This questions was put before Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamji of
Udupi Puthige Matha( a branch of Udupi Krishna Mutha) (of the Madhva
Sampradaya) by devotees during his visit to Detroit.The below fact was extracted from awgp group mail.

Question One:*

Plants are also having life, so killing plants should also be a sin. Thus in
what way is vegetarian food better than non-vegetarian food in terms of
killing or committing “sin”?
*
Answer by Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji:
*
This is a very good question. It is true that plants also have “life” and
killing plants is also sin. So the best way to observe total non-violence
is to follow “Shiloncha Vraththi”. That is to take only those fruits which
have naturally fallen from the trees or plants. In this way we are doing
harm to no one. But everyone can not follow that vow. We have to take food
in order to survive and sustain this body. It is a necessity of survival.
But we need to take that path which is less sinful and does less harm to
other jivas (living entities).

Now there are two reasons to say that vegetarian food is having
insignificant sin. Many of the plants like rice, wheat, etc., are having
life only for one crop time. Once their yield is over, they die naturally,
even if we don’t cut them. So by cutting those plants (which have already died) we are doing less sin or no sin at all. In many other plants, like mango, coconut, etc., by plucking the fruit, we are not killing the plants, and so we are doing very minimal sin or no sin at all. So vegetarian food is less sinful. More over, it is inevitable for our survival, but non-vegetarian food is a luxury to us and we can survive even if we avoid that. It is more sinful since we need to kill animals all of the time.

Next we need to know why certain acts are sinful. Each and every life
(whether plant, animal, or human) has come to this world to do “sadhana”(spiritual practices), so that they may get a better birth next life and finally get “moksha” (liberation) . Whenever such “sadhana” opportunities are cut short, it becomes a sin. For plants there is not much “sadhana” available to them. They can not do any kind of physical or mental activities in terms of “sadhana”. So by cutting them, we are not doing much harm to their “sadhana” or reducing their opportunity for “sadhana” (spiritual practice). So it is not so sinful. But animals can do a good amount of “sadhana” by means of physical and mental activities. By killing them, we are cutting short their opportunities to do “sadhana” towards their liberation (moksha). Thus it is much more sinful.

To support this aspect further I will give an example. “Suicide” is
considered as the greatest sin, even though no one else is troubled other than the one individual, because God has given us this wonderful body and mind to do “sadhana” by which we work towards moksha. By rejecting this offer or by cutting short this “sadhana”, we are insulting God and betraying him. Thus suicide is considered highly sinful. There is another example in the scriptures I would like to cite. Suppose there is a very, very old man,incapable of doing any physical and mental activities. Then according to the scriptures he can enter into fire to end his life. That is not considered a sin because he cannot do any more “sadhana” by himself or through others. So in general, any act which is cutting short our, or others’, “sadhana” is considered as a sin. Thus from this angle, vegetarians are committing less sins than those who eat meat.

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you can directly contact the Gayatri Parivar Center of bangalore at

Address 1 :- Yugshakti Gayatri Kendra
No 29/5 ,Sampige Building,
9th cross,4th main,L N Puram,Bangalore-560021
Karnataka,India
phone :- 00-91-080-23526694
fax :- 00-91-80-23132733
cell no:- 00919341774529
website:- bangaloreawgp.org
or
Address 2:-
Nilesh Kumar
Block No:1, Quarter no. 9
CPWD Quarters
27th main , 13th cross
HSR Layout

For more informations about GAYATRI PARIWAR, visit following websites :

1. http://www.awgp.org
2. http://www.dsvv.org
3. http://www.akhandajyoti.in
4. http://www.pragyabhiyan.org
5. http://www.bsgp.org
6. http://www.hindi.awgp.org
7. http://www.rishichintan.org or
E-Mail :- gayatri.chintan@gmail.com
8. http://literature.awgp.org/
9. http://www.th8revol ution.com/ content/chant-gayatri-mantra-world-peace
10. http://www.shrirams harma.com/
11. http://sakorionline .com/JSP/ spr/important_ link.php
12. http://mahakal.ageoftruth.org/narijagran/audio/amrutvani (For all
amritvani)

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