[Advaita-l] more on food habits - Correction

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Namaste,

Himakunda mrinaalaabham daityaanaam paramam gurum,
Sarva shaastra pravaktaaram Bhaargavam Pranamaamyaham.

My pranaam to Bhaargava (Shukra, who is white like snow, the kunda
        flower and the white heart of the lotus; who is the highest teacher of
        the daityas; and who is the exponent of all the shaastras.
It is known that the great Shukra also eat meat even though he was expert in all the shastras. Coming to the Vaamaachaara Tantras there is no compulsion in eating. For example, for the teetotallers there is provision for taking substitutes such as Madhu (honey) in place of Wine. For one does not drink but does not have taboo about it either, one can do alipaan (ie. take a drop of it on the tip of the tongue) etc. The Vaamaachaara is very reasonabl, if one follows the texts like the Mahanirvan Tantr, which says that the partner should be the spouse only etc. However there could be violation of the norms in somestray cases.  
--- On Mon, 1/3/11, Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Advaita-l] more on food habits - Correction
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Monday, January 3, 2011, 9:04 PM

namaste,
 
>On Jan 3, 2011, at 12:48 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> 
>wrote:
 >There are however some tantric rituals, wher animal is sacrificed and only the 
non-vegetarians follow this >practice and not the vegetarians have to eat meat. 
Tantra does not believe in forcing people to give up >their addictions forcibly. 
One who is advanced eventually gives up the addictions.
 
A contemporary vegetarian brAhmaNa does not use meat in a tAntric ritual *only* 
because he will be violating his AchAra according to  modern smriti-s like for 
the example the parAsara smriti which is supposed to adhere to.
 
The reason meat is used in some tantric rituals is because, for the tAntrika and 
his particular path it has a philosophical/ritualistic significance...and *not* 
because the tAntrika is habituated to eating meat.
 
In other words in the tAntric context, a vIra(a tAntrika word for one who has 
the senses under perfect control and is additonally equipped with mantra siddhi) 
may use meat and even drink in his ritual even though he never craves for it. 

 
To further clarify, if the tAntrIka ritualist craves for meat or wine he is 
considered unfit and hence he will never be initiated into those rituals. This 
point is clarified repeatedly in scores of tAntrika(especially in the dakShiNa 
srotas or the bhairavAgama) works.


      
_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org