Are plants living things? If "yes" then those who eat plant based food aren't non vegetarians?

Answer 1

The idea behind the " vegetarian concept " is really "Ahimsa" or the "Non-Violence"

Even though the plants, fruits, food grains are living things, they have no brain to experience the "pain".

The painless food is considered as the "Satwika Ahara" which is very important to maintain the Spirituality, because there is no Karma involvement.

Just imagine the pain of that animal , before eating, which is in front you, upon the table.....

And tell me why you are eating only "Vegetarian Animals" ?

Answer 2

I don't think vegetarians eat insects. As to your second question.. As an organic person your diet must be organic, there is very little you can get from raw minerals, and not sufficient to live. So all people have to eat organic things (things that live) to survive. Some vegetarians are so for reasons unrelated to ethics, so your reason is invalid to them. For vegetarians who do it for ethical reasons, the presence of feelings is not demonstrated by plants. Plants lack things such as a nervous system, pain receptors, brains or anything that would indicate central thought or reasoning, things that would enable something to experience 'feelings'. Further, they do not show responses to stimuli that would indicate feelings. If all edible plants could be demonstrated to have feelings, it's possible the vegetarian stance based on ethics would change, since you cannot live eating neither animals nor plants. Most likely it would adapt to a sliding scale - i.e. that is most ethical to eat the things that have the least feelings, and so preference would be given to things that feel the least. Which it is likely would include plants and exclude animals. But that seems unlikely in the near future.

Answer 3

The question is not about what one eats. The question is about a fellow soul. The question is about the miseries that one lives thru when born in an animal body.

And the question is about the feeling, whether we are aware, that we have no different fate than an animal being led to a slaughter house! Sleeping in dream world is alright, but we should understand that we will have to wake up to realities, and by then it may be too late.

Make use of being born in this human body.

Don't you worry about being a vegetarian, or a non vegetarian.

Answer 4

Of course they're living things. A vegetarian is a broad label designating someone who chooses not to eat animals or animal products. The distinction is between plants/animals (remember the kingdoms from biology class?), not living/non-living. A human couldn't survive on a diet of inorganic matter.

Answer 5

okay let jayakrishnan answer with a hoilistic perspective.

Even the stones and machines have life, like that goes the latest findings with Meta Physics, Quantum Mechanics and Behavioural Analysis, Psychology and even Industrial Engineering Reasearches and Management fields, both at micro and macro levels.

Non - Vegetarians and Vegetarians are just two classifications for deadbody eaters and non dead body eaters.

Perhaps our stomach is not a burial ground for the dead animals is a peripheral way of putting it to the common understandings of masses.

But let's travel bit more deeper into the subject with a more holistic thinking. Here one link.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsHU5MML1TN.QVqcuW74SoEjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20070118193832AAEvaxr

Going bit more into depth in these lines, most of the progeny of plants happen with cutting the stems and thru fruits. When a Mother give birth to a child, there are pains for her, but its a kind of pain of happiness that comes out of her. May be that is not there with animals. But even plants also to be cut with reverence, giving it a feel that its for its own further growth in future. Even Vegetarianism is also considered only a higher quality food than meat, just fruits alone still at a higher level, just water alone again at a higher level and just air alone still higher and sustence without any support really as Godly.

Here there is an argument that fish since, it doesn't feel the pain as other animals, is a vegetarian food. Definitely fish should be a higher quality food than just meat, but then it has this special vasana (habit / taste) of dumbardness as it gets attracted to the worm, its food without understanding the danger of hook behind to catch it.

The lesser the number of chains and higher the order the better the food as it shall instill lesser evil or lesser tendencies in us. We are perhaps what we eat from our surroundings thru all our senses, moderation and higher quality food while eating anything perhaps good for a better presentability for all.

One General underlying justification we may generalise that, Perhaps by eating fruits we are fulfilling the Motherly aspirations of the Tree with blessings at least at the plucking time, for further germination whereas with the dead bodies of animals its not happening generally.

Bhagavad Gita say, "Yad Bhavam, Tad Bhavathi"

Some Sathya Sai Thoughts on Moderation on all food habits with the following blog link

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-xXSjjhg7er9d7VyaCsYH4qyJveacMoF0?p=136


SAI RAM

Answer 6

Yes they are.........


Let me clarify..... Scientifically both plants and animals are having one basic unit common i.e. cell.

It's contents are remarkably common except few like chlorophyl, centrosome, plastids, vacuoles etc.These cell constitute the whole body of an animal or a plant.

Now basic difference being its inability to create sound [ cry ] when broken /eaten /plucked, a plant or vegitable, can not make it eatable ethically and logically.

People eat vegitables just becoz they dont scream or cry. People drink milk which was actually meant for the calf and not for any other purpose. Where is their ethics ?

The only purpose of production of fruits in the plants is to propagate it's kind and not to feed humen beings.

Then why do we eat fruits ?

There may be a reason that blood of the killed animal makes them to have a guilty feeling, which is red and like ours becoz of hoemoglobin. But then the blood of plants, incidently not red, is as important as red blood.

We love to kill kockroaches just becoz they don't have red blood.


The canines are the teeth which are not found in Herbivorous animals. The fact that canines are present in humen beings make it clear that humen are Omnivorous as the God meant us to be.

Humen are having long and very peculiar kind of intestine meant for digesting both meat & vegitables. The intestine of herbivorous animals can not digest meat.


The logic behind vegitarianism is ethical but not rational. It is against the scientific & rational analysis.

Answer 7

Non vegetarians? "Vegetarian" refers to a diet consisting of fruits and vegetables, without animal flesh (and depending on the strain, without animal byproducts/eggs/dairy/etc.). Those who eat only "plant-based" foods are vegetarians.

Answer 8

We don't eat meat Silly you! Now go get your dictionary and look this up, right now! Plus the reasons are not so much because animals are Alive Creatures. I prefer things that aren't shot up with all the steroids and junk they feed them.I want to eat healthy and I feel like eating vegetables are healthy For me. My Doc says so. As long as I maintain a healthy diet he said it was Better For Me.For Personal Health Reasons.

Answer 9

Vegetarians haven't taken a vow to eat only non-living things - they only eat things that aren't animals.

Because philosophically, they believe that for some reason it is more justifiable to eat something that makes its food directly from sunlight, rather than another organism that doesn't photosynthesize.

Answer 10

Your "yes " is "yes".But please remove non before word Vegetarians.
Whole livings on earth r firstly divided in two parts.1- vegetables 2-other than r called animals
The living which can not move r grouped in vegetarian.
Other than this r grouped in non vegetarian.
I hope now you got a clear 7 straight answer to your question