Is food a barrier towards spiritual practice?

Gracey - that's incredible. One would have to be remarkably vigilant, and perhaps a little paranoid to avoid all animal produce in that way I imagine.

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by peacegarden

It's a tricky subject isn't it? There are no hard and fast rules with diet, that's why it's impossible to right down the 'perfect' diet for all. As you say one must listen to the inner voice.

It is the duty of man to walk through this earthly life as kindly and harmlessly as possible. How one manifests this ethos is open to interpretation, but when love is your guide, the way becomes clearer...

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by NIRVANA

Karma can be neutralised with the right mindset .

We end up being our own judge and jury

We reap what we sow. An eternal spiritual law. You cannot cheat the Law.

There is self-judgement in the afterlife - which is the most sternest judgement of all.

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by NIRVANA

Did man create all life forms? The creator of this world created the food chain as a natural way to cull and keep things in balance.

A warped logic. Two hundred years or so ago some would have said (and it was said at the time) that God created black people to be slaves (Slavery is condoned in the Bible), that they had no souls and weren't human beings like white people...

Man was created to 'walk with the angels', not to hurt and kill.

Was not the First Blessing - 'And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.'
('Meat' in ancient terminology meant 'food')

[knightofalbion]

[quote=NIRVANA]

Yes there are grounded vegetarians and grounded meat eaters. How do you know the majority of the worlds masters have been vegetarian?

Is this fact? or part of a belief system?

[quote]

One can swallow the corrupted teaching of orthodoxy or one can establish the truth for oneself....

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by NIRVANA

Even you must draw the line somewhere? If you wash your bed sheets you kill lots of bed bugs, if you get pest control to your house to deal with cockroachers etc you give these little creatures the death penalty. Just by washing our bodies we kill all sorts of microcosmic organisms etc.

A fundamental difference between a conscious action and an inconscious one.

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by Xan

I understand what you're saying, peacegarden. 1) In my viewpoint killing animals is not the worst thing we can do, 2) as death is just the end of physical existence in this world.

For me, being with people in unconscious unloving judgmental ways is far more damaging, more prevalent and harder to change.

Of course one must follow their own sense of what is right for them, always.


Xan

1) Killing IS the worst thing you can do because you're interfering with God's purpose for that soul - and animals are on their own evolutionary path just as humans are.
2) If someone killed your children, would you say that? Life is dear to all.

This is how it was, the Master gave the teaching of Love, in its full and most beautiful expression, but because the servants of Orthodoxy could not live to such high ideals and because it suited their purpose, they corrupted the Truth and unleashed carnage.

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by peacegarden

It's a tricky subject isn't it? There are no hard and fast rules with diet, that's why it's impossible to right down the 'perfect' diet for all. As you say one must listen to the inner voice.

That is the hard and fast rule! Listen to the voice within...

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by peacegarden

I see. That makes does make sense. Although they say in buddhism that killing another human is a really bad thing because it disrupts their natural cycle of birth and death and they have to start over again. Would it not be the same for animals? I suppose that, a cow in a slaughter house for example, is a life that soul chose to have, to experience?

It is nice to know that eating meat isn't a terrible thing, spiritually. I personally believe that if everyone in this world decided to eat meat only once in a while rather than at least once a day as a lot of people do, then the lifestyle and death of these animals would be much more humane, the carbon footprint considerably less and in general there would be much less suffering. Of course, a lot of people couldn't care less, or at least couldn't care to think about it.

I'm mindful that we're on the Hinduism section. Hinduism as Indian Buddhism has a teaching of non-violence.
The great teacher Manu has some pretty strong views on it
'He who permits the slaughter of an animal, he who kills it, he who cuts it up, he who buys or sells it, he who cooks it, he who serves it up and he who eats it, are all slayers.
There is no greater sinner that that man who seeks to increase the bulk of his own flesh by the flesh of other beings'

And a lovely piece from The Hitopadesa
'Those who have forsaken the killing of all; those who are helpmates to all; those who are a sanctuary to all, those men are in the way of Heaven'

No finer guidance for life...

Originally Posted by peacegarden

I see. That makes does make sense. Although they say in buddhism that killing another human is a really bad thing because it disrupts their natural cycle of birth and death and they have to start over again. Would it not be the same for animals? I suppose that, a cow in a slaughter house for example, is a life that soul chose to have, to experience?

It is nice to know that eating meat isn't a terrible thing, spiritually. I personally believe that if everyone in this world decided to eat meat only once in a while rather than at least once a day as a lot of people do, then the lifestyle and death of these animals would be much more humane, the carbon footprint considerably less and in general there would be much less suffering. Of course, a lot of people couldn't care less, or at least couldn't care to think about it.

For an animal to die to be given as food for a human may create alot of good karma for the animal and also improve the health of the human. Very inter connected .
In chod tantric when we go through the bardo's {death realms} its our subconscious that starts to manifest demons,gods,etc.

If we view them as just reflections we pass on though.