Previous
Next
Ask a Question| Previous | Next | Ask a Question |
| Summary of Question: | This Contradicts Everything You've Said |
| Category: | General Sikhism |
| Date Posted: | Monday, 12/11/2000 12:48 AM MST |
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
I have been vegetarian for one year. My main reasons were to refrain from causing pain to animals.
I visited http://www.sikh-dharma.org.uk and ALL MY OPINIONS ARE MIXED NOW!
*******************************************************************************
Reply
*******************************************************************************
Greetings to you in the Name of God the light of every soul and in the Name of Guru the life of every Sikh.
Dear one, why are you putting doubt into your mind and seeking to undermine the pureness of your practice? Doubt will always undermine your faith and grace.
You are living a life of grace and consciousness. Fools can say anything they like, do not let that affect you.
Remember, that your food is the same as the food served in Guruka Langar. You will have a light and clear consciousness without the thoughts and flesh of the animal to cloud your consciousness.
Be committed to your path. I have 4 suggestions for you:
1. Relax, rejoice and be grateful that you are you, and not someone trying to put doubt into others pure and healthy practice of eating.
2. do a search on the Sikhnet Youth Forum for "meat".
3. read the book "Diet for New America" by John Robbins
4. read the Hari Krishna pamphlet "Why I do not eat meat".
God bless you dear one.
The following is from the website. What is your response?
PLEASE NOTE IN NO WAY ARE THESE MY OPINIONS. I GOT THIS FROM THE WEBSITE.
----------------------------------------------------------
Vegetarianism has no place in Sikhism
Guru Nanak after eating venison (deer) offered to him by a prince on a Hindu religious holy day, evoked the criticism of Brahmins who were there. From this event Guru Nanak wrote a lengthy passage of that day on vegetarianism; the following lines are a part of that;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" Those fools quarrel over the meat and flesh, but they know nothing about meditation or spiritual wisdom. They do not know what constitutes as 'meat' or what constitutes as 'green vegetables', or from eating what will lead to sin. It was the habit of the (Hindu) gods to kill a rhinoceros and make a feast of the burnt offering. Those (the brahmins, or other so called 'holy men' or 'sants') who renounce meat and hold their noses when sitting near it devour (spiritually) men at night. They practice hypocrisy. (i.e. vegetarianism) and make a show of it to other people, but they do not understand anything about spiritual wisdom or of meditation.
O Nanak, what can be said to such blind people?
They cannot reply nor understand the logic presented to them.
They alone are blind who do blind deeds.
Their minds have no eyes.
They are produced from the blood of their mother and father, and yet they will still not eat fish nor meat...
..All beings and creatures are made up of a flesh (i.e. are made of cells) and the soul has taken up its home in flesh.
They (the brahmins) eat the uneatable and they then reject and abandon what they could eat. They have a teacher who is blind. In a flesh we are conceived, and in a flesh we are born, we are all vessels of flesh. O religious scholar, you know nothing of spiritual wisdom or of meditation, even though you call yourself clever. Meat is allowed in the Puraanas, meat is allowed in the Bible and the Koran. Throughout the four ages meat has been eaten....
...O Pandit, you do not know where meat originated. From water are produced corn, sugar-cane, and cotton....Many of these (and more) are just the different modifications of water. Abandon all these relishes and one will become a true Sun-neya-see,.." (Solitarian). (i.e. if you wish to have a diet that does not harm or take life then abandon eating anything that was once alive, plant or animal, and abandon taking any water that might contain any life-forms in it.)
Written by Guru Nanak, pages 1289-1290 from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (A hymn about the stupidity of religious vegetarianism)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" None of the grains of corn is without life. First there is life in the water by which everything else is made green....All consequences of births and deaths are decided by God alone; it is through His Will that we come and go. Eating and drinking of food that God gives as nourishment is pure.
Nanak says, the Gurmukhs, (the true followers of the Guru), who have realised the Lord, are not stained by impurity "
Written by Guru Nanak pages 472-473 Guru Granth Sahib (A few lines from a hymn concerning about the idea's of purity)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vegetarianism, Caste-system and other such Brahminical practices has it's roots in Hinduism. It is of recent origin of Brahminical thinking that a religious person should be a vegetarian. Ancient Vedic accounts attribute animal sacrifice as being a important Hindu-Vedic ritual and of Brahmins in ancient times eating beef and horse meat. An important note from history is that in the past Buddhism flourished and once was India's main religion, but the powerful hold of Hinduism over the minds of India's people could not be shaken off and once again Hindu practice's (and new ones) came into place. Today, Hindu-Brahminical beliefs have made deep in-roads into the most sacred areas of Sikhism, and I will finish this article with a warning to the Khalsa given by Guru Gobind Singh 300 years ago;
As long as the Khalsa Panth retains the distinctiveness of the Sikh ideals,
I shall bless it with power and glory.
But, when it follows the ways of the Brahmins, I shall not trust it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AKAL TAKHAT ACCEPTS MEAT FOR THE KHALSA
The controversial issue on eating meat was settled by the Akal Takhat at Amritsar who is the final authority on controversial issues. It released a Hukamnama on 15th February 1980 allowing all the baptised Sikhs 'Amritdhari's' to eat meat as long it does not break the Sikh code of conduct known as 'Kurehit' which bans Muslim 'halal' meat. The Guru Granth Sahib doesn't accept 'halal' meat. Any animal sacrifice to God, to expiate the 'sins' of the slaughter is regarded as superstition by the Guru Granth Sahib and therefore is rejected in Sikhism.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To access more articles on Vegetarianism place the mouse cursor over the
'More Articles' link in the Top Blue Navigation Bar
Sandeep Singh Dhillon
This Contradicts Everything You've Said (12/11/2000)