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Re: A comment on Alt.Hindu
In article <3g42tu$kpm@ucunix.san.uc.edu>,
GUEST ACCOUNT CENTER <CENTERJ@kub.nl> wrote:
> It was sad to see that the debate whether we should eat Non-Veg
>food or not. There are many hindus ( like the bengalis, sothern non-bramhins)
>who ate meat and fish ( Ramakrishna + vivekananda + Chaytanya + etc
>were bengalis ).
Are you trying to suggest that Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a non-vegetarian?
If so, you are DEAD WRONG. There are several authorized biographies
of Sri Caitanya, including Caitanya-Caritamrta, Caitanya-Bhagavata,
Caitanya-Mangala, Caitanya-Candrodaya, etc. All of them describe large
feasts held in which Caitanya was present, for example at the houses
of devotees on his trek through South India, or at Adwaita Acarya's
house, or at Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya's house. In all cases, there were
many items served, all of which were Krishna's prasadam (pure vegetarian
foods offered to Krishna and then distributed to His devotees). It is
said that Mahaprabhu would eat 10 or 20 different types of spinach and
would call each one by a name of Krishna.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu required that all his disciples follow the 4
regulative principles, one of which is NO MEAT-EATING.
He appeared in Bengal, but in the house of a Vaisnava Brahmin. Even
in his youth, therefore, he ate only Krishna prasadam. There has always
been a contingent of Bengalis who were Vaisnavas and vegetarians. For
example, Srila Prabhupada (aka Abhay Charan De) was a life-long vegetarian,
as was his father Gour Mohan De. Prabhupada was born in Calcutta, to a
well-off Brahmin clan, but they didn't eat meat or fish. When Prabhupada
founded a spiritual society, he required _all_ his disciples to be
vegetarians.
So, your whole point about Bengalis eating meat should be rephrased
"Most Bengalis eat meat, but those who are Vaisnavas don't".
And your whole concoction about Northern oppression is also misleading;
Krishna Susarla and I are both from South India and both follow the
Gaudiya [Bengali] Vaisnava tradition, and have nothing to do with the
North Indian political parties (or any Indian political party).
>Anurag Narayan Banerjee
Yours,
Vijay
