TO BE OR NOT TO BE

I have been asked to write on a very sensitive and personal matter, that is whether it is needed to be a vegetarian to gain the grace of Erai. 

Good afternoon Aiya. I have read few times somewhere in your blog about how you give up non vege food over the night. Its really amazing since people like me still struggling to give up the non vege food attachment. Of course i hv few vegetarian days in a week. But couldn't gv up totally. And.... someone told me that by eating non vege, you can't pray to Agathiar appa. If you have time Aiya, please gv some enlightenment or guidance to ppl like me via your blog writing. Thank you.

I replied to her,

These are the people who confuse others ma. God does not reject his child just by judging whats on his menu. God only sees the soul and not the physical. The reason they ask us to be vegetarian, and this answer is specifically for those seeking to become light like the siddhas and vallalar, is that it is easier to go through the transformation from solid to light body. Moreover at higher levels or states on the spiritual ladder, we need not even worry about eating because we will be taking in the ambrosia that is formed and oozes out from within. So why the fuss over food for common people like us?

She replied,

Thank you so much Aiya. i was so shattered and upset over the "remarks". Even i was told Siddhas get angry when i eat non vege & pray to them. I'm very clear now. I hv a stand that if i give up non vege food, it has to be voluntarily. No more even a slight liking in it.  I believe one day i shall give up totally this non vege food.

The reason to become vegetarian, for our purpose here, can be seen from two aspects. Ramalinga Adigal advocated his followers to be a vegetarian from the aspect of humanitarian grounds. He was a great saint and soul. He expressed compassion and love towards fellow humans in his days, where there was much oppression from all quarters towards human beings. He built the Dharma Salai to feed the poor and hungry. His extreme compassion crossed over to the animal kingdom too for these animals too tend to express their love, affection and attachment for both their offspring and their owners. Ramalinga Adigal's boundless love now then crossed over to the plant kingdom too when he sings a commonly quoted line, that he was sad at seeing the stalk of grain wither. Besides abstaining from hurting man and animal, and refraining from slaughtering and eating meat, he felt great sadness at seeing the wilted plants. Now let me place a question before you. If his heart and soul was saddened by the sight of the withering plant, would he have eaten them and other plants too? What could possibly be his diet then? 

The love in him went beyond boundaries, incorporating all of Erai's creation that he shunned from harming much less eating the meat, torso and carcass of animals. He had advised his followers to abstain from eating tubers and roots too for the sole reason that to harvest them would mean digging into the earth and removing them. They then "die". But he gave an exception that one could eat the yam or karunai kilangu. Each siddha and saint has recommended a life giving/saving herb to be consumed. Similarly Ramalinga Adigal's choice was karisalai, which is a plant. 

Ramalinga Adigal, we are told, only ate once in a few days and that too only a morsel or two. He would go on without food for days. In his state of spiritual transformation and attainment, he did not need food to sustain his body and life. How was that possible? He partook the ambrosia that flowed within. 

One should understand that what the masters, saints and gurus taught was from their own experience on the path to Erai. The problem with us is that the ego in us equates us with them without even coming to experience or reaching their saintly state. We dress like them and begin to churn the teachings of the saints minus the experience. 

One must remember that when we too come to their exalted spiritual state, all our aversions and desires too shall drop off its own accord, without any external force or directives. Our body is very intelligent. It brings the necessary changes for attaining a spiritual body and mind. We would not like nor dislike another, and we would not make choices in picking and choosing food. Neither would we prefer certain practices over others etc. An enlightened man would not make choices; he would not use his free will but instead live out the will of Erai.

Our prayer should then be that the divine work its magic in us too and help us subdue these cravings, rather then we curb it forcefully only to have it lay dormant and raise its hood when the situation and surroundings are favorable for it to germinate and grow again. All cravings should die a natural death never to rise again.

Agathiyar sees this debate from another expect. The need to abstain from taking meat arises if you are specifically working towards reaching the state of light or jhoti as did the siddhas and Ramalinga Adigal. In the process the body goes through numerous changes and inner transformation. It sheds its skin seven times just like the snake does. As often said, we are what we eat all the meat intake taken over the years need to be purged out, since the particles from the digested meat had gone into making the body, serving as building blocks of the body. If we abstain from taking meat early in life, the transformation would not hurt as much and would not prolong long. It would be quick and easy. These is based on true life experiences of saints and notes from people on the path to transform the physical body to that of a light body.

It all boils down to our choices in life - who do we want to be or what do we want to become?

Pardon me if I am wrong here. This is my understanding based on what I was told; what I have seen and been through and what little I could understand from the teachings of the great saints.