Vegetarianism

I am Hindu. Therefore, I should be vegetarian.

That is the theory anyway. However, meat consumption is on the rise with 60% of Indians currently eating meat, the numbers having more than doubled in the past ten years despite 80% of the population reportedly being Hindu (link). My ancestral region of Punjab is actually known for eating meat due to the many invasions into Northern Bharat. Wars forced our region to fight and, as a result, increase meat intake for the suitable nutrients during that time. However, many centuries of pillaging and foreign presence in the region ravaged the meaning behind Vedic customs, such as vegetarianism. Today, only the empty husk of Hinduism remains in the form of rituals and chants that are taken at face value and, thus, lack the spiritual understanding essential to their purpose.

Arya Samaj Havan with the Khanna Family

After the Youth Empowerment Program under Chinmaya Mission, I finally began to grasp the meaning behind traditional Indian vegetarian diet and endless rituals around a fire. The confusion was stimulated by both our distorted history, shortened by more than 1200 years, and the secular and scientific attitudes towards religious beliefs (link). Even today, textbooks continue to distort the religion and history of Bharat.

Inspiration Yatra III with Acharya Vivekji

Youth Empowerment Program 2014 #bhangra

For instance, the misunderstood caste system (varna vyavastha) that approved non-vegetarianism in the warrior class (ksatriyas) was not sanctioned by the Vedas of Hinduism. Rather, this ancient system of social diversification was based on the individual karma but, through corruption and exploitation, became hereditary. Although it is now inhumane and undemocratic, the caste system was originally intended to keep peace in the kingdoms and divide work among citizens in the four equally-valued categories: Brahman, Ksatriya, Vaisya, Sudra (link).

However, as the caste system has become largely obsolete in Bharat, the ksatriya descendants no longer require meat to fight war. Yet, we continue our non-vegetarianism without justification. My older sister realized the animal cruelty involved in non-vegetarianism and rebooted her diet early in high school. Since the Youth Empowerment Program, I have begun to taken this concept seriously as a spiritual pillar of Hinduism. By education myself, I hope to build that willpower my role model found early within herself.

Fireworks with Siblings