Non-Veg Today, Cannibal Tomorrow.............The Saint's Sermon !

It was the evening of 31st July 1997 and many things were realized as I lay on my couch. The very next day I took control of my life & decided to go veggie. Over the next few months I bore the pain of being ridiculed for this decision of mine and I have since been termed ‘bovine’.

Personally I find this connotation extremely demeaning, because the addresser by saying so only ridicules his own staple diet, ie. vegetable matter.

I often wondered why veg food is considered inferior and heavy introspection took me back to school. That’s when our basic thinking was tampered with by our ‘science’ books. The books said that only non-veg food had all the great & powerful proteins. Animal proteins it said were essential for a healthy living. The images featured on the text book of a balanced meal had a skinned chicken, a bunch of eggs, a bottle of milk. It also said “...vegetarians could consume ‘pulses’ as an alternate source of ‘proteins’. This perhaps explains the stigma. If one goes by these books, the veggies are an inferior lot of beings. But is it so? I guess not!

So what made the text books write so? Hours of tedious research over the internet suggested that the result of any research is more often defined by the purpose of the research. For example: A petroleum company shall only fund projects to stretch the mile. They won’t ever ask/let the researcher find an engine that can run on water/air. Similarly its but obvious to get only positive affirmations when a research on the effects of ‘meats’ are FUNDED by the meat, poultry or fishery industry. Yes! It’s a fact that such propaganda based on ‘scientific studies’ started to do the rounds particularly in obscure & unheard of journals only during or after the industrial revolution in the west, when three things happened simultaneously.

1. Animal rearers' wanted to earn as much as the industrialists did

2. A lot more money started to come into the hands of the petty laborer and the animal        rearers' saw an opportunity there, and lastly

3. The coming up of the print MEDIA

All these were put together by the meat industry during their corporatization and they started funding one research after the other. The findings of these hoax scientists were published in many scientific journals (for many million dollars) to make them seem the most logical of findings. It’s these reports that our school boards refer to for their knowledge base & knowingly or unknowingly went on to promote the already thriving business of the meat ‘czars’. A pity! What these journals will never tell you is the fact that the process of slaughtering puts any animal through severe stress, during which the animals’ basic instinct for survival sets in & its body pumps in loads of adrenaline. The mere presence of this secretion in flesh is toxic enough to negate all the positives one can ever find in eating meat.

Apart from the above facts, I do find absolute comfort in the fact that my stomach is not a graveyard to animals anymore. When I can manage a meal without killing, I don’t see the need to kill. I shall not kill unless its a survival issue, for that is always the very last option. I feel that’s what being civilized is all about. But is that what is happening around us?

It’s simply bizarre and unreasonable that turkeys around the globe pay with their lives because Christians get into festive mode in December. I don’t think Christ ever asked his followers to roast a turkey (or any other animal) to celebrate his birth. So who exactly then sent out this dictat? Please think & derive the answers for yourself. Simple! Turkeys don’t grow as fast as chicken, so plotting them for a higher price gets the ‘meat’ industry a fatter slice from your X’mas Bonus. Chicken for regular days & Turkey for when you have more money!

Equally shrouded in ambiguity is the reason for the slaughter of animals in the name of Islamic festivals. If by any chance one is put to the gallows and asked to choose his execution style, I wonder how many shall opt for death by the ‘halal’ method. To bleed to your death due to a ruptured jugular is THE most painful way to die. The process is so grotesque that the victim actually watches itself die.

This appeasement of one’s taste buds in the name of religion must end!

The process of Civilization shall be complete only when our hearts shall extend unhindered love and compassion to all creatures of the world.

 The Vedic scriptures highlight the role of the diet one consumes in shaping his/her nature with the following words.

“One’s nature can be controlled by the type of diet one predominately eats. ‘Satwik’ food is not excessively spicy. It is also juicy, substantial (like rice, beans), and results in longevity and makes you happy.  ‘Rajasik’ food is bitter, sour, salty, very hot, spicy, burning, rough, abrasive, and pungent. ‘Rajasik’ food results in grief and unhappiness! ‘Tamasik’ food is stinking, left-over, impure, stale or cooked overnight”

A satwik diet, also referred to as a yoga diet or sentient diet, is a diet based on foods that—according to Ayurveda and Yoga are strong in the ‘Satwa Guna’ and lead to clarity and equanimity of mind while also being beneficial to the body.


In my reading a Vegan / vegetarian food is predominantly ‘Satwik’. Going by the above findings the ‘conscious vegetarian’ can definitely claim that he is more evolved in the process of civilization and he can safely presume that he has achieved a higher ground in the spiritual plane.

I am keen to know your take on this issue, since the subject is in the larger interest of humanity in general. For as Gandhi Ji said, “There’s enough in this world for every man’s need, but not enough for any man’s greed.”

Here’s wishing for a more civilized world.............Saint DK

Every Saint Has A Past & Every Sinner Has A Future