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> In article <ghenE8zywq.n37@netcom.com> M Suresh <msuresh@india.ti.com> writes:
>
> .. stuff deleted ..
>
> There is a gradation of jiva's or souls. Killing a higher life form
> causes more suffering than killing a lower life form. For example
> the lives of bacteria lost during breathing or consuming curd is not
> the same as the life of a cow. Such a gradation could be
>
> Matter < Cellular life < plants < small animals < animals < cow < man
>
> So this way eating beef is more sinful than eating mutton :-).
>
> No one can live without directly and indirectly contributing to
> killing of living things. The thing is each person should try to
> lessen the killing and suffering of living things in whatever
> practical way he can without glorifying himself indirectly by
> critisizing others or by justifying his own mode of living.
>
> To quote the Buddha, who himself on occasion ate meat, "if eating
> grass were to provide religious merit, deer would reach heaven before
> man."
This is yet another example of using a quote for the wrong reason
which is sometimes seen in srh/srv. The quote is meant for
vegetarians not to become proud of themselves and start condemning
non-vegetarianism. It cannot be for justifying non-vegetarianism
because buddha himself advocated ahimsa.
While begging the principle buddhist monks used to adopt is that
they eat whatever that the house where they beg can spare for them.
Even if it is meat throwing it away does not help since it is
already dead and they did not cause the killing of the animal since
it was not specially made for them. Buddha would have eaten meat in
such a context.
Similarly Swami Vivekanda & Ramakrishna Paramahamsa have been
critisised for advocating meat, alcohol and tobacco. I feel they
only pointed out that feeling superior and taking on a self
appointed duty of reforming others just because one has been
conveintly born and brought up in circumstances appropriate to
abstinence is not correct.
Instead the relevant quotes which seem to be against abstinence are
used by people to take pot shots at them and worse by people
addicted to these things to justify themselves and feel cosy and
comfortable about themselves.
Swami Vivekanda himself has said that one would lose the greed for
meat and start preferring vegetarian food when he advances
spiritually.
> Thus this relationship that Mr. Suresh has established can be
> easily countered by saying that the least harm is obviously caused by
> matter so it is must attain heaven before man!
I was talking about man causing harm to other living things mainly
from an ethical angle and not about man or other living things
attaining heaven or hell.
To answer your question directly, Merit and sin is not only
associated with action but also the knowledge, attitude and
sincerity that is behind the action. Therefore lower level things
do not attain merit/sin because they do things mechanically, but man
does because he can discriminate between right and wrong and is thus
responsible for his actions.
> And yet Vaishnavism
> believes man to be the highest form why ? So what if he has
> intelligence, obviously you could obtain religious merit by eating
> grass!
If you eat grass not to attain religious merit, not to prove a
point, but because you genuinely cannot bear any harm caused to
living things and also if you are a devotee of the lord you will
definitely attain very great religious merit.
But I think that these things are not possible for anyone.
regards,
Suresh.
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