Holier-Than-Thou 'Vegans' And Vegetarians
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
29
September 2023
“The biggest cheat in India today is ISKCON.
They establish gaushalas for which they get unlimited benefits from the
government to run them. They get huge land...everything. I just visited their
Anantput Gaushala. Not a single dry cow (one that has not been milked) is
present. All are dairies. There is not a single calf. It means all of them were
sold. ISCKON is selling all its cows to the butcher.`
Maneka Gandhi
I'm neither
a Krishna Bhakt, nor am I a supporter of the dubious 'spiritual' organization
known as ISKCON. But I feel that
Maneka's allegation is unfounded. She's a rabid animal rights activist and
calls herself a vegan, a fashionably obscure term of recent origin, used for a person
who avoids consuming all types of meat as well as using all animal products.
These
quixotic people don't even drink milk and its products like cheese, butter, ice
cream etc. Instead, they use almond milk as a replacement of animal milk. Such
hypocrites are an outright nuisance to society. They suffer from acute dietary
snobbery and often treat non-vegetarians quite disparagingly.
Agreed,
it's good to fight for animal rights and spread the awareness among the people
that eating meat is not good for health and it's also unethical as you're indirectly
involved in killing a helpless animal for your palate. But condemning those who
relish non-veg is also unfair and unjust.
Humans have
this undesirable habit of stretching everything a trifle too much and a tad too
long. They tend to cast aspersions on those whose ways are different. This is
called cultural relativism and in this context, this is dietary relativism.
When nearly
78 percent (some reports suggest 82 percent) people in India are
non-vegetarians (including those who eat 'only' eggs; this is a sub-species of
non-veg!) and are in no mood to give it up anytime soon, it's advisable for the
vegans and vegetarians to keep mum and mind their own business. Don't be
preachy and pontificating while eulogising the exaggerated benefits of vegetarianism.
Let people eat what they want to.
Yours truly
doesn't even touch eggs but writes about various egg preparations. He has never
tried meat in his whole life but he writes on continental meat preparations of
mutton, beef, pork and Crustaceans in world's leading culinary magazines like
Bon Appetit, Saveur, Wine Spectator,
Gastronomica, to name but a few. This holier-than-thou Maneka should
concentrate on her work rather than condemn those who love to eat meat. What
ISKCON folks do with cows is their outlook. Don't be so bovine-brained and officious.
------
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/holier-thou-vegans-vegetarians/d/130783