Comments on: Should Sikhs Be Vegan? http://www.azadsinghfitness.com/blog/should-sikhs-be-vegan/ Mon, 02 Jul 2018 11:11:27 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.5 By: Jason http://www.azadsinghfitness.com/blog/should-sikhs-be-vegan/#comment-4814 Mon, 02 Jul 2018 11:11:27 +0000 http://azadsinghfitness.com/?p=57646#comment-4814 I could write a book on why Sikhs and the rest of the world should embrace veganism, but I will keep it short and primarily focus on the Sikhs. There are many references in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji on the importance of compassion for all living sentient beings and staying away from meat. The 6th Guruji and 10th Guruji hunted animals who were hurting people and their livelihood as well as those souls who were destined to go to Sachkhand without waiting to become human. All of this comes down to belief and faith. Any human can argue any religion. They only ate meat when their opponents stopped their food supplies, but never for the sake of their taste bud because their tongues were not lustful. Nowadays, dairy and honey (OK to consume in Sikhi) are not compassionate anymore because humans have turned animals and their by-products into commodities and greedy global business. If you watch any vegan documentary and animal abuse video, you will realize veganism is about justice and rights for all sentient livings beings. It is not about personal preference and lifestyle choices. It is not about your and my taste buds. Baptized Sikhs have a moral and social responsibility to adopt a vegan lifestyle and promote it along with Vaheguru’s teachings. I can go on and on, but I advise you folks to watch Gary Yourofsky’s 2010 Best Speech on YouTube.

]]> By: Parvin Singh http://www.azadsinghfitness.com/blog/should-sikhs-be-vegan/#comment-2934 Tue, 06 Sep 2016 03:13:35 +0000 http://azadsinghfitness.com/?p=57646#comment-2934 Love what you write and always a fan of yours. In my limited understanding, Bhagat Kabeer ji, talks about eating meat, in a particular context. He mentions that it is unwise and illegal to eat meat in the name of holy sacrifice of an animal. Same goes for Hindu brahmins, who would sacrifice goats, or lambs and then where would that dead body go, basically cooked as meat, and eaten as parshad.
So there is no direct saying by our guru to abstain from eating meat. (I don’t eat meat at all.) It is a topic which is irrelevant in our growth of Sikhi, because in my opinion what we eat does not make me a good human. What we eat mentally and spiritually definitely does.
Guru Nanak ji, has mentioned, in the baani ‘mit khaaana, mit bolnaa, mit pehnaa…’ – that we should be utilizing these various resources only to our needs, and not to our pleasure.

So at some point you are right, that eating meat is for pleasure. It should never be eaten in the name of parshad, after sacrificing animals. And I am against consuming meat, when the animals are treated in the most inhumane way for our pleasure and consumption.

On a separate note-
We should not interpret baani, just from two lines. The entire salok, or shabad gives the right context. Especially the rahao part. If I were to interpret the baani from just two lines, then our beloved Bhagat Kabeer ji also says about hairs-

SGGS – Ang 324
ਮੂਡ ਮੁੰਡਾਏ ਜੌ ਸਿਧਿ ਪਾਈ ॥
ਮੁਕਤੀ ਭੇਡ ਨ ਗਈਆ ਕਾਈ ॥੨॥

Ang- 1365:
ਭਾਵੈ ਲਾਂਬੇ ਕੇਸ ਕਰੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਘਰਰਿ ਮੁਡਾਇ ॥੨੫॥ – If I just interpret one line, it would mean, I can either shave my head or keep hairs.

Sorry, If I took away the essence of the topic or the blog in general.

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