Hare Krishna,
ŚB 6.4.9
अहस्ता हस्तयुक्तानां द्विपदां च चतुष्पद: ॥ ९ ॥
hy apadaḥ pāda-cāriṇām
ahastā hasta-yuktānāṁ
dvi-padāṁ ca catuṣ-padaḥ
By nature’s arrangement, fruits and flowers are considered the food of insects and birds; grass and other legless living entities are meant to be the food of four-legged animals like cows and buffalo; animals that cannot use their front legs as hands are meant to be the food of animals like tigers, which have claws; and four-legged animals like deer and goats, as well as food grains, are meant to be the food of human beings.
Then why it is a sin to eat meat ?
In God's design, one living being is the food of other living beings. Then how can we say He is compassionate ?
Lord Krishna never spoke on the topic of animal killing and meat eating. Nor did Lord Rama.
Moreover they hunted animals in the forest. ( May be Kshatriya Dharma ).
Lord Krishna silently watched, when arjuna hunted down many birds trying to escape during Khandava dahana.
Only devotees like Prabhupada , bhishma and narada showed compassion to animals.
It seems that devotees are more compassionate than Him.
I am wondering, when God himself is indifferent and silent, why meat eating should be a serious topic among devotees ?
Replies
Vaisampayana said, "Once on a time, as Yudhishthira lay down at night in the Dwaita woods, some deer, with accents choked in tears, presented themselves before him in his dreams. To them standing with joined hands, their bodies trembling all over that foremost of monarchs said, 'Tell me what ye wish to say. Who are ye? And what do ye desire?' Thus accosted by Kunti's son--the illustrious Pandava, those deer, the remnant of those that had been slaughtered, replied unto him, saying, 'We are, O Bharata, those deer that are still alive after them that had been slaughtered. We shall be exterminated totally. Therefore, do thou change thy residence. O mighty king, all thy brothers are heroes, conversant with weapons; they have thinned the ranks of the rangers of the forest. We few--the remnants,--O mighty-minded one, remain like seed. By thy favour, O king of kings, let us increase.' Seeing these deer, which remained like seed after the rest had been destroyed trembling and afflicted with fear, Yudhishthira the just was greatly affected with grief. And the king, intent on the welfare of all creatures, said unto them, 'So be it. I shall act as ye have said.' Awaking after such a vision, that excellent king, moved by pity towards the deer, thus spake unto his brothers assembled there, 'Those deer that are alive after them that have been slaughtered, accosted me at night, after I had awakened, saying, 'We remain like the cues of our lines. Blest be thou! Do thou have compassion on us.' And they have spoken truly.
We ought to feel pity for the dwellers of the forest. We have been feeding on them for a year together and eight months. Let us, therefore, again (repair) to the romantic Kamyakas, that best of forests abounding in wild animals, situated at the head of the desert, near lake Trinavindu. And there let us pleasantly pass the rest of our time.'
Now the great devotee yudhistira feeding on deer for 1year ( you might imagine how much meat he ate ), now felt so much compassion...Oh lets leave this kamyaka and lets go to another forest and start hunting there...what a great compassion !!
Now you ask the same question to the great devotees pandavas " Would you agree to become meat ? "
p. 508
Manu smriti in ch. 5 gives regulations for flesh eating and at the end of that passage it states:
na mAMsa bhakSaNe doSo na madye na ca maithune
pravRttir eSA bhUtAnAM nivRttis tu mahAphalA
To eat meat (mamsa), to drink alcohol (madye) and to have sex (maithune) are not sins (na doso) for created beings (bhutanam) at the level of pravrtti(-marga), but to stop these (nivrtti) brings great results (mahaphala). (Ms. 5.56)
Pravrtti-marga is a dharma-regulated activity, i.e. in sync with dharmasastras. Krisna says the same about sex in BG 7.11: dharmAviruddho bhUteSu kAmo 'smi bharatarSabha - I'm sex (kama) not in conflict with dharma (dharma aviruddha).
BG is bringing us from the level of pravrtti-marga to the level of nivrtti-marga.
Hari Hari
ys J.
Yes,
I agree sastras like manu smriti spoke about meat eating.
Bhishma gave lengthy discourse to Yudhistira about abstenstion from meat eating.
But, I never found anywhere Lord Krishna touching this topic.
Because people are always eager to hear directly from Lord on such serious topics.
"But, I never found anywhere Lord Krishna touching this topic."
BG 9.26 follows up on Ms. 5.56, mahaphala = bhakti.
Ahimsa is not absolute "nonviolence" in the Jain style. It is a minimized, sastra-regulated violence.
Hari Hari
ys J.
Not answering the question directly because somewhere you know the answer.
A different point pulled from your writing..."when God himself is indifferent and silent.."
Well he is God , isn't he?
Why Krishna does something or when he doesn't.It is never up for jurisdiction by anybody..
So the thing is we can't really draw perfect conclusions from the erratic behavior of Krishna.Of course it isn't erratic , it just seems so..
Having said the above mentioned words it is not to say that we should not draw perfect conclusions from perfect behavior of God like that of Lord Rama.
Bg. 3.21
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते ॥ २१ ॥
My point is when He himself is not enthusiastically and proactively advocating nonviolence towards animals, why should His devotees do ?
Why will men giveup meat eating, when God doesn't say single word about meat eating ?
Your question in a more generalised fashion would be .." why should we stay away from the negative allure, when we don't really want to"
I may ask that even if Lord makes a perfect list of do's and dont's,what is the use of it?
An exemplary behavior set forth can't take away the negative allure.Can it?
My question in a more generalised fashion is .." why will people stay away from some thing , when God Himself does not forbid it and is not concerned ?"
Then what is the meaning of above verse ?
Ok, If you can give me a reference, where Lord spoke about meat eating, please give to me.
Bcoz, may be I couldn't find it. Bcoz vedic literature is very vast.
Suppose,
you are trying to educate a person, a relative or a friend,
meat eating is wrong.
He will ask you, Did your God say that ?
Then what will you say ?
I know wicked men never change even if God himself tries to convince them.
But men in general listen to a great person. Who is greater than God ?
That's why people are curious to know His opinion.
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