(from audience) Swamiji, why is it important to follow vegetarianism?
Which are the most intelligent communities in the world? Come, name a few!
Jains, Brahmins, Parsis, Jews… all these communities are mostly vegetarian.
Vegetarianism and intelligence have a deep connection. So much research has been conducted in this area. Again, human beings have been physically designed for vegetarianism. Herbivorous animals have only one type of mouth movement – jaw movements are sideways, just as in our case. Our teeth are designed for chewing, not for cutting and tearing. Even the length of our intestine is like that of herbivores, not carnivores. Nature has intended us to be vegetarians.
The third thing – a meditative person simply cannot enjoy non-vegetarian food! When you eat consciously, with awareness, with sensitivity, do you think you can allow non-vegetarian food to enter your system?
In South Bharat, the basis of religion, of spiritual growth, has been emphasized as vegetarianism.
Ramanujam writes that food can be contaminated in three ways. These are called the three doshas.
The first is jaati dosha, where the food is toxic by its very quality – for example, onions, garlic, etc. These kinds of items are acceptable in very small quantities, as medicines, but should not be consumed as food.
The second dosha is the nimitta dosha, which means that the food should be prepared hygienically, without hair or dust. The third dosha, the aashraya dosha, is the one I want to emphasize. It says that the person who cooks and handles the food leaves the imprint of his thoughts upon it. So if you have had a fight with your wife, don't eat at home that day! Whether you realize it or not, along with other ingredients, the thoughts of the cook are also being added to the food. So when your angry wife cooks for you, you can be sure to land up with indigestion! By projecting our thoughts, we can affect not only our own health, but the health of others also! This has been experimentally proved.
In an experiment conducted on plants in an American University, researchers exposed three rose-plants to different human emotions over 15 days and studied the results.
The first plant was bombarded with negativity from the caregiver. Whenever he watered the plant, he would throw out all his negative emotions (anger, frustration, and so on)
on the plant.
The second plant was exposed to 'normal' behaviour, with the caregiver neither cursing the plant nor paying any special attention to it.
The third plant was showered with love and affection, with the caregiver taking care to talk to the plant, stroke it, sing to it and so on.
In the short span of 15 days, the research team observed astounding results. The first plant which had been the target of negativity had wilted and died. The second plant showed normal growth. But the plant exposed to positive emotions had flourished marvelously, and was a healthy, robust plant full of flowers.
Since all other conditions remained controlled, it is obvious that only the human energies had influenced the growth of the plant.
So anything can be contaminated or blessed by thoughts!
That is how the concept of naivedya came into custom. Naivedya is the practice of first offering our food to God before we eat it. In Christianity, there is the practice of praying, of 'saying grace' before each meal. It teaches us to eat our food with reverence, as prasad. But the science behind it is this: when we place the food before the idol of the gods, the positive vibrations present in the temple or shrine are absorbed by the food, and ultimately benefits the ones who eat it.
But Swamiji, Zen Buddhists are non-vegetarians... Yes, but all their enlightened masters are vegetarians. Their monks are vegetarians. Only the lay community indulges in non-vegetarianism.