Draft:Why Vegetarianism



Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam has emphasized in more than 125 Presidential addresses the importance of vegetarianism for planet earth and humanity. His Divine Holiness has explained multiple dimensions of the importance of vegetarianism, this includes - health impact, environmental impact, social impact, economic impact, impact on food security, impact on the ability of human beings to express their higher enlightened dimensions, the ability of human beings to understand Higher sciences.

Vegetarianism to Awaken your superhuman abilities

Vegetarian food makes us calm and collected

Vegetarianism as the ultimate strategic existence

Positive Impact of Vegetarianism on Environment

"Planet earth cannot sustain, cannot afford any more meat-based lifestyle."
Presidential Address of Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam, dated 15 November 2019.

• 10 billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year.
• It takes 7 Kilograms of grain feed to produce 1 kilogram of beef, 4 Kg of grain to produce 1Kg of pork, 2Kg of feed to produce 1Kg of fish-meat. Given this, if the entire planet turned vegetarian, it would drastically increase the available grain for the entire planet.
• According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms are responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today. Agricultural activities that cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing, and harvesting.

Positive Impact of Vegetarianism on Human Health

"Neither nature nor your body is made to sustain a non-vegetarian lifestyle."
Presidential Address of Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam, dated 15 December 2019.

• Vegetarian diets are more healthy.
• Vegetarian diets contribute to preventing, treating, or reversing heart disease and reducing the risk of cancer.
• A low-fat vegetarian diet stops the progression of coronary artery disease or prevents it entirely. Cardiovascular disease kills one million Americans annually and is the leading cause of death in the United States. As per studies, the mortality rate for cardiovascular disease is lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians. A vegetarian diet is inherently healthful because vegetarians consume less animal fat and cholesterol (vegans consume no animal fat or cholesterol) and instead consume more fiber and more antioxidant-rich produce.
• Vegetarian diets being low in saturated fats help in maintaining lower body weight. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a division of the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of adults and 15 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are overweight and are at risk of weight-related ailments including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. A study conducted from 1986 to 1992 by Dean Ornish, MD, president, and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, found that overweight people who followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet lost an average of 24 pounds in the first year and kept off that weight 5 years later. They lost weight without counting calories or carbs and without measuring portions or feeling hungry.
• Increased life expectancy: According to a 30-year study done on 600 centenarians of Okinawa, their secret: a low-calorie diet of unrefined complex carbohydrates, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and soy. (A centenarian is a person aged above a hundred years.)
• Vegetarian diets which are low in saturated fat keeps us more energetic. Too much fat in the bloodstream causes arteries to not open properly and thus reduces oxygen to muscles.
• Vegetarian diets contain more fiber, which reduces instances of constipation, hemorrhoids, and diverticulitis.
• Organic vegetarian diets reduce the intake of toxins. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), estimates that nearly 95 percent of the pesticide residue in the typical American diet comes from meat, fish, and dairy products. Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens (PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals (mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium) that can’t be removed through cooking or freezing.

Positive Impact of Vegetarianism on the Economy

• Shifting to a vegetarian diet will increase the grain production and thus potential export of a country. For instance, about 70 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million, says David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it would boost the US trade balance by $80 billion a year.

Word of Shashtras (Hindu Scriptures) on Vegetarianism

• ऊर्जं नो धेहि द्विपदे चतुष्पदे ।।
  यजुर्वेद ११।८३
  May nutrition be available to all bipeds and quadrupeds.
  Yajurveda 11.83
  
  
• द्विपादव चतुष्पात् पाहि।।
  यजुर्वेद १४।८
  O Humans, protect all bipeds and quadrupeds
  Yajurveda 14.8
  
  
• अनुमन्ता विशसिता निहन्ता क्रयविक्रयी। संस्कर्ता चोपहर्ता च खादकश्चेति घातकाः ।।
  मनुस्मृति ५।५१
  To person to given the command to kill, the person who takes the animal to kill, the person who sells animal for killing, the person who purchases meat for trading, the person who cooks meat, and the person who eats meat, all of these people are murderers.
  Manusmriti 5.51
  
  
• य आमं मांसमदन्ति पौरुषेयं च ये क्रविः गर्भान् खादन्ति केशवास्तानितो नाशयामसि
  अथर्ववेद ८। ६।२३
  Those people who take life for granted and eat male, female, infant, or unborn animals as raw, or after cooking, are unworthy of life. Arthaveda 8.6.23
  
  
• देशे काले च सम्प्राप्ते मन्यन्नं हरिदेवतम् । श्रद्धया विधिवत् पात्रे न्यस्तं कामधुगक्षयम् ॥ न दद्यादामिषं श्राद्धे न चाद्याद धर्मतत्त्ववित । मन्यन्त्रः स्यात्परा प्रीतियथा न पशुहिंसया ।। नेतादृशः परो धर्मो नृणां सद्धर्ममिच्छताम्। न्यासो दण्डस्य भूतेषु मनोवाकायजस्य यः॥
  (भा. 7/15/5,7,8)
  The Bhagwatam (17.15.5,7,8) says, "In the shradh feast pure vegetarian food, after offering to God, should be given to brahmans. It satisfies the Pitra (ancestral) gods forever (5). It is Dharma (even for Kshatriya) that in Shradha feast he should neither offer meat nor he himself should eat meat. Only vegetarian food must be offered because the meat is obtained by killing an animal (7). This is the best Dharma to observe for everyone that one should not hurt other beings even in his thoughts (8)."
  
  
• अखादत्रनुमोदंश्च भावदोषेण मानवः । योऽनुमोदति हन्यन्तं सोऽपि दोषेण लिप्यते ॥ इज्यायज्ञश्रुतिकृतयों मार्गरबुधोऽधमः । हन्याज्जन्तून् मांसगृध्रुः स वै नरकभाड्नरः ।। आहर्ता चानुमन्ता च विशस्ता क्रयविक्रयी। संस्कर्ता चोपभोक्ता च खादकाः सर्व एव ते॥
  (महा. अनु. 115/39,43,45)
  In the 115th chapter of Mahabharat, Anushasan Parv discusses the evils of meat-eating. It says. "The one who himself doesn't eat meat but even if he gives his consent to eat meat or to kill an animal, he becomes equally sinful as them (verse 39). The meat-eater who kills an animal in the name of Vedic Yagya or tells that it is a requirement of the Yagya is a sinner and he will go to hell (verse 43). The one who brings an animal to be killed, the one who buys the animal to be killed, the one who kills the animal, and the one who sells, buys, cooks and eats the meat are all sinners (verse 45)."
  ~ Mahabharat 115.39,43,45