Dear Khalsa Jee (care4sikhi)
In your posting, there are three aspects on which I write here.
i) The copy of Siri Guru Granth Sahib, which remains locked in a cupboard.
Khalsa Jee, we respect the knowledge that is contained in Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Knowledge, as you know, is intangible; the book, which contains it, is tangible. As we are in body form we physically express our reverence to that knowledge by showing our respect to Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
As you know every night Siri Guru Granth Sahib is kept in a secure place. This secure place in a home is mostly a cupboard. It is unfortunate that in your Grandmum’s house no body is reading and so not benefiting from the knowledge contained in Siri Guru Granth Sahib. However keeping it in cupboard by no way means any disrespect to Siri Guru Granth Sahib; even if you give it to Gurdwara, it is going to be kept there also in a secure place only. Do not be perturbed on this ground.
ii) Meat
You have mentioned about meat. If we look back, after birth the first nourishment, which each one of us had was non-vegetarian – the mother’s milk. In this way there is no one in the world who can call itself pure vegetarian. People drink milk, consume honey and eat curd and call themselves vegetarian. In curd (made from milk which comes from animal) there are live bacteria that are multiplying every moment, how can curd be called vegetarian; the individuals are eating bacteria (in a way animals) who are alive. No way they are vegetarian.
Unlike plants, nature has not given we humans the systems that will make food within our own body. For our nourishment we terminate life of either some plant or some animal; we depend on others, in this way we are parasites. Whenever we eat, we destroy something in nature.
Now take the food that we humans get from plant kingdom or animal kingdom. A grain seed or an egg, both have suspended life in them, given the proper environment life will spring out of them. If one eats rice, the life of a plant is terminated; if one eats egg life of a bird is terminated; the end result is same – some potential life is terminated. In other words, I am saying that plant seeds and eggs are same both have potential life, which has not yet manifested in its natural form. In my view, eating seeds or egg is one and the same as far as life is concerned. By eating one form and not the other one does not become sinner or divine. In this paragraph I have talked about the products, consumed by we humans, which have potential to bring a life into this world, life has not yet sprung out.
Now I discuss the issue of meat. It is a product coming from a living entity i.e. life is there before the animal was killed. In a way it is cruel. But imagine, can there be greater cruelty than depriving a calf of its mother’s milk and taking it away for human consumption, killing bees to extract honey to be taken by so called vegetarians, which the bees had collected and made for themselves? All this is cruelty, no matter who does it – vegetarians or non-vegetarians.
Yet we have to live our lives, nature has made us that way; we have to terminate someone’s life to survive. Some premise for doing this should be set. The one I set for my self, I share with you. I am of the opinion that taking from nature that is needed to live a strong healthy life is justified. Consuming more that what is needed just for taste’s sake, or wasting food, or hunting animals for pleasure, all are sins because then one is doing more harm to the nature then what is needed for life. It does not matter whether the food comes from animal kingdom or plant kingdom. The food should be such that it does not hurt my body or my conscience.
True, in Gurdwaras we do not serve meat, because the lunger should be such, which every one can eat. If meat is eaten in your Grandmum’s house there is nothing wrong.
iii) Drinks
Alcohol is produced in our own body. Whenever one eats rice one feels sleepy; this is because alcohol is produced during the digestive process. It is true that one can get addicted to alcohol and that addiction can spoil ones social or economic life or both. If one is not addicted to alcohol and has good economic life where the individual can afford spending on it without curbing other essential expenditure for the family, I am of the opinion that there is no sin, I repeat the word sin, in drinking. In fact, it is now known that alcohol in the blood stream up to particular level reduces the risk of heart attack. Drinking in moderation helps, one should not get intoxicated or addicted or should not ruin family economics.
With all this said, I also want to say that I do not drink and will never drink in my life because I had promised my elders never to drink and I am afraid that I may get addicted. When I have the option, I eat products of vegetable origin; when I do not have that option I do not mind eating meat.
Here in this discussion I am just giving facts and logic related to the issues I had take up to talk about. Naturally it is for the individual (care4sikhi) to decide.
With Love and Respect for all.
Amarpal
