Vedic Hindu Became Vegetarian Influenced By JAINISM Only Proved

By Panks Jain

We learn from scriptures (Sashtras) and commentaries that Jainism is existing from beginning less time.This fact is indisputable and free from difference of opinion.There is much historical evidence on this point."
- Meat-eating and wine-drinking in Brahminism were discarded on account of the influence of Jainism.
-Lokmanya Tilak

Well this can be proved as per vedic purans too on reality basis & after reading following one will be convinced that vegetarian & ahimsa concept was borrowed by vedic religion ( today corruptly known as hinduism ) from jainism .

HINDU SCRIPTURES ALLOW NON-VEGETARIAN FOOD

Some Hindus think that it is against their religion to have non-vegetarian food But the fact is that the Hindu scriptures permit a person to have meat The scripture mentions sages and saints having meat. Hindu scriptures clearly mention that there is nothing wrong in having meat.

It is mentioned in Manu Smruti, the law book of Hindus! In chapter 5 verse 30 “The eater who eats the flesh of those to be eaten does nothing bad! even if he does it day after day; for God himself created some to be eaten and some to be eater”

Again next verse of Manu Smruti that is; chapter 5 verse 31 says “Eating meat is right for the sacrifice, this is traditionally known as a rule of the gods”

Further in Manu Smruti chapter 5 verse 39 and 40 says “God himself created sacrificial animals for sacrifice… therefore killing in a sacrifice is not killing.”

Manu Smruti even narrates the supremacy of killing animals in sacrifice it is mentioned in chapter 5 verse 42 “A twice born (a Brahmin) who knows the true meaning of Vedas and injures sacrificial animals for CORRECT PURPOSES cause both himself and the animal to go to the highest level of existence".

Among the Hindu scriptures Vedas are considered as most ancient and most sacred. We find mentioning of non-vegetarian food in Vedas too it is mentioned in Rig-Veda book 10 Hymn 27 verse 2 “Then will I, when I lead my friends to battle against the radiant persons of godless, prepare for thee at home a vigorous bullock, and pour for thee the fifteen fold strong juices"

Again in RigVeda book 10 Hymn 28 verse 3 it says "0 Indra, Bulls they dress for thee, and of these (meat) thou eatest when Maghavan, with food thou art invited".

In Rig veda Book 10 Hymn 86 verse 13 says “indra will eat thy bulls, thy dear oblation that effecteth much. Supreme is Indra over all" These verses indicates that Indra, a god of vedic age, used to eat meat.
Also another god of vedic age, Agni, is referred to as "flesh-eater' in vedas. For example, in Rig Veda bock 10 Hymn 16 verse 10 it is said I choose as god for Father-worship Agni, FLESH Eater, who hath past within your dwellings".

In RigVeda Vivah sukta book 10 Hymn 85 verse 13, it mentions that during marriage ceremony the guests were fed with the meat. it says “in Magha days are oxen slain, in Arjunis they wed the bride"

Atherva veda book 9 Hymn 4 verses 37-38-39 gives _expression that cow's milk and cow's meat are most tasty among all other foods. It says "The man should not eat before the guest who is Brahmin versed in holy lore When the guest hath eaten he should eat. Now the sweet est portion, the produce of cow, milk or flesh, that verily he should not eat (before the guest)"

If you read Mahabharata Shanti Parva chapter 29, a story of greatness of a king called Rantideva is described It is said that he was very rich and generous, and used to feed thousands of guests. The paragraph reads as follows “All the vessels and the plates, in Rantideva's palace, for holding food and other articles, all the jugs and other pots, the pan and plates and cups, were of gold. On those nights during which the guests used to live in Rantideva's abode, twenty thousand and one hundred kine {cows} had to be slaughtered. Yet even on such occasions, the cooks, decked in ear-rings, used to proclaim (amongst those that sat for supper) “There is abundant of soup, take as much as you wish, but of flesh we have not as much today as on former occasions" This shows that even after slaughtering 20,100 cows, meat used to fall short on some occasions.

Many more quotations can be given where non-vegetarian food is given preference compared to vegetarian food. For example,

Mahabharata Anushashan Parva chapter 88 narrates the discussion between Dharmaraj Yudhishthira and Pitamah Bhishma about what food one should offer to Piths (ancestors) during the Shraddha (ceremony of dead) to keep them satisfied Paragraph reads as follows "Yudhishthirn said, "0 thou of great puissance, tell me what that object is which, if dedicated to the pitris (dead ancestors), become inexhaustible! What Havi, again, (if offered) lasts for all time? What, indeed, is that which (if presented) becomes eternal?”

"Bhisma said, Listen to me, 0 Yudhishthira, what those Havis are which persons conversant with the rituals of the Shraddha (the ceremony of dead) regard as suitable in view of Shraddha and what the fruits are that attach to each. With sesame seeds and rice and barley and Masha and water and roots and fruits, if given at Shraddhas, the pitris, 0 king, remain gratified for the period of a month. With fishes offered at Shraddha, the pitris remain gratified for a period of two months. With the muflon they remain gratified for three months and with the hare for four months, with the flesh of the goat for five months, with the bacon (meat of pig) for six months, and with the flesh of birds for seven. With venison obtained from those deer that are called Prishata, they remain gratified for eight months, and with that obtained form the Ruru for nine months, and with the meat of Gavaya for ten months. With the meat of the buffalo their gratification lasts for eleven months. With beef presented at the Shraddha, their gratification, it is said, lasts for a full year. Payesa mixed with ghee is as much acceptable to the pitris as beef. With the meat of Vadhrinasa (a large bull) the gratification of pitris lasts for twelve years. The flesh of rhinoceros, offered to the pitris on anniversaries of the lunar days on which they died, becomes inexhaustible. The potherb called Kalaska, the petals of Kanchana flower, and meat of (red) goat also, thus offered, prove inexhaustible
So but natural if you want to keep your ancestors satisfied forever, you should serve them the meat of red goat.
Same message is repeated in Manu Smruti Chapter 3 verses 266 to 272. In Shraddha (ceremony of dead) even Brahmjn priests are expected to eat meat. Manu Smruti instructs Hindus to serve non-vegetarian food to priests i.e. Brahmins. It says in Chapter 3 verses 226 and 227 “Purified and with a concentrated mind, he should put down on the ground before (those priests) seasoned foods like soups and vegetables and also milk, yogurt, clarified butter, honey and various foods that are eaten and enjoyed, roots and fruits, tasty meats, and fragrant water

Hindu scriptures not only allow non-vegetarian food but at few places it makes it compulsory for Hindus to eat non-vegetarian food. If anyone refuses non vegetarian food, he will have to face consequences
according Hindu Scriptures, In Vishnu Dharmottar Puran book 1 chapter 140 verses 49 & 50 says
"Those who do not eat meat served in the ceremony of dead (Shraddha), will go to hell (narak)"

But when a man who is properly engaged in a ritual does not eat meat, after his death he will become a sacrificial animal during twenty-one rebirths"

This verse says those who don't eat meat will become sacrificial animals in next twenty-one rebirths. It not only says that a person will become an animal but says will become “sacrificial animal" meaning others will sacrifice him.

these statements are mentioned in vedic purans on fact basis .

Todays vedic hinduism is more influenced by jainism on jain concept of ahimsa & vegan theory .

Hindu. Who? Part 2

The Vedas are said to be Shruti, that which was heard. These were Aprusheya texts meaning that they were not written by any human author. These were revelations that were "heard" and passed on orally from one human to another. Therefore, these verses are of natural origins. I had my own doubts (but willing to accept them as good text) on this score until my recent Vision Quest in the Canyonlands of Utah. My personal revelations and listening to Peter Calhone made me revise my ideas about the veracity of the Vedas.

When HH Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati was asked, what the holy scripture of the Hindus was, he replied that there were 14 of them. He names the 4 Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama, Atharva), their 6 Angas (or limbs) and the 4 Upangas (secondary limbs). The list of the Angas sounds like a course in linguistics crossed with Statistics and Mathematics. They are Siksha, Vyakarana, Chandas, Nirukta, Jyotisha and Kalpa. The Upangas include Mimansa, Nyaya, Purana and Dharmashastra.

Each of the Vedas had the main part to them called the Samhita or "Anthology". These were pure collections of the revelations, neatly organized (by Vyasa, it is said). Each of these Samhita came with their own "Guidebook"- a glossary, dictionary and User's manual rolled into one. This was the Brahmana part of the Veda shaka (or branch). They dealt with the duties and actions to be performed by those who are involved in the myriad activities of life. Next came the Aranyaka. These dismiss the material aspects of the Brahmana as symbols to attain spiritual liberation that demands the dropping of the material plane. This part of the Vedas find great favor with the ascetic religions like Jainism and Buddhism. (This should clarify to "modern historians" that there was no hatred amidst these different religions. There was never an issue of aggrandisement of wealth and creation of religious empires that meant power, as we see in the history of the Catholic church and the Caliphat.)

The summary of all these different parts can be found in the "End of the Veda" or Vedanta. This section comprises of Upanishads. The Upanishads simply establish the role and relationship between humans and the world as we experience it through our senses and process through our other faculties such as mind, memory and intellect. Currently, the Vedantic tradition is finding favor with many as they are truly secular in nature. There are rare mentions of any particular God by name, even then as a reference rather than as adherence.

The above dichotomy within the Vedas were clearly defined as Karmakanda (Section on Action)and Gnyanakanda (Section on Knowledge). As long as humans believe this world to be true and believed they experienced hunger and had to feed their bodies, Karmakanda holds true. When hunger ceases to exist and the body loses its truth, then gnyanakanda becomes valid.

Thus, when the Vedas themselves have these paradoxes within, it amazes me to read in Indian history books that Jainism and Buddhism defined a new way to end the "atrocities" of brahmins, who were busily chopping off the heads of goats, horses and other "dumb" creatures under the guise of various sacrifices. This fallacy and several others continue to go unchallenged by any educated person. The reason is simple. Nobody has bothered to open an actual Vedic book to see what is inside. It is all second and third hand learnings through tertiary means. Even I am guilty of such a charge. Only recently, thanks to the internet, I found texts that were clearly enumerated and made my research far easier.

For centuries, there has been such a noise built up about the Vedic system of living and knowledge, that nobody is clear anymore. Even the avenues to access this knowledge is denied to us as we lose our linguistic skills. Thanks to the Kothari Commission, Samskritam was made compulsory in the school I studied in and learned enough to read a text today and comprehend something. It is sad that the new "International" schools that are cropping up across the country would rather offer French and German rather than Samskritam as a language option.

Sometimes a child stops me in the hallway of a US public school and asks me if I speak Hindu. I tell him that I neither speak Hindu nor Christian. I speak English, Hindi and a few other languages.