26.1 Avoiding Meat Eating

 26.1 Avoiding Meat Eating

Question:

Should meat-eating be avoided? 

Answer:

How can it be called compassion if one fattens himself with the flesh of another creature?                                                                                                    (Couplet - 251)

If everyone refrains from buying meat for eating, then there will be no one willing animals for selling their meat.                                                                 (Couplet - 256)

If one realizes that meat is only the ulcer of an animal, one will refrain from eating it.

                                                                                                (Couplet – 257)

It is better to refrain from killing and eating the meat than pouring ghee in thousand offerings.                                                                                                  (Couplet – 259)

 

தன்னூன் பெருக்கற்குத் தான்பிறிது ஊனுண்பான்

எங்ஙனம் ஆளும் அருள்?                                                  (குறள் – 251) 

தினற்பொருட்டால் கொள்ளாது உலகெனின் யாரும்

விலைப்பொருட்டால் ஊன்தருவார் இல்.                        (குறள் – 256) 

உண்ணாமை வேண்டும் புலாஅல் பிறிதுஒன்றன்

புண்ணது உணர்வார்ப் பெறின்.                                     (குறள் – 257) 

அவிசொரிந்து ஆயிரம் வேட்டலின் ஒன்றன்

உயிர்செகுத்து உண்ணாமை நன்று.                             (குறள் – 259) 

Explanation:

Meat is nothing but the flesh of an animal that has been killed for the purpose of eating. Killing any living being is not an act of compassion. Therefore, anyone interested in following a virtuous life should avoid eating meat. Some people, including some Buddhists, argue that if one buys meat from a butcher or a supermarket and eats it, one is not really killing, and therefore there is nothing wrong in eating meat. Valluvar counters this argument by saying that if no one buys meat, no one will be selling meat. One way or the other, the people who eat meat are responsible for killing animals. Therefore, meat-eating should be avoided.

 Except for Jainism, all other major religions do not condemn eating meat. Hinduism may claim that it is against killing any living being. But except for a small percentage of Hindus, most others are non-vegetarians. During the days of Valluvar and even before that, animal sacrifices during religious functions were not unusual, and the meat of the sacrificed animals was eaten by those who participated in those functions. Valluvar condemns the practice of animal sacrifices during religious ceremonies by saying that it is better not to kill a living being than to conduct a thousand sacrificial killings.