Vegetarianism discussed in numerous scriptures

Vegetarianism has been discussed and preferred in numerous scriptures. I’ve quoted some examples from the Himalayan Academy website below: –

Many are the lovely flowers of worship offered to the Guru, but none lovelier than non-killing. Respect for life is the highest worship, the bright lamp, the sweet garland and unwavering devotion. Tirumantiram 197

SPIRITUAL MERIT and sin are our own making. The killer of other lives is an outcast. Match your words with your conduct. Steal not, kill not, indulge not in self-praise, condemn not others to their face. Lingayat Vachanas

AHIMSA IS NOT CAUSING pain to any living being at any time through the actions of one’s mind, speech or body. Sandilya Upanishad When mind stuff is firmly based in waves of ahimsa, all living beings cease their enmity in the presence of such a person. Yoga Sutras 2.35. YP, pg. 205

Those who are ignorant of real dharma and, though wicked and haughty, account themselves virtuous, kill animals without any feeling of remorse or fear of punishment. Further, in their next lives, such sinful persons will be eaten by the same creatures they have killed in this world. Shrimad Bhagavatam 11.5.4. FS, pg, 90

The Tirukural, Preeminent Ethical Scripture

Perhaps nowhere is the principle of non meat-eating so fully and eloquently expressed as in the Tirukural, written in the Tamil language by a simple weaver saint in a village near Madras over 2,000 years ago. Considered the world’s greatest ethical scripture, it is sworn on in South Indian courts of law.

It is the principle of the pure in heart never to injure others, even when they themselves have been hatefully injured. What is virtuous conduct? It is never destroying life, for killing leads to every other sin. 312; 321, TW

Harming others, even enemies who harmed you unprovoked, assures incessant sorrow. The supreme principle is this: never knowingly harm any one at any time in any way. 313; 317, TW

What is the good way? It is the path that reflects on how it may avoid killing any living creature. Refrain from taking precious life from any living being, even to save your own life. 324; 327, TW

How can he practice true compassion Who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh? TK 251, TW

Riches cannot be found in the hands of the thriftless. Nor can compassion be found in the hearts of those who eat meat. TK 252, TW

Goodness is never one with the minds of these two: one who wields a weapon and one who feasts on a creature’s flesh. TK 253, TW

If you ask, “What is kindness and what is unkind?” it is not killing and killing. Thus, eating flesh is never virtuous. TK 254, TW

Life is perpetuated by not eating meat. The.The clenched jaws of hell hold those who do. TK 255, TW

If the world did not purchase and consume meat, there would be none to slaughter and offer meat for sale. TK 256, TW

When a man realizes that meat is the butchered flesh of another creature, he must abstain from eating it. TK 257, TW

Perceptive souls who have abandoned passion will not feed on flesh abandoned by life. TK 258, TW

Greater than a thousand ghee offerings consumed in sacrificial fires is to not sacrifice and consume any living creature. TK 259, TW

All that lives will press palms together in prayerful adoration of those who refuse to slaughter and savor meat. TK 260, TW

Tirumantiram: (Tamil) “Holy incantation.”

The Nandinatha Sampradaya’s oldest Tamil scripture; written ca 200 bce by Rishi Tirumular. It is the earliest of the Tirumurai, and a vast storehouse of esoteric yogic and tantric knowledge. It contains the mystical essence of raja yoga and siddha yoga, and the fundamental doctrines of the 28 Saiva Siddhanta Agamas, which in turn are the heritage of the ancient pre-historic traditions of Saivism.

As the Agamas themselves are now partially lost, the Tirumantiram is a rare source of the complete Agamanta (collection of Agamic lore). Its 3047 verses were, as legend has it, composed in a rather extraordinary way. Before writing each verse, Tirumular would meditate for an entire year, then summarize his meditation in a fourline Tamil verse. He did this for 3,000 years! The allegory is said to mean that 3,000 years of knowledge is compacted in this one book. The text is organized in nine parts, called tantras, summarized as follows:

1) basic rules of religious morality;

2) allegorical explanations of Saiva mythological stories; five powers of Siva, three classifications of souls;

3) a complete treatise on raja yoga;

4) mantras and tantras;

5) the essential features of the Saiva religion; the four forms of Saivism, four stages, unorthodox paths, conduct to be avoided;

6) the Sivaguru, grace, renunciation, sin, penance, jnana, worthy and unworthy persons;

7) siddha yoga, more on grace, mudras, control of ida and pingala, worlds reached by different classes of yogis after death, refinements of yoga, the satguru;

8) essential theology: five sheaths, eleven states, three padarthas (Pati-pashu-pasha), 36 tattvas, four states of consciousness, three malas, three gunas, ten karanas, etc.;

9) the fruits of realization, liberation, jnana, Siva’s dances, meeting of the guru.