One of the many products of 'Ahimsa' or non violence is vegetarianism. It is to abstain from killing. Vegetarianism is a 'conscious way of eating...' refer wiki for the rest. To me it is a subset of a virtue Ahimsa ' is a term meaning to do no harm'. Am I still a vegetarian if I eat only vegetables, fruits, nuts, yada yada and drank 6,37,240 liters of powerade for that extra energy in a month ? I am not killing any animals! I am a vegetarian! Wait a minute what is this carbon footprint, what are these depleting resources? All those global warming activists are just jobless and just seeking attention.I paid my bills, I paid the premium.
Ok I just gave an obvious example hoping to drive across a point. Nothing personal.'I consume because I
can' applies to each one of us in various degrees, so lets leave the poor man(!) alone and get back to discussing 'I can' through an example -vegetarianism.
I know its just making a choice of what I eat and making a choice of how I live. One might contend its a bad example. Let me try again. I am very conscious of what I eat and eat organic vegetables, oh no not local markets, they are not certified you see, bring them tomatoes with those stickers.I don't care about local produce I want them shipped from New Zealand. In the same line there is another side of me that would choose what animals I get to call as 'pets' and what animals I will factory farm and slaughter to munch on.I need my protein you see! Hey my 'pet' dog loves me! He licks my face every time I come from office! May be he is scared and doesn't want to get licked like I lick those chicken wings! May be he is just making sure he is in my good books and remain in my 'pet' list and not 'hit' list.
Hmm, tricky situation I have, I need to teach my kid compassion and kindness while having our dinner with McNuggets on the table and my pet dog under it. Show kindness to an animal when you are petting it and have no such thoughts when you are eating it! Ya that makes sense. You see kindness and compassion are not universal rules, they are bound by what best benefits my wants,comfort and indulgence. Same would apply to people- switch on good behavior if you see people of a certain race, color, religion or social strata, ya dad will give u the list, like my 'pet' list. For the rest of people switch it off. I set a great example, I am sure.
I neither want to eat meat
daily justifying that I have canine teeth nor want to sit in a fishing
village and starve insisting on getting my organic vegetable imported. This is why one set of rule for all in all situation fails, this is where fanatic blind adherence to an 'ism' turns into only one thing -extremism. 'Idam, porul, eval' so
they say in Tamil.I would like to interpret it as "sound judgment in
situations purely by attention to 'what is' and not judgment that is
done by the conditioned mind (read sticking, holding tight to a 'ism')". Following the rules blindly without 'under the hood' wisdom of why we follow, over a period of time only leads to bending the rules so it fits our own comfort, nothing else. We are happy as long as we belong to a majority that does the same and very happy to live in a state of denial.
Vegetarianism like
other 'isms' cannot have a yes or no Boolean answer anymore. Its a percentage.
It needs a new definition. Ahimsa has an even more broader meaning in the current world. Advances we have made in
science and technology has made us even more interdependent but makes us believe we can do
whatever we want! It has made us insensitive to our surroundings. Sky is the limit, yes I have my own helipad!
People indulge. I do. What am I doing about it? Only temperance, moderation in life can make us adhere(if one wants to ofcourse!) to Ahimsa. How do I inculcate this moderation and become a 'minimalist' with my
indulgence. The more 'aware' I get, the more 'conscious' I get of
myself and my surroundings, my tendency to indulge reduces. How? With awareness we not only see 'fellow humans'(to start with!) we start seeing our 'fellow animals' and 'fellow plants' and much more and start appreciating their relevance in our lives and beauty of their existence. This awareness leads to compassion. With compassion comes an inherent tendency and sensitivity in us to make minimal damage -taking advantage of our 'fellow earthlings' through our actions.
I know only a
few who stumble into this blog would understand or acknowledge what I just said. Its very hard to cut across our behaviors and actions on an every day
basis and acknowledge its relation to our inner being or the state of
consciousness/awareness we are in. Awareness is inversely proportional to insensitively and apathy. Sensitivity isn't popular as it isn't acknowledged, doesn't get its due and bears no tangible fruits to people habituated to what is external.The more obsessed we get in painting our picture in this external world, the farther we move away from our inner being, the less aware we are and more insensitive we get! A silent prayer for a dear
friend has no brownie points in a world where husbands, wives,
brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends with physical proximity and living
under the same roof wish each other on a special day on facebook. Its
the picture we paint of ourselves visible to the external world that
matters, Its all about how many people 'like' my thinking :-)
Either one is preparing for 'day of judgment' or is conscious of his karma, the net effect of our thoughts and actions has its effects on our own lives and that of others. Only returning to the source, or making a conscious attempt to stay close to the source or God can make us aware and with awareness comes the strength for us to do what is right, not out of fear, not out of compulsion, not for the bloated ego. No more 'going through the motion' or unconscious reactions to situations. The awareness results in our conscious action to 'what is' that 'enriches the soul', takes us close to God.
We are blessed with this life, lets celebrate and let all earthlings have a fair share of this celebration.
