There are people eating everything from lion to crocs. If that was the only food available then eating that is what is needed. It does not mean I will eat it because they do not form a part of my food habit, but go to Africa, they eat everything..
There are people doing wrong/bad things. Does that mean we endorse it and follow suit? No! As far as humans are concerned we choose what we eat in most cases. so why not make a better choice and choose vegetarian food?
There is no animal level. Animals follow their dharma too without which they will die. Survival is dharma. So stop looking down your nose on that as animal level
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That is your personal opinion, not the truth. The sages have said that there are three levels for humans: Dev bhav (God-like) Manushya Bhav (Human-like) and Pashu Bhav (animal-like). I will give a brief description.
In pashu bhav a human is concerned mainly about three things namely food, sensory needs and shelter. Such a human is concerned only about sensory pleasures, satisfaction of hunger and thirst and lastly security. He is under the control of his vices. He cannot rise to a higher level unless he makes efforts to do so.
In manushya bhav his consciousness rises to a higher level and has moral qualities. He becomes concerned about others and tries to help them. The human has compassion for other creatures and focuses on doing good karma.
In Dev bhav the human becomes selfless. He rises to the highest level and becomes very virtuous. For him the entire universe is his family. such a human also practices nishkama karma yoga. He places the needs of others above his own,if required and also does not hesitate to make the necessary sacrifices.
Animals follow their nature, not dharma. Survival cannot be always regarded as dharma. For eg. should a soldier give up his duty of protecting his motherland and his people so that he can survive? would that be dharma? No. it would be adharma. Even Lord Rama killed the Asuras who were killing the Rishis for their own survival. Do you think that the Asuras were right? Survival will become dharma or adharma depending upon your intention, action and the consequences of your action. Most people eat meat to satisfy their taste-buds, not for survival. when you have good options and even then you don't use them and choose the wrong options then it is adharma.
Animal level is the lowest level as it is governed by lower nature and lower desires. This is mentioned by the sages, in the shastras and even by Lord Krishna in the Bhagwad-gita. classifications are inevitable. There is nothing wrong in it, except when you use them to insult anybody and i am not doing that.
We are not much different than animals considering we belong to the animal kingdom and not plant kingdom. Early humans to survive would have had to eat animals too and yes animals which they killed would have been the natural choice. I do not have to do that because I am not the earliest of human beings
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You are talking about the biological classification. There is another classification. The sages say that the Human birth is karma yoni while all other births on earth are bhog yoni. In a karma yoni you get the right to do good or bad karma according to your choice. In the bhog yoni you cannot do karma. you are controlled by the nature of the yoni and are forced to live a life accordingly. so even if humans belong to the animal kingdom they are different and higher beings. They cannot be categorized with animals. The differences are simply huge.
The first cycle of time on earth was Satyuga when virtuousness was at its peak. In that case meat eaters if at all, may have been very few. What ever it may have been, the bottom line is that we must avoid meat as far as possible. sin is associated with meat eating. All the enlightened masters and avatars endorse this stand.
Nature does differentiate between human beings, otherwise we will all be each others clones. There are different level of needs in everyone. Not everyone is emotional. Not everyone is stoic. Not everyone is brave. We are all different. The wise can say we should be satvic, but as you said that is a personal choice. Even during Krishna's time, everyone was not Satvic.
All those differences are not made by nature. They are a result of our karma. Faces are different for identification. faculties are same and nature does not differentiate between humans or animals on these parameters unless there is karmic interference. For eg. a person of lower birth has same spiritual faculties as a person of higher birth. Nature does not differentiate. The physical or attributive differences arise because of karma.
When you go to buy clothes or any other item for that matter, don't you choose the best? if yes, then why not choose a satvic lifestyle which is the best? only slaves of desires and mind are unable to do that. they are just too weak.
During Krishna's time many were satvic. Those who were tamasic or rajsic were destroyed in the mahabharata war because these qualities took them toward adharma . so what is good? Being satvic or rajsic or tamasic?
Rajas and Tamas are needed but their influence should be minimized and more importance should be given to satva.
Irrespective of what people are, or what they choose, the wise thing to do is choose the best as indicated by the enlightened masters and avatars. That will save you from negative karma. Then again its your personal choice.
But remember, your choice will influence others and through them the world at large.
Yes spiritual evolution with material enjoyment through right means. Does not mean no killing at all
In most cases killing of animals is done to satisfy taste-buds of people. so that cannot be termed right. To satisfy hunger, other options are available. so killing in this case would also be wrong. Killing is allowed by God only when you need to protect yourself or somebody else when you or that person has not done anything wrong and when there is no other option. And also for food when there is no other option.
I said all humanity. If they are replaced by other humans who also do the same thing that too negates creation. If everyone was supposed to look, act, and behave the same that negates purpose of creation.
No it does not negate the purpose of creation because all beings of a particular species have the same particular role to play.The purpose of creation was plurality. while evolution followed creation. As i said humans belong to karma yoni and have been given the right to do karma and that is why the sages say that we should do good karma ,so that we can evolve to a higher level and ultimately attain moksha. That is the purpose of creation of humans. Bad karma like killing unnecessarily for food will ultimately cause suffering and also result in our downfall. hence we should avoid that.
if every human did that and if as you say, it negates the purpose of creation, then would the sages and avatars have given this knowledge freely to everyone? No. only a privileged few would have received it.
