Pari's Blog

Many people think that Hindus can’t eat because their “religion” prohibits them. Often the question is asked, “so you can’t eat meat?” or “he can’t eat meat”. No, it’s not that I can’t, but I don’t.

For me as well as most Hindus it is a conscious decision (as opposed to following some religious doctrine blindly). There are no “religious injunctions” demanding anything of Hindus. If it all, the only injunction would be to strive for the highest Truth (which includes meditation and thinking on ones actions and the consequences of those actions). This is why over 40% of Hindus are predominantly vegetarian, not by any religious injunction, but by conscious choice to be a vegetarian.

It is a conscious choice – out of compassion, morals, or the ethics of eating meat. Any Hindu vegetarian will tell you he will not eat meat not out of fear of breaking some religious injunction (for there is none), but out of the thought of killing another sentient being for no other lowly reason than gratification of ones taste buds. One of the things that make man different from other animals is that he can feel that compassion or sense of ethics and he can make that choice.

Hindu culture as a whole, recognizes the role of a vegetarian diet as essential for spiritual progress and healthy life – in mind, body, and spirit. But how you do it or if you do it is up to you.

See also the case for vegetarianism in general.