Today, I shared these threads with my mostly-vegetarian-who-eats-meat-once-a-week-and-who-is-an-aspiring-yogi husband. I asked him his opinions.
Here are his words:
(This is an inside joke.)
...and he directed me to the Vedas (Yogic scriptures):
http://www.yogaindailylife.org.au/Articl...Gunas.html
A Sattvic diet is pure vegetarian nourishment and includes fresh fruit and vegetables, fruit and vegetable juices, wholemeal bread, pulses, grains and sprouts, nuts, seeds, honey, herbs, milk and dairy products which are free of animal rennet. These foods will raise our consciousness, inspire us to positive action, deeper meditation and unleash our hidden potential and creativity. Sattvic food is cooked with love and eaten with full awareness and gratitude.
A Rajasic diet is one which is overly spicy or hot, includes food with onion and garlic, coffee, fizzy soft drinks, tea, sugary foods and too much chocolate. These foods may give us a lift in energy but ultimately we experience a low or increased stress. A Rajasic person will eat on the run, rush food and experience poor digestion and health as a result.
A Tamasic diet consists of dead food such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, stale food, processed food full of chemical additives, take away fast foods, reheated food, alcohol, cigarettes and drugs of addiction. A sattvic food can become tamasic when processed, old or fried.
These foods and substances do nothing to lift our energy and consciousness, if fact they pull us downward into laziness and inertia. Living on tamasic food and substances will lead to complaints such as obesity, diabetes, heart and liver disease. We will feel unmotivated, be careless, unaware of ourselves and others.
Yogis are vegetarian for several reasons. Apart from the health aspect, the main reason being the principle that “all living beings are my Self” therefore all creatures need to be treated with respect and love.
I then said, "But isn't eating sattvic still killing plants? Don't they feel pain like animals?"
and he then replied:
I then said, "Then how do you justify eating meat occasionally?"
and he said:
I just thought he said some cool stuff so I thought I'd share it with you.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
- Albert Einstein
Here are his words:
Quote:Can you imagine if I was all snooty and holier-than-thou like you?
(This is an inside joke.)
Quote:Every once in awhile I just have to do something bad. But hey man, don't kid yourself! Of course eating meat and drinking beer can't be spiritual. In this affluent society? There's no reason to eat meat! Meat is tamasic.
...and he directed me to the Vedas (Yogic scriptures):
http://www.yogaindailylife.org.au/Articl...Gunas.html
A Sattvic diet is pure vegetarian nourishment and includes fresh fruit and vegetables, fruit and vegetable juices, wholemeal bread, pulses, grains and sprouts, nuts, seeds, honey, herbs, milk and dairy products which are free of animal rennet. These foods will raise our consciousness, inspire us to positive action, deeper meditation and unleash our hidden potential and creativity. Sattvic food is cooked with love and eaten with full awareness and gratitude.
A Rajasic diet is one which is overly spicy or hot, includes food with onion and garlic, coffee, fizzy soft drinks, tea, sugary foods and too much chocolate. These foods may give us a lift in energy but ultimately we experience a low or increased stress. A Rajasic person will eat on the run, rush food and experience poor digestion and health as a result.
A Tamasic diet consists of dead food such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, stale food, processed food full of chemical additives, take away fast foods, reheated food, alcohol, cigarettes and drugs of addiction. A sattvic food can become tamasic when processed, old or fried.
These foods and substances do nothing to lift our energy and consciousness, if fact they pull us downward into laziness and inertia. Living on tamasic food and substances will lead to complaints such as obesity, diabetes, heart and liver disease. We will feel unmotivated, be careless, unaware of ourselves and others.
Yogis are vegetarian for several reasons. Apart from the health aspect, the main reason being the principle that “all living beings are my Self” therefore all creatures need to be treated with respect and love.
I then said, "But isn't eating sattvic still killing plants? Don't they feel pain like animals?"
and he then replied:
Quote:Why do animals have faces? What does a face mean? A face indicates individuality. Plants aren't individuated. The Vedas are very clear about this. For spiritual growth it is necessary to follow the Sattvic diet. Sattva is a rising energy...expanding. Tamasic energy is descending, contracting, dead. How can you draw nearer to the Light if you're going in the wrong direction...down instead of up?
I then said, "Then how do you justify eating meat occasionally?"
and he said:
Quote:Who said I'm justifying it? I don't justify it! Of course I aspire to be sattvic. I realize I'm not there yet. I have no illusions about me and my weakness.
I just thought he said some cool stuff so I thought I'd share it with you.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
- Albert Einstein