Vegetarianism

One of the staples of Krishna Consciousness is a vegetarian diet. "You are what you eat!" and choosing veggies is a great act of compassion. One may say that "I'm not the one killing the animal so what harm is there in eating the already killed meat?" well we vote with our dollar and support of the animal slaughtering industry is the same result as being the one to actually carry it out. It's like in a murder case, the mafioso who ordered the hit is just as accountable for the murder as the one who shot the gun, both are indicted and considered guilty. So in the same way, by ordering the meat from the store, we are placing a hit order on another living being to be killed. Subtlety or consciously, this makes an impact on our mind.

So in an effort to cultivate unconditional compassion and empathy for all living beings, Krishna conscious individuals make a concerted effort to eat as green as possible, as natural as possible, and as happily as possible - both during and after the meal.

     Internet searching meat-eating or vegetarianism will inform you on so many shocking facts about the benefits and risks of both, so I will only provide a few scientific reasons here for this belief:

• As soon as a living being dies, its flesh immediately starts to decay, so the toxins of decaying flesh are being introduced and absorbed into our bodies when we eat them.
• A natural carnivore has an intestinal tract that is about 3x the length of its body, and a human being's intestinal tract is about 12x the length of its body allowing for the toxins to brew in the belly and absorb in the blood stream for much longer. This causes overworking for the kidneys and pancreas who aren't able to filter out so many toxins all the time.
• Cheese, peanuts, and lentils contain more protein per oz than meat
• Economically the meat industry is such a black hole, the government needs to subsidize it to keep it running, we're talking about 38billion$$ per year as of 2016(medium.com) and hundreds of millions in advertisements for meat sellers.
• And what to speak of food scarcity!! 90% of BSA grains go to fee livestock, so now, every 1lb of meat takes 16lbs of grains. in terms of calories per acre, grains and vegetables would feed 20x more people than meat.

     These are just a spec of the mountain of information (biological, psychological, economical, sociological, spiritual, and politcal) on how and why a plant-based diet is beneficial and more sustainable for individuals and communities. Thus as pioneers for a great today and even better tomorrow, the Krishna conscious movement is proud supporters of no meat/fish/or egg diets.
     Come to one of our free Sunday Love Feasts at your local Hare Krishna temple and see for yourself the wonderful world of healthful living!