VEGETARIANISM

FAMOUS VEGETARIANS

Did you know all these personalities are all famous vegetarians?

Albert Einstein, renowned scientist
Brad Pitt, actor
Brooke Shields, actress
Bryan Adams, singer and songwriter
Buddha, Indian Saint and Spiritual Master
Claudia Schiffer, supermodel
Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian painter and inventor
Superman/Clark Kent, fictional superhero
Billie Jean King, tennis champion
Martina Navratilova, Tennis Champion
Dave Scott, 6 time winner of the Ironman Triathlon
Chris Campbell, 1980 world champion wrestler
Sir Isaac Newton, English scientist, astronomer, and mathematician
Plato, philosopher
William Wordsworth, English writer
Scot t Jurek, Ultramarathon Runner (Scott is the only North American winner of Greece's famed 246Km race from Athens to Sparta, as well as the winner of 2005 and 2006 Badwater Ultramarathon)

HUMANS - NATURAL CARNIVORES OR HERBIVORES?

Once within the stomach, meat requires digestive juices high in hydrochloric acid. The stomachs of humans and herbivores produce acid less than one-twentieth the strength of that found in carnivores.

Another crucial difference between the meat-eater and the vegetarian is found in the intestinal tract, where the food is further digested and nutrients are passed into the blood. A piece of meat is just part of a corpse, and its putrefaction creates poisonous wastes within the body. Therefore meat must be quickly eliminated. For this purpose, carnivores possess alimentary canals only three times the length of their bodies. Since man, like other non-flesh-eating animals, has an alimentary canal twelve times his body length, rapidly decaying flesh is retained for a much longer time, producing a number of undesirable toxic effects.

One body organ adversely affected by these toxins is the kidney. This vital organ, which extracts waste from the blood, is strained by the overload of poisons introduced by meat consumption. Even moderate meat-eaters demand three times more work from their kidneys than do vegetarians. The kidneys of a young person may be able to cope with this stress, but as one grows older the risk of kidney disease and failure greatly increases.

HEALTH ISSUES

The inability of the human body to deal with excessive animal fats in the diet is another indication of the unnaturalness of meat eating. Carnivorous animals can metabolize almost unlimited amounts of cholesterol and fats without any adverse effects. In experiments with dogs, up to one half pound of butterfat was added to their daily diet over a period of two years, producing absolutely no change in their serum cholesterol level.

On the other hand, the vegetarian species have a very limited ability to deal with any level of cholesterol or saturated fats beyond the amount required by the body. When over a period of many years an excess is consumed, fatty deposits (plaque) accumulate on the inner walls of the arteries, producing a condition known as arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. Because the plaque deposits constrict the flow of blood to the heart, the potential for heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots is tremendously increased.

CHEMICALS

Numerous other potentially hazardous chemicals, of which consumer's are generally unaware, are present in meat and meat products. In their book Poisons in Your Body, Gary and Steven Null give us an inside look at the latest gimmicks used in the corporate-owned animal factories. "The animals are kept alive and fattened by the continuous administration of tranquilizers, hormones, antibiotics, and 2,700 other drugs," they write. "The process starts even before birth and continues long after death. Although these drugs will still be present in the meat when you eat it, the law does not require that they be listed on the package."

VEGETARIANISM AND THE BIBLE

In Genesis (1:29) we find God Himself proclaiming: "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in that which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." In the beginning of creation as described in the Bible, it seems that not even the animals ate flesh. In Genesis (1:30) God says, "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so." Genesis (9:4) also directly forbids meat-eating: "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will require it."

THE LAW OF KARMA

"In human society, if one kills a man he has to be hanged (or punished) That is the law of the state. Because of ignorance people do not perceive that there is a complete state controlled by the Supreme Lord Every living creature is the son of the Supreme Lord, and He does not tolerate even an ant's being killed. One has to pay for it." -Srila Prabhupada

THE COW IS OUR MOTHER

Srila Prabhupada: No. Human beings are meant to eat vegetarian food. The tiger does not come to eat your fruits. His prescribed food is animal flesh. But man's food is vegetables, fruits, grains, and milk products. So how can you say that animal killing is not a sin?

Cardinal Danielou: We believe it is a question of motivation. If the killing of an animal is for giving food to the hungry, then it is justified.

Srila Prabhupada: But consider the cow: we drink her milk; therefore, she is our mother. Do you agree?

Cardinal Danielou: Yes, surely.

Srila Prabhupada: So if the cow is your mother, how can you support killing her? You take the milk from her, and when she's old and cannot give you milk, you cut her throat. Is that a very humane proposal?

WHAT GOD (KRISHNA) WANTS