VEGITARIAN DIET--BEYOND THE LIFE OF FLESH

VEGITARIAN DIET--BEYOND THE LIFE OF FLESH

What is to be inferred from “flesh”? Simply speaking, it is the bondage to (the prison house of) body. Man’s core and crux is flesh, his conception is by flesh, formed and framed in flesh itself. Till the end of his life, all his “give and take” is with bodies of flesh. All his sufferings are when he is in flesh. To be free from the pain and anguish of the body, he must cut himself from the flesh. 

How can he cut himself off from the world of flesh? That is feasible only, if he is under no compulsion to reincarnate himself in ‘tissues of flesh’ in future. Then his relationship with flesh ceases. It is that state of existence which is beyond the cycle of transmigration.

The prohibition on food of flesh is self imposed by the yearners who are aware of the purpose of human life and wish to pursue path of mysticism. If one feeds oneself on flesh, he establishes an intense and intimate relationship with the flesh that he digests. He therefore continues to be in the cycle of flesh and bodies. Mirdad, the mystic says, “To feed on Death is to become food for Death. To live by other’s pain is to become a prey for pain. So has decreed the Omniwill”.

Whether the feed is of flesh or of vegetation, the same karmic principle applies except that ‘debt of death’ of vegetarian diet is very minimal and can be settled by prayer and meditation. 

Hazur Maharaj Ji often mentioned a Persian quote in Satsangs --- “ Babar-ba hosh* kun ki aalam dubara naest”---be fully aware (like a Lion’s vigor) that human life is precious; its recurrence is rare; should not be wasted in seeking temporal pleasures. (*Babar means a Lion; hosh means awareness).

Hazur would then add that those who have scant value of human birth and no reckoning of the future course of life, think ---“Babar-ba ash** kun ki aalam dubara naest”---- that this life is meant for total indulgence in physical gratification and such an opportunity might not be available again. (**ash in Urdu/ Persian means sensations of pleasure).

The yearners of mystic reality are a breed that is the rarest among the rare. The devotees of a Master do not get entangled in the mire of this illusive reality of ‘ash’ and remain always in ‘hosh’. To free themselves from the bondage of flesh in future, they willingly abandon the ingestion of food of flesh in compliance with the teachings of their God masters so that they owe no “Debt to Death”.

This is a small step, but indeed the foremost one, on the path of spiritualism. Mirdad says that this life of flesh then becomes a ‘bridge to the fleshless life’.