Community: Forum: Wisdom & Spirituality
Page 3: Wisdom Forum - Community
Share your wisdom related to veg*n spirituality, yoga, meditation, life, etc... or ask a deep question you seek answers to.
READ: HappyCow on spirituality & wisdom.
| Topic | Post Date | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Spiritual vegan friends Birmingham? Hello! I have no spiritual/mystical minded vegan friends at all and it would be great to link up on occasion. I live near Birmingham. Post Date: 07/01/16, Replies: 0 | ||
| Spirituality and Love SPIRITUALITY AND LOVE Spirit, soul, heart, zest for life, love of life Does spirituality have to do with scripture? dogma? commandments? Or more simply with empathy, humility and caring Is spirituality for the chosen? Or for the choosing Is it a thing? A state of being? Or a becoming Is spirituality constricting? limiting? reductive? Or expanding, inclusive, unfettering They speak of "universal spirituality" Words come easy actions not so much They speak of "universal love", while limiting love at every turn They speak of "unconditional love", while picking and choosing whom Can we really express unconditional love? Or must we. Post Date: 03/17/16, Replies: 6 | ||
| The Four Noble Truths Buddha’s central teaching is The Four Noble Truths and, according to the Buddha, it is the source and foundation for all Buddhist wisdom. The Four Noble Truths are very simple to state, but need much explanation and experience applied in real life situations to find their deep profundity. The Four Noble Truths are as follows: Suffering The Cause of Suffering The End of Suffering The Path Leading to the End of Suffering There is one big question that needs to be asked which is like a big elephant in the room, the one no one notices and everyone tries to ignore. How does this relate to the vegan lifestyle? In truth, only a vegan can teach these truths. Why? Imagine Jeffery Dahmer or Adolf Hitler teaching us how life is only suffering as they stand in front of their victims. The same is true for meat eaters and lactarians who try to teach this topic with bellies full of animal parts and animal secretions. The one writing this will have been a vegan for 17 years and vegetarian for 19 years next March. Let us start with the first precept, Suffering. All sentient beings are suffering. Children suffer as they grow, both physical growth pain as well as emotional and psychological pain of maturation. Every human that lives a long life will one day suffer sickness, old age, and death. We suffer by being separated from the ones we love and by being with the ones with whom we would prefer not to share time. We suffer from loss, uncertainty, stress, excess, anger, greed, ignorance, jealousy, fear, and many other sources. If we look at planet Earth as a singular location of this suffering and we see this entire mass of suffering from the beginning of life on Earth until now, what do you think might be the greatest source of suffering upon Earth? Some may say the Jewish Holocaust, some might say Joe Stalin or Mao Tse Tung were the greatest infliction of suffering, another might say poverty or alcohol. The truth is that the greatest source of suffering in the world today and which has always been the greatest source of suffering upon our planet is animal slaughter. Around 9 billion animals are killed in the U.S. alone each year, and about 70 billion worldwide each year. This means about 200 million animals are tortured and killed every day for food. These stats do not include hunting nor fishing, only factory farming. If we include hunting and fishing, private farming, animal experimentation, etc. the number could stand as high as 2 or 3 billion each day. THAT IS EACH DAY! All the war dead combined from every war ever fought does not exceed this amount of animal slaughter every day. Every Day! The Cause of Suffering Not practicing a vegan lifestyle is the central cause of suffering. It affects our planet’s gross aggregate of suffering as well as the greatest part of each individual’s suffering from Karma, health and consciousness. The End of Suffering Going vegan may not end all suffering, but it is the most important first step. If we all went vegan, not only would the atrocity of global animal slaughter and torture end, but we would stop burning down rain forests, stop wars in general, share resources better and have plenty of water to drink. If you want to end suffering, go vegan. Then we can talk about ending other aspects of suffering next. The Path that Leads to the End of Suffering We can only walk this path as vegans. How can one meditate correctly with angry animal spirits emanating from one’s intestines? How can one support correct view with animal blood dripping from one's mouth at dinner? The Path that Leads to the End of Suffering is a vegan path. Vegan corrected speech, thought, meditation, action, livelihood, zeal and mindfulness guide us and keep us on the correct vegan path. One must have a vegan mind and vegan consciousness to comprehend the Vegan Path that Leads to the End of Suffering. Post Date: 01/21/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| the good news blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled blessed are the mercyfull for they will be shown mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! Post Date: 01/18/16, Replies: 6 | ||
| The total concept of God God comes down to the world of human beings by entering a human body Krishna gave two statements in the Gita. The first statement is that He is unimaginable because nobody can know Him (Maam tu veda na kashchana …). The second statement is that He entered a human body (manushim tanumaashritam …). These statements together give the total concept of God. God is beyond spatial dimensions and hence, He is beyond imagination. In order to preach the spiritual knowledge, to give the correct direction to the humanity, He comes down to the world of human beings by entering a human body (a particular deserving devotee existing at that point of time, also called as ‘Son of God’). The human body means a human being. The inert material body associated with inert energy consisting of awareness with different feelings (jeeva) is the human body. Human body does not mean mere inert body containing inert matter and inert energy only. Such a body cannot be even a living body due to absence of life. If you say living body, it may mean the body of a bird or an animal also. Such living body cannot deliver the knowledge to the human beings. www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace Post Date: 03/17/16, Replies: 16 | ||
| To Preach Or Not To Preach, That Is The Q i am always amazed when vegan people desperately want to be with non veg people. I don't mean that you have to have a bad attitude towards non vegans, after all we, at least myself, was a regular non vegan meat eater also. But when i remind my meat eating days, i am always most grateful to other vegans who didn't it when i ate non vegan, at least they always made a sligght remark that eventually woke me up. Ask yourself, all the great people who changed the ethical course of history, were PREACHERS, people who were so morally outraged that they did rub it into ANYONES face, no fear of being called . Martin Luther King! Post Date: 01/13/16, Replies: 10 | ||
| True Feminism She was born inside a distant cage in a free speech zone at another political event. Crammed in with a rock band, protest signs, protesters, and megaphones, no one saw her nor how she arrived. There was a small crack in the ground that was intermittently covered by dancing and rushing souls and heels. When the convention was over, there she grew in germination. Later there would be sacred life, the smallest and most fragile blossoms of the tiniest sprig of chamomile, the herbal medicine that helps digest such political repression. She is an activist with an unending voice always standing for her rights. She does not need to change the world, she is the world. She does not need to rule the Earth, she is the Earth. In one instant she is a vegan feminist atheist who will let no patriarchal God come between her and the uncountable number of children she has birthed in the tide of their own Karmic dilemmas. In another instant, she is an orthodox theist because she creates the interdependent union of all things as she sits gloriously upon her throne of stars and space. She does not seek parity with men, for to do so would mean to give up too much of her power. In another instant, she is a simple little girl singing as she skips slowly, almost dancing through a blossoming field with a wooden stick in her hand and flowers in her hair. She has healed us with her herbs, she has fought us with her wars, she has fed and clothed us, given us music and dance, she gives us light and dark and then tells us that a man did it all. She occupies distant planets, she is a deer sipping gently at a waterfall basin, she opens our hearts with another of her beautiful sunsets and yet somehow, she is busy and unreachable. She is illusion and yet she somehow is trapped partially in her own game. She is here to learn manners, kindness and to let her gentleness topple the greatest of bastion walls. She must lose her vanity because not all her makeup is vegan and some is still animal tested. She is the mountain we must climb, and when we have accomplished this task, she laughs and shows us a thousand more mountains that we must continue towards to help figure out her complexity. Despite all this, she wants more money. She feels she has earned it. She feels ignored. She wants to power share. Has she truly felt unworthiness yet in her cheap discount department store attire? She wants to rise to political power and when she finally gets it, she only finds her children and husband ignored. There is no one to make our peanut butter sandwiches, she has appointments. When she is with her lady friends, they all talk at once in high shrills at a fast pace that no man can decipher. When she is with men it is for gain. When she is with family she is a tyrant. When she is alone, she lets life continue without her even though it is her and she thinks constantly of us all. She needs discipline but she has mocked the Buddha, a role for men only, so her quest is never fulfilled. She thinks she knows everything so her family conspires behind her back. She will not rest until she is completely in charge and this is what everyone is afraid of, except the most faithful of her devotees. It makes her untrustworthy, this power grab she created, we just want her to be more peaceful and loving and polite as she erupts into another volcano. Post Date: 01/16/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| UK new veggies Hi, I'm looking to find a group of people of like-minded people who are interested in new and old age spirituality and who also happen to be vegetarian. We are not in your face about being veggie, we're just tired of being the only ones who think misusing power over animals is wrong, and far from spiritual enlightenment. This is a group for people interested in the new age, shamanism, 2012, reiki, paganism, angels etc. etc. who want to live thier beliefs and who also know that animals are our equals (and often our betters). Any one else think like this? To join email: [email protected] Post Date: 10/21/12, Replies: 1 | ||
| Vegan Deva The word Deva has many arguable etymologies, definitions, and synonyms. I prefer the correlative nomenclature to the Hindu festival of Devali. Devali is the festival of lights and thus one may safely infer that Deva means light being. This differs from most English translations of Deva as ‘god’ and, somehow, I feel it is more true to what Hinduism proposes. If Deva does mean light being, how does that light shine? As Earth bound beings of 3D carbon chain, we are tied to the universal clock of aging. Time is understood differently in Hindu cosmology than in the West. We are currently in the Age of Kali, Krishna was in the Age of Dwapara and Rama was from the Treta Yuga. Each Age or Yuga has its own cosmology, universal laws, cultures, values, blessings, and problems. How the Deva arrive on Earth, what their purpose is, how they act, where they dwell and what they teach is subtly different in each Age. It is as though the Divine Light shines differently through each Age. The Divine Light may be constant, but the refractive nature of each Yuga changes its intensity and coloration as such, and so the different Avatars, Devas and Devis appear to manifest in accordance with the changing wheel of time. Although Krishna was well known as an avid ghee fan with many childhood stories of stealing ghee for his endless desire, and adoring milk and all milk products, this was an attribute of Dwapara Yuga. Indeed, Krishna was alive in Dwapara Yuga at the cusp of Kali Yuga’s dawning. In the Gita Krishna explicitly states in the 9th canto that one should worship him with offerings of flowers, water, fruit, or a leaf. Noticeably missing in his list of acceptable Puja tools are milk and ghee. This is because vegan offerings are the only true offerings, the best offerings, and the truest offerings. Krishna also knew that in the Kali Age people would be dedicated to materiality and would develop organic, vegan vitamin supplements of Vitamins D3 and B, allowing for vegan diets. Krishna knew his instructions would have to penetrate from Dwapara Yuga to Kali Yuga and so his instructions would have to reflect the next Age’s capacity for Puja experience. He knew the light of Maha Vishnu would shine differently in Kali Yuga and he needed to prepare the way for the people in the future by acknowledging a vegan method of connecting to him. If Krishna or Rama or Shiva were alive today, they would certainly support a vegan diet. It is the only cow friendly diet in Kali Yuga. The vegan way is the correct way of living, worshiping and eating. Vegan is how the light of the Divine shines through to all of creation from the ultra-dimensional source of life. To chant Vegan Krishna, Vegan Rama, Vegan Shiva, Vegan Lakshmi, Vegan Vishnu, Vegan Ganesh etc. is to accept Krishna’s edict in Canto 9 of the Gita. To chant this way is to accept the Divine Light of Deva in Kali Yuga. To chant this way and live this way is to reach to the highest truth in this dark Age of Kali and to find our way to the true Trimurti, the Vegan Trimurti, of Vegan Vishnu, Vegan Brahma, and Vegan Shiva. Post Date: 01/22/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| Vegan Enlightenment Vegan Enlightenment is the central theme of vegan spirituality and vegan religion and it is also the fulfillment and crowning obtainment of all spirituality and religion. It is not simply the enlightenment of the vegan revolution concerning ecology, population control and animal compassion but extends into a shift of consciousness that happens through eating only vegan food. Vegan Enlightenment effects what and how a person consumes not limited to food; it effects inter-human relationships, it effects one's aesthetics, it effects philosophy and virtually every other aspect of one’s humanity. Vegan Enlightenment is the only method for overcoming ignorance, anger, and greed. Vegan Enlightenment overcomes all social, political, religious, and economic failures of the past. Vegan Enlightenment is our future unless we choose annihilation. Vegan Enlightenment is the choice for evolving life towards the corrected direction that will ascend humanity to its full potential thus fulfilling its ultimate purpose. Vegan Enlightenment exists within everyone’s heart and is naturally activated when one goes vegan. Post Date: 02/14/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| Vegan Flower Power Strong, beautiful, fragile, proportionate, symmetrical, sweet, fragrant, attractive, healing, liberating, intoxicating, and moving are only a few of the ways flowers affect us all. In ancient Woolly Tooth Mammoth days, cave dwellers buried their dead in the embryo position facing East in a grave filled with wild flowers. Flowers are given to loved ones to enhance the heart, they summon the bees and are given to the seriously ill. In the 1960’s with the Hippy movement, the most popular poster in every flat was of a woman putting a flower in the barrel of a national guard’s rifle barrel with the caption “Flower Power” written underneath. This juxtaposition of a gentle flower somehow replacing military arms is not new, for over three thousand years Kammadeva, a Hindu god who also bears the name Mara, shoots arrows that upon release become flowers as experienced by the Buddha. Buddhist culture then brings the notion to the forefront in the most beautiful literature ever written called the Avatamsaka Sutra, translated by Thomas Cleary as “The Flower Ornament Scripture,” but by other translators as the “Flower Adornment Sutra.” The sacred lotus is a multi-volume flower story of its own. The ancient Egyptians revered this plant as well as its cousin the blue lotus which is actually a blue water lily. Hindu, Buddhist, and Jains have made the lotus their religious symbol for millennium. The lotus is used in food production and medicine with virtually every part used and thus collected in differing seasons for potency. The rose is sacred to Christians, Hindus and others, the cannabis flower is sacred to Californians and Coloradans, and the aster flower which is the proper name for daisy is named after the same Latin word for star. One receives a flower ley when arriving to Hawaii or any South Pacific Island. In India, the Guru wears a flower garland called a Var Mala and these same types of garlands are then exchanged by the bride and groom in the Hindu wedding ceremony. Sacred statues all over the world are strewn with flower petals as is the pathway of brides and royalty. Flowers are also in some cases edible and in other cases tea worthy. Flowers feed us, heal us, perfume us, anoint us, moisturize us, adorn us and surround us if we are blessed. Flowers are non-denominational, non-discriminating and utterly vegan. Which flower do you think should symbolize the Vegan Movement? Post Date: 02/08/17, Replies: 1 | ||
| Vegan Goddess A wise woman once told me the folowing after hearing atheist men speak on the radio: "Silly boys, it is easy to explain away God, but I would really like to see them just try to explain away the Goddess." She was right. Almost every living being is born from a womb. She has given us all bodies, fed us, clothed us, cared for us and given us life. The great Goddess has billions of names spanning every culture. She is known as Aphrodite, Mother Mary, Medusa, Tara, Quan Yin, Parvati, White Buffalo Woman and so many other names. The Navajo refer to her as Changing Woman. She is the Earth, the Moon, the ocean and the fertile valley. Stone age people would encamp only in front of natural occurring stone or tree Yonis. She is the great protectoress, and she is Lalita the little beautiful girl singing in the fields La Li La La La. If anyone could appreciate the vegan movement, sparing the animals and bringing good health back to the humans, it is the great Goddess. However there has never really been a Vegan Goddess. America has Colombia, an ancient Babylonian goddess on its money, state seals and dressed as lady liberty in New York Harbor. However America is only 3% vegetarian. America also over consumes and has international and national problems that leave one wondering if the Goddess is respected here at all. India with all of its overpopulation hosts a huge vegetarian base of 40-60% of its population. This is where she must dwell. The Buddhist goddess Quan Yin is also vegetarian but she only holds sway in Taiwan. In the Hindu pantheon of goddesses, and yes there are many, almost every god is accompanied by a goddess consort. The queen of the goddesses, the one who is the most peaceful and who is the great mother of all the other goddesses is Lakshmi. Lakshmi is also the protectoress of Buddhist monasteries. She is the goddess of form and emptiness. She is the goddess of wealth. She brings moisture to the earth and fertility to the crops. Her consort is Vishnu and since he is often busy, she is always available to all. However, India is a lactarian culture. Therefore I vote for the widespread support of: "Vegan Lakshmi" whose name can also be spelled as "Vegan Laxmi." What do you think? Should Vegan Lakshmi be the green goddess of the vegan movement, representing the great mother who feeds her children correctly? Through Vegan Lakshmi realization all things are living, even the empty void is living, always serving her cosmic dance of recreation. She is the goddess of wealth which will change our economy to serve vegan interests. She brings rain on our crops and fertilizes the field with the help of her cows. She is beautiful and seen in every other goddess for she is their source. Ladies, this is your forum...speak up please. Post Date: 01/13/16, Replies: 0 | ||
| Vegan Kali Yuga According to Hindu and Buddhist understanding of time, we are in the Age of Kali Yuga. The Ages operate in a circle. It all begins with God, then it devolves into the presence of God, then devotion to God, then the Absence of God before rounding the corner and slowly returning to God through the same progression of Ages in reverse order. Kali Yuga, the Age we are in, is the furthest from God. In this fallen state of consciousness of Kali Yuga, it is as if everyone is sleeping. We need to awaken to the presence of God, to enlightenment, to liberate ourselves and others, to accept the responsibility of our Karma and to purify ourselves. In Kali Yuga, it is as if God is sleeping and cannot reach us because he is busy dreaming. During this Age, materialism abounds and spiritualism declines. Atheism and scientific logic replacing faith and correct conduct are signs of this Yuga as everyone seeks money and not spiritual advancement. Cows and animals are treated badly during this age through factory farming and people turn the tortured and murdered remains of the sacred cow into fun food replete with clowns, toys, bright color logos and theme songs for monetary gain. Religion in Kali Yuga also goes into decline as do political structures, economics, nationalism, reasons for war, education, and food quality. What increases is technology for war, prisons, terrorism, corruption, and pollution. Religions in Kali Yuga typically kill God, eat God, demand God kills for human, finds God among prostitutes, imprisons God and enslaves for God. This does not mean that religion cannot somehow set things right in the hearts of men, it just means there are strange twists along the path. Politics no longer is an arena where noble people lead the population to greater awareness and spiritual greatness in Kali Yuga. Instead, the political leaders are murdering megalomaniacs and narcissists that only seek personal profit and gain from their position of power and do not care about the suffering of the people. Elections are stolen, demagogues rise, bad examples for the youth are set and brainwashing begins. In Kali Yuga people are ‘disappeared’ and mass graves are kept a secret until later. In terms of food, all plant life is genetically altered so that it no longer is pure, rather it has animal genomes artificially injected into it. This ruins any chance of a purely vegan existence. People eat junk food made from chemicals for its main ingredients. People regularly die from the food they eat through heart disease, diabetes and even malnutrition. Food is no longer Prasadam, an offering to God, and instead of being prepared by loving hands, it is produced by machines and resentful people who curse it rather than bless it. Our only hope is to practice vegan lifestyles infused with vegan spiritual and vegan religious practices. Even though this is an uphill toil filled with failures in Kali Yuga, we must persist. Through vegan religious practices and a vegan lifestyle one may purify enough to at least see the problem clearly and perhaps help to resolve this Cosmic dilemma. It may seem strange to others singing Sai Baba songs on a fruitarian diet or chanting Om Vegan Buddha after a tofu rice bowl or meditating in a Hatha Yoga position before drinking juice and fasting from solid foods, or preferring to eat only bread and water to reach the vegetarian truth about Jesus, but this is how we must struggle as a people to find our truth and our virtue in this Age of Kali Yuga. If enough of us become vegan, we can turn the materialism and scientific rationalism in our favor and transform Kali Yuga into Vegan Kali Yuga. We can do this because the A.M.A. does find the vegan diet as the best diet for health, and because all the religions agree the vegan diet is good for spiritual development and cultivating compassion, and because it is the best way to stop the food and water crisis we face. Through renunciation we can develop a world economy of only plant and mineral products. We can build shelters, practice medicine, build transportation, clothe, and feed the world this way through vegan means and return to a ‘sane and reverent planet’ a phrase coined by Caroline Casey, a famous astrologer of Kali Yuga. Post Date: 01/31/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| Vegan Kevala Jnana In the Jain way of being and transcendence there is a deep understanding concerning the nature of the Atman, a term that roughly translates as soul. If a person commits wrongful acts, these acts become magnetic to Karma both spiritually and physically with negative Karmic photon like particles aggregating at the Atman. This ultimately darkens the consciousness of the wrong doer, limiting the free range of the wrong doer’s mind, haunting their heart, and reflects as conflict with one’s community. When one does good acts that are beneficent for one’s self, one’s family, one’s society and the world then greater light from good Karma transmits positive photonic particles to swarm around the Atman. This greater light from good thoughts and deeds then grants greater vision, greater wisdom, and more love from the community. When one becomes dedicated to goodness, little by little, usually over many incarnations, one may rid one’s self of the obscuring Karma of negative photonic particles surrounding the Atman and begin the process of entering a light filled, purely good expression of Atman called Kevala Jnana. This is a state of all knowing wisdom and is a necessary condition of manifesting prior to liberation from the cycle of life and rebirth. Buddha is thought to have reached this state by Buddhists, and the Jain practitioners look to Mahavira as the prime example of this level of awareness. Kevala Jnana is supreme knowledge, absolute knowledge and reveals all truth emanating from all time and space and beyond. Through Kevala Jnana, one must certainly know the truth concerning vegan awareness and the importance of a dedicated vegan lifestyle. Certainly, the vegan diet and a resulting vegan lifestyle is the way of being which is closest to goodness on Earth. How could one display Kevala Jnana as a meat eater or even a lactarian vegetarian? More important than how much we eat, how we eat or when we eat is what we eat. All Kevala Jnana must be Vegan Kevala Jnana. This means that both the Buddha and Mahavira were vegans prior to their Moksha or liberation from this temporal existence. Post Date: 01/25/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| Vegan Love Love is how we transmit our highest consciousness. Through love we can change the world. Love is the best way to reach people's hearts and minds. These truisms seem to effect everyone differently but they do effect everyone. Perhaps love is the key to opening other people's minds to a vegan lifestyle. When a couple truly experiences love in their relationship, their love has no bounds. Can that love be the key to discovering a 'universal love' which extends to animals and all life? Is there a 'spiritual love' that reaches beyond the ego and guides us to a vegan lifestyle? Should we be loving when we explain the vegan way of being to others and use calming voices with positive words of encouragement? Does vegan and love have anything in common? Did you or anyone you know become vegan through love? Post Date: 03/28/16, Replies: 1 | ||
| Vegan Moksha Everyone wants to be liberated. How deeply liberated does everyone want to go? For the Hindu community, the idea of liberation or Moksha goes further than any other culturally defined liberation. It reaches further and deeper than liberation Theology of the Catholic faith, it also reaches far beyond a Cuba Libre served in Havana. These two Latino concepts of liberation are important here. It implies that there are many levels of liberation. In Hinduism, the ideal liberation is viewed as freedom from family, work, society, religion, life, death, rebirth, Karma, heaven, hell, all attachments, all patterns of thought and action, and far, far beyond. The Buddhists idealize the exact same Moksha process and call it Nirvana. Jain Dharma also seeks Moksha and just like the Hindu Moksha it means literally giving back your soul or Atman to the Creator in complete purity and being free from every encumbrance. One releases to Shunyata or emptiness, in accordance with the Buddha Dharma, and emerges as Devayata or in the position of Godliness without being bound by the heavenly restraints of Devarupa or god-hood in the god realm. So, if practitioners of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal truth of universal liberation, buried in the schools of modern Hinduism, Jain Dharma, and Buddha Dharma practice rigorously for this level of complete and total liberation, why are they afraid of tying their shoes? If you are trying to fly, why are your shoes still untied? What I mean by this, is that with such grand designs of Moksha or liberation, why would the most basic and simple thing be overlooked? To be liberated from Karma and all worldly attachments means accepting the deepest truth. How can one approach Moksha or Nirvana without being vegan? We must shed our Earthly attachment to all animal products before we even begin this path of Enlightenment to the final liberation of Moksha or Nirvana. The gift of life is the opportunity to enter the path of liberation by first going vegan and then finding a teacher or a method to access the Sanatana Dharma in one of the many schools of modern vegan Hinduism, vegan Jain Dharma or vegan Buddha Dharma. To approach true Enlightenment, Moksha, or Nirvana as a meat eater or a milk drinker is just self-deception and delusion. Overcoming the obstacle of ignorance means not to ignore the fundamental truth of suffering, especially the suffering of animals in food production. To live without ignorance also means to embrace the healthiest diet which is the vegan diet, the most ecological diet which is the vegan diet, and the most compassionate diet which is the vegan diet. Post Date: 02/22/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| Vegan Religion World religions are so diverse that there must be some method to delineate their myriad of practices. There is one method I have found that assists in finding which religions offer truly positivistic spiritual cultivation and which ones are barbaric. Although there is no vegan world religion established as a corporate entity yet, there are individuals as myself who do adhere to the correctly intended practice of religions that are positivistic by finding vegan pathways of practice. There are three Abrahamic traditions, for example. Genesis 1:29 is the only edict directly promulgated by God to all of creation found in both the Torah and the Bible. In this scriptural tract, God claims that only a vegan diet is acceptable for all humans and only an herbivorous diet is acceptable for animals. This means that one must be a practicing vegan to be in the full presence of God. This edict was made before the fall of man, and so it is done in the purity of God’s true presence. All the words of Prophets, Kings, Judges, Messiahs, Disciples, and others do not compare to this one commandment that emanates directly from God. By contrast, this passage does not exist in the Talmud. Temples that call themselves Jewish but do not honor the Torah and have replaced the Torah with the Talmud do not honor this singular commandment. Also from what I have read, it seems Islam, as thought by some Shiite practitioners, apparently was to originally have been passed on to Ali ibn Abi Talib who was a vegetarian because of the original vegetarian intent of this religion. However, not unlike Talmudic Judaism, Islam was hijacked by jealous individuals who destroyed all vegetarian passages, changed the intended lineage, and changing the Majid Koran, the unchangeable Koran to exclude any references to vegetarian practices. I was born in a different culture over one thousand years after these religions splintered. I do not know what really happened and can only report what I have learned from diverse sources. I do not seek to slander Sunni Islam nor Judaism and I cannot speak to the truth of these remarks I have found through research, but they were written by Jews and Shiite practitioners of Islam. I am sure there are people who can argue both sides. The fact remains that many Jews want to return to animal sacrificing with the building of their third Temple, and at the Haj sacrifices over 1,000,000 animals every year, some of which have been displayed on YouTube. These are obviously not vegan practices. Christianity in all its diverse forms does not seem to comply with this one commandment ushered directly by the Creator except by some of the Seventh Day Adventists. It amazes me that only one Church of the hundreds of splinter Christian groups and organizations is willing to acknowledge God’s direct commandment as an institution. In my opinion, a vegan Torah honoring Jew and a vegan Seventh Day Adventist are practicing religions that I do not practice, but by being vegan I view them as civilized. Likewise, Jain, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist and Confuscianist practices have honored vegetarianism for centuries and in some cases more than a millennium. These religions also honor vegan practices and are slowly making progress towards turning their cultures vegan. They agree that veganism is correct, they often have scriptures, recipes, or other cultural support that indicates the vegan path to be acceptable and when they accept the true nature of their Scriptures they will go vegan. Because of this trend these are civilized religions. Killing animals is not a God experience. Eating animal or human flesh is not sacred, it is fallen. Religions that accept the vegan imperative also seem to accommodate diversity and equality better and are more humanistic in general. Vegan religion is the only civilized way to practice. Post Date: 01/27/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| Vegan Tao Lao Tzu wrote a brilliant piece of what may be one of our planet’s finest literary works. It has been translated into many languages but it is best understood in Chinese languages. Chinese characters are amalgamated pictographs that are composed of many smaller sub characters. With Lao Tzu’s “Tao Te Ching” the wording is such that the sub-characters of Chinese make as much sense as the larger full linguistic characters and this creates an apparent three-dimensional matrix holograph of concepts that are all true to the message he wrote. It is a brilliant piece of literature with a brilliant message but the way that the sub characters and full characters both speak through this literary work makes it almost miraculously magical. The word Tao has been misunderstood for centuries. It has been translated at water flowing, method, means, path, way, and course. None of these translations speak to its omnipresent, omnipotent, beguiling presence. The Chinese Bible incorrectly uses the word Tao in the book of Genesis to explain how Tao created all of life. Tao does not create. Tao is revealed and its nature is sublime but it does not create, rather it explains and mitigates. Even these words do no justice for it is as complex of a concept as emptiness or dharma. It is ever present as all phenomenon and yet it is inscrutable, subtle, and pervasive. Vegan realism is likewise a Tao that is also beatific and concerning. The normal diet that is healthy for all people, good for water resourcing, good for the environment, and necessary to provide enlightening consciousness is the vegan diet. So why do people resist going vegan? The Tao is frustratingly simple and yet it is impervious. Opposite views are entangling time while the environment is getting spent, water is running out and still people sustain minds of poisonous carnivores. Instead of agricultural values of patience learned from raising crops, prayerfulness hoping for rain, meditation in connecting with plant growth, reincarnation concepts like the death and rebirth of plants from winter to spring, cooperation gained from harvesting and planting with your neighbor’s help and continuous cultivation of morality, humans hunt for themselves and kill the rest. We have descended into an animal consciousness of the predator by eating meat and yet vegetables and plants are everywhere growing and watching us. Lao Tzu wrote, “That which describes the Tao is not the Tao.” So, let us all be vegan and remove all obstructions to the natural flow and order of life. The sun rises and sets, the rain comes followed by sunlight, the four seasons pass and the circle of life continues in a precision of procession that knows proportion, order, and nurturance. We do not want the beautiful Dharma of life, Tao, to be imbalanced because we ate the wrong things and destroyed the delicate balance that grows life on Earth. Post Date: 01/30/17, Replies: 0 | ||
| Veganism and Botox? In my opinion are just two words that don't go well together! I'm a very spiritual gal, i'm into Thorwald Dethlefsen and Rüdiger Dahlke teachings about illness/health (understanding illness before it can be cured), phases of life (as in different time for different things, a time to be 'young' a time to be 'old'). On my spiritual journey I also encountered the teaching of Doreen Virtue. Her works revolve around the angels. She is also vegan since 1996. In recent months she has been talking a lot more about issues such as the integrity, environment, saving animals, signing petition, importance to go and vote, yes to 37, etc. all thing that I completely agree with. On the other hand, I can't help but notice that she is doing somethings against what is preaching, one of them being her need to use plastic surgery and Botox on herself. I really don't understand how can someone be preaching veganism and then go and use Botox who is tested on animals! It really does not make sense. I know that in the US surgery and Botox are such a big thing, especially for celebrities, but I also feel that if you are preaching integrity you should be integral and walk your talk. One main reason being that you are setting the example. Another that if you a spiritual teacher you should learn to love yourself as you are, without the need to change one thing. The other thing is that the use of plastic surgery and Botox in which i do not believe in, is making me question other areas of her life in which she might not be integral and true. I'm not attempting to judge her, (I deeply love and respect her work from my heart) but I'm merely trying to understand it. What do you think? Post Date: 01/22/17, Replies: 6 | ||
| Vegetarian friendly churches Where are the vegetarian pastors and are there any church besides 7th Day adventists that preach killing of animals is wrong. Post Date: 06/01/15, Replies: 8 | ||
| Vegetarian since i'm a yoga teacher I am vegetarian only since 6 months, since I did my Yoga Teacher Training course last summer. People already looked strange at me for using all of my vacation days on a yoga teacher training course. When I came back and told people I don't eat meat anymore, they looked at me like I have been brainwashed. People seem to have difficulties with spirituality, respect for nature, awareness, etc. I try not to let it bother me, but still, getting comments all the time is not nice.. Does anyone else have this problem? Post Date: 08/25/15, Replies: 3 | ||
| Vegetarianism according to Bhagavad Gita Bg 9.26 patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ Word for word: patram — a leaf; puṣpam — a flower; phalam — a fruit; toyam — water; yaḥ — whoever; me — unto Me; bhaktyā — with devotion; prayacchati — offers; tat — that; aham — I; bhakti-upahṛtam — offered in devotion; aśnāmi — accept; prayata-ātmanaḥ — from one in pure consciousness. Translation: If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it. Purport: For the intelligent person, it is essential to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, in order to achieve a permanent, blissful abode for eternal happiness. The process of achieving such a marvelous result is very easy and can be attempted even by the poorest of the poor, without any kind of qualification. The only qualification required in this connection is to be a pure devotee of the Lord. It does not matter what one is or where one is situated. The process is so easy that even a leaf or a little water or fruit can be offered to the Supreme Lord in genuine love and the Lord will be pleased to accept it. No one, therefore, can be barred from Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because it is so easy and universal. Who is such a fool that he does not want to be Kṛṣṇa conscious by this simple method and thus attain the highest perfectional life of eternity, bliss and knowledge? Kṛṣṇa wants only loving service and nothing more. Kṛṣṇa accepts even a little flower from His pure devotee. He does not want any kind of offering from a nondevotee. He is not in need of anything from anyone, because He is self-sufficient, and yet He accepts the offering of His devotee in an exchange of love and affection. To develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest perfection of life. Bhakti is mentioned twice in this verse in order to declare more emphatically that bhakti, or devotional service, is the only means to approach Kṛṣṇa. No other condition, such as becoming a brāhmaṇa, a learned scholar, a very rich man or a great philosopher, can induce Kṛṣṇa to accept some offering. Without the basic principle of bhakti, nothing can induce the Lord to agree to accept anything from anyone. Bhakti is never causal. The process is eternal. It is direct action in service to the absolute whole. Here Lord Kṛṣṇa, having established that He is the only enjoyer, the primeval Lord and the real object of all sacrificial offerings, reveals what types of sacrifices He desires to be offered. If one wishes to engage in devotional service to the Supreme in order to be purified and to reach the goal of life – the transcendental loving service of God – then one should find out what the Lord desires of him. One who loves Kṛṣṇa will give Him whatever He wants, and he avoids offering anything which is undesirable or unasked. Thus meat, fish and eggs should not be offered to Kṛṣṇa. If He desired such things as offerings, He would have said so. Instead He clearly requests that a leaf, fruit, flowers and water be given to Him, and He says of this offering, “I will accept it.” Therefore, we should understand that He will not accept meat, fish and eggs. Vegetables, grains, fruits, milk and water are the proper foods for human beings and are prescribed by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Whatever else we eat cannot be offered to Him, since He will not accept it. Thus we cannot be acting on the level of loving devotion if we offer such foods. In the Third Chapter, verse 13, Śrī Kṛṣṇa explains that only the remains of sacrifice are purified and fit for consumption by those who are seeking advancement in life and release from the clutches of the material entanglement. Those who do not make an offering of their food, He says in the same verse, are eating only sin. In other words, their every mouthful is simply deepening their involvement in the complexities of material nature. But preparing nice, simple vegetable dishes, offering them before the picture or Deity of Lord Kṛṣṇa and bowing down and praying for Him to accept such a humble offering enable one to advance steadily in life, to purify the body, and to create fine brain tissues which will lead to clear thinking. Above all, the offering should be made with an attitude of love. Kṛṣṇa has no need of food, since He already possesses everything that be, yet He will accept the offering of one who desires to please Him in that way. The important element, in preparation, in serving and in offering, is to act with love for Kṛṣṇa. The impersonalist philosophers, who wish to maintain that the Absolute Truth is without senses, cannot comprehend this verse of Bhagavad-gītā. To them, it is either a metaphor or proof of the mundane character of Kṛṣṇa, the speaker of the Bhagavad-gītā. But, in actuality, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Godhead, has senses, and it is stated that His senses are interchangeable; in other words, one sense can perform the function of any other. This is what it means to say that Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Lacking senses, He could hardly be considered full in all opulences. In the Seventh Chapter, Kṛṣṇa has explained that He impregnates the living entities into material nature. This is done by His looking upon material nature. And so in this instance, Kṛṣṇa’s hearing the devotee’s words of love in offering foodstuffs is wholly identical with His eating and actually tasting. This point should be emphasized: because of His absolute position, His hearing is wholly identical with His eating and tasting. Only the devotee, who accepts Kṛṣṇa as He describes Himself, without interpretation, can understand that the Supreme Absolute Truth can eat food and enjoy it. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama/ Rama Rama Hare Hare Chant and be happy Post Date: 01/09/16, Replies: 7 | ||
| Vegetarians - Why our Morals Matter A new video on You Tube called "Morals Matter" will tell you another reason why it is morally and spiritually important to be a Vegetarian. Please watch it. Post Date: 12/23/16, Replies: 0 | ||
| Veggies to the rescue!!!i need help Hi everyone, Ive been a member for quite some time, but dont really branch out as much. but lately i have found myself needeing some extra guidence that i know i can only find through fellow happy cow followers. My delema- is I am 25 years old stay at home with a husband,an 8yr old,15 month old,and 5month old baby! i feel i have lost my self both inner and outword of corse.i also have been brough to reality with medical news that has shaken our lil family pretty hard and i need to get health and fit like before. my husband although not veggie is very active and in great shape he gets a great workout at work,and i would love to workout with him out side of work but i have to do stuff that dont include having to find a baby sitter or paying big bucks for a gym. m pretty overwhelmed as it is,but reachin out to see if you guys know of a great veggie diet plan and some work out tips , i greatly appreciate you all and your time! ~E.mama Post Date: 03/15/13, Replies: 4 | ||
| What do you think about life? Share your views about life,its content ,glad,and sad moments. What does life mean in your opinion? Post Date: 06/18/08, Replies: 4 | ||
| Who is The Real Maitreya? Is it you or me? The problem is solved for me, this is my conclusion: therealmaitreya.wordpress.com/about/ ...but what do you all feel here at the Happy Cow forum? Post Date: 01/10/16, Replies: 8 | ||
| Why do people attack my sensitivity? I have always felt compassion for animals and people, but when I talk about how sad I felt when a deer was killed or what good veggie dishes there are to eat, many times people will either tease me, mock me or brag about how much meat they like. Why? This even happens with family, really 'nice' people as well as others. I do not tell anyone they need to do as I do; I hope they will, but I never lecture. Post Date: 01/19/14, Replies: 12 |
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