Drinking
Mahatma Gandhi once said that if he were given the free reigns of lndia even for an hour he would enforce prohibition without any compensation to anyone. This statement shows the father of the nation’s very strong sentiments against drinking. He considered drinking to be the worst kind of evil because, in his opinion, it gave rise to many other evils.
Alas the Mahatma’s dream has remained unfulfilled and there is no likelihood that it will ever be realized. ln fact, things have turned so bad that even teenagers and women have fallen victims to this habit. Bars, discotheques, private parties and restaurants are all overflowing with liquor. Drinking has become an ‘in-thing’. Parents usually have no moral authority to dissuade their children from drinking because they are themselves addicted to it. Moreover they are too busy to give attention to what their children are doing. lt is only when their children get involved in some scandal, brawls or shoot-outs that they take note of it and obviously by that time it is too late.
Drunkenness has always been condemned by many great thinkers, philosophers and reformers besides several top experts from the medical profession.
Seneca, a western philosopher, describes drunkenness as “Nothing but voluntary madness “.
Another reputed thinker Penn says :-
Drunkenness is an ill of the worst sort. lt reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, imprudent, dangerous and mad. He that is drunk, is not a man, because he is void of reason that distinguishes him from the beast.
And here are the comments of T. Adams, a writer:
"A drunkard is the annoyance of modesty, the trouble of civility, the spoil of wealth, the distraction of reason. He is his wife’s woe, his children’s sorrow his neighbour’s scoff his own shame. In short, he is a spirit of unrest, a thing below a beast and monster of a man. "
Says poet Chaucer:
For drunkenness is very sepulcher of man s wit and his discretion.
Poet Dafoe describes drinking as, "darling favourite of hell.”
lt is natural, therefore, that something which so affects reason and thought,should have disapproval of the vedas, which lay so much emphasis on these qualities.
Drinking has been placed by the Rigveda (6, 70, 1) along with meat eating and gambling and all the three are stated as debilitating as sex with a woman : -
Almost similar sentiment is expressed in the following mantra from Rigveda (7.86.6), which places drinking along with other evils like lust, gambling,ignorance, attachment and anger which are injurious to man's character:-
Taking a clue from the above, Satpath describes drinking as “Anrutam paapmaa tamaha suraa(Shatapata Brahmana 5,1,2,10), meaning that it as an untruth, a sin, a dark spot.
It further observes that a drunkard blabbers like a mad man:
lt also adds that after drinking a man becomes hard hearted:-
So when you drink, you do it at your peril.
****************************************************
Eating meat
Slaughter houses have proliferated everywhere in the country and are prospering as well. The sale and distribution of meat products is also ever increasing.
The only silver lining is that there is also, at the same time, a greater awareness among people than ever before about the benefits of vegetarianism, Mlore and more people are opting for it, though vegetarians are still outnumbered by their non-vegetarian brethren.
Likewise, it is heartening to note that, there is an increasing number of hotels and restaurants in the advanced countries like the USA and Great Britain that serve vegetarian food, though not exclusively and they are doing well. lt must be said, however, that non-vegetarian food, especially from countries like China and Thailand, is even more popular.
ln this context, it is unfortunate that five-star hotels in India serve beef to the rich and the affluent and their customers include people from VIP families, the vociferous demands by some of the Hindu organizations and groups for a ban on such sale notwithstanding.
Vedas and meat eating:
Vedas, with their stress on non-violence and compassion for animals as part of universal brotherhood, are naturally against meat eating. In their view, meat eating defiles the mind, body and soul and is detrimental to one’s spiritual uplift.
Vedas say that vegetarian diet is the best for all humans. It keeps the being pure and is conducive to the achievement of higher consciousness. When humans take to vegetarian eating, it becomes easier for them to meditate; and meditation sharpens the memory and makes the body active and agile.
Says Rigveda (8.72.3), the knowledgeable persons, who wish to realize God in their hearts, must eat only food grains and fruits (that is, not meat).
Besides vegetables and fruits, other foods suggested in Atharvaveda (6.14.2) include rice, barley and sesame seeds.
A mantra in the same Veda extols rice and barleyas foods with curative value and for keeping bad impulses at bay.
The Upnishads, which are commentaries on the vedas, also establish a close link between dietary habits and spiritual progress. "The purity of our heart depends upon the purity of our diet; and the purity of heart sharpens the intellect. This in turn, facilitates meditation. And when the state of meditation is achieved, all ignorance disappears and one is free from all the worldly bonds:-
Vegetarian diet, says Atharvaveda, bestows upon a man strength, purity and divine splendour:-
The vedas consider the non- vegetarian diet fit only for the Pishacha (Demons); the other adjectives used for them are Krayada, Asutrapnah,Garbhada. And it is suggested that if they do not give up meat eating they should be punished :-
We must remember what Satpath has said in the following Sloka (11.6.1.3):-
"The man who eats the meat of an animal in this birth, is eaten away by the same animal in the next birth "
Says Mahatma Buddha in Dhammapad, : -
“Considering everyone as one self a man should refrain from either killing or getting anyone killed".
Thinker and writer Tolstoy writes:
"Meat eating multiplies gross thoughts. lt produces lust and induces drinking and adultery, This is sheer truth ..., It is impossible for a meat eater to be morally good. "
A great scholar and thinker Pandit Gurudutta writes in his article entitled Righteousness and Unrighteousness of Flesh eating:
" We assert that flesh eating is an immoral, unrighteous and a sort of an action for which he is amenable to society”.
Medical experts and flesh eating
Dr Prof Sims Woodhead , M.D.of the Pythlogy Department of the Cambridge University, asserts:
"Meat is absolutely unnecessary for a perfectly healthy existence and the best work can be done on a vegetarian diet"
Sir Henery Thompson, M.D, F.R.C.S, observes in his book "Diet in relation to Age and Activity” :
"lt is vulgar error to regard meat in any form as necessary to life All that is necessary to the human body can be supplied by the vegetable kingdom. The vegetarian can extract from his food all the principles necessary for the growth and support of the body as well as for the production of heat and force .... l know how much of the prevailing meat diet a source of serious evil to the consumer is "
Dr. Josiaold Field, MRCS, IRCP former head of Bromlay’s Lady Margaret Hospital says,
"There is little needy for wonder that flesh-eating is one of the most serious causes of the diseases that carry of 99 per cent of every 100 people that are born "
Dr Alexander Haig, MD, FRCP asserts:
"Seventy five per cent of the most terrible diseases which we suffer (they are not, in fact, diseases at all, but poisonings by the unnatural foods),our increasing insanity, our increasing cancer, our debility and our deterioration, may be due, not improbably, to the neglect of Nature’s teaching that man is a firgivorous and not a carnivorous animal."
Dr Johnwood, MD, on the basis of his several years of medical practice, observes:
"As a medical man, I maintain that flesh eating is unnecessary, unnatural, and unwholesome".
Sir Benjamin Richardson, MD, FRCS, corroborating the view of his several other medical colleagues, says:
"lt must be honestly admitted that weight by weight, vegetable substances, when they are carefully selected possess the most striking advantages over animal food in nutritive value .l should like to see the vegetarian fruit living plant brought into greater use and believe it will be "
The ill effect of flesh eating on mind has been related by Dr E.R.Rost,OBE, MRCS, LRCP in his book The Nature of Consciousness" in the following words:
‘“The functioning of mind is affected by the food. There are certain kinds of food that supply the correct material for activating the mental process. Generally speaking, the mind works best on a mild diet, without meat, and containing fresh vitamins and inorganic constituents, rich in calcium phosphates. "
Let us conclude this discussion with the most authoritative remark made by Metellick, a Nobel Laureate, published in one of the souvenirs of the World Vegetarian Congress:-
"lt must be admitted that of the objections urged against vegetarianism, not one can withstand a loyal and scrupulous enquiry. l, for my part, can confirm that those whom I have known to submit themselves to this regimen, have found its results to be improved or restored health, marked addition to strength and the acquisition by the mind of cleverness, brightness, well-being such as might follow the release from some loathsome, detestable dungeon. "
It is clear then that the position taken by vedas with regard to drinking and meat eating, is consistent with science and the precepts of greatest minds in all the diverse cultures since then.
0 comments:
Post a Comment