-eating is
mansahara, and the meat-eater is called mansahari. Ahara means
"to consume, or eat," shaka means "vegetable," and mansa means
"meat or flesh." The very word mansa, "meat," conveys a deep
appreciation of life's sacredness and an understanding of the
law of karma by which the consequence of each action returns to
the doer. As explained in the 2,000-year-old Manu Dharma
Shastra, 5.55, "The learned declare that the meaning of mansa
(flesh) is, 'he (sa) will eat me (mam) in the other world whose
flesh I eat here.' "
There developed early in India an unparalleled concern for
harmony among life forms, and this led to a common ethos based
on noninjuriousness and a minimal consumption of natural
resources-in other words, to compassion and simplicity. If homo
sapiens is to survive his present predicament, he will have to
rediscover these two primary ethical virtues.
"Is vegetarianism integral to noninjury?" In my book, Dancing
with Siva, this question is addressed as follows: "Hindus teach
vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other
beings, for to consume meat, fish,
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*-=Om Shanti=-* Jai Maharaj
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jai maharaj |_|_|_|_| mantra corporation
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