Do I need to avoid Non-Veg on Tuesday for Hanuman Ji ?

We are eating continental food, long day back we didn’t knew what potato is but now without it our food is incomplete. Hindus are eating meat flesh all are derived from English man’s culture.

In Bhagvad Gita Lord Krishna tells about how we can re-establish our relation with him in spiritual world and live a life of eternity, knowledge and bliss with him. He advised that whatever we do we must do as a sacrifice to Vishnu (Or Krishna). 

Hari daataa
Hari bhoktaa
Hari annam prajaapatih
Hari sarva sharireshu
Bhunkte bhojayate Harih

Hari (God) is the giver (of food).
Hari is the enjoyer.
Hari is the both the food and Prajapati (creator).
Hari is abiding in all beings.
Hari eats and allows to eat.

This way we will be free from reactions of our karma and when we will be totally surrendering our action towards Krishna, we will also be free from all the anxiety and sufferings.

Now in one verse he tells what is the offering he takes as food stuff.

patram pushpam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahritam
asnami prayatatmanah

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.

Now this verse (and many others in other Vedic scriptures) is basis for eating vegan food. In Vedic civilization people were advised to eat vegan food only.

Now it is natural that not all people can follow this instruction. So it is advised in Vedas to eat a certain types of animals only and on certain days only. Non-Veg people are advised to offer their food to Kali mata. All these restrictions (like eating on some particular day and offering to kali mata) are to tell people that they are not actually fully independent. We all are under the stringent laws of material nature (like law of karma) and if we do anything according to our will, we have to pay later on.

So these restrictions on eating on certain days are to actually help people in realizing about the laws of material nature and worshipping some demigod is to remind them about the fact that they are not totally free. No human being can claim to be master (unless one is totally insane). We all are under control of material nature.

Actually according to Vedas there is only one god i.e. Krishna. He explains in Bhagvad Geeta that when we worship different demigods for material benefits we are actually worshipping Krishna only but in wrong way.

kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ
prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ
taḿ taḿ niyamam āsthāya
prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā

Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.

yo yo yāḿ yāḿ tanuḿ bhaktaḥ

śraddhayārcitum icchati

tasya tasyācalāḿ śraddhāḿ

tām eva vidadhāmy aham

I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.

sa tayā śraddhayā yuktas

tasyārādhanam īhate

labhate ca tataḥ kāmān

mayaiva vihitān hi tān

Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.

“One who is not envious but who is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me—he is very dear to Me.” (Bg.12.13-14)

Thus, how can we be kind to all living entities if we are looking at them as if they would be our next meal? This is not compassion, concern for others, or kindness. It is no different than the way animals look at each other with the intent to eat another being, or with fear to keep from being eaten. As human beings, we should be better than that, certainly more developed than carrying a mere animal mentality within ourselves. Meat cannot be acquired without violence to others, and unwarranted violence toward others offers nothing elevating to anyone. It is hardly God’s philosophy to be a friend to humans but an enemy to animals by wanting to slaughter and eat them. What can be more thoughtless and evil than that? Thus, this sort of nonviolence that is exhibited toward others, as when one abstains from eating meat, is a godly quality, as Lord Krishna further explains in Bhagavad-gita (16.2-3): ahimsa or nonviolence is one of the transcendental qualities that belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.

Furthermore, we can see that the process of preparing and eating food is also a part of the Vedic system for making spiritual advancement. As the Vedic literature explains, what we eat is an important factor in the process of purifying ourselves and remaining free from accumulating bad karma. It actually is not so difficult to be vegetarian, and it gives one a much higher taste in eating and in one’s spiritual realizations. The level of our consciousness is also determined not only by what we think and do, but also by the vibration level of what we put into our bodies as food. The more natural and peaceful the food, the more healthy and peaceful will be our consciousness. If it is further blessed and offered to the Lord, then it becomes especially powerful and spiritualized. This vibration goes into our own bodies and is assimilated by our consciousness to assist us in our spiritual up-liftment. However, if we eat foods that are the remnants of animals that were petrified with fear before being slaughtered, or were tortured during the slaughter process, that fear, aggression and suffering will also become a part of our own consciousness, which is reflected back on our own life and the people with whom we come in contact. And people wonder why there is not more peace in the world.

Hindu religion is standing on truth and nonviolence. This religion is saying you stop violence, not to hurt anyone. So the one who eats the flesh has fallen low. How can we say they are observing Dharma, no way!

In Pravrutti (worldly living), there was a time when people were killing even the cows for the sake of their daily food. The cow has no specialty and killing of any living being for the sake of food is one and the same sin. The specialty of the cow came due to the additional consideration that it is the mother of bulls, which are used in ploughing the fields for agriculture. It is an additional point to restrict the sin. Now the scripture cannot control the sin totally in the beginning itself. The scripture ordered the people through the statement ‘kill the cow only when the guest comes’. The main important side is to stop killing the cow on everyday for the sake of your food. This statement of the scripture was applicable to the people of old time and the result is to control the killing of cow gradually. After achieving the control of the sin, the scripture stated ‘we will shoot anyone killing the cow on any day’. This second statement is again related to the people of latter age only or even to the people of present age. If we apply the second statement to the old age, it would not be suitable and would contradict the first statement.

Similarly, if you bring the first statement to the middle or to the present age, it will not be suitable and will contradict the second statement. The first and second statements oppose each other and should not be applied to the same age. They are applicable to different ages and should not be mixed together to develop confusion and contradiction leading to hot debate.


You must not kill any living being for the sake of your food. The killing is the greatest sin
 
You must not kill any living being for the sake of your food. God has given enough vegetable food that contains all the ingredients present in the non-vegetarian food. After all, the source of ingredients of any flesh is only vegetable kingdom only. Eating the non-vegetarian food is not a sin because same ingredients exist in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. But, you have to kill a living being for the sake of non-vegetarian food. The killing is the greatest sin.

You may argue that you have not killed the living being directly. Such argument cannot stand. Since you are eating the non-vegetarian food, the living being is killed. You are responsible for its killing. Therefore, you are the principle shareholder of the sin. There is nothing wrong if you eat a living being after its natural death. In Hinduism, there is a sect of people called ‘Kapalikas’, who eat the dead living beings. Therefore, they do not acquire sin. The tsunami is always due to anger of God since you are killing the living beings present in water for food. The earthquakes are due to killing of living beings that exist on the earth. God in the form of Buddha and Mahavir preached the non-violence and severely opposed the killing of living beings.

God in some other human forms might have followed the practice of non-vegetarian food in order to join with non-vegetarian people so that, certain other higher aspects to be preached might have been taken into consideration. That does not mean that God has encouraged the killing of living beings through non-vegetarian food. He might have kept silent on this issue in order to give importance to other serious issues. God follows the ignorance of the students in order to become friendly with them. To control a running bull, you have to run along with it for some distance before controlling it.

All these are the basic concepts of nivrutti, which are the core of pravrutti. By following the ethics of pravrutti, you will avoid God becoming furious with you. Then, through nivrutti, you can please God. On one hand, you are making God furious by not following the ethics of pravrutti and how can you please God through nivrutti simultaneously?