Dada J. P. Vaswani’s message on ahimsa and vegetarianism resonates on International Meatless Day | Representational Image
Life, as I have said repeatedly, is God’s greatest gift to man. It should be a wonderful, joyous pilgrimage—not an anxious, harried, and disturbed existence, which it has become for millions of people today.
We all are seeking peace in our own ways. In this pursuit, we have overlooked one fundamental factor, i.e., choosing the ‘Right Food’.
In practical terms, food can be of two categories: food of violence ‘himsa’, which is food that includes fish, flesh, and fowl; and its alternative, the food of ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence, in other words, a vegetarian diet. It may sound far-fetched that peace is linked in more ways than one to what our diet is, but it is indeed true! To be truly at peace, we must pay attention to our physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
An ever-increasing number of people all over the world are turning to vegetarianism as a “way of life”, which leads to health and strength of the body, mind and soul. Vegetarian food helps a man to be calm, serene, and tranquil. On the other hand, non-vegetarian food drags a man down into a pit of passion and impurity. It makes man restless and tense, violent, and aggressive.
Our ancient scriptures state, “The body is the temple of the Lord.” Should we then feed it with death and decay? When we kill an animal, the animal experiences fear, death, violence, struggle, despair and anguish. The body of the animal is filled with toxins and poisons. We then consume this meat, which carries all these toxins.
The law of karma states that he who inflicts suffering upon another brings suffering to himself. So, every bit of flesh you tear, you will, one day, be called upon to repair with your own flesh! And every bone you break, you will be asked to mend with your own bone!
The ideal must be to commit the least violence and cause the least pain to others. This we do when we live on vegetables instead of animal flesh, for we forget that the animal, too, is an image of God!
*November 25, Sadhu Vaswani’s birthday, is observed as an International Meatless Day and Animal Rights’ Day.
Dada J P Vaswani was a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.
