food

[ravi chandrasekhara]

Dear all,

Pranam:

1.According to our Shastras:  Braahmanas and Vaisyas
are supposed to be vegetarian (Possibly excepting
Konakan Gaud Sarswats, Kashmiri pundit, Bengali < who
belong to the Kanyakubja subdivision> Braahmana
communities on account of climate and minimal amount
agricultural land that is available)

2.Kshatriyas and Sudras are allowed to eat meat,
barring beef.

3.Some tribals and panchamas who are Hindus eat beef
from naturally killed cows and other meat, apparently
ok from Shastric standpoint.

4.There are some Kshatriya (eg. Lohanas from Kutch and
Gujarat) and some Sudras (eg. Vellalas from Tamil
Nadu) are vegetarian.

5.Vegetarianism appears to be the ideal for all Hindus
and all Humans according to our Shastras.

6.In yagnas, animals were sacrificed because their
souls evolved but partake of the flesh as prasad was a
small quantity and apparently these are discouraged in
Kali Yuga (per Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati of
Kanchi Mutt --- Hindu Dharma.

Now for some difficult questions:

1.Those communities who traditionally were allowed to
meat, I would think have developed acara (or habit),
but if they do not live in those areas where veg food
was scarce or no longer perform traditional
occupations (ie Kshatriyas not becoming soldiers or
Sudras not working in the farms/fields) -- do they
still have Shastric sanction to eat meat ?

2.Do the members of the above mentioned Braahman
communities who no longer reside in their ancestral
land (Bengal, Kashmir, or Konkan) and who have access
to many veg food sources still have Shastric sanction
to eat meat ?

3.Also our Shastras state that cows shouldnt be
slaughtered, so do they permit people of
European/African/Oriental/Arab/Jewish/Polynesian/NativeAmerican
descent to eat beef from slaughtered cows ?

4.Forgive for not providing exact references, but I
have read translations or qoutes from Bhagavatam and
Mahabharata that proclaim meat eating a sin and has
dire consequences, hence does this not conflict the
permitted meat eating by Kshatriyas,Sudras, some
Braahmana communities, and Non-Hindus ?

5.I have also heard some religious readers state that
materials used in yagnas are sometimes named as names
of animals, hence no actual animals are supposed to be
sacrificed. (I can give one refernce: p.70-71 of The
True History and Religion of India by Swami
Prakashanand Saraswati, this is available on line at
www.isdl.org)  But does this not conflict what Sri
Chandrasekharendra Saraswati stated in his work Hindu
Dharma ? Or could it possibly mean that if one cannot
(or doesn't have the capability) elevate the souls of
the animals involved in yagnas then the non-animal
materials named after animals be used ?


I welcome replies.

Dhanyavaad, Ravi Chandrasekhara MD

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