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## The Evils of Meat-Eating
**Yoga Shastra, Third Light, Verses 20-24**
**Meaning:** He who desires to be merciful while constantly eating meat, is like one who wants to plant a vine in a burning fire. It is difficult for such meat-eaters to have mercy in their hearts. ||19||
**Explanation:** Here, a doubt is raised: killing a creature is one thing, and eating meat is another. How can a meat-eater be blamed for the sin of taking a creature's life? In response, it is said: "The eater is also a killer (violent), this is supported by... ||191||
**Meaning:** The one who kills with a weapon, the one who sells meat, the one who cooks meat, the one who eats meat, the one who buys meat, the one who approves of it, and the one who gives or hosts meat, all these are directly or indirectly (through tradition) killers (violent) of living beings. ||20||
Manu has said the same thing in the 51st verse of the fifth chapter of Manusmriti.
**Meaning:** The one who approves of eating meat, the one who kills the creature, the one who dismembers it, the one who buys and sells meat, the one who cooks it, the one who serves it, or the one who offers it as a gift and the one who eats it, all these are of the same category of killers (violent). ||21||
In the 48th verse of the same Smriti, it is said:
**Meaning:** Meat is not obtained or produced anywhere without killing living beings, and killing living beings, being a cause of great suffering to them, does not lead to heaven, but rather to the suffering of hell. Thinking this way, one should completely abandon meat. ||22||
**Meaning:** Those who nourish their own flesh by eating the flesh of others are truly violent, for without the eater, there would be no killer. ||23||
**Explanation:** Without meat-eaters, there would be no killing of animals, etc. Therefore, the meat-eater is the greater sinner. The one who nourishes their own flesh (body) by eating the flesh of others, the one who satisfies their tongue with meat, the one who sustains their momentary life on meat, takes the lives of many other creatures. It is said: "He who makes himself alive by killing other creatures destroys his own soul in a short time. And for his own short life, he becomes a participant in the suffering of many groups of creatures. Does he understand that his life will be eternal?" ||22-23||
This is said with condemnation:
**Meaning:** Even delicious food, like rice, mung beans, lentils, and wheat, ultimately become excrement, and even milk and other nectar-like drinks become urine. Therefore, for this impure (dirty, disgusting) body, who would be a wise human being who would commit sins like violence? ||24||| SR No. | 002418 |
| Book Title | Yogshastra |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Jayanandvijay |
| Publisher | Lehar Kundan Group |
| Publication Year | |
| Total Pages | 494 |
| Language | Sanskrit, Hindi |
| Classification | Book_Devnagari |
| File Size | 24 MB |