Bondage and Freedom

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 71

3. ON VEGETARIANISM
We are all familiar with the purpose of this conference. Vegetarianism is not a new idea, certainly not to us in this country; but it will be most enlightening and stimulating for us to hear about it, in particular from our friends from abroad. The purpose of this conference will be fulfilled. if at the end of it even a handful of men and women decide to become vegetarians.
"Why should I become a vegetarian?” –that is a question I have often been asked, and I'm sure some of you might have been asked that, too. Well, let us try and answer that question.
Food is for the sustenance of life. Our diet should be such that the body remains clean, the senses retain their ability to perceive what is aesthetic, the mind is at peace and the soul is not hindered in its pursuit of the sublime. Hence he who wishes to attain spiritual sublimity must take food which is pure and untainted with blood. It is the food we take that sustains the body and it is the body that houses the mind and the mind which gives birth to our thoughts. .If the body is sustained by meat and other food which are the product of violence and bloodshed, how can you expect your mind to generate thoughts which are pure and noble: Besides, a vegetarian diet keeps the body clean, for it is easy to digest and is at the same time nutritive. Is it surprising then, that doctors