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Meat-Eating Cause of Moral and Spiritual Degradation

 

Human feelings determine human deeds. Any man who harbours feelings of ahinsa, compassion, benevolence, etc., in his heart will never do or incite others to do any act which may cause pain to other living beings. He who is moved at the sight of any living being in trouble, cannot even think of eating meat. But those who have contrary feelings, those who have a tendency to torture, kill and make others suffer for their own selfish ends will not shrink from eating meat or indulging in any mean or immoral act. whose feelings are not hurt by the knifing of an animal will not have any fear or hesitation in shooting even human beings. He who can have animals butchered for the sake of his taste-buds or for accession of energy to his body will not hesitate to commit or abet violence for the fulfilment of his ambitions in trade, status, prestige etc. Can a person whose selfishness is his main driving force, be expected to follow principles of right code of conduct in any sphere of life ?

Meat eating undermines the equilibrium and the endurance of the mind. It stimulates the urges, cruelty and violent nature is enhanced. When a child is induced to meat-eating right from his childhood, he naturally adopts selfish attitude including causing pain to others and killing other living beings for food and fun for his own interest. His attitude becomes generalised so that he feels nothing wrong in cruelty, torture, violence and murder in any context. Noble feelings of non-violence, pity, righteousness just do not have a chance to arise in his heart. Selfishness is all that grows in that soil which in turn does not stop him from acting against the interests of the community and the nation to secure his petty gains.

The main cause of growing wave of violence, hatred and evil deeds in the world today is the suppression of finer emotions and promotion of feelings of selfishness and cruelty, due to meat-eating.

Meat-eating fans and fuels the fires of urges and desire. The more these urges are satisfied, the more they increase. Their satisfaction is quite impossible. Any obstacles in the way of satisfaction of urges give rise to anger. Anger suppresses the sense of discrimination between right and wrong. It destroys the intellect, leading to misguided and misdirected deeds which end in total disaster. In other words, meat-eating leads us to our doom.

As has already been mentioned in this book a survey among prisoners revealed that 75% of them were meat eaters and only 25% were  vegetarians. In other words, meat-eating promotes the tendency towards criminal behaviour also. Thus, we see that besides other damages meat-eating is the cause of the growing violence, inhumanity and other evil deeds in the world. It is leading humankind to total ruin. It is the duty of each one of us to halt this trend. If we fail to do so, our future generations will have to suffer the gravest consequences.

It is often seen that persons commiting cruel and inhuman acts like murder and rape etc. do not indulge in these crimes in normal conditions. Before venturing upon their heinous deeds, they indulge in an orgy of drinking and meat-eating so as to dull the pricks of conscience, humanity and morality which might stop them from doing these- misdeeds. Unfortunately, today, many people are eating meat only on false considerations of so-called fashion, modernity or social status. The level of morality of such people is abundantly clear and they themselves know it very well in their hearts.    

Some vegetarians in order to show off their 'modernity' get their food prepared into the shape of birds and animals meat and consume it to look like non-vegetarians. Though such food is not harmful to their health, but it definitely affects their inner feeligns as action are the result of our feelings. While consuming such vegetarian food the feeling and satisfaction of eating flesh of slaughtered animals is definitely there. This feeling will drag us away from finer feelings of love, non-violence and righteousness. It will lead us to cruelty and violence and convert us one day or the other, to meat-eaters and will definitely convert our coming generations into non-vegetarians.

 

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