The Tirukural...
Today is the first time I have come across one of these sacred verses and this specific text in general. According to Wikipedia:
The Tirukkural or Thirukkural (Tamil: திருக்குறள், literally Sacred Verses), or shortly the Kural, is a classic Tamil text consisting of 1330 couplets or kurals, dealing with the everyday virtues of an individual.[2][3] Considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality, chiefly secular ethics, it is known for its universality and non-denominational nature.[4] It was authored by Valluvar, also known in full as Thiruvalluvar. The text has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 7th century CE. The traditional accounts describe it as the last work of the third Sangam, but linguistic analysis suggests a later date of 450-500 CE.[1]
These were the verses I came across that I wanted to share with you all today:
How can he practice true compassion
who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh?
Riches cannot be found in the hands of the thriftless,
nor can compassion be found in the hearts of those who eat meat.
He who feasts on a creature's flesh is like he who wields a weapon.
Goodness is never one with the minds of these two.
If you ask, "What is kindness and what is unkindness?"
It is not-killing and killing. Thus, eating flesh is never virtuous.
Life is perpetuated by not eating meat.
The jaws of Hell close on those who do.
If the world did not purchase and consume meat,
no one would slaughter and offer meat for sale.
When a man realizes that meat is the butchered flesh
of another creature, he will abstain from eating it.
Insightful souls who have abandoned the passion to hurt others
will not feed on flesh that life has abandoned.
Greater than a thousand ghee offerings consumed in sacrificial
fires is to not sacrifice and consume any living creature.
All life will press palms together in prayerful adoration
of those who refuse to slaughter or savor meat.
One last bite-size nugget for the day to chew on comes from Mahabharata, Anu. 115.40 :
The purchaser of flesh performs himsa (violence) by his wealth; he who eats flesh does so by enjoying its taste; the killer does himsa by actually tying and killing the animal. Thus, there are three forms of killing: he how brings flesh or sends for it, he who cuts off the limbs of an animal, and he who purchases, sells or cooks flesh and eats it - all of these are to be considered meat-eaters.
True compassion is when we as a human species are not cruel or think less of other sentient species. By participating in any level of it means to be guilty by association. There are plenty of plant-based options out there that do not involve cruelty. And no, you will not become "protein deficient" because you decided to abstain from meat or dairy. These above verses have resonated with me, and with what my previous Steemit partially discussed. All right, I guess I have to leave one more piece of food for thought to tie this all together:
source
I hope these wise words from ancient past can be food for thought about what we as a human race and species do to others on this planet for mere thrill of a few minutes of enjoyment. These are simple yet powerful reminders to me why I abstain from meat. When I became illuminated to the horror story of what is truly going on in this world, I was mortified and my soul and heart began to grieve. That animal was full of fear and did not want to die, none of them do, yet it was sacrificed so I could not think twice while I enjoyed its lifeless carcass negative energy. How sad it was to think I was superior to eat something so beautiful and smart. I am so thankful I had an awakening and a change in my heart to do better not only for the animals but for my health as well. I also made the decision because my beliefs are to live by the Two Greatest Commandments of "Love God, Love Each Other", and for me, I could not begin to learn to truly love if I was still participating in such cruel acts of injustice and unkindness. If we cannot have compassion for other sentient beings, how will we ever have compassion and show true love to each other?
Meditate, contemplate, make the decisive action to be the change you want to see. Don't give up, but push forward to greater things...
Be well.