Over the two decades since I started practising yoga, I have met a good number of vegetarians. Many of them had given up meat despite the fact that they used to like it – out of commitment to non-violence. But does vegetarianism really mean putting food on your table with no animals being killed in the process? I myself have some doubts on that score. Just because we don't eat chicken, beef and pork, it does not mean we are getting our food entirely without sacrificing other lives.
We don't eat them, we eat their food
There are tens of species classified as pests in the UK only, from the notorious slugs and aphids to the less known carrot and onion flies. The monoculture way we grow our crops these days makes it very easy for pests to spread and multiply. If they had all the food they wanted, we wouldn't get our grains, fruit and vegetables.
We are taking over their habitats
Just by being alive, we are squeezing other species out of existence. We humans are reducing the habitats of countless other species, driving many to extinction. And not only the wildebeests, antelopes, big cats and elephants of Africa. It happens on every continent, in all places where humans live or have economic interests.
The inescapable fact is that being and staying alive on this planet involves a fierce completion for resources – food, drinkable water and physical space. This fact is sometimes difficult to square with our neatly laid out ethical principles. The living world has grown along food chains – many animals eat other animals. We humans are fortunate in our ability to get nourishment from a very wide range of foods. So we don't have to sacrifice other lives in order to preserve our own, but only up to a point. Take a closer look and non-violence is not as straightforward as it first appears to be. Even using disinfectant and house cleaning products means purposefully killing countless micro-organisms. Where does non-violence to other creatures end and inflicting violence on yourself begin?
Perhaps it is easier for us to maintain the view that all life is sacred if we avoid taking the lives of other creatures. The fact remains that in this world a life is often sacrificed in order to sustain another life. I do not think life is any less sacred for that reason. And there is all the more reason to be grateful for being alive. If you've ever watched Bruce Lee's film “The Silent Flute”, you may remember this dialogue:
“A fish saved my life once” says the master.
“How?” asks the disciple
“I ate it.”
We are extremely lucky these days to have the choice of so many foods and be well-fed vegetarians if we so choose. Looking at human history, it seems to me that this is more the exception than the rule. Even today there are parts of the world where life is tough and any kind of food is precious.
My own reason for being a vegetarian – or, I should say “mostly vegetarian” – is that it suits me. I feel better and healthier on a vegetarian diet. The reason for this “mostly” it that, as I've grown older, I have become less of a purist. Years ago, if I was a guest in somebody's house and they took the trouble to prepare a meal, I would have told them I was a vegetarian. These days, if the hosts ask, I will just tell them not to trouble themselves – I will eat whatever there is. And be grateful. True, I am no longer the committed vegetarian I use to be. I may be in danger of crossing the line to an outright omnivorous diet. But there is a silver lining – I am safe from the temptation to look down on non-vegetarians. At least in that quarter, I am delivered from arrogance.
This is the second summer a juvenile blackbird finds shelter in
our garden. 
