There is one common thing among all the religions of the world, they all preach to spread the message of love and harmony and to practice non-violence. But today this religion is made an excuse to kill animals. Isn’t it a great irony? Religion is considered an itinerary for liberation, a way of life that one should adopt to complete his mission on this earth, to break this never-ending cycle of births and deaths. But somewhere down the line, this essence of the religions have been diluted to suit the selfish interests of some people and today we find the religion portrayed as the biggest promoter of animal killing.
You will be surprised to know that Buddhism which was founded particularly to spread the message of non-violence for stopping the extensive animal killing which was prevalent at that time and considers it as the biggest sin, today its followers are the biggest meat-eaters in the world. The Haj pilgrimage, the largest religious congregation of any kind itself sees more than 2 million animals being killed over a duration of few weeks.
But at some point of time we need to put an end to this brutality. That is our obligation as a human-being and everybody of us can contribute to that. Just because we are superiors to all animals, it doesn’t give us the birthright to kill them. If we can’t give life, what right do we have to take them. We are not GOD. Animal killing can’t be justified at any cost whether we do it for sake of religion or for sake of our TASTE!!!. Why do anyone have to die for our taste-buds. Are we really that mean and selfish? Are we really that INHUMAN? For those people who need some pure logic and reasoning to give up meat eating, here are some points that’ll make things easier for you :-
1. HUMAN ANATOMY :-
The scientific studies has established that our body is suited more for a vegetarian diet. If we consider a comparative anatomical study of a Carnivore, Herbivore and human. Our all the physical attributes ditto matches with a Herbivore. Right from where the food enters our body to its exit, everything is a perfect copy of a herbivorous animal.
1. Facial muscle
CARNIVORE:-reduced to allow wide mouth gap
HERBIVORE:- well developed
HUMAN:- well developed
2.Jaw motion
CARNIVORE:-minimal side to side motion
HERBIVORE:-good side to side motion
HUMAN:- good side to side motion
3.Incisors
CARNIVORE:-short and pointed
HERBIVORE:-broad, flattened and spade shaped
HUMAN:-broad, flattened and spade shaped
4.Canine
CARNIVORE:-long, sharp and curved
HERBIVORE:-dull and short
HUMAN:-short and blunt
5.Molars
CARNIVORE:-sharp
HERBIVORE:- flattened
HUMAN:-flattened
6.Chewing
CARNIVORE:-swallows food whole
HERBIVORE:-extensive chewing
HUMAN:-extensive chewing
7.Saliva
CARNIVORE:-acidic;carbohydrate digesting enzymes absent
HERBIVORE:-alkaline;carbohydrates digesting enzymes present
HUMAN:-alkaline;carbohydrates digesting enzymes present
8.Stomach acidity
CARNIVORE:-highly acidic,pH 1
HERBIVORE:-pH 4-5
HUMAN:-pH 4-5
9.Small intestine
CARNIVORE:-3-6 time body length
HERBIVORE:- >10 times body length
HUMAN:-10-11 times body length
10.Colon
CARNIVORE:-simple and short
HERBIVORE:-long and complex
HUMAN:-long and complex
11.Perspiration
CARNIVORE:-no skin pores, perspire through tongue
HERBIVORE:-perspire through millions of skin pores
HUMAN:-perspire through millions of skin pores
12.Nails
CARNIVORE:-sharp claws
HERBIVORE:-flattened nails and hooves
HUMAN:-flattened nails
By seeing this comparison, even the most skeptical person will believe that man is indeed a herbivorous animal. Just because we can somehow digest meat doesn’t mean that we should become a meat-eater. In fact we are violating the law of nature. By doing this we are introducing a glitch in the food chain which has serious ecological complications.
2.HEALTH AND NUTRITION :-
There is a very popular misconception floating around regarding vegetarian diet. When people give the excuse that eating Veg will make them weak, that it is not balanced and they will suffer from lack of protein, they are simply talking bullshit. Really I’ve no better words for them. I myself have become a veggie 2 years ago and I’ve found that my strength, stamina, power, vigour and vitality has only increased over these 2 years instead of diminishing. If it were not so I wouldn’t have been writing this article. This is my personal experience and I can’t give you much better example than that. It’s also an established scientific fact that vegetarian diet not only prevents heart disease but also reverses it. It’s also medically proven that cooked meat and fish contains Carcinogens which may alter the cell’s D.N.A and cause Cancer. No wonder why cancer and heart diseases have assumed magnified proportions these days. Also meat contains 14 times more pesticides and chemicals than plant food. So do we want our bodies to become a living bag of chemicals? If we keep aside the physical benefits, other mental and spiritual benefits are more than enough to encourage any person to embrace vegetarianism. It makes you more peaceful, patient, serene, tolerant, God conscious and above all more HUMANE. You want MORE? It is also said that in order to revive the finer tissues of the brain to understand subtle things one must give up meat eating. If we see the list of men who have made it to the top of their respective fields we’ll find a considerably large no. of vegetarians. Albert Einstein ,
Sir Issac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Mahatma Gandhi, Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Billy Jean king, Larry Bird, Bryan Adams, Sir Paul Mccartney, Greg Chappel, Martina Navratilova, Amitabh Bacchan, Anil Kumble, Pamela Anderson, Drew Barrymore, Alicia Silverstone are few of the world famous vegetarians.
3.WORLD HUNGER:-
you may find it surprising but its true that meat consumption is the key cause of hunger around the world. Statistics shows that more than 20 million people die annually due to starvation and malnutrition. Quite a staggering no.!!!! Have you ever seen any bird or animal dying of hunger or starvation? Never….., right? But why then only human-being die of hunger, given the fact we are the most intelligent species. Seriously there is something wrong with our attitude, our way of living, If you have read about the law of energy transfer in your secondary classes, then you might know that only 10% of energy is transferred from one level to another in the food chain. So it takes approximately 16 pounds of food grains (which could have fed at least 20 people) to raise 1 pound of meat which can feed only 2 people. WHAT A WASTE!!! . And we call ourselves intelligent??? Do you know that more than half of all water in U.S. is used in raising animals for food. And here we are brawling over water?? Just give it a little thought. Studies show that almost 100 million people could be adequately fed using the land freed if we reduce the consumption of meat by a mere 10%. But are we going to do that? That’s a damn good question. Perhaps we have become so inhuman that the misery of human don’t affect us. It is also estimated that if everyone adopted a vegetarian diet the current food production will theoretically feed 10 BILLION people which is more than the projected population of the year 2050. We could have been sitting on a goldmine but instead we chose to sit on the graves of dying millions who could have lived had we been a little more CONSIDERATE??. We should remember that every morsel of meat we take could be at the cost of someone DYING. In fact we are feeding on more than one DEAD-BODY. What say??
4.CRUELTY:-
Truth they say, is sometimes stranger than fiction and in this case it is. The way this modern slaughter houses are run will change your concept about the hell. It’s actually worse than hell. The brutality practiced here is unimaginable. It’s really hard to imagine that such kind of place do exist on earth. The living condition in which the animals are kept will cause even the most hardened soul to shudder. The animals are massacred like anything. Let me give you just a glimpse of what happens in a poultry industry. The hens are so tightly packed in the battery cages that literally they can’t even move an inch during their enslavement. They are forced to lay up to 200-220 eggs each year leading to weakened bones, feather loss etc and ultimately death. As you know nature doesn’t discriminate between sexes. So when the eggs are hatched, we get equal no. of male and female chickens. But male chickens are useless for poultry farming as they can’t lay eggs. So they are CRUSHED into pulp and used as a manure in the agricultural farms. This is the REALITY. You have to see it to believe it. In U.S. alone 6,60,000 animals are killed for meet every hour. No one wants to see their family slaughtered in front of them. When you beat a defenceless animal you know you are not playing fair. It takes a small person to kill an innocent animal and even a smaller one to eat it. Commerce can be no excuse for MURDER. It’s a violence we can stop, because no one then have to make a living by KILLING. This animals also deserve to be free, to play under the same sun as our children do. They are animals but it doesn’t mean that they have no feelings. They also feel pain, scream and cry when you beat them. What wrong they have done that we have made their life worse than HELL. WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. It’s a fact that meat eating reduces repect for all kinds of life including that of human too. If not then how can we justify killing human foetus for food. Yes it’s a fact that thousands of human foetus are killed every year in many countries including India for human consumption. What? You don’t believe it ? Then just do a little research. You will see it for yourself. So …..where are we heading upto? A DOOM!!! May be its time for a little introspection.
5.KARMIC CONSEQUENCES:-
So what is the LAW OF KARMA? Its basically the Newton’s third law. Action equals reaction. It very well applies to our life also. As you sow , so shall you reap. Its as simple as that. So its doesn’t require a great strain on our imagination to understand the consequence of this law. Every living creature is a son of Supreme Lord and HE doesn’t tolerate even an ant’s being killed, one has to PAY for it. By inflicting injury, pain and death, one must in future experience the suffering caused. Why do you think the world today is at so unrest, nobody is happy, nowhere there is peace, only a nude dance of pain, misery and death. Can’t you see? Have you gone blind too? While our body is a living grave of murdered animals, how can we expect ideal living conditions on earth. Terrorism, riots, wars, nuclear threats are all direct or indirect consequences of our inhuman activities. The world today is in front of you. Everywhere, everyday we find lot of innocent people going to the jaws of death in some way or the other. You see Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Gujarat, natural disasters like earthquake, tsunami, floods, drought, accidents where millions of people are being killed for no reasons at all. To be more clear, in this case people are being slaughtered by the forces of nature. Nobody but we ourselves are responsible for our own fate. Even the heads of religion indulge in killing animals while trying to pass as saintly persons. This mocking and hypocrisy in human society bring about unlimited calamities. Therefore occasionally there are great wars. Masses of people go out onto battlefields and kill themselves. Our most sacred scriptures says that by killing animals, not only will we be bereft of the human form but we will have to take an animal form and somehow or other be killed by the same type of animals we have killed. This is the LAW OF NATURE. May be its time for a little soul searching!!!
so it doesn’t take any Herculean effort to understand that this act of ours in reality brings untold misfortune and misery which could easily be avoided if we apply a little effort in this regard. But still some of the skeptics will not be satisfied even now. They will give one more argument that plants and the trees also have souls, isn’t eating them killing? Yes, there is an answer for that also, and it comes from the ultimate source of all human knowledge – "THE BHAGAVAD GITA". "jivo jivasya jivansm" which means that one living entity is food for another in the struggle for existence. If we eat our designated food in the way prescribed by the lord we are freed from all kind of sins. SRI KRISHNA says " The devotees of the lord are freed from all kind of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice". I think that will clear most of our dilemmas. In reality the fact is that we are causing this monumental misery because of a very insignificant part of our diet. We all know that the non-veg items not even comprises 10% of our total food intake. We very well can do away with that without much trouble and effort. May be its time to prove that indeed there is some amount of humanity left in us. Tell me that is it not worth giving a try? We try so many things like alcohol, smoking, drugs, gambling and what not. Then why not try being a vegetarian. Next time when you eat meat just think of that sweet, little, defenseless, innocent animal which has been slaughtered to feed you. Are you really that HUNGRY?? If not then may be its time to go VEG!!!
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Lance Armstrong - the man who conquered death
Of the myriad people who treads this planet, only a handful falls in the class of the -LEGENDS and the fabled LANCE ARMSTRONG is one of them. Recently I read his autobiography "Its not about the bike" and his life story touched me so deeply that i was literally on the verge of tears throughout the book as he narrates numerous spine chilling instances of his life. Really this man is the legend of the legends-a record 7 times winner of "Tour De France" which is widely considered as the single most grueling sporting event on the face of the earth. Its a culminating point which any endurance sport can reach. this race spans for over 3 weeks covering more than 2300 miles through the most difficult and demanding of terrains cutting through the mindnumbing heights of Alps and Pyrenees circumscribing the entire France. so no wonder he was recently chosen among the top 3 sportsmen that ever lived on this planet.
but this feat seems even more gigantean considering the fact that when this man was at the zenith of his cycling career at the prime young age of 25,when life seemed to him like a fairytale where he could have everything he can wish ,he was struck with a catastrophe which was going to change his life forever. he was diagnosed with stage 4( the last stage and almost always terminal) testicular cancer and the cancer had already spread to his lungs and brain. he was clearly the worst of the worst cases. when doctors told him that he has 40% chance of survival they were rather being generous, in their mind they were considering 4%. Hearing this the whole world of Lance came crashing down. At one moment he was the king of this world and in the next he was doomed to death. For him and his family a fear of certain death loomed large on the horizon. His illustrious cycling career was over in an instant. No person, not even the most diehard optimist would have imagined he could ever ride a bike again, forget about winning a race. But there was one thing he had learned from numerous bike races he had participated that one should never quit, no matter how tough is the battle. So the fight against Cancer was one battle he was determined not to loose. From then on, his only motive was to win back the trophy of his life no matter how dim are his chances, no matter how hard he has to fight, even if he has to die to regain back his life. so he decided to take the cancer head on and started his treatment. There is a great irony in the treatment of cancer. The chemotheraphy which is used for treating cancer is almost as deadly as cancer if not more. It’s a cocktail of toxins injected into the system which could surely prove fatal if not carefully administered. Its so caustic that it burns away the entire hair from the body,even the eyebrows and eyelashes are not spared. The chemicals vaporize the blood, singe away the blood vessels and tear up the lungs so he could never race again. He would also become infertile and thus would never have a family. he would become so weak after the end of therapy that he would have difficulty in even crawling let alone walking.in short it makes a person sick like hell. Tolerating chemo thus seemed to be even more grueling task than to suffer from cancer. You would want to know why people fear Cancer. Its because it is slow, painful and inevitable death. It’s the very definition of cynicism and loss of spirit. And why do people fear chemo, because there is constant battle of uncertainity as to which would the chemo kill first the cancer or the patient? It’s a kind of living DEATH. The worst part is that the patient could never know what lies on the other side of the horizon. Its that uncertainty that has a telling effect on the psyche of the patient. The cancer not only breaks him physically but also drains him mentally, financially and socially. When you are staring up at the face of certain death, it has a humbling effect on you. The mortality and vulnerability of human life descends upon and the person become more humane,more philosophical,more religious and what not. You desperately want one last shot at life so that you can rectify all the past mistakes you’ve made.you want to do everything but DIE. You hope against hope for some miracle to happen. After all its just human nature.
So despite having all the odds piled up against him, he summoned up all his courage, strength, stamina and power which he had built up during his life as an athlete and decided to give a one last fight. And thus began a heart rending battle between a mortal and the metaphor of death
whose outcome will be remembered as long as there is life on this planet. After 3 major surgeries (including one brain surgery) and 4 cycles of intensive chemotherapy spanning over three months which made him as infirm as a new born baby, that at the end of the fourth cycle he was barely able to talk.
But ultimately Cancer bowed down in respect unable to take on a fighter of this magnitude. It looks like a miracle. Yes, miracles do happen but it happens only to those who has the courage to make it happen. He was now a new man with a fresh lease of life with added opportunities and responsibilities. A moral obligation to do something for not so fortunate people who lay down their lives unable to fight the vagaries of cancer.
Now a more daunting task lay ahead of him-to resume his cycling career. He was not only out of action for more than a year but also now his body was too weak to adhere to heartbreaking training regimen which cycling demands. But he didn’t loose heart and gave all his efforts to regain his top form, willing to prove to the world that the career of legendry "Lance Armstrong" is not yet over. In fact he was trying to put across a subtle message that no matter how many times you fall down, no matter how many odds are in against of you, you should never give up. Thus commenced his second part of his cycling career as a cancer survivor-a tag which will remain attached to his name as long as he will live. Since then what happened will be written with golden letters in the annals of world history. He not only made a brilliant comeback but he did what nobody would have dreamed even in their wildest of dreams. Just only 16 months after his recovery, he participated in "Tour De France " and won it outright in the fastest ever time. The same people who assumed him to be dead and deserted him after seeing him afflicted with cancer had to bury their faces with shame. He not only won that but he also won the same event for 7 consecutive years till 2005(after which he retired). Thus he defined the new benchmark of human endurance which no mortal can ever achieve.This achievement itself speaks highly of the stuff which legends are made of.
The people like Lance Armstrong are born once in a millennium to put across a message to the humanity that though we are all mortals we should live our life in such a way that we continue to dwell in the hearts of the people long after we are gone, thus leaving our imprints on the sands of memory which time can never erase. Only then we can "CONQUER THE DEATH".
but this feat seems even more gigantean considering the fact that when this man was at the zenith of his cycling career at the prime young age of 25,when life seemed to him like a fairytale where he could have everything he can wish ,he was struck with a catastrophe which was going to change his life forever. he was diagnosed with stage 4( the last stage and almost always terminal) testicular cancer and the cancer had already spread to his lungs and brain. he was clearly the worst of the worst cases. when doctors told him that he has 40% chance of survival they were rather being generous, in their mind they were considering 4%. Hearing this the whole world of Lance came crashing down. At one moment he was the king of this world and in the next he was doomed to death. For him and his family a fear of certain death loomed large on the horizon. His illustrious cycling career was over in an instant. No person, not even the most diehard optimist would have imagined he could ever ride a bike again, forget about winning a race. But there was one thing he had learned from numerous bike races he had participated that one should never quit, no matter how tough is the battle. So the fight against Cancer was one battle he was determined not to loose. From then on, his only motive was to win back the trophy of his life no matter how dim are his chances, no matter how hard he has to fight, even if he has to die to regain back his life. so he decided to take the cancer head on and started his treatment. There is a great irony in the treatment of cancer. The chemotheraphy which is used for treating cancer is almost as deadly as cancer if not more. It’s a cocktail of toxins injected into the system which could surely prove fatal if not carefully administered. Its so caustic that it burns away the entire hair from the body,even the eyebrows and eyelashes are not spared. The chemicals vaporize the blood, singe away the blood vessels and tear up the lungs so he could never race again. He would also become infertile and thus would never have a family. he would become so weak after the end of therapy that he would have difficulty in even crawling let alone walking.in short it makes a person sick like hell. Tolerating chemo thus seemed to be even more grueling task than to suffer from cancer. You would want to know why people fear Cancer. Its because it is slow, painful and inevitable death. It’s the very definition of cynicism and loss of spirit. And why do people fear chemo, because there is constant battle of uncertainity as to which would the chemo kill first the cancer or the patient? It’s a kind of living DEATH. The worst part is that the patient could never know what lies on the other side of the horizon. Its that uncertainty that has a telling effect on the psyche of the patient. The cancer not only breaks him physically but also drains him mentally, financially and socially. When you are staring up at the face of certain death, it has a humbling effect on you. The mortality and vulnerability of human life descends upon and the person become more humane,more philosophical,more religious and what not. You desperately want one last shot at life so that you can rectify all the past mistakes you’ve made.you want to do everything but DIE. You hope against hope for some miracle to happen. After all its just human nature.
So despite having all the odds piled up against him, he summoned up all his courage, strength, stamina and power which he had built up during his life as an athlete and decided to give a one last fight. And thus began a heart rending battle between a mortal and the metaphor of death
whose outcome will be remembered as long as there is life on this planet. After 3 major surgeries (including one brain surgery) and 4 cycles of intensive chemotherapy spanning over three months which made him as infirm as a new born baby, that at the end of the fourth cycle he was barely able to talk.
But ultimately Cancer bowed down in respect unable to take on a fighter of this magnitude. It looks like a miracle. Yes, miracles do happen but it happens only to those who has the courage to make it happen. He was now a new man with a fresh lease of life with added opportunities and responsibilities. A moral obligation to do something for not so fortunate people who lay down their lives unable to fight the vagaries of cancer.
Now a more daunting task lay ahead of him-to resume his cycling career. He was not only out of action for more than a year but also now his body was too weak to adhere to heartbreaking training regimen which cycling demands. But he didn’t loose heart and gave all his efforts to regain his top form, willing to prove to the world that the career of legendry "Lance Armstrong" is not yet over. In fact he was trying to put across a subtle message that no matter how many times you fall down, no matter how many odds are in against of you, you should never give up. Thus commenced his second part of his cycling career as a cancer survivor-a tag which will remain attached to his name as long as he will live. Since then what happened will be written with golden letters in the annals of world history. He not only made a brilliant comeback but he did what nobody would have dreamed even in their wildest of dreams. Just only 16 months after his recovery, he participated in "Tour De France " and won it outright in the fastest ever time. The same people who assumed him to be dead and deserted him after seeing him afflicted with cancer had to bury their faces with shame. He not only won that but he also won the same event for 7 consecutive years till 2005(after which he retired). Thus he defined the new benchmark of human endurance which no mortal can ever achieve.This achievement itself speaks highly of the stuff which legends are made of.
The people like Lance Armstrong are born once in a millennium to put across a message to the humanity that though we are all mortals we should live our life in such a way that we continue to dwell in the hearts of the people long after we are gone, thus leaving our imprints on the sands of memory which time can never erase. Only then we can "CONQUER THE DEATH".
MUSINGS
sometimes when I'm in a solitary mood or I'm a bit introspective after a hard day's work,thousands of thoughts flashes across my mind and i find myself in a world full of dreams. A world which is a complete fragment of my imagination,where the mysteries of time cease to exist,and from that mysterious univerese comes my story. My stories has no anchors because there everybody is the master of his own life.Everybody is the director of his own movie which he calls as his life. Quite obviously there are no tragidies and every movie has its own happy ending. But alas soon the ephemeral universe of my dreams collapses as though castles in thin air, and i find myself facing the harsher realities of life where each day brings unseen challenges to deal with;where life is not a day-dream and even a single wrong step can spell a doom;where life is not a honeymoon but a wrestling match where you have to be constantly on your guard; where life is not a cakewalk but walking on fire. Infact life seems constant battle where the odds are always in against. But these obstacles don't deter the braves. These obstacles infact brings the true quality out of a man just in the same way pure gold is obtained only after severely roasting it on fire.It is said that the best way out of a difficulty is through it because there is NO OTHER WAY. Life is infact a great teacher,the only price that is to be paid for it is the patience. There will be many defeats ,many heartbreaks,many trauma and pain,but the one who endures it all without losing the zeal is the ultimate winner. It is often said "winning is not everything , it is the only thing". But there happens to be serious flaw with this line of thinking because when the main aim of our life is winning at any cost then we have to pay a much greater a price for that. As we are not alone in this world, our freedom ends where the nose of the other person begins.We should never push down others to move up.The game of life has many other players in it and our gameplan should be fair enough so that we can set up an ideal for others, because ultimately what matters is not" HOW MANY YEARS WE CAN ADD TO OUR LIVES BUT HOW MUCH LIFE WE CAN ADD TO OUR YEARS."
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