To eat meat or not to eat meat is a dilemma that has perhaps bothered many. The conclusion of a systematic medical study shows that:
1. Meat is not an essential diet for humans
2. Further, meat is an unnatural and unsuitable diet for humans
3. Meat eating actually has harmful effects on various aspects of human life.
Meat eating involves the slaughtering of animals – a fact which most meat eaters conveniently forget or ignore. Slaughtering is a painful process and visit to a slaughter house can be a nightmarish experience. Animals are sentient creatures with feelings and fears like humans. Some people who find that personally killing an animal is too gruesome tend to believe that merely eating flesh does not implicate them in violence. This is not a valid argument. In a court of law, all those who conspire in a murder are considered responsible, particularly the party who purchases the assassin’s services. Simiarly, all those who are connected to the slaughter of an animal are liable by the law of Karma. In the Manu Samhita, India’s ancient book of civic codes the following six guilty parties are enumerated – one who gives permission for the killing, the person who kills, the person who helps, the person who purchases the meat, the person who cooks the flesh and finally the person who eats it.