Many compelling arguments have been made about vegetarianism from the ethical and environmental points of view; however, it is not as widely known that a vegetarian diet also helps you considerably if you are looking to discover inner peace through meditation. Over the years, many meditation teachers have extolled the values of a vegetarian diet, but it has probably come to increased prominence in the past hundred years due to the increasing availability of Eastern spiritual thought in the West.

The reasons why a vegetarian diet can help are quite practical. Over time, a regular practice of meditation purifies our thoughts and emotions, sifting out our negative patterns of behaviour and leaving us with that which is truly essential; a vegetarian diet can assist considerably in this process of purification. The Chandogya Upanishad, written by the ancient sages of India, states “When food is pure, the mind is pure; when the mind is pure, concentration is steady; when concentration is achieved one can loosen all the knots of the heart that bind us”. This particular verse was indeed often quoted by the great twentieth-century sage Sri Ramana Maharshi, who was of the belief that a pure vegetarian diet was the most important aid to meditation. "

The vegetarian diet plays a most important role in the spiritual life", Sri Chinmoy, another modern-day meditation teacher, writes. "Purity is of paramount importance for an aspirant. This purity we must establish in the physical, the vital and the mental. When we eat meat and fish, the aggressive, animal consciousness enters into us. Our nerves become agitated; they become restless and aggressive, and this can interfere with our meditation. But the mild qualities of fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, help us to establish, in our inner life as well as in our outer life, the qualities of sweetness, softness, simplicity and purity."

However, we cannot and should not say that a vegetarian diet is absolutely essential in order to meditate well. There wee spiritual teachers of the highest calibre who ate meat - Jesus Christ is the example that probably springs first to mind. Swami Vivekananda, who was instrumental in bringing Eastern thought from the West, was another example. All we can say is that it can definitely helps. However the journey of self-discovery and self-mastery is far from easy, and if one is seriously interested on trying, it is always wise to introduce as many helpful practices as possible. There is an old Indian tale that illustrates this point perfectly: an elephant was walking through the forest when he noticed a log in his way. He wrapped his trunk around the log and pulled and pulled, but to no avail. No matter how hard he tried, he failed to move the trunk. Then an ant who was passing by came over and asked could he be of any assistance. The elephant at first made fun of this tiny little ant for having the cheek to come over, and told him to go away; he was quite tired and grumpy at this stage. But the ant persisted, and finally the elephant agreed to let him try. So, the ant grabbed a old of the elephant's tail, and they both pulled together. Lo and behold, the log moved! So even if you think a vegetarian diet is of minimal help in your meditation quest, it is that minimal part that might just make the difference in your meditation.

Meditation of course also awakens your compassionate side, which makes it harder to justify killing animals for food to yourself. As the Buddha is reported to have said: "How can a bhikshu (seeker of truth) who hopes to become a deliverer of others, himself be living on the flesh of other sentient beings?”

Many people are under the impression that a vegetarian diet is difficult to adopt. It may have been back in day when Eastern meditation teachers were first coming to the west - for example, Paramhansa Yogananda thought it wise to append vegetarian recipes to his early teachings to help his students adjust - but such is the choice in today's supermarkets that one can be a vegetarian and never worry for a moment about what one is eating. Another spurious argument that people use to dismiss vegetarian diets is that it does not give one the necessary strength; however, one only need look at vegetarian athletes like Billie Jean King or Martina Navratilova, or the majority of the runners in the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile race, the longest road race race in the world. "Over the years, we have had runners who are not vegetarians, and I could be wrong, but it seems to me that they came around to realizing that vegetarian was the best diet for this kind of ultra distance, especially in the heat.", says Suprabha Beckjord, who has been running this epic race for the past ten years. "There was this one fellow who came for several years. He asked the race directors to pick up hamburgers. He realized after a while that that was too heavy. You just cannot handle that kind of food."

Related links

• Photos courtesy of The Blue Bird [1] vegetarian restauraunt in Auckland, New Zealand.
• The 3100 mile race is currently taking place at the moment, yo can read more on their daily blog [2]. Also you can read the full interview with Suprabha [3] from which the above quote was taken...

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