Raghupathy was getting ready for next survey of vegetarians in his town. Raghupathy was the founder and enthusiastic conductor of "The Vegetarian's Club" . The club met first Sunday of every month under the shades of Banyan tree near Siddhi Vinayagar Temple (which is nothing but just a stone idol of Lord Ganesha underneath the banyan tree with a mangled board informing the devotees that it is indeed a temple of Lord Ganesha) where vinayagar also a silent spectator of the happenings of the club. There were extended discussions about the importance of vegetarianism by active vegetarians in the town. The members also brought their children to instill the values of vegetarianism early in their lives. The wives of vegetarian members would also be given opportunity to showcase their culinary skills by illustrating their newly tried vegetarian recipe. The children of vegetarians would be given the privilege of starting the monthly session by singing hymns of Thirarutpa ( a master piece of Saint Vallalar). There will also be contests conducted for Thiruarutpa recital during Thaipoosam day every year. Raghupathy, being a ardent follower of Saint Vallalar, would quote his guru's sayings in his cogent speech about jeeva karunya and vegetarianism. He would also distribute the "The Vegetarian" newsletter to the attendees of the meeting. He was the one, who fervently worked towards spreading awareness about vegetarianism and its benefits to the town people. He was very much reverent towards his guru and his life goal was to translate his guru's magnum opus Thiruarutpa into English and spread the message of vallalar internationally. He would be positively commenting to the members of the club that time has come to understand the values of vegetarianism by the people.
Raghupathy's way of doing survey of vegetarians was very profound. He was running a printing house in the town. He had the privilege to be associated with all the bigwigs in the town because of his vocation. He would attend the family functions of those people especially to fathom what makes them to choose the non-vegetarian way of life. He won’t go about promote vegetarianism over there and get the provocation of people, who felt that there is nothing wrong in killing animals for food. He would do psychoanalysis of people by inviting them into banter over general issues with frequent popup of topics related to vegetarianism.Now, he had got one very good occasion to conduct his survey. The Zamindar of the town was conducting the marriage of his second daughter in a grand manner. This marriage is very significant for Raghupathy and for his vegetarian club, as he had done his previous survey for Zamindar's first daughter's marriage. He can now do a comparative study in the food habits of non-vegetarian people. The another contributing factor to the survey is the sampling crowd. He is going to face the same crowd as the previous one survey, because there was only a gap of around 6 months between the two marriages. The Zamindar , a notorious non-vegetarian man, who claimed to have eaten almost all types of animals in the nearby forest, some of them killed by his own hands, would host the dinner with various different types of animal creatures brought from far places by sycophants of zamindar. Zamindar would also host a vegetarian dinner to please minuscule percentage of vegetarians in the town. This was the place of interest to Raghupathy. He would survey people, why they have chosen to eat in the infamous vegetarian's food corner of the marriage mandapam. Only handful people were present everytime, whenever a function was happening in the marriage mandapam. It was an area separated from other part of the dining hall of marriage mandapam by thatched wall. He would be having his painstakingly prepared vegetarian questionnaire, which was prepared by Raghupathy and his club members, by referring to various vegetarian magazines and by their own insights.
Raghupathy was waiting in the Vegetarian's corner even at the time the food was being prepared. Caterers from the Jothi Bhavan were preparing the food in their allocated area beside the vegetarian's corner. When the dinner started, Raghupathy was surprised to see Zamindar, his wife and his two plump sons and granddaughter, entering the vegetarian's corner. Raghupathy was very happy to note this development, that too from a famed man in his town. He chose to sit near Zamindar to lead Zamindar to get the answers to his questions in the questionnaire, which would pop-up once in a while during the banter with Zamindar. He asked Zamindar why he became a vegetarian?. Zamindar replied that doctors have advised him not to take non-vegetarian food, as he has developed a blockage in heart valve due to the amount of cholesterol in the non-vegetarian food and he wailed that he is missing the non-vegetarian one because of this health issue. He is going to have a bypass surgery in heart and after that he can again eat non-vegetarian food. Raghupathy felt dry throat and could not eat the food, as he found that how human beings are so self-centered when it comes towards eating vegetarianism. They don’t mind doing anything unless it is not affecting them. He did not lose his hope and wanted to find out the factors from the other members of Zamindar's family who accompanied him to vegetarian's corner.He was again interested in Zamindar's granddaughter and he thought the girl being a member of younger generation could not have a reason like that of Zamindar. His mind went on wandering with reasons for the girl being vegetarian like the girl being a softer sex and tender, would have chosen to lead a non-violent life.She was studying higher secondary school and was known to be the most intelligent girl among the family members of Zamindar. He asked the girl, O small girl!!! Why have you come to eat in this vegetarian corner, even though your cousins and your family members have chosen to relish the non-vegetarian food? She casually replied that she is not able to digest non-vegetarian food and feeling heavy in her stomach and doctor told that she is having some problem with her gastrointestinal system and she is currently under medication and should not eat non-vegetarian food. Raghupathy felt like fainting on hearing these not remorseful words from the young girl. He heard the same type of aging constraints and health reasons for not taking non-vegetarian food from the wife and sons of Zamindar.
He came out of the dining hall without eating, as he felt very heavy in the mind due to the self-centered nature of the men. He was not able to bear the thinking that man is not bothered about jeeva karunya and non-violence, non-vegetarianism as long as it is not affecting them. Man is the most selfish and dangerous animal in the world. Because of man's superiority and selfishness many living beings have lost their space in the world and many living beings are being driven to the state of extinction. Even though great people like Vallalar and Thayumanava have stressed about non-violence, Man is not transforming himself. Whether God would love children, who is killing God's own children for their selfishness? So that reason, Vallalar told that Non-violence is the only way for reaching God. He was ready for his article for the next newsletter "The Vegetarian" aptly titled "Hey Man!!! Why you are so self-centered?” , dealing with the self-centered nature of the man towards other living beings.
Raghupathy's way of doing survey of vegetarians was very profound. He was running a printing house in the town. He had the privilege to be associated with all the bigwigs in the town because of his vocation. He would attend the family functions of those people especially to fathom what makes them to choose the non-vegetarian way of life. He won’t go about promote vegetarianism over there and get the provocation of people, who felt that there is nothing wrong in killing animals for food. He would do psychoanalysis of people by inviting them into banter over general issues with frequent popup of topics related to vegetarianism.Now, he had got one very good occasion to conduct his survey. The Zamindar of the town was conducting the marriage of his second daughter in a grand manner. This marriage is very significant for Raghupathy and for his vegetarian club, as he had done his previous survey for Zamindar's first daughter's marriage. He can now do a comparative study in the food habits of non-vegetarian people. The another contributing factor to the survey is the sampling crowd. He is going to face the same crowd as the previous one survey, because there was only a gap of around 6 months between the two marriages. The Zamindar , a notorious non-vegetarian man, who claimed to have eaten almost all types of animals in the nearby forest, some of them killed by his own hands, would host the dinner with various different types of animal creatures brought from far places by sycophants of zamindar. Zamindar would also host a vegetarian dinner to please minuscule percentage of vegetarians in the town. This was the place of interest to Raghupathy. He would survey people, why they have chosen to eat in the infamous vegetarian's food corner of the marriage mandapam. Only handful people were present everytime, whenever a function was happening in the marriage mandapam. It was an area separated from other part of the dining hall of marriage mandapam by thatched wall. He would be having his painstakingly prepared vegetarian questionnaire, which was prepared by Raghupathy and his club members, by referring to various vegetarian magazines and by their own insights.
Raghupathy was waiting in the Vegetarian's corner even at the time the food was being prepared. Caterers from the Jothi Bhavan were preparing the food in their allocated area beside the vegetarian's corner. When the dinner started, Raghupathy was surprised to see Zamindar, his wife and his two plump sons and granddaughter, entering the vegetarian's corner. Raghupathy was very happy to note this development, that too from a famed man in his town. He chose to sit near Zamindar to lead Zamindar to get the answers to his questions in the questionnaire, which would pop-up once in a while during the banter with Zamindar. He asked Zamindar why he became a vegetarian?. Zamindar replied that doctors have advised him not to take non-vegetarian food, as he has developed a blockage in heart valve due to the amount of cholesterol in the non-vegetarian food and he wailed that he is missing the non-vegetarian one because of this health issue. He is going to have a bypass surgery in heart and after that he can again eat non-vegetarian food. Raghupathy felt dry throat and could not eat the food, as he found that how human beings are so self-centered when it comes towards eating vegetarianism. They don’t mind doing anything unless it is not affecting them. He did not lose his hope and wanted to find out the factors from the other members of Zamindar's family who accompanied him to vegetarian's corner.He was again interested in Zamindar's granddaughter and he thought the girl being a member of younger generation could not have a reason like that of Zamindar. His mind went on wandering with reasons for the girl being vegetarian like the girl being a softer sex and tender, would have chosen to lead a non-violent life.She was studying higher secondary school and was known to be the most intelligent girl among the family members of Zamindar. He asked the girl, O small girl!!! Why have you come to eat in this vegetarian corner, even though your cousins and your family members have chosen to relish the non-vegetarian food? She casually replied that she is not able to digest non-vegetarian food and feeling heavy in her stomach and doctor told that she is having some problem with her gastrointestinal system and she is currently under medication and should not eat non-vegetarian food. Raghupathy felt like fainting on hearing these not remorseful words from the young girl. He heard the same type of aging constraints and health reasons for not taking non-vegetarian food from the wife and sons of Zamindar.
He came out of the dining hall without eating, as he felt very heavy in the mind due to the self-centered nature of the men. He was not able to bear the thinking that man is not bothered about jeeva karunya and non-violence, non-vegetarianism as long as it is not affecting them. Man is the most selfish and dangerous animal in the world. Because of man's superiority and selfishness many living beings have lost their space in the world and many living beings are being driven to the state of extinction. Even though great people like Vallalar and Thayumanava have stressed about non-violence, Man is not transforming himself. Whether God would love children, who is killing God's own children for their selfishness? So that reason, Vallalar told that Non-violence is the only way for reaching God. He was ready for his article for the next newsletter "The Vegetarian" aptly titled "Hey Man!!! Why you are so self-centered?” , dealing with the self-centered nature of the man towards other living beings.
what about christians and muslims. in these religion vegetarianism is not preached at all.
i also know of member of the sanmarga where their children or spouse are non followers. they rest of the family members are still consuming meat. sometimes these sanmargis are preparing these dishes for the other family members.
i feel its not so much self centeredness. its just ignorance.
what do u all think.