Anushasanika Parva — eating

Yudhishthira said Alas, those cruel men, who not caring for various other sorts of food, want only flesh, are really like great Rakshasa.

Alas, they do not relish various kinds of cakes and diverse sorts of potherbs and various species of Khanda with juicy flavour so much as they do flesh.

I cannot understand this at all I think they feel that there is nothing so tasteful as mcat.

I wish therefore, O powerful one, to hear what the merits are of abstention from flesh and the sin about the eating of flesh, O chief of Bharata's race.

You know every duty. Describe to me, in full according to the ordinances on duty, this subject. Do tell me what indeed is edible and what inedible ?

Tell me, O grandfather, what is flesh, of what substances it is the merits of abstention from it, and the sins for eating meat.

Bhishma said O mighty armed one, O Bharata, It is the same as you submit. There is nothing on Earth that is superior to meat in taste.

There is nothing that is more beneficial than meat to persons who are lean or weak, or afflicted with disease or addicted to sexual union or exhausted with travel.

Meat quickly increases strength. It ordains great development. There is no food. O scorcher of enemies, that is superior to meat.

But, O delighter of Kurus, those who abstain from it win great merits. Listen to me as I describe it to you.

That man who wishes to increase his own flesh by the meat of another living creature is such that there is none meaner and more cruel than he.

In this world there is nothing that is dearer to a creature than his life. Hence, one should show mercy to the lives of others as he does to his own life.

Forsooth, O son, flesh has its origin in the vital seed. There is great sin attaching to its eating, as, indeed, there is merit in abstaining from it.

One does not, however, commit any sin by eating flesh sanctified according to the ordinances to the Vedas. The Shruti says that animal were created for sacrifice. They wlio eat flesh in any other way are said to follow Rakshasa practice.

Listen to me as I tell you what the ordinances is for the Kshatriyas. They do not commit any sin by eating flesh that has been acquired power.

All wild deer have been dedicated to the celestials and the departed Manes in days of old, O king, by Agastya. Hence the hunting of dcer is not censured.

There can be no hunting without risk of one's own life. There is equality of risk between the killer and the killed. Either the animal is killed or it kills the hunter.

Hence, O Bharata, even royal sages take to hunting. By such conduct they do not become stained with sin. Indeed the practice is not considered sinful.

There is nothing O, delighter of the Kurus, that is equal in point of merit, either in this world or in the next to the practice of mercy to all living creatures.

A kind-hearted man seldom has to suffer from any fright. A gracious and austerious person enjoys equal pleasure in this world and the next.

Persons conversant with duty say that Religion is worthy of being called Religion which is characterised by abstention from cruelty. The man of purified soul should do only such acts as have mercy for their soul.

That flesh which is dedicated in sacrifices performed in honour of the deities and the departed Manes is called Havi. That man who is given to mercy and who behaves with mercy towards others, has no fear to entertain from any creature.

It is heard that all creatures abstain from causing any fear to such a creature. All creatures protect him when he is wounded or fallen down or prostrated or weakened or bruised. Indeed they do under all circumstances, whether he is on even uneven ground. Neither snakes nor wild animals neither Pishachas nor Rakshasas, ever kill him.

When circumstances of fear originate, he becomes freed from fear who fees others from situations of fear. There has never been nor will there ever be, a gift which is superior to the gift of life.

In the world, there is nothing else so dear as one's life. Hence, as man wants to be graced by others; he should himself be gracious on others. O Bharata, as the body of all creatures starts shivering at the time of death, nobody wants to die. SO or

When the time comes for Death, a trembling of the entire body is seen in all creatures. Undergoing birth in the uterus, decrepitude, and sufferings of all sorts, in this ocean of the world, living creature may be seen to be continually going forward and coming back. Every creatures is afflicted by death. While living in the uterus all creatures are cooked in the fluid juices, that are alkaline and sour and bitter, of urine and phlegm and faeces, juices which produce painful sensations and are difficult to bear. There in the uterus they have to live in a state of helplessness and are even repeatedly torn and pierced. They who are covetous of meat are seen to be repeatedly cooked in the uterus in such a state of helplessness. Going through all sorts of birth, they cooked in the Hell called Kumbhipaka.

They are assailed and killed and in this way have to travel again and again. There is nothing so dear to one as his life when one comes to this world.

are Hence, a person of purified soul should be merciful to all living creatures. That man, O king, who abstains from every kinds of meat from his birth, forsooth, acquires a large space in the celestial region. They who eat the flesh of animals who are desirous of life. are themselves eaten by the animals they eat. This is my opinion. Since he has eaten me, I shall eat him in return, this O Bharata, forms the character as Mansa of Mansa. The destroyer is always slain. After him the eater meets with the same fate.

He who acts with hostility towards another becomes the victim of similar deeds done by that other. Whatever acts one does in whatever bodies, he has to suffer the consequences thereof in those bodies.

Abstention from cruelty is the highest Religion. Abstention from cruelty is the greatest self-restraint. Abstention from cruelty is the highest gift. Abstention from cruelty is the highest penance. Abstention from cruelty is the highest sacrifice. Abstention from cruelty is the highest power. Abstention from cruelty is the greatest friend. Abstention from cruelty is the greatest happiness. Abstention from cruelty is the highest truth. Abstention from cruelty is the highest Shruti.

Gifts made in all sacrifices, ablutions performed in all sacred waters, and the merit which one acquires from making all kinds of gifts mentioned in the scriptures all these do not equal abstention from cruelty in merit.

The penances of a man who abstains from cruelty are endless. The man who abstains from cruelty is considered as always perforining sacrifices. The man who abstains from cruelty is the father and mother of all creatures.

Even these, chief of Kuru's race, are some of the merits of abstention from cruelty. Altogether, the merits of it are so many that they are incapable of being exhausted even if one were to speak for a century.