Excerpted from Mahabharata, Anusasana
Parva – chapter 113.
Yudhishthira said, Abstention from injury, the observance of the Vedic ritual,
meditation, subjugation of the senses, penances, and obedient services rendered
to the preceptors, which amongst these is fraught with the greatest merit with
respect to a person' Vrihaspati said,
All these six are fraught with merit. They
are different doors of piety. I shall
discourse upon them presently. Do thou listen
to them, O chief of the Bharatas! I shall tell thee what constitutes the highest good
of a human being. That man who practises the Dharma of universal
compassion achieves his highest good.
That
man who keeps under control the three faults, viz, lust, wrath, and cupidity,
by throwing them upon all creatures and practises the virtue of compassion,
attains to success. He who, from
motives of his own happiness, slays other harmless creatures with the rod of
chastisement, never attains to happiness, in the next world.
That man who
regards all creatures as his own self, and behaves towards them as towards his
own self, laying aside the rod of chastisement and completely subjugating his
wrath, succeeds in attaining to happiness. The
very deities, who are desirous of a fixed abode, become stupefied in
ascertaining the track of that person who constitutes himself the soul of all
creatures and looks upon them all as his own self, for such a person leaves no
track behind. One should
never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one's own self. This, in brief, is
the rule of Righteousness. One by acting in a different way by yielding to
desire, becomes guilty of unrighteousness. In
refusals and gifts, in happiness and misery, in the agreeable, and the
disagreeable, one should judge of their effects by a reference to one's own
self. When One injures another, the
injured turns round and injures the injurer. Similarly,
when one cherishes another, that other cherishes the cherisher.
One
should frame one's rule of conduct according to this. I have told thee what Righteousness is
even by this subtile way' Vaisampayana continued,
The preceptor of the deities, possessed of great intelligence, having said this
unto king Yudhishthira the
just, ascended upwards for proceeding to Heaven, before our eyes.
**************
Excerpted from Mahabharata, Anusasana
Parva – chapter 114.
Bhishma tells
Yudhishtra:-
A person becomes guilty of
injury through acts, words and thoughts. Discarding
it mentally at the outset, one should next discard in word and thought. He who, according to this
rule, abstains from eating meat is said to be cleansed in a threefold way. It is heard that utterers of Brahma ascribe to three
causes the sin of eating meat. That sin may
attach to the mind, to words, and to acts. It
is for this reason that men of wisdom who are endued with penances refrain from
eating meat. Listen to me, O king, as I tell
thee what the faults are that attach to the eating of meat. The meat of other animals is like the flesh of one's son. That foolish person,
stupefied by folly, who eats meat is regarded as the vilest of human beings.
The union of father and
mother produces an offspring. After the same
manner, the cruelty that a
helpless and sinful wretch commits, produces its progeny of repeated rebirths
fraught with great misery. As the
tongue is the cause of the knowledge or sensation of taste, so the scriptures declare, attachment
proceeds from taste. Well-dressed,
cooked with salt or without salt, meat, in whatever form one may take it,
gradually attracts the mind and enslaves it. How
will those foolish men that subsist upon meat succeed in listening to the sweet
music of celestial drums and cymbals and lyres and harps?
They who eat meat applaud it highly, suffering
themselves to be stupefied by its taste which they pronounce to be something
inconceivable, undescribable, and unimaginable. Such praise even of meat is fraught with demerit. In
former days, many righteous men, by giving the flesh of their own bodies,
protected the flesh of other creatures and as a consequence of such acts
of merit, have proceeded to heaven. In this
way, O monarch the Religion of compassion is surrounded by four considerations. I have thus declared to thee that DHARMA which comprises all other Dharma within it.
*********************
Excerpted from Mahabharata, Anusasana
Parva – chapter 115.
Bhishma continued:-
“The merit acquired by that
person, O Yudhishthira,
who, with the steadiness of a vow, adores the deities every month in
horse-sacrifices, is equal to his who discards honey and meat. The seven celestial Rishis,
the Valakhilyas, and those Rishis
who drink the rays of the sun, endued with great wisdom, applaud abstention
from meat. The Self-born Manu has said that that man who does not eat meat,
or who does not slay living creatures, or who does not cause them to be slain,
is a friend of all creatures. Such a
man is incapable of being oppressed by any creature. He enjoys the confidence of all living beings. He always enjoys, besides, the approbation and
commendation of the righteous. The
righteous-souled Narada has
said that that man who
wishes to increase his own flesh by eating the flesh of other creatures, meets
with calamity. Vrihaspati has
said that that man who abstains from honey and meat acquires the merit of gifts
and sacrifices and penances. In my
estimation, these two persons are equal, viz, he who adores the deities every
month in a horse-sacrifice for a space of hundred years and he who abstains
from honey and meat.
In consequence of abstention from
meat one comes to be regarded as one who always adores
the deities in sacrifices, or as one who always makes gifts to others, or as
one who always undergoes the severest austerities. That man who having eaten meat gives it up
afterwards, acquires merit by such an act that is so great that a study of all
the Vedas or
a performance, O Bharata,
of all the sacrifices, cannot bestow its like. It is exceedingly difficult to give up meat after one has
become acquainted with its taste. Indeed,
it is exceedingly difficult for such a person to observe the high vow of
abstention from meat, a vow that assures every creature by dispelling all fear. That learned person who giveth to all living
creatures the Dakshina
of complete assurance
comes to be regarded, without doubt, as the giver of life-breaths in this world. Even this is the high religion which men of wisdom
applaud.
The
life-breaths of other creatures are as dear to them as those of one's to one's
own self. Men
endued with intelligence and cleansed souls should always behave towards other creatures
after the manner of that behaviour which they like others to observe towards
themselves. It is seen that even those
men who are possessed of learning and who seek to achieve the highest good in
the form of Emancipation,
are not free from the fear of death. What need there be said of those
innocent and healthy creatures endued with love of life, when they are sought
to be slain by sinful wretches subsisting by slaughter?
For
this reason, O monarch, know that the discarding of meat is the highest refuge of religion, of heaven,
and of happiness.
Abstention from
injury is the highest Dharma.
Flesh cannot be had
from grass or wood or stone.
The deities who subsist upon Swaha, Swadha, and nectar, are
devoted to truth and sincerity. Those
persons, however, who are for gratifying the sensation of taste, should be
known as Rakshasas
wedded to the attribute of Passion.
It is for the sake of the eater that the slaughter of
living creatures goes on in the world. Since, O thou of great splendour, the
period of life is shortened of persons who slaughter living creatures or cause
them to be slaughtered, it is clear that the person who wishes his own good
should give up meat entirely. Those fierce persons who are
engaged in slaughter of living creatures, never find protectors when they are in
need. Such persons should always be molested and persecuted
even as beasts of prey.
Through
cupidity or stupefaction of the understanding, for the sake of strength and
energy, or through association with the sinful, the disposition manifests
itself in men for sinning. That man who seeks
to increase his own flesh by eating the flesh of others, has to live in this
world in great anxiety and after death has to take birth in indifferent races
and families.
High Rishis devoted to
the observance of vows and self-restraint have said that abstention from meat
is worthy of every praise, productive of fame and Heaven, and a great
propitiation by itself. This I heard in days
of old, O son of Kunti,
from Markandeya when
that Rishi discoursed
on the demerits of eating flesh.
He who eats the flesh of animals that are desirous of living but that
have been killed by either himself or others, incurs the sin that attaches to
the slaughter for his this act of cruelty.
He who does not himself eat flesh but approves of an
act of slaughter becomes stained with the sin of slaughter.
********************************
Excerpted from Mahabharata, Anusasana
Parva – chapter 116
Yudhishthira said,
Alas, those cruel men,
who, discarding diverse kinds of food, covet only flesh, are really like great Rakshasas! Alas, they do not relish diverse kinds of cakes and
diverse sorts of potherbs and various species of Khanda with juicy
flavour so much as they do flesh! My
understanding, for this reason, becomes stupefied in this matter. I think, when such is the case, that, there is nothing which can
compare with flesh in the matter of taste, I desire, therefore, O puissant one,
to hear what the merits are of abstention from flesh, and the demerits that
attach to the eating of flesh, O chief of Bharata's race. Thou art conversant with every duty. Do thou discourse to me in full agreeably to the
ordinances on duty, on this subject. Do tell
me what, indeed, is edible and what inedible.
Tell me, O grandsire, what
is flesh, of what substances it is, the merits that attach to abstention from
it, and what the demerits are that attach to the eating of flesh' Bhishma said,
It is even so, O mighty-armed one, as thou sayest. There
is nothing on earth that is superior to flesh in point of taste. There
is nothing that is more beneficial then flesh to persons that are lean, or
weak, or afflicted with disease, or addicted to sexual congress or exhausted
with travel. Flesh speedily
increases strength. It produces great
development. There is no food, O scorcher of
foes, that is superior to flesh. But,
O delighter of the Kurus,
the merits are
great that attach to men that abstain from it. Listen to me as I discourse to thee
on it. That man who wished to increase
his own flesh by the flesh of another living creature is such that there is
none meaner and more cruel than he.
In this world there is
nothing that is dearer to a creature than his life. Hence instead of taking that valuable possession, one should
show compassion to the lives of others as one does to one's own life. Without doubt, O son, flesh has its origin in the
vital seed. There is great demerit attaching to its
eating, as, indeed, there is merit in abstaining from it. One does not, however, incur any fault by eating
flesh sanctified according to the ordinances of the Vedas. The audition is heard that animals were created for
sacrifice. They who eat flesh in any other
way are said to follow the Rakshasa practice. Listen to me as I tell thee what the ordinance is
that has been laid down for the Kshatriyas. They do not incur any fault by eating flesh that has
been acquired by expenditure of prowess. All
deer of the wilderness were dedicated to the deities and the Pitris in days of
old, O king, by Agastya.
Hence,
the hunting of deer is not censured. There can be no hunting without risk of one's own life. There is equality of risk between the slayer and the
slain. Either the animal is killed or it
kills the hunter. Hence, O Bharata,
even royal sages betake themselves to the practice of hunting. By such conduct they do not become stained with sin. Indeed, the practice is not regarded as sinful. There
is nothing, O delighter of the Kurus, that is equal in
point of merit, either here or hereafter, to the practice of compassion to all
living creatures. The man of
compassion has no fear. Those harmless men that
are endued with compassion have both this world and the next.
Persons conversant with duty say
that that DHARMA is worthy of
being called Dharma which has abstention
from cruelty for its indication. The
man of cleansed soul should do only such acts as have compassion for their
soul. That flesh which is dedicated in
sacrifices performed in honour of the deities and the Pitris is called Havi and, as such, is
worthy of being eaten. That man who is
devoted to compassion and who behaves with compassion towards others, has no
fear to entertain from any creature. It is
heard that all creatures abstain from causing any fear unto such a creature. Whether he is wounded or fallen down or prostrated or
weakened or bruised, in whatever state he may be, all creatures protect him. Indeed, they do so, under all circumstances, whether
he is on even or uneven ground. Neither
snakes nor wild animals, neither Pisachas norRakshasas, ever slay
him. When circumstances of fear arise, he
becomes freed from fear who frees others from situations of fear. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a gift
that is superior to the gift of life.
It
is certain that there is nothing dearer to oneself than one's life. Death,
O Bharata, is a
calamity or evil unto all creatures. When the
time comes for Death,
a trembling of the whole frame is seen in all creatures. Enduring birth in the uterus, decrepitude and
afflictions of diverse kinds, in this ocean of the world, living creatures may
be seen to be continually going forward and coming back. Every creature is afflicted by death. While dwelling in the uterus, all creatures are
cooked in the fluid juices that are alkaline and sour and bitter, of urine and
phlegm and faeces, juices that produce painful sensations and are difficult to
bear. There in the uterus, they have to dwell
in a state of helplessness and are even repeatedly torn and pierced. They that are covetous of meat are seen to be
repeatedly cooked in the uterus in such a state of helplessness. Attaining to diverse kinds of birth, they are cooked
in the hell called Kumbhipaka. They are assailed and slain, and in this way have to
travel repeatedly.
There
is nothing so dear to one as one's life when one comes to this world. Hence, a person of cleansed soul should be compassionate to all living creatures. That man, O king, who abstains from every kind of
meat from his birth, without doubt, acquires a large space in Heaven, They
who eat the flesh of animals who are desirous of life, are themselves eaten by
the animals they eat, without doubt. Even this is my opinion. Since he hath eaten me, I shall eat him in return,
even this, O Bharata,
constitutes the character as Mansa of Mansa The slayer is always slain. After him the eater meets with the same fate. He who acts with hostility towards another in
this life becomes the victim of similar acts done by that other. Whatever acts one does in whatever bodies, one has to
suffer the consequences thereof in those bodies.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest Dharma.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest self-control.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest gift.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest penance.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest sacrifice.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest puissance.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest friend. Abstention from
cruelty is the highest happiness.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest truth.
Abstention from
cruelty is the highest Sruti.
Gifts made in all
sacrifices, ablutions performed in all sacred waters, and the merit that one
acquires from making all kinds of gifts mentioned in the scriptures, all these
do not come up to abstention from cruelty in point of the merit that attaches
to it.
The
penances of a man that abstains from cruelty are inexhaustible. The man that abstains from cruelty is regarded as
always performing sacrifices. The man that abstains from cruelty is the father
and mother of all creatures. Even these,
O chief of Kuru's race,
are some of the merits of abstention from cruelty. Altogether, the merits that attach to it are so many
that they are incapable of being exhausted even if one were to speak for a
hundred years.
******************
Related
articles:-
(1) Bheeshma upholds killing
animals in yajnas and for Pitrs in the above passages. How it must be viewed is
discussed in this article and its comment section:- Animal
sacrifice – how Veda Dharma views it?
(2) There was a time
sage Vishwamitra ate dog’s meat. The intricacies in that episode are discussed
in this article:- What
is ‘Aryan’ morality? – as told by a Chandala to Vishwamitra.
