Crazy Sexy Life

Sharon Gannon is the author of Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness. Today, Sharon shares some of the frequently asked questions she encounters on vegetarianism and how it relates to yoga and spirituality.

Q: What does it mean to be a spiritual person?

A: All living beings are spiritual beings because all of life breathes. Breath is an indication that spirit is present. The words for spirit in the ancient languages of Aramaic (ruha) and Hebrew (ruach) also mean “breath.” Even in English, breath is defined as “the vital spirit, which animates living beings.” Our breath is connected to the air that every being breathes. By breathing consciously, we acknowledge our communion with all of life. There are atoms of air in your lungs that were once in the lungs of everyone who has ever lived. In essence, we are breathing (inspiring) one another. To be alive is to be breathing. To live and breathe with an exclusive focus on one’s small self, disconnected from the whole, is the definition of egotism. The enemy of the spirit is the selfish ego, which thinks that happiness can be gained through causing unhappiness and disharmony to others. In many ancient languages, the word for enemy means “one who falls out of rhythm; one who is not working in harmony with the larger group.”

Freedom from this disharmony can begin by letting go of the breath as “my” breath. As we let go, we enter into the shared life force, into a sense of harmony that connects us all: the breath, the Holy Spirit. If you want to know if someone is a “spiritual being” ask yourself, “Is he or she breathing?” If the answer is yes, then you know that you are in the presence of a spiritual being.

Q: If yoga teaches us that all of life is sacred, then what is the difference if I eat a carrot or a hamburger?

A: Yes, all of life is sacred, and there is scientific evidence supporting the idea that plants have feelings. However, in the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali gives ahimsa, or nonharming, as a “practice,” which implies that it can never be perfected. You practice doing your best to cause the least amount of harm. He also recommends aparigraha, which is the practice of not being greedy, or taking too much. The animals whom we eat consume large quantities of vegetables, so when you eat those animals you are consuming not only the animals but also all the vegetables that those animals have been eating.

Additionally, animals raised for human consumption require a lot of food and land. It takes eight or nine cows a year to feed one average meat eater. Each cow eats one acre of green plants, soybeans, and corn. So it takes nine acres of plants a year to feed one meat eater, compared with half an acre to feed one vegetarian. Most of the plants grown to be fed to farm animals are heavily saturated with pesticides and herbicides and have been genetically modified, all of which contributes to the pollution and death of our environment. In terms of causing the least amount of harm, a vegetarian diet is superior, because a vegetarian eats the plants directly instead of eating the animals who were fed plants.

Q: Aren’t cows sacred to yogis? Aren’t milk and ghee considered perfect sattvic foods for a yogi?

A: Yoga may have originated in India, where the cow has been revered as sacred for thousands of years, but times have changed since Lord Krishna played his flute for the cows of Vrindavan. There are factory farms in India now. European cows have been inbred with the native cows of India, resulting in a short-legged breed that is no longer useful in the heavy work of pulling carts or plowing fields. This doesn’t limit the ability of the cows to produce milk, but approximately half the calves born are male. What happens to all the male calves being born in dairies? Their bodies wind up in the large black market focusing on beef and the sale of other products derived from cows. India is the leading exporter of leather to America and Europe. The tanning process involved in the leather is highly toxic and maims or kills thousands of people every year. Since it is illegal in many Indian states to kill a cow, there is much denial and secrecy surrounding the exploitation of cows in India.

Q: Shouldn’t we as spiritual practitioners try to live a more simple life and just eat normal food and not be picky? Vegetarianism seems so complicated!

A: It is a testament to the effectiveness of advertising campaigns funded by the animal-user industries that a diet that is bad for us and harmful to the planet is thought of as “normal” and a diet that promotes health, happiness, and well-being is thought of as alternative, abnormal, or faddish. In fact, these days it is relatively easy to find vegetarian options in many restaurants and supermarkets, though you may have to ask. Moreover, the fact is that it is much more complicated to confine, raise, feed, slaughter, process, package, and market an animal for food than it is to grow plants.

Q: Can you eat meat and still be a spiritual person?

A: All breathing beings are spiritual; this includes everyone who breathes, whether they are animals or humans, carnivores or vegetarians.

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