Monday, June 6, 2011

HOOKED ON MEAT

MEAT EATERS ASK THEMSELVES, 
“WHY BOTHER?
NEW YORK (The New York Times) - Once, we humans had to combine hunting skills and luck to eat meat, which could supply then-rare nutrients in large quantities. This progressed - or at least moved on - to a stage where a family could raise an annual pig and maybe keep a cow and some chickens. Quite suddenly (this development is no more than 50 years old, even in America), we can eat animals at will.  Those who were born in mid-to-late 20th century America take this for granted; this is the new normal. But the phenomenon is global: there’s more than twice as much meat available per person than there was in 1950. Citizens of most developed nations have gone down the same path, and as the poor become less so, they buy more meat, too.  Animals today are produced badly, cause immeasurable damage to both our bodies and the earth, and - highly processed - they don’t taste that good.

In much of the world, the local fish is mostly gone. A restaurant in Istanbul that had blown my mind 10 years ago with its local variety of fish was offering a few fish that the waiter kindly un-pushed: “These are from the fish farm,” he said, “so why bother?” Indeed. His advice - “why bother?” - holds true for at least 90 percent of the animal products we’re offered, even if we are not vegetarians.   
As regards India, the editor of Hindu Press International notes that though meat consumption in India is growing, this growth is from a very small base.  Fast-food outlets may be opening, but Indians are not consuming on a western level


According to 2007 FAO data, Indians consume around 3.3kg of meat per capita, per year.  An American consumes that amount in about 10 days (122.8kg per capita); and an average Chinese citizen would take about a month (53.5 kg per capita).   If India and China were both consuming meat at western levels, that would have serious impacts on global food supply.  Thankfully, India is self-moderating.  To follow India’s cultural heritage, the Vedas, provides economic and environmental benefits.  They moderate India’s meat consumption, without any government intervention. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  
Go Veg.  Don’t eat our mother.  You know it is wrong to harm.  India has been for the world the teacher of compassion, please keep it that way.  Don’t buy or eat meat.   India is love for animals.  Not killing mother cow, you better follow dharma our grandmother’s vow.  Veg or Non-veg, they ask today.  Would you prefer the Western way?  Would you like dead Mc Donald’s cow? or follow still the sages vow?  All the Acharyas give the advice to offer food that is veg and nice.  We need to work together to let the people know that killing mother cow gives Dharma the final blow.  By eating meat you will reap a price that isn’t cheap.  Even doctors are often lying what is good for child to eat, only when you’re nearly dying they confess: “It was the meat”.  The best doctors are vegetarian.  Check their website:  www.pcrm.org

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