Dear Gopi and Tatachar, Its nice to get some good responses. thanks for your clarifications. yes its true. its hard to observe complete ahimsa. i have that feeling everytime i wear my shoes and jacket. But then i just cant help it. so leave i just it. Yes its true, even Rishis used deer hides as their mats to protect them from chillness. But they were from deers that died of natural death, never been killed for hides. But in this world, things have changed. but we cant help it. So i just decided to use as minimum leather products as possible. Thats what i can do. It was interesting to know, that meat was offered in Vedic ceremonies. never heard of it. but anyway, my knowledge on our ancient religion is very limited. Yes , right as you said, its the attitude which is important. and i am now working on it. eat only to live, not live to eat. i appreciate your points. But then i have another doubt. just got this doubt as i was reading your reply. when Rama is in vanavasa, seetha gets admired by a beautiful deer and wishes to have it. So Rama goes to fetch it. but he actually ends up killing it. now the question is if you like something you dont have to kill it. so why did rama had to kill the deer. did they intend to eat it or what? otherwise they wouldnt have thought of killing it ! kindly, request you to throw some light on this. thanks... Vishwanathan tatachar@xxxxxxx wrote: Dear Sir, Ahimsa (non-violence) as per Sanathana Dharma is causing least harm kaaya-vaacha-manasaa (deeds-words-thoughts) than it is needed. This is different from no harm! Food is sanctified by first offering to Lord and take it as prasadam. Otherwise, as per Gita one eats only sin (poison)- bhunjate te tvagam paapa ye pachantyaatma kaaraNaat ! This is in short the Hindu Kosher. Not what you eat, but the attitude with which you eat. Eating a dry leaf fallen of its own accord is also poison, if it is not taken with prasada bhaavam. So to say,ATTITUDE is more important than ATTITUDE. Joseph Campbell was a Steak /potato man, whereas Hitler was a vegetarian. Meat was part of offerings in the vedic yagnas- All food taken by Vedic Reshis were remnants from Yagnas. The mere act of living causes some himsa. Even doing a regular puja causes injury to flowers, leaves, etc. Probably that is why the Lord says in the Gita that japa is the greatest form of worship(yagnaanaam japa yagnosmi). Even going to temple causes some harm/himsa to environment/beings (car or walk). So, please don't feel guilty, even if you revert to eating meat. Just make sure the attitude counts more. dAsan K.S. tAtAchAr -----Original Message----- From: Vishwanathan Nagarajan <nvc_vishwanathan@xxxxxxxxx> To: SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:01:31 +0100 (BST) Subject: [SriRangaSri] does plants have life? .AOLPlainTextBody { margin: 0px; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; font-size: 12px; color: #000; background-color: #fff; }.AOLPlainTextBody pre { font-size: 9pt;}.AOLInlineAttachment { margin: 10px;}.AOLAttachmentHeader { border-bottom: 2px solid #E9EAEB; background: #F9F9F9;}.AOLAttachmentHeader .Title { font: 11px Tahoma; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; background: #E9EAEB; padding: 3px 0px 1px 10px;}.AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldLabel { font: 11px Tahoma; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; padding: 1px 10px 1px 9px;}.AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldValue { font: 11px Tahoma; color: #333333;} one of the yamas and niyamas is Ahimsa -non violence ( non-killing of anykind, direct of indirect). so what disturbs me is if plants do have life, are we not doing violence to them even being a vegetarian. The reasons and benefits of being a vegetarian is explained in several scientific ways. But spiritually it is said mainly to observe non-killing or non-violence. then how about eating vegitables , especailly teh plant varieties. if we think plants have life, it is equivalent of observing violence. Could some on please, clear me of this Dilemma ! I am a non-vegetarian turned Vegetarian and abstain myself of all animal products except milk. but my above questions puts me down all the time. i would appreciate somebody helping me out in this. Thanks in advance.. VishwanathanSend instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <FONT Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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