I was brought up to be a vegetarian. People who hail from my community generally don’t eat meat. Most of my family members from my parents’ generation still don’t. A few exceptions, like my father exist though. Though he has been a vegetarian for major part of his life, he did start eating meat on the occasional trips abroad. He introduced my sister and me, to the world of non-vegetarian food too. Both of us used to relish it a great deal. We would indulge in non-vegetarian delicacies with our father at least once, whenever my mother (who is a staunch vegetarian herself) would go on vacation to visit her parents.
Ever since my sister started on her spiritual journey with AOL, she has given up meat and many other tamas-inducing foods. She tries to restrict her diet, as far as possible, to sattvic foods. My father has also given up non-vegetarian food for health and ethical reasons. As for me, my journey towards vegetarianism has been slightly different.
Back in India, I used to travel to my workplace by bus. En route, we would pass a couple of butcher’s shops. I still recall the names of those shops. One of them was the ‘India’s Meat Shop’, and the other one, situated a few feet away from the first, was named ‘Maharashtra’s Meat Shop’. There used to be a signal right in front of these shops, which entailed a 2 minute wait right over there, almost every day. Daily, I would witness the man chopping away at the pink, fleshy meat. Not to mention, the hanging carcasses of various animals paraded in front of the shop. It is really weird, how I would be compelled to look in that direction, though I knew I would be repulsed by the brutality of it all, and eventually turn my face away in disgust !
This daily scenario started changing my attitude towards non-vegetarian food. It only got worse after I saw a couple of videos by PETA, which showcased how badly these animals were being treated before they were killed. And one fine day, I resolved that I would never touch meat again. I have to admit, I did break my resolution a couple of times, but always regretted it intensely. For a long time now, I have resisted meat. I have decided, that if I do have vegetarian options around, then that is what I will stick to. Thankfully, most of the times, there are.
I now strongly believe, that a person who doesn’t feel a hint of remorse or guilt, while eating meat, cannot by any means, call himself a compassionate human being. I know, I wasn’t being one, when I used to relish meat, without thinking for a moment, where it came from, or what forms of torture those poor animals had to go through, on their journey to my table ! Or maybe, I was in plain denial. I know some people, who do feel guilty about eating meat, but are not able to resist the temptation. Maybe, they don’t feel so strongly about it, or maybe they just have a weak will. But for those, who don’t even see any wrong in it, I feel their conscience is dead…
“As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.”
- Pythagorus
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
- Albert Einstein
