Volunteer

Whom should we listen to?

Hare Krishna!

Accept my humble obeisances AGTSP

Always we are said that listen to your elders especially your parents. As we are school going students, parents are our guiding star. Regarding this one of my friend asked a question.  She is trying to become a devotee of the Lord. But her parents are not much in favour of her. They let her practice KC not as much she wants too. They won't let her chant much, they says that if she chants more she will waste her time and also she won't concentrate in studies. Also they force her to take non-veg! Now please tell what should she do? Even my parents too force me to take non-veg but they won't stop me in chanting or any other KC practice  :) They just don't want me to quite non-veg because they think that then i'll not get sufficient nutrients! :( Please suggest us what should we do? I know consuming non-veg is so sinfull! I'm just trying to become a pure devotee but for that i have to leave non-veg! Please suggest me something. Should I disobey my parents or obey?

I apologize if I have asked anything wrong.

Trying to be your servent

Priya

 

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  • Volunteer

    Hare Krishna Priya mataji.

    PAMHO. AGTSP. AGTSG&SG.

    This is a very nice topic and mostly many devotees have this to face in their early stage of KC. I know many devotees, who had similar problems. Their parents force them to eat non veg while they did not want to eat it. One thing I learn from them is not to try to preach our parents. If we give philosophical reasons for not eating non veg, they will get concerned of your future and will try to impose rules upon us. If we give them some scientific facts about how non veg eating is not good for human beings, they will or may accept it. Apart from that, you can make some reasons for not eating non veg. Something like difficulty in digestion, sleepiness after eating non veg is very common symptoms of eating non veg. We can say, that if I eat non veg, I am feeling sleepy and not able to concentrate on my studies.Pray sincerely to Krishna and he will give you the path - the right path to avoid such this.

    Regarding following the instructions of our parents, I remember a story that comes in some puranans. Once a brahamana was sitting under the tree and doing meditation. When a butcher comes running behind a cow which has escaped from the slaughter house. The butcher misses the track of cow and approaches the brahaman and asks him if he saw a cow running around that place. The Brahamana is in confusion now as what he has to do. If he says the truth and helps the butcher find the cow, he will get the sin of killing of a cow. If he says false saying he does not know where the cow has gone, then he will get the sin of telling a lie. Then he remembers the words of his Guru at the time of leaving the aashram. The guru had instructed Sathyam vada dharmam chara - speak the truth and practice the dharma. Then he says the truth that he saw the cow and says a lie that it went in this direction (pointing to different direction where the cow had gone). In the same way, we have to use our intelligence in weather to accept or reject the orders of our parents. If the order is going to please Guru and Krishna, then do it. If its is not then avoid it. However, avoiding has to be done in a way that the parents do not get offended and you will learn it over a period of time.

    It is seen in many devotees case that people who ridicule seeing our practice, will over a period of time start praising what we are doing. This can happen if we are very serious. If we are not, then they will take us for granted.

    All the best.

    Hari Bol!!!!

    • Volunteer

      Hare Krishna to all the devotees, accept my humble obeisances! AGTSP

      Quite happy to see that many devotees came forward to help me. Thanks to all of u for enlightening me.I'll try my best so that i can stop consuming non-veg.

      I have one more doubt, Plants also have life. So if we eat vegetebles n fruits won't we get sins (sorry if i asked anything wrong) 

      Your servent

      • Hare Krishna, always questions are good! It is a very good question it is even Discussed in Srila Prabhupada's books. Yes, devotees take only prashadam which means that first food is offered to Krishna only then it changes, it becomes Prashadam(mercy) of krishna and there is no karma or sin, in fact one will be blessed and have good consciousness and feel light and happy and start chanting.

        If one eats veg that is not offered to krishna one kills the plants and gets karma, much less than killing animals of course because animals have much higher expirience of pain and suffering than a plant does.

        It breaks my heart that this propaganda about nutrition is becoming accepted by people who do not know better. I would encourage you not to be angry with your parents because they are being blinded and misled by people with a lot of money and power who teach these things on TV and in schools and universities etc,

        Not that you have to eat non veg, but just that you have mercy on them and try to be forgiving and not blame them to much, It is so hard, krishna is testing all of us very hard to see how we love him. I like the suggestion of tricks you can do perhaps a devotee who is a doctor can diagnose you allergic to such foods. It is a good excuse with some people that I am allergic but with family it is more of a challenge one thing for sure, you are not the only one who has to go through these challenges. It is a symptom of kali yuga.

        I would say that  If the punishment for disobeying your family is too severe for example if your parents will throw you out of home or beat you or something really bad like that then it might be better to tolerate and just know that very soon you will be old enough because time really does fly. Otherwise if refusing makes things uncomfortable but not too bad then you should insist and really make sure that they understand that it is very important to you.


        If you get forced it is an impossible situation someone else has to help you sometimes.
        I can suggest that you look if you can find an older respectable person who is vegetarian that THEY really respect then ask that person to come and have a meeting with your family and maybe they will be able to convince your family that they should give you a break.

        I have also one more thing to suggest and that is that you make an effort to make it easier on whoever is cooking, if you family is worried about having to cook extra for you all the time and they say it is too much work to make special food for you then try to help out. Or the best cook your own preparations and offer and then try to share with everyone I am just saying these things from my own expirience and I know it is really not so simple and we can only try our best at the end of the day at least you have come here and asked the right people for advice even just the prayers of the devotee's will make a big difference you will see!
        Hare Krishna

        your servant
        Bhakta Francis


        • Volunteer

          Hare Krishna Bhakta Francis prabhu! Accept my Humble obeisances. Thankyou very much for u advices. I'll surely try to follow them.

          trying to be ur servent

  • PAMHO, u have very nice picture of krishna as ur profile photo. u r pleasing so many devotees by sharing nice photo of krishna.

    regarding ur problem Krishna (who is also known as sutradhar i.e. planner & doer) has come in ur life just continue u'll see change in whole family. don't forget krishna always remember krishna if you do this krishna will force ur family to follow u. don't worry now and if u have info. from where u found this krishna photo please (i also want details from where i can get this baby krishna doll) let me know also share high resolution photo of baby krishna.

    all respects and sincere wishes for ur devotion life.

    • Volunteer

      Hare Krishna prabhuji.

      Thankyou for ur response.

      Yes my profile photo of Krishna is very beautiful! but sorry to say i really don't know where i got this picture from, i was just surfing n i got it.

      your servent

  • Volunteer
    no, no, no it is not a sin and wastage.
    for example, there was time when guests came to our home and they brought different food stuffs along with sorry cooked chicken and when they left home i took the chicken and threw out to the garbage. and did not say anything to my mom when she came home. only after few days told.
    If i were You dear Priya, i would learn cooking and start cooking for the family myself. and why not cook wonderful veg meals for whole family?!
    You can learn how to cook cakes without egg, cookies, dal, sabjis?!
    Your servant,
  • just stick to your chanting and never touch non veg ever. it doesnt matter who is forcing you....

    nobody is important than krishna,, so dont consume it......

    I am from brahmin family I never touched meat and other stuffs

    I am perfectly Ok and m healther than non veg eaters trust me........

    you r vaishnawas follow the rules.......

    Tc

  • Volunteer

    Hare Krishna dear Devotees, please accept my humble obeisances! all glories to Srila Prabhupada!

     One should not be considered as a parent or guardian if one does not teach his subjects or dependents the science of Krishna Consciousness. 

    if we eat non veg we will automatically stop our chanting. Because it spoils our consciousness makes our heart very hard.

    i think here we should find wonderful examples of how vegetarian people keep their nice health. There are lots of infos in the webs. and studying  that subject very nicely we can even prove that to be veg is far more better for health that non veg.

    anyways, if child reached 13 years then his responsibility for his own karma starts. After 13 years the reactions of sinful activities will take child himself not parents. because of that we have to take care of our life.

    ---------------------------- 

    the time when we ourselves loose desire even subtle desires for consuming non veg then automatically others won't tell us to eat non veg. problem is with ourselves. We should not see it in others. just we have to become strongly fixed in our goal of purification.

    -------------------

    some other tricks:

     or sometimes we may become actors like after eating non veg we make a mood that we have some head ache or stomach ache. that smell of non veg make us to vomit....some kind artificial tricks ;-)

    in order to save our Spiritual life.

    Your servant, 

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