Interesting Website: Eastern Religious Beliefs

[RedTara90]

Hello PA Community! This is my first thread here, so please don't mind if it isn't as detailed, organized, and/or as informative as I had intended, or if it's not posted under a suitable main forum. Lately I've been thinking about my diet, specifically my desire to abstain from eating meat. I decided to research the correlation between vegetarianism and reincarnation, and stumbled upon an interesting website:

http://www.praveenmk.com/index.html

Here is an excerpt regarding the link between reincarnation and vegetarianism:

When a person is utterly vegetarian he can easily remember his past lives. His clarity is such that he can look into his past lives. He is not gross, his energy is not blocked, his energy moves easily. His river of consciousness can penetrate to the ancient most times; he can go backwards as much as he wants. The consciousness of a non-vegetarian is blocked -- in many ways. He has been accumulating gross matter in himself. That gross matter functions as a barrier. That's why all the three religions that were born outside India, and have remained non-vegetarian, could not come to the idea of reincarnation. They could not experience it...

The soul moves from one animal to another animal. The bodies are not evolving, but souls are evolving. The candles are not evolving, but the flames go on jumping from one candle to another. The flame goes on rising higher and higher. The evolution is of consciousness, not of the material, physiological body. That is where Darwin missed the whole point. But in the East for at least ten thousand years we have been aware of it. The awareness came through meditation and the awareness was based in vegetarianism -- because people started remembering their past lives...

It can not only remember that you were a man in the past life -- slowly slowly, you will remember that you have been animals. AND, sometimes, when the depth gross, you will remember that you have been trees, rocks. You have lived for millennia in many forms. And if you remember that once you were a fish, it will become difficult for you to eat fish. Vegetarianism leads you into remembering your past lives. And KNOWING your past lives, you become more and more a vegetarian -- because seeing that all are brothers and sisters, the whole existence, you cannot kill animals. It becomes simply impossible! Not that you have to prevent yourself: it simply becomes impossible.

http://www.praveenmk.com/article_rei...tarianism.html

I'm not sure if all of the content on that site was originally written by its creator, but so far the articles I've read have been very insightful. Another article that stood out to me was the explanation of the primordial "AUM" sound vibration:

Hindus say that aum is the sound of existence, and then it divides in three: a, u, m, and then the three become many. From one, three; from three, many and millions. Now even science agrees that there is only one energy in existence; that one energy is divided in three. You may call it electron, proton and neutron; you may call it a, u, m; you may call it the Christian trinity: God, the Son, the Holy Ghost; you may call it the Hindu trimurti: Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu – whatsoever the name, the name is irrelevant, but one thing is certain: one becomes three, and then three becomes many. And if you want to move backwards to the one, move from the many to three and then let the three combine – it will become one. Aum is a way, it is a mantra, a path, to combine all the sounds in three, to first reduce all the sounds to three – and then aum becomes the door for the one...

If you enter deeper meditation soon you will realize that a sound is continuously happening there. It is the sound of existence itself, the humming sound of existence itself. And if you listen without interpreting it, if you don’t force any interpretation on it, if you simply listen and watch and observe, sooner or later you will realize it is aum vibrating inside...

The Upanishads say that aum is the very structure of this existence. When you are totally silent and the mind has dissolved and the thoughts disappeared, when the ego has ceased, then you hear the sound of aum – it is a soundless sound. No one is creating it, it is there. It is the very existential sound; it is how existence happens to be – just a humming sound of existence. Existence is there, alive – that aliveness creates a sound; or, to that aliveness a sound happens. That sound is not created by anybody; it is uncreated, anahat. It is called ANAHAT NAD; ANAHAT NAD means unstruck sound. AUM is the unstruck sound; there is no instrument. When you become absolutely silent, suddenly it is there.

http://www.praveenmk.com/article_aum...ial_sound.html

So here is what I would like to know:

1. What are your opinions regarding reincarnation and vegetarianism (as individual or collective subjects)?
2. Physiologically, are humans meant to be frugivores, carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, vegans, vegetarians, breatharians (I'm sure I've missed a few )?
3. Does eating meat hinder the development of psychic abilities?
4. How accurate are his depictions of Eastern religions?
5. Regarding the AUM article, is this a legitimate theory of the origin of verbal and written language, or is it just romanticizing the creation myths? (I didn't include it in the quote, but the full article mentioned that language stemmed from the varied phonetics of "a", "u", and "m")

I'm not very well versed in Eastern religion, and am wary of getting drawn into it, as I have recently broken free from the programming of Western religion. I know that the ultimate "truth" is within, but I still enjoy learning from different cultures! Anyway, what prompted this search was my growing aversion to eating meat, but my guilt of not being able to stop eating it. Feel free to reply please!

[Sunny-side-up]

Hi RedTara90 good info in your post.

Last night I stood by my local river Thames with my dog, looking at the view and the sky.

Coincidence: For the first time in many years I started humming/producing the Om/AUM sound wile I was enjoying nature

Your questions I will have to think about (Not much time here atmo) but number 5, If you think of A e i O U you can actually have a simple 'English' conversation just using those 5 letters!
by adding attenuation and hand and facial expressions:
A sounds like Hey (Questioning),
E sounds like He,
I is of course I,Me and in some parts of England can mean Yes,
O is Realization Ho,
U is You

I know my answer to your question 5 is not quite what you was looking for, just a bit of fun

[FinallyNow]

Hello and thanks for this site. It has information that I've been seeking lately to make comparisons with.

With regard to dietary choices like vegetarianism I have some perspectives because I have gravitated toward it and away from it on and off since 2008 due to health issues and my own promptings in conjunction with a doctor or two that is NOT purely alopathic in approach to treatments.

It is difficult to summarize succinctly my years of experimentation but here goes.

I am convinced that due to our own genetic and cultural diversity that there is a certain percentage of us that really need and are nourished by eating meat. I was for a time about 80% vegan. I also see evidence that we may be slowly evolving away from it too. I have juiced consistently for almost 15 years. Then I moved in with my aging mother and increased my meat consumption. I have had just as many and varied spiritual experiences while eating a diet with more meat than I had when I was vegan. However, I cannot conclude anything except that it doesn't impact things too much or at least can be neutral. I was in a low when I moved and my health and overall balance have increased since my diet change. For me there are too many factors outside of diet at work here to conclude anything regarding meat. In neither case have I ever yet had any real recollections of past lives. I might be able to better answer this if I again decrease my consumption in this improved state. So I actually have been able to increase my health, balance and some vitatality while on this increased diet of meat. I have raised my vibration while eating more meat. It almost confuses me to conclude that because I believed those things to be true and here I have evidence in my life that contradicts that to some extent. Power of intention?


Interestingly enough I also just began to hum AUM and another chant recently and their effect on my space and myself are pretty apparent.

[RedTara90]

Sunny-side-up, I appreciate the response, and I do believe you are correct in how our vowels evolved from aum! I believe that life started with some kind of sound vibration, and perhaps that sound vibration was harnessed to move the massive stones that make up many megalithic sites.

[RedTara90]

FinallyNow, I'm glad the website has pertinent information for you! I think a lot of the articles are sourced from other websites, so if you're looking for more information the article may continue on another site. Usually there's a source link provided at the top or the bottom of the article. I know that everyone's body is different, but it's good to know that it is possible to evolve spiritually, as long as the diet is generally clean. I just thought it was interesting that there is a belief that part of getting out of the wheel of reincarnation is to not kill and eat an animal violently. Here is another link that discusses why meat may be harmful, but I don't know if this is pseudoscience:
http://www.praveenmk.com/being_vegetarian.html

[FinallyNow]

Thanks RedTara90. That website is deep with information as well. I've bookmarked both sites to return to.

[Akasha]

Welcome to Avalon, Tara.

I'm going to have a go at answering your 5 questions in the OP so here goes:

1. What are your opinions regarding reincarnation and vegetarianism (as individual or collective subjects)?

I am aware of reincarnation as a concept, not an experience. I haven't eaten meat since 2003 but that still hasn't given me the ability to peruse my past lives (if they happened at all), let alone do so with the clarity suggested in the first excerpt of the OP…however, when the author starts talking about evolution of consciousness, he strikes a chord which resonates with me and my experiences 100%. If we look back through this life, we can all recognise the evolution of our individuated forms of consciousness thus far and for me, stopping carcass consumption coincided perfectly with the first glimpses of my ongoing awakening. For me, the evolution of 'my' consciousness has always been synonymous with key choices when certain crossroads had been reached and a decision had to be made…when push comes to shove as it were, the ignorance of such force being far more detrimental to one's being than the shove itself. I guess my most recent such crossroads was going vegan 2 years ago. As my awareness grew about the subject and in particular the notion of nonviolence having to necessarily mean I eliminate all animal products, it started to become clear that going 100% plant-based was the only way of that evolution of consciousness not being restricted or even stopped entirely.

I think that covers it from an individual perspective. From a collective perspective, I feel the less we kill and / or exploit sentient life, the better the world will become for our children. I know that doesn't really cover reincarnation with regard to vegetarianism per se, but our species is reincarnating collectively with each individual birth and death and I feel it will head to a more positive future if it adopts a more compassionate diet.

2. Physiologically, are humans meant to be frugivores, carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, vegans, vegetarians, breatharians (I'm sure I've missed a few )?

In my opinion, herbivores / frugivores (vegan).

3. Does eating meat hinder the development of psychic abilities?

I have no idea since I have never experienced such abilities.

4. How accurate are his depictions of Eastern religions?

As far as I know, pretty accurate, but while taking a casual interest in eastern philosophy / religion, I'm no expert.

5. Regarding the AUM article, is this a legitimate theory of the origin of verbal and written language, or is it just romanticizing the creation myths? (I didn't include it in the quote, but the full article mentioned that language stemmed from the varied phonetics of "a", "u", and "m")

Who knows? Maybe someone on Avalon is a linguistics historian but it ain't me. Personally I don't subscribe to any of the creation myths. Evolution makes far more sense, and whilst I can't perceive specific past lives, visualising the history of life through the lens of evolution is, for me, really quite simple and appears far more plausible than the descriptions in the Bible, the Greek myths or the Vedas.

Well done for breaking "free from the programming of western religion" btw. Depending on one's upbringing, the spells can be very powerful and the locks and chains equally strong. Consciousness is the key to breaking / unlocking them, at least in my experience.

[RedTara90]

Thank you for answering my questions Akasha! Yes, breaking free from religion was very difficult. Many times doubt and the fear of "going to hell" would creep back into my mind, but I am much more at peace now than any time I stepped foot into a church.