Bondage and Freedom

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

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facilities to store it! Surely this surplus could be utilised.
From these economic and practical considerations, let us turn again to ourselves and our spiritual and aesthetic needs. Our senses too, show a natural inclination towards fruit and vegetables. Put, on the one hand, a bowl of apples, oranges, grapes and other fruit; and on the other, lumps of raw meat; and what do we find? Our sense of sight, sense of touch, sense of smell, will show a marked preference for the first, which shows how much more satisfying it is aesthetically.
A man's character, his behaviour, his emotions, are all moulded by his diet. A man who lives on a nonvegetarian diet imbibes fierceness and a rather hot temper. He will not enjoy that calm and peace of mind which he would, if he were to live on a vegetarian diet. His sensitivity becomes dull and blunted, he gradually becomes more unfeeling and heartless. An even temperament, a tender and compassionate heart and a pure and guiltless mindwithout these how can one attain one's spiritual salvation? And how can these qualities be acquired by one who indulges in cruelty and violence in the very food he eats ? Indeed, he who has the purity of his soul at heart, must abjure such a diet at the very outset!
Of course, this does not mean that all those who eat a nonvegetarian diet are cruel and all those who
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