12/02/2014

Osho - Vegetarianism is a by-product of Meditation


Question - Beloved Osho, Why are all your Disciples Vegetarian?

Osho - I do not believe in vegetarianism, because I do not believe in anything. My disciples are vegetarian not as a cult, not as a creed. They are vegetarians because their meditations make them more human, more of the heart, and they can see the whole stupidity of people killing living beings for their food. It is their sensitivity, their aesthetic awareness that makes them vegetarians.

I don't teach vegetarianism; it is a by-product of meditation. Wherever meditation has happened, people have become vegetarian, always, for thousands of years.

The oldest religion in the world is Jainism. It is a small religion, that's why not much is known to the outside world; it exists only in India. Jainism has no God; hence, there is no possibility of prayer.

When God and prayer are discarded, then what is left for a religion? God is somewhere outside, your prayer is addressed to someone outside. Discarding God and prayer you are really saying, "I would like now to go inward." And meditation is a way of going inward.

For thousands of years Jainas have been vegetarians. You have to know this fact, that all their twenty-four teachers -- they call them tirthankaras, their messiahs -- came from the warrior caste. They were all meat-eaters. They were professional warriors. What happened to these people?

Meditation transformed their whole vision. Not only did their swords fall from their hands, their warriorhood disappeared, but a new phenomenon started happening: a tremendous feeling of love towards existence. They became absolutely one with the whole. Vegetarianism is just a small part of that great revolution. The same happened in Buddhism. Buddha did not believe in God, did not believe in prayer.

Courtesy- Satheesh Kumar Ji - SVM

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