A common North American expression is “you are what you eat”. Devotees of Lord Krishna also adopt this mentality; unless one eats those foodstuffs that Lord Krishna will accept, one is simply consuming sin, and therefore binding himself to the material world and negatively affecting his or her consciousness. As eternal servants of Lord Krishna, we are designed specifically to engage in loving relations with Him. The simple act of cooking for Him can provide one with a level of satisfaction incomparable to anything on the material platform. Furthermore, everyone will find the actual food to taste a whole lot better! (It’s true – try it!).
Hare Krishna devotees refrain from meat eating because it is one of our four regulative principles (the other regulations include no gambling, illicit sex, and intoxication). But the Hare Krishna philosophy is a scientific one, and our reasoning for being vegetarian goes beyond loving all living entities and following our principals. Modern medical science has linked meat eating to cancer and heart disease. For instance, the high-fat, low-fiber content of a carnivorous diet results in low transit time through the colon, allowing toxins to reside longer in this area.* The high-cholesterol in meats is also one that the human body is not built to consume; over a long period of time, excessive meat eating can cause blockage of the arteries.* There are several physiological differences between those species who are meant to be herbivores and those that are meant to be carnivores; upon reflection, it is clear that the human race is not constructed to be meat-eaters.
In short, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has taught that animal killing is uncivilized. More importantly, he showed devotees the transcendental pleasure derived from cooking for the Lord and His devotees, and experiencing sumptuous, vegetarian prasadam (food that has been offered to Lord Krishna) and thereby directly consuming the Lord’s mercy. The ISKCON community around the world engages in Vegetarian love feasts and extensive prasadam distribution. Please visit us at ISKCON, Mira Road and experience firsthand how wonderful and blissful it is to simply eat sumptuous vegetarian foodstuffs offered to Lord Krishna!
Evidence taken from “The Higher Taste”, a book of philosophy and recipes written by Hare Krishna devotees. For more information on vegetarianism, please consult this book and learn more about the myth of scarcity of food, medical reasoning behind vegetarianism, and the ethical foundations of vegetarianism as put forth by world-renowned philosophers. You will also find a detailed analysis of how the laws of karma and reincarnation are related to vegetarianism, the process by which to offer foodstuffs to Lord Krishna, and quotations from Srila Prabhupada related to vegetarianism. Finally, you will have access to wonderful vegetarian recipes!
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