What should i tell my boss about being a vegetarian. He still insists that cows and other animals were made for humans to eat and he even says that in the bible that it says somewhere that people are allowed eat meat. They are all driving me crazy at work about this. I'm not going to let them defeat me about this issue. I even told my boss I'll prove it to him that there is a reason why we don't eat meat and are not supposed to! I guess this is what I get for working in a fast food restaurant. I've been looking for another job but there is nothing yet. Something's gotta give! I won't let ANYONE brainwash me into going back into eating meat again. I refuse to. The one day I was at work my co workers were all jumping on my back about why people can eat meat. I guess that's maya clouding their vision or something I dunno. I just need some help explaining things to them.
You need to be a member of ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT to add comments!
WHY one should avoid eating meat.
This has been mainly categorized into: Responses to different arguments possible, The bodily concept of vegetarianism and the Spiritual side of vegetarianism.
A. Eight separate arguments against meat-eating: http://www.ivu.org/religion/articles/argument3.html
1. The Hunger Argument against meat-eating
2. The Environmental Argument against meat-eating
3. The Cancer Argument against meat-eating
4. The Cholesterol Argument against meat-eating
5. The Natural Resources Argument against meat-eating
6. The Antibiotic Argument against meat-eating
7. The Pesticide Argument against meat-eating
8. The Ethical Argument against meat-eating
B. The bodily concept of vegetarianism:
Although some historians and anthropologists say that man is historically omnivorous, our anatomical equipment ¬ teeth, jaws, and digestive system ¬ favors a fleshless diet. The American Dietetic Association notes that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets."
And much of the world still lives that way. Even on most industrialized countries, the love affair with meat is less than a hundred years old. It started with the refrigerator car and the twentieth-century consumer society. But even with the twentieth century, man's body hasn't adapted to eating meat. The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, "Man's structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food." The chart below compares the anatomy of man with that of carnivorous and herbivorous animals.
When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.
Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws
Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores
Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits
Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)
Clearly if humans were meant to eat meat we wouldn't have so many crucial ingestive/digestive similarities with animals that are herbivores.
Many people ask me, "If we weren't supposed to eat meat than why do we?". It is because we are conditioned to eat meat. Also, the ADA (American Dietetic Association) tells us that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.
Meat and seafood putrefies within 4 hours after consumption and the remnants cling to the walls of the stomach and intestines for 3-4 days or longer than if a person is constipated. Furthermore, the reaction of saliva in humans is more alkaline, whereas in the case of flesh-eating or preying animals, it is clearly acidic. The alkaline saliva does not act properly on meat.
Another point is that all omnivorous and carnivorous animals eat their meat raw. When a lion kills an herbivore for food, it tears right into the stomach area to eat the organs that are filled with blood (nutrients). While eating the stomach, liver, intestine, etc., the lion laps the blood in the process of eating the dead animals flesh. Even bears that are omnivores eat salmon raw. However, eating raw or bloody meat disgust us as humans. Therefore, we must cook it and season it to buffer the taste of flesh.
The spiritually aspiring person attempts to work on his/her self. The purpose of spiritual growth is to move away from the animal nature into the more human nature that God intended for us to have. Meat eating inhibits this. Again, the same science that sometimes attempts to ignore the existence of a force higher than man also has proved, in the laboratory, that aggression levels are much higher in meat eaters than non-meat eaters! The animal instincts become more powerful every time you eat meat. Another spiritual aspect of being a meat eater is when one must question the necessity and the method as well as the karma of killing animals. However, everyone has their own mores which they must determine for themselves. Most spiritual people believe auras. Kirilian photography shows us that a force field remains around dead or amputated tissue. You adopt that animal aura when you eat a dead animal. Fruits and vegetables have a higher vibrational aura than animal products. Is it not personal evolution that the spiritual candidate is interested in? If so, meat eating is urgently prohibited.
“You are what you eat”, is a slogan that I love to use to show the mental aspect of vegetarianism. When animals are slaughtered, fear and aggression enzymes are shot into their cells from their glands and other organs, just as in humans, and are part of the dead carcass that goes on to the food store. They remain in the meat until the consumer ingests those same enzymes, which are molecularly very similar to those found in humans. Fruits and vegetables do not have emotions; therefore, when they are picked they do not release any emotions cells prior to digestion. The enzymes within fruits and vegetables supply the body with sufficient nutrients that will always uphold a healthy state of mind.
Fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients; the very thing the body needs to live a long disease and pain free life. The same cannot be said for meat. Nutritionally, the alkaline-based digestive system of humans will not properly break down substantial acid substances, the greatest of which is meat.
Colon cancer is rampant! This is caused by the slow evacuation and the putrefaction in the colon of the remains of meat. Lifelong vegetarians never suffer from such an illness. Many meat eaters believe that meat is the sole source of protein. However, the quality of this protein is so poor that little of it can ever be utilized by humans because it is incomplete and lacks the correct combination of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Studies show that the average American gets five times the amount of protein needed. It is a common medical fact that excess protein is dangerous, the prime danger being that uric acid (the waste product produced in the process of digesting protein) attacks the kidneys, breaking down the kidney cells called nephrons. This condition is called nephritis; the prime cause of it is overburdening the kidneys. More usable protein is found in one tablespoon of tofu or soybeans than the average serving of meat!
Tigers or lions who eat meat and grow strong on it have acid-based digestive systems. Our Hydrochloric Acid isn’t strong enough to fully digest meat. Also, their intestines are in a straight run of about five feet long, not twisted and turned, layer over layer, compacted into a small area like the human intestine, which is twenty feet long.
C. Some more arguments: [3]
Argument: Alone I cannot save animals at all!
Counterargument: Oh yes, you can! One example: the average American eats up to his 75th year about 11 cattle, 3 lambs and sheep, 23 pork, 45 turkeys, 1100 chickens and 862 pounds of fish. Even if some people guaranteed eat less than that, a lot of animals still would be saved. Certainly every American family had for Thanksgiving a turkey. If every family member would agree not to have a turkey, you would save at least one animal.
Argument: But the animals get slaughtered anyway.
Counterargument: Sure, the animals who lay in the freezer in the grocery store are dead, but as everybody knows the demand for something regulates the supply. If nobody would buy meat, no animals would have to be slaughtered to fill up the freezer.
Argument: I do not kill the animals by myself!
Counterargument: Ordered murder is just as bad. If oyu pay a person money to kill a human the person will be persecuted as the murderer him- or herself. So why this should not be applicable for animals? The point is: If a meat eater excuses his or her eating habits with the argument that he/her did not kill the animal itself and this could it the animal, the argument cannot be accepted. It is not about who killed the animal but that the animal was killed in the first place. Another counterquestion would be: Could you kill the animals yourself? Meaning not the skills but the crossing of a moral line. Anybody that could not kill a sweet little rabbit this confesses indirectly that there must be something wrong morally. Plus to be honest: Anybody that would not have a problem with that seems suspect to us.
With your purchase of meat you kind of give the order to kill another animals to fill up the shelves again.
Argument: The animals get killed fast and without pain.
Counterargument: Then why must so many cows be brought with electric shocks to the slaughter if the procedure is painless? DO you seriously believe that the animals do not feel pain when they got killed? How do you explain then their screams? Is that supposed to be a "Hallelujah"? And even is the slaughter procedure would be relatively short what is not always the case, after this follows the death. If you could choose between a short and painless death and life, what would you choose?
Argument: But the vegetarians kill the poor innocent plants!
Counterargument: This argument mostly is brought up when the person does not know what to say anymore and tries to attack the vegetarians verbally. Nobody really believes that plants feel pain what is scientifically proved too, because they do not have nerve cells that could transmit the pain. Who makes fun about vegetarians with "Save the soy beans!" or "Save the baby peas!" seems to forget that they have to eat fruits and vegetables daily also! Nobody can survive without vegetables, fruits and grain, but everybody can live without meat.
D. A bit on the Spiritual side: [4]
The person who eats an animal may say that he hasn’t killed anything, but when he buys his neatly packaged meat at the supermarket he is paying someone else to kill for him, and both of them bring upon themselves reactions of karma. Can it be anything but hypocritical to march for peace and then go to McDonald’s for a hamburger or go home to grill a steak? This is the very duplicity that George Bernard Shaw condemned:
We pray on Sundays that we may have light
To guide our footsteps on the path we tread;
We are sick of war, we don’t want to fight,
And yet we gorge ourselves upon the dead.
As Srila Prabhupada says in his explanations of Bhagavad-Gita, "Those who kill animals and give them unnecessary pain – as people do in slaughterhouses – will be killed in the same way in the next life and in many lives to come... In the Judeo-Christian scriptures, it is stated clearly ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Nonetheless, giving all kinds of excuses, even the heads of religion indulge in killing animals and, at the same time, try to pass as saintly persons. This mockery and hypocrisy in human society brings about unlimited calamities such as great wars, where masses of people go out onto the battlefields and kill each other. Presently they have discovered the nuclear bomb, which is simply waiting to be used for wholesale destruction." Such are the effects of karma.
Those who understand the laws of karma, know that peace will not come from marches and petitions, but rather from a campaign to educate people about the consequences of murdering innocent animals (and unborn children). That will go a long way preventing any increase in the world’s problems – we need people with purified consciousness to perceive that the real problem is a spiritual one.
One of the most common objections non-vegetarians raise against vegetarianism is that vegetarians still have to kill plants, and this is also violence.
In response it may be pointed out that vegetarian foods such as ripe fruits and many vegetables, nuts, grains and milk do not require any killing. But even those cases where a plant’s life is taken, because plants have less evolved consciousness than animals, we can presume that the pain involved is much less then when an animal is slaughtered, what to speak of the suffering a food-animal experience throughout its life.
It’s true that vegetarians have to kill some plants, and that is also violence, but we do have to eat something and the Vedas say,
jivo jivasya jivanam: one living entity is food for another in the struggle for existence.
So the problem is not how to avoid killing altogether – but how to cause the least suffering to other creatures while meeting the nutritional needs of the body.
Krishna relieves us of all sins
The taking of any life, even that of a plant, is certainly sinful, but Krishna , the supreme controller,
frees us from sin by accepting what we offer
Eating food first offered to the Lord is something like a soldier’s killing during wartime.
In a war, when the commander orders a man to attack, the obedient soldier who kills the enemy will get a medal.
But if the soldier kills someone on his own, he will be punished. Similarly, when we eat only Prasadam, we do not commit any sin.
This confirmed in the Bhagavad-Gita (3.13)
"The devotees of the Lord are released from all kind of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, eat only sin."
Nice Quotes:
Mahatma Ghandi You can judge a nation by how it treats it’s animals
L.Tolstoy As long there are slaughterhouses there will be always war
Henry David Thoreau I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals
J. H. Kellog A dead cow or sheep lying in pastures recognized as carrion. The same sort of carcass dressed and hung up in a butcher’s stall passes as food
Albert Einstein It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind
Pythagoras As long as man massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who saws seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love
Mahaparinirvana Sutra, a Buddhist scripture The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion
The Essene Gospel of peace And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and who so eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats the body of death.
Good nutrition, a balanced budget, and a clean conscience: [5]
When Lord Krsna speaks in the Bhagavad-Gita, He clarifies the ultimate purpose of vegetarianism: "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I will accept it." (Bg. 9.26) In itself, vegetarianism basically means nonviolence, protecting the animals—but offering vegetarian foods to Krsna and later accepting them as his mercy (prasäda) means a lot more: bhakti-yoga, or becoming conscious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When combined with the chanting of the Supreme Lord's holy names—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna. Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma. Räma Räma, Hare Hare—strict vegetarianism becomes more than a mere ethical principle or rational, humane way of life; it becomes the simplest, most pleasant means in the world for spiritual realization.
Krsna consciousness, the spiritual reason for vegetarianism, includes all the other reasons—ethical, aesthetic, nutritional, economic, medical—in the same way that a five-hundred-dollar bill includes all the potencies of a hundred-dollar bill or a twenty-dollar bill or a ten- or five- or one-dollar bill. Only the freshest most succulent, most nutritious, and most aesthetically pleasing kinds of foods are prepared and offered to Krsna.
The Philosophy behind Prasäda: [6]
Meat eating is one of the greatest obstacles on the path of spiritual progress. Despite farfetched interpretations, no scripture in the world recommends meat eating—although some scriptures may make a concession for individuals who are unable to control their tongues. But even these authorities strictly forbid cow killing; they advise substituting some less important animal instead. Because we drink the cow's milk, the Vedic literatures consider her one of human society's mothers. Cow protection is thus imperative, for cow's milk stimulates the growth of healthy brain tissues required for understanding the principles and executing the practices of bhakti-yoga, devotional service to God. On the other hand, meat contains poisons and cholesterol that simply dull the mind and debilitate the body.
However, vegetarianism in itself is not spiritual. We must also offer our food to God with devotion. Then our eating becomes part of a loving exchange with the Lord. When devotees prepare food, they're aware that the preparation is for Krsna's pleasure, not their own. This is genuine spiritual feeling, or bhakti.
Bhakti-yoga aims at reawakening our lost sense of God consciousness. Thus the rules governing the preparation of prasäda are very strict: the cook must bathe and put on fresh clothes before entering the kitchen; the kitchen itself must be spotless; the cook must never touch his mouth or any other part of his body while cooking; and most important, he must never taste the preparations before offering them to Lord Krsna—even to test them. Krsna must be the first to relish.
Actually, Krsna doesn't need to eat. He is ätmäräma, or completely self-sufficient. But He appreciates the devotion with which we prepare foods for Him. The more our consciousness is fixed on pleasing Krsna, the more successful is the offering.
This, then, is real yoga, or linking up with the Supreme. It is not a question of stopping eating, but rather of spiritualizing our food by first offering it to Krsna. This simple process gradually makes us aware of the essential teaching of the Vedas: that everything comes from Krsna, and that He is the real enjoyer of all our endeavors.
There are few things one needs to focus on, first we need to be convinced that eating meat will affect our consciousness. Secondly, we should try to teach the people who is inquisitive.
To the extent we are convinced that eating meat is not good for our progress in Krishna Consciousness, to that extent we are safe. Majority of times people tend to have upper hand over us, so they will bring illogical arguments to show their superiority. If you could able to give answers and convince them, its well and good. Otherwise keep focus on your Sadhana, act with conviction, don't try to hurt them. If they see that you are consistent in your sadhana, surely one day they will change. All the times pray to Krishna so that he can show the best way to handle the situation.
More importantly read Prabhupad books, so that you can answer these questions. Reading Prabhupad books is also a part of Sadhana, so only thing I can tell is improve your Sadhana. Krishna will give you the enough intelligence to handle the situation.
Replies
This has been mainly categorized into: Responses to different arguments possible, The bodily concept of vegetarianism and the Spiritual side of vegetarianism.
A. Eight separate arguments against meat-eating:
http://www.ivu.org/religion/articles/argument3.html
1. The Hunger Argument against meat-eating
2. The Environmental Argument against meat-eating
3. The Cancer Argument against meat-eating
4. The Cholesterol Argument against meat-eating
5. The Natural Resources Argument against meat-eating
6. The Antibiotic Argument against meat-eating
7. The Pesticide Argument against meat-eating
8. The Ethical Argument against meat-eating
B. The bodily concept of vegetarianism:
Although some historians and anthropologists say that man is historically omnivorous, our anatomical equipment ¬ teeth, jaws, and digestive system ¬ favors a fleshless diet. The American Dietetic Association notes that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets."
And much of the world still lives that way. Even on most industrialized countries, the love affair with meat is less than a hundred years old. It started with the refrigerator car and the twentieth-century consumer society. But even with the twentieth century, man's body hasn't adapted to eating meat. The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, "Man's structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food." The chart below compares the anatomy of man with that of carnivorous and herbivorous animals.
When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.
Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws
Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores
Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits
Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)
Clearly if humans were meant to eat meat we wouldn't have so many crucial ingestive/digestive similarities with animals that are herbivores.
Many people ask me, "If we weren't supposed to eat meat than why do we?". It is because we are conditioned to eat meat. Also, the ADA (American Dietetic Association) tells us that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.
Meat and seafood putrefies within 4 hours after consumption and the remnants cling to the walls of the stomach and intestines for 3-4 days or longer than if a person is constipated. Furthermore, the reaction of saliva in humans is more alkaline, whereas in the case of flesh-eating or preying animals, it is clearly acidic. The alkaline saliva does not act properly on meat.
Another point is that all omnivorous and carnivorous animals eat their meat raw. When a lion kills an herbivore for food, it tears right into the stomach area to eat the organs that are filled with blood (nutrients). While eating the stomach, liver, intestine, etc., the lion laps the blood in the process of eating the dead animals flesh. Even bears that are omnivores eat salmon raw. However, eating raw or bloody meat disgust us as humans. Therefore, we must cook it and season it to buffer the taste of flesh.
The spiritually aspiring person attempts to work on his/her self. The purpose of spiritual growth is to move away from the animal nature into the more human nature that God intended for us to have. Meat eating inhibits this. Again, the same science that sometimes attempts to ignore the existence of a force higher than man also has proved, in the laboratory, that aggression levels are much higher in meat eaters than non-meat eaters! The animal instincts become more powerful every time you eat meat. Another spiritual aspect of being a meat eater is when one must question the necessity and the method as well as the karma of killing animals. However, everyone has their own mores which they must determine for themselves. Most spiritual people believe auras. Kirilian photography shows us that a force field remains around dead or amputated tissue. You adopt that animal aura when you eat a dead animal. Fruits and vegetables have a higher vibrational aura than animal products. Is it not personal evolution that the spiritual candidate is interested in? If so, meat eating is urgently prohibited.
“You are what you eat”, is a slogan that I love to use to show the mental aspect of vegetarianism. When animals are slaughtered, fear and aggression enzymes are shot into their cells from their glands and other organs, just as in humans, and are part of the dead carcass that goes on to the food store. They remain in the meat until the consumer ingests those same enzymes, which are molecularly very similar to those found in humans. Fruits and vegetables do not have emotions; therefore, when they are picked they do not release any emotions cells prior to digestion. The enzymes within fruits and vegetables supply the body with sufficient nutrients that will always uphold a healthy state of mind.
Fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients; the very thing the body needs to live a long disease and pain free life. The same cannot be said for meat. Nutritionally, the alkaline-based digestive system of humans will not properly break down substantial acid substances, the greatest of which is meat.
Colon cancer is rampant! This is caused by the slow evacuation and the putrefaction in the colon of the remains of meat. Lifelong vegetarians never suffer from such an illness. Many meat eaters believe that meat is the sole source of protein. However, the quality of this protein is so poor that little of it can ever be utilized by humans because it is incomplete and lacks the correct combination of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Studies show that the average American gets five times the amount of protein needed. It is a common medical fact that excess protein is dangerous, the prime danger being that uric acid (the waste product produced in the process of digesting protein) attacks the kidneys, breaking down the kidney cells called nephrons. This condition is called nephritis; the prime cause of it is overburdening the kidneys. More usable protein is found in one tablespoon of tofu or soybeans than the average serving of meat!
Tigers or lions who eat meat and grow strong on it have acid-based digestive systems. Our Hydrochloric Acid isn’t strong enough to fully digest meat. Also, their intestines are in a straight run of about five feet long, not twisted and turned, layer over layer, compacted into a small area like the human intestine, which is twenty feet long.
C. Some more arguments: [3]
Argument: Alone I cannot save animals at all!
Counterargument: Oh yes, you can! One example: the average American eats up to his 75th year about 11 cattle, 3 lambs and sheep, 23 pork, 45 turkeys, 1100 chickens and 862 pounds of fish. Even if some people guaranteed eat less than that, a lot of animals still would be saved. Certainly every American family had for Thanksgiving a turkey. If every family member would agree not to have a turkey, you would save at least one animal.
Argument: But the animals get slaughtered anyway.
Counterargument: Sure, the animals who lay in the freezer in the grocery store are dead, but as everybody knows the demand for something regulates the supply. If nobody would buy meat, no animals would have to be slaughtered to fill up the freezer.
Argument: I do not kill the animals by myself!
Counterargument: Ordered murder is just as bad. If oyu pay a person money to kill a human the person will be persecuted as the murderer him- or herself. So why this should not be applicable for animals? The point is: If a meat eater excuses his or her eating habits with the argument that he/her did not kill the animal itself and this could it the animal, the argument cannot be accepted. It is not about who killed the animal but that the animal was killed in the first place. Another counterquestion would be: Could you kill the animals yourself? Meaning not the skills but the crossing of a moral line. Anybody that could not kill a sweet little rabbit this confesses indirectly that there must be something wrong morally. Plus to be honest: Anybody that would not have a problem with that seems suspect to us.
With your purchase of meat you kind of give the order to kill another animals to fill up the shelves again.
Argument: The animals get killed fast and without pain.
Counterargument: Then why must so many cows be brought with electric shocks to the slaughter if the procedure is painless? DO you seriously believe that the animals do not feel pain when they got killed? How do you explain then their screams? Is that supposed to be a "Hallelujah"? And even is the slaughter procedure would be relatively short what is not always the case, after this follows the death. If you could choose between a short and painless death and life, what would you choose?
Argument: But the vegetarians kill the poor innocent plants!
Counterargument: This argument mostly is brought up when the person does not know what to say anymore and tries to attack the vegetarians verbally. Nobody really believes that plants feel pain what is scientifically proved too, because they do not have nerve cells that could transmit the pain. Who makes fun about vegetarians with "Save the soy beans!" or "Save the baby peas!" seems to forget that they have to eat fruits and vegetables daily also! Nobody can survive without vegetables, fruits and grain, but everybody can live without meat.
D. A bit on the Spiritual side: [4]
The person who eats an animal may say that he hasn’t killed anything, but when he buys his neatly packaged meat at the supermarket he is paying someone else to kill for him, and both of them bring upon themselves reactions of karma. Can it be anything but hypocritical to march for peace and then go to McDonald’s for a hamburger or go home to grill a steak? This is the very duplicity that George Bernard Shaw condemned:
We pray on Sundays that we may have light
To guide our footsteps on the path we tread;
We are sick of war, we don’t want to fight,
And yet we gorge ourselves upon the dead.
As Srila Prabhupada says in his explanations of Bhagavad-Gita, "Those who kill animals and give them unnecessary pain – as people do in slaughterhouses – will be killed in the same way in the next life and in many lives to come... In the Judeo-Christian scriptures, it is stated clearly ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Nonetheless, giving all kinds of excuses, even the heads of religion indulge in killing animals and, at the same time, try to pass as saintly persons. This mockery and hypocrisy in human society brings about unlimited calamities such as great wars, where masses of people go out onto the battlefields and kill each other. Presently they have discovered the nuclear bomb, which is simply waiting to be used for wholesale destruction." Such are the effects of karma.
Those who understand the laws of karma, know that peace will not come from marches and petitions, but rather from a campaign to educate people about the consequences of murdering innocent animals (and unborn children). That will go a long way preventing any increase in the world’s problems – we need people with purified consciousness to perceive that the real problem is a spiritual one.
One of the most common objections non-vegetarians raise against vegetarianism is that vegetarians still have to kill plants, and this is also violence.
In response it may be pointed out that vegetarian foods such as ripe fruits and many vegetables, nuts, grains and milk do not require any killing. But even those cases where a plant’s life is taken, because plants have less evolved consciousness than animals, we can presume that the pain involved is much less then when an animal is slaughtered, what to speak of the suffering a food-animal experience throughout its life.
It’s true that vegetarians have to kill some plants, and that is also violence, but we do have to eat something and the Vedas say,
jivo jivasya jivanam: one living entity is food for another in the struggle for existence.
So the problem is not how to avoid killing altogether – but how to cause the least suffering to other creatures while meeting the nutritional needs of the body.
Krishna relieves us of all sins
The taking of any life, even that of a plant, is certainly sinful, but Krishna , the supreme controller,
frees us from sin by accepting what we offer
Eating food first offered to the Lord is something like a soldier’s killing during wartime.
In a war, when the commander orders a man to attack, the obedient soldier who kills the enemy will get a medal.
But if the soldier kills someone on his own, he will be punished. Similarly, when we eat only Prasadam, we do not commit any sin.
This confirmed in the Bhagavad-Gita (3.13)
"The devotees of the Lord are released from all kind of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, eat only sin."
Nice Quotes:
Mahatma Ghandi You can judge a nation by how it treats it’s animals
L.Tolstoy As long there are slaughterhouses there will be always war
Henry David Thoreau I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals
J. H. Kellog A dead cow or sheep lying in pastures recognized as carrion. The same sort of carcass dressed and hung up in a butcher’s stall passes as food
Albert Einstein It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind
Pythagoras As long as man massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who saws seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love
Mahaparinirvana Sutra, a Buddhist scripture The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion
The Essene Gospel of peace And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and who so eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats the body of death.
Good nutrition, a balanced budget, and a clean conscience: [5]
When Lord Krsna speaks in the Bhagavad-Gita, He clarifies the ultimate purpose of vegetarianism: "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I will accept it." (Bg. 9.26) In itself, vegetarianism basically means nonviolence, protecting the animals—but offering vegetarian foods to Krsna and later accepting them as his mercy (prasäda) means a lot more: bhakti-yoga, or becoming conscious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When combined with the chanting of the Supreme Lord's holy names—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna. Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma. Räma Räma, Hare Hare—strict vegetarianism becomes more than a mere ethical principle or rational, humane way of life; it becomes the simplest, most pleasant means in the world for spiritual realization.
Krsna consciousness, the spiritual reason for vegetarianism, includes all the other reasons—ethical, aesthetic, nutritional, economic, medical—in the same way that a five-hundred-dollar bill includes all the potencies of a hundred-dollar bill or a twenty-dollar bill or a ten- or five- or one-dollar bill. Only the freshest most succulent, most nutritious, and most aesthetically pleasing kinds of foods are prepared and offered to Krsna.
The Philosophy behind Prasäda: [6]
Meat eating is one of the greatest obstacles on the path of spiritual progress. Despite farfetched interpretations, no scripture in the world recommends meat eating—although some scriptures may make a concession for individuals who are unable to control their tongues. But even these authorities strictly forbid cow killing; they advise substituting some less important animal instead. Because we drink the cow's milk, the Vedic literatures consider her one of human society's mothers. Cow protection is thus imperative, for cow's milk stimulates the growth of healthy brain tissues required for understanding the principles and executing the practices of bhakti-yoga, devotional service to God. On the other hand, meat contains poisons and cholesterol that simply dull the mind and debilitate the body.
However, vegetarianism in itself is not spiritual. We must also offer our food to God with devotion. Then our eating becomes part of a loving exchange with the Lord. When devotees prepare food, they're aware that the preparation is for Krsna's pleasure, not their own. This is genuine spiritual feeling, or bhakti.
Bhakti-yoga aims at reawakening our lost sense of God consciousness. Thus the rules governing the preparation of prasäda are very strict: the cook must bathe and put on fresh clothes before entering the kitchen; the kitchen itself must be spotless; the cook must never touch his mouth or any other part of his body while cooking; and most important, he must never taste the preparations before offering them to Lord Krsna—even to test them. Krsna must be the first to relish.
Actually, Krsna doesn't need to eat. He is ätmäräma, or completely self-sufficient. But He appreciates the devotion with which we prepare foods for Him. The more our consciousness is fixed on pleasing Krsna, the more successful is the offering.
This, then, is real yoga, or linking up with the Supreme. It is not a question of stopping eating, but rather of spiritualizing our food by first offering it to Krsna. This simple process gradually makes us aware of the essential teaching of the Vedas: that everything comes from Krsna, and that He is the real enjoyer of all our endeavors.
Please accept my humble obeisances;
There are few things one needs to focus on, first we need to be convinced that eating meat will affect our consciousness. Secondly, we should try to teach the people who is inquisitive.
To the extent we are convinced that eating meat is not good for our progress in Krishna Consciousness, to that extent we are safe. Majority of times people tend to have upper hand over us, so they will bring illogical arguments to show their superiority. If you could able to give answers and convince them, its well and good. Otherwise keep focus on your Sadhana, act with conviction, don't try to hurt them. If they see that you are consistent in your sadhana, surely one day they will change. All the times pray to Krishna so that he can show the best way to handle the situation.
More importantly read Prabhupad books, so that you can answer these questions. Reading Prabhupad books is also a part of Sadhana, so only thing I can tell is improve your Sadhana. Krishna will give you the enough intelligence to handle the situation.
Hare Krishna,
An Insignificant servant
Giridhara Gopala Das