If you are familiar with the Vedas and Shastras, answer this question?

Question

I have not sinned by consuming meat, for it is mentioned in Manu Smruti,That is, Ch.5 verse 30

"the eater who eats the flesh of those to be eaten does nothing bad,even if he does it day after day,for god himself created some to be eaten and some to be eater"

Though in the Garuda Purana it says otherwise, being a Hindu i find it quite complex to do what is right by the laws. I hope some of you can help me overcome this. I have read some of the Vedas and am halfway through the Gita, reading is not the problem, understanding is.

Answer 1

Read, Listen and Contemplate! The understanding is already within you: as you journey through life, absorbing experiences, including reading, debating discussing, listening and, most important, contemplating (in silence, communicating within and with yourself), you will arrive at different interpretations of your own, at various stages of life, --under different circumstances,-- on various matters that have received, and are receiving, your attention, whether it be "heavy" matters of spiritual plane, like the one under discussion here, or, lighter mundane things like, sending gifts to dear friends away from you, matters of classic literature like the 'muppal' of 'thirukkural' (aram, porul and inbam!), but trust in your own great ability to naturally, instinctively, understand everything, as long as you "live sincerely", following a dharma, whatever be your eating style or habit, living style or habits (not forgetting the duty to yourself, of keeping fir and healthy, sothat you are independent, you don't unduly trouble others, depend on others!): It is a great question you have asked, sparking off a debate. No doubt there will be many answers in this elite forum, but one simple concept from "Bhishma Parva" of Maha Bharatha, given to us, by Bhishma, when he addressed Yudhishtira lying on his 'sara sayya', in the form of 'bhala sruthi' adjunct to what is now chanted as 'vishnu sahasranama', is worth recalling: "Vedanta go brahmana syat, Kshatriyo vijayee bhaveth, Vaisyo dhana samrudha syat, sudro sukhamavapnuyat......". And, they are all Hindu's! They follow different life styles, habits, etc. in their own different stations, in sincere pursuit of their given or chosen dharma: and, they attain the goal! (gist of that sanskrit quote (you seem to know already, you seem to read a lot and understand much): The seeker of Brahman (loosely brahmana) may attain knowledge, seeker of victory in war, victory, of wealth, wealth; and, of comforts in worldly life, the (creature)comforts....indeed, as another part of Maha Bharatha, we have the great Bhagavat Geetha, again reiterating the value of dharma!) The purana's are in themselves interpretations of the essence of veda's and sasthra's, taking us through the labyrinths of mortal life on story tracks, sothat we, in turn, interpret their essence, the way we understand them from the viewpoints, often, of our own background and experience! Manu's context may be different from Garuda Purana, and, the purpose as well, (Manu is advisory code: the other is Purana --there is no interception point, they are parallel paths! Still, on a plane of infinite, at the dizzy heights they leave their tracks to merge into some convergence , we are still far away from all that! (spiritual conundrum!) ), they are both right in their own ways: you are right if you eat meat, (and if you still can retain saatvik nature, maintaining the same metabolism and biological balance in you, as you would, if you go vegitarean!), you are right if you are a vegetarian (and, if in very cold climate, and against demands for a kind of energy that keeps you going in your normal duties and functions, as happens some times to some people not living in tropics!)! You still can remain a 'hindu', a 'vedanti', a 'scholar' and a 'seeker'! Thank you for the question! (The research goes on!) (with ref to a line above, you may well ask how can parallel tracks ever meet: my answer would be to bring to your notice, an enigma created by riddle making mathematicians, with a ribbon of paper (clearly with two planes), twisted in a simple manner and then joined end to end, to show one continuous surface, therefore one plane only!)

Answer 2

U know what too much of anything will lead to nothing except bliss.
Norm of the world is change. Hence the laws or rules are not meant for eternity. They are upgraded from time to time as per the issues faced during that time.

Once a Great soul wanted to read all the vedas(Knowledge). He took was given one lifetime to read. At the end of his time he went bramha and asked if he is studied all, then Brahma told "What he learn is a handful compared to the mountain of vedas."
Then the Great soul asked what must I do, Bhrama replied that " Read whats essential and reach divinity or self relization.
So first become God Consious then God will reveal himself about the creation. So stick on to fundamental then transcend it.
If we want really, really any realization dont read those vedas read the autobiographies of Saints like Swami Vivekanadha, Ramakrishna Paramahamasa, Mother Therasa, Yoganadha Paramahasa...or "those who have attained God".

Answer 3

I haven't read the most respected mythological epic "SHRI VEDs" and also the smritis, however did referred the writings about these. What I have learnt that Shri Veds enumerates about total natural creatures of each "Yuga" (era), Purans are the stories based on the facts of the period added with imaginations and Smritis are pertaining to the period only (Mausmriti pertains to Satyayug). It had been said that smritis are written in advance by the most learned person of the period.

However, the gist of all the epics may be taken down and the bests out of that to be followed.

So far eating is concerned those were the days when cereals, fruits, vegetables etc. were not invented and people under compulsion were to eat natural products in raw form (what we eat are the inventions of human beings). While reading what ever you understand grasp that only and for rest either contact experts or refer research books.

Answer 4

Hinduism is more of a Philosophy than a religion. It shows different ways of achieveing the eternity. Whichever is possible by u, u can follow that. If u felt u r doing a sin on eating meat, then don't consume it.

There are examples for each sect.

You can leave all ur family, wealth, status & become a sanyasi and reach the eternity.

You can be a best king of the nation and by serving people, can reach eternity.

You can be a normal man doing ur regular duty and pray heartfully and can reach the eternity.

Most of the examples are set by God itself through his incarnations.*

Answer 5

As per my openion 4 Vedas and 6 Shastras are trustable but PURANS are not trustable and in these truth is less than false so if u want to get in life and want to live a good living u may pls go through "Styarth Prakash" "Rhig Ved Bhasy Bhumika" written by Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati the great saint of India

Answer 6

Manu shasthra is meant for all human beings in this world., whereas Garuda purana it meant only for Hindus (ARE YOU A HINDU BY BIRTH) You can assure yourself which you want to believe and which you cannot. Half way through any subject will have confusion and confusion at the end will give you clarity . Please wait until you clear your ideas. Thanking you God bless you. Yours VRVRAO

Answer 7

the certainty itself turns into the barrier between the god and guy.There are no longer any scriptures that can describe god.All are in simple terms tries and vedas are the excellent of the tries .the certainty helps basically till finally the gate .To open the excellent gate the certainty might desire to be dropped.quite than the words if we bypass deep into what's declared in vedas we see the comparable message.Meditating on the essence of the vedas and direct concept with out any attachment to the techniques we are able to attain the god.

Answer 8

Good answer aradhana I support what you said.
Animal sacrifices are forbidden for thos e in the path of religion ,it was only allowed for kshatriya kings where animals were sacrificed by brahmanas who were very powerful that they had the power to give a new human body to the animal being sacrificed but in kali yuga it is forbidden strictly ofocurse some scriptures do allow animal sacrifices to Goddess Kali by some puranas for people in the mode of ignorance or tamasic that they can kill an animal on a certain day of month when its dark & they can offer a goat to Goddess Kali by chanting this mantra that " I am killing you & offerring you to Kali mata but in next births I will be born as a goat & you as human being then you can kill me" .
This is allowed but you can see an intelligent will think like this " wait if i eat this animal in this birth then next birth this animal will kill me & eat me so this action is not profitable so why should i do this" so he will not do this if he understands but those who prefer to do this know the consequences.

As far as Gita is concerned Krishna says very clearly that
" If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it."

patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktyä prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnämi prayatätmanah

Bhagavad Gita 9.26 The most confidential knowledge

So you can see its not advisable to kill even an ant which is created by God since they are also living entity & there are heavy reactions for killing an ant ,every moment we are killing many microbes which enters our body ,we walk on the road etc. unknowingly even if we are pure vegetarians now how to get rid of all these sinful reactions is by chanting the holy names of Krishna ie.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare hare ; hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
as explained in kali santarna upanishads that :

iti shodashakam naam naam
kali kalmasha nashnam
nato paritaro paya
sarva vedesu drsyate

"“After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion more sublime for this age than the chanting of Hare Krsna.”
This maha mantra will destroy all your sinful reactions & gives you the ultimate reward of pure love of Krishna prema or God

Answer 9

In the Manu-samhita (5.56) it is said:

na mamsa-bhaksane dose na madye na ca maithune
pravrttir esa bhutanam nivrttis tu mahaphalah

Human beings are naturally inclined to the pleasures of meat eating, intoxication,
and sexual indulgence, but abstinence from such activities yields highly beneficial
results.

This is corroborated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.11):

loke vyavayamisa-madya-seva nitya hi jantor na hi tatra codana vyavasthitis tesu vivaha-yajna-sura-grahair asu nivrttir ista

In this world it is observed that people have a natural tendency toward sexual enjoyment, meat-eating, and intoxication. Sastra cannot sanction engagement in such activities, but special provisions have been given whereby some association with the opposite sex is permitted through marriage; some eating of flesh is permitted through performance of sacrifice; and the drinking of wine is permitted in the ritual known as sautramani-yajna.
The purpose of such injunctions is to restrain the licentious tendencies of the general populace and to establish them in moral conduct.

The intrinsic purpose of the Vedas in making such provisions is to draw people away from such activities altogether.
“It is not the purpose of sastra to encourage the killing of animals. The Vedas state, ma himsyat sarvani bhutani: “Do not harm any living entity.’ This statement forbids violence to animals. However, as long as a person’s nature is strongly influenced by passion and ignorance,
he will have a natural inclination toward sexual enjoyment, meat eating, and intoxication. Such a person does not await the sanction of the Vedas to engage in such activities. The intent of the Vedas is to provide a means whereby human beings who have not adopted the quality of goodness – and thus renounced the tendency for violence, sexual enjoyment, and intoxication – can curb such tendencies and satisfy these demands through the agency of religion.“

Answer 10

Interpretations and your own imaginations aside... plz..

Human form is rarely attained and is said to be of high intelligence because men have the power to discriminate. Discrimination is what differentiates us from cats and dogs.

Your both statements from the Garuda Purana and Manu smriti are right if seen from an absolute angle. According the manu smriti, not sinning by taking meat is meant for the animals and beasts who lack discrimination. Human beings being advanced in consciousness should decide whether there bellies be a graveyard for innocent animals or full of nutritious food.

So, men who violate these laws being advanced, would have to go various reactions for their actions.

See other quotes from the same chapter and understand it.

28. The Lord of creatures (Prajapati) created this whole world to be the sustenance of the vital spirit; both the immovable and the movable creation is the food of the vital spirit.
33. A twice-born man who knows the law must not eat meat except in conformity with the law; for if he has eaten it unlawfully, he will, unable to save himself, be eaten after death by his victims.
39. Svayambhu, the Self-Existent [Supreme Reality] himself created animals for the sake of sacrifices; sacrifices have been instituted for the good of this whole world; hence the slaughtering of beasts for sacrifices is not slaughtering in the ordinary sense of the word.
40. Herbs, trees, cattle, birds, and other animals that have been destroyed for sacrifices are reincarnated in higher existences.
42. A twice-born man who, knowing the true meaning of the Veda, slays an animal for these purposes causes both himself and the animal to enter a most blessed state.
43. A twice-born man of virtuous disposition, whether he dwells in his own house, with a teacher, or in the forest, must never, even in times of distress, cause an injury to any creature which [injury] is not sanctioned by the Veda.
46. He who does not seek to cause the sufferings of bonds and death to living creatures, but desires the good of all beings, obtains endless bliss.
48. Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to the attainment of heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun the use of meat.
49. Having well considered the disgusting origin of flesh and the cruelty of fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let him entirely abstain from eating flesh.
51. He who permits the slaughter of an animal, he who cuts it up, he who kills it, he who buys or sells meat, he who cooks it, he who serves it up, and he who eats it, must all be considered as the slayers of the animal.
52. There is no greater sinner than that man who, though not worshipping the gods or the manes, seeks to increase the bulk of his own flesh by [consuming] the flesh of other beings.
54. By subsisting on pure fruit and roots, and by eating food fit for ascetics in the forest, one does not gain so great a reward as by entirely avoiding the use of flesh.

56. There is no sin in eating meat, in drinking spirituous liquor, and in carnal intercourse, for that is the natural way of created beings; but abstention brings great rewards.


Also, it is always advised to first read Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam from the beginning. These literatures must be commented by a bonafide spiritual master coming in the line of disciplic succession or guru shishya parampara so that the original knowledge is uncontaminated and pure.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad gita "vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham" meaning "Of all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas. "

So, first understand Krishna and his teachings then delving into Vedas and getting confused...

Regards,
Srinivas Kumar
[e-mail]
www.radhashyamsundar.com

Answer 11

Please understand that Hinduism isn't like Christianity, islam or other coded faiths.
Hinduism is a wide range of experiences and cultures and texts that show us ways from one incarnation to another. different texts are relevant to beings at different levels of spiritual evolution.
There is no real 'sin' in hinduism. An action is a 'sin' if it harms somebody and earns you bad karma.
Aghori sadhus who eat the flesh from human corpses are as evolved and spiritual as a strict vegetarian guru who fasts and who is celibate. There are so many ways to salvation. that's the beauty of Hinduism.
Peace be to you and do what your heart tells you to.