by pandava bandhava das
On a busy shopping street in downtown Athens, people are enjoying the warm
spring sunshine. They are walking, talking, laughing, drinking coffee and
having fun. In Athens there are many beggars as well. It is Saturday and they
are all on the street because they know that they will collect more money than
they would during the week.
The flower sellers are also here on the street. Although there are a
few Bengalis selling flowers, this business is monopolized by the gypsies. The
strategy the gypsies use is to first put the flower in the hand of the person
while telling him that it is for free. However, once the person has taken
the flower they ask for money. But the people are not so stupid. They
understand that there must be a catch there. They know that there is no such
thing as a free lunch in the modern world. (Except maybe if you visit
your local Hare Krishna temple – they usually give a free meal once a week).
So on these grounds, most people refuse to take the flower and just move
on. Fair enough.
But here comes the surprise. The same people, just few meters down the
street, decide to sit for a lunch in one of the numerous restaurants which have
their tables right on the sidewalk. And there they order and eat meat… a lot of
it. What’s the problem?
I believe that this is inconsistency. People are convinced, and rightly so,
that they won’t be able to take the flower and get away with it without paying.
But at the same time they believe, this time wrongly, that they can eat flesh
of slaughtered animals without suffering a reaction. Yes, I believe that this
is inconsistent… and foolish too.
But they won’t understand this argument. Why? Because they don’t want to.
Their behavior is driven not by an honest examination of reality, but rather by
a strong desire to enjoy by eating meat. Therefore anything that opposes this,
even if it makes sense, will be dismissed. This problem is described by Krishna
in the Bhagavad-gita:
Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the
flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for
elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power and so forth. Being
desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say there is nothing
more than this.
Lord Krishna summarizes the principle problem perfectly; for the needs of
our small discussion here we can paraphrase the verse as follows:
“Ignorant persons, who are too attached to eat the corpses of innocent
animals, say that this is all right because they like the taste of meet.”
People who are addicted to certain combination of the material modes of
nature are rarely willing to hear a good advice. And the reason is not because
they really thing that their deeds are right, but because they cannot act
otherwise. They are forced to “enjoy” in
particular way. But part of this “enjoyment” is that one doesn’t want to feel
bad about it, especially when his pleasure is build upon the pain of
innocent creatures. Therefore one has to rationalize his action with some lame
excuses like “animals have no soul”, or “animals are meant for our use dead or
alive”, or “everybody is doing it so it can’t be wrong” or something like that.
That means one is not really searching after the truth. Instead he simply looks
for “arguments” which will make him feel OK although in reality he is an accomplice
in a slaughter. He just tries to put his conscience to sleep.
