Can Meat Eaters Read Bhagavad Gita ?

Can Meat Eaters Read Bhagavad Gita ??

Students usually come up with a common question in our sessions, I am a non-vegetarian, I eat meat, I eat fish. Can I also read Bhagavad Gita?? Or Do I have to quit eating these things first and then only start reading Gita?  I am sure there are many such non-vegetarians who though interested in reading Gita yet could never really begin because of this single thought.

So we at GitaQuest have finally decided to answer this question for once and all through our this blog ie Can Meat Eaters Read Bhagavad Gita??

Frankly speaking, there is nowhere mentioned that a non-vegetarian can't read Bhagavad Gita. The knowledge of the Gita is eternal and for all. Neither the supreme lord Krishna, who gave this premium knowledge on the battlefield of Kurukshetra nor its compiler Sri Ved Vyas ji laid down any restrictions related to it.

Just as a matter of respect towards any book, not just Bhagavad Gita, we suggest that

• We should not read books and eat together, this can make book dirty, if that happens, then yes it is an offense towards that book.
• Or after eating, we should at least wash our hands and mouth then we can read Bhagavad Gita.

One more thing to clarify, if non vegetarians are allowed to read Gita, should that imply that there is nothing wrong with eating non-vegetarian food ?? Certainly Not!

Speaking with just scientific facts, our human body is not at all designed like a carnivore our entire digestive system from mouth to colon is same as a herbivore, if we eat meat,

• Our digestive system is put to great stress to digest that ,
• Our heart becomes more prone to heart attack due to increased collestrol
• Our kidneys are burdened heavily to process the liquids obtained from meats
• Our colon’s absorbing power is reduced to null due to which we will lose ability to absorb nutrients,
• Also meat accumulated in colon decays so much so that it becomes carcinogenic. This is the major cause of cancer in humans. Out of every 4 cancer patients, 3 are meat eaters.

Also, throughout the Bhagavad Gita, the importance of developing Satva Guna has been highlighted. Lord Krishna himself says in Chapter 6 verse 17:

युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु ।

युक्तस्वप्‍नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दु:खहा ॥

He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation, and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

And in this process of cultivating Satva Guna our food habits play a significant role. Non-vegetarian food falls in the category of Tamo Guna which are in turn hard to digest and makes us susceptible to many diseases too. Hence if we want to advance spiritually it is best to rely on vegetarian food only. Actually there is food which is more superior than vegetarian, we have a blog that covers that too 😉 .

In the coming blogs in this series, we will try to answer some more popular questions and break some more myths regarding the reading of the Bhagavad Gita. If you want to know more about the three gunas and their influence on us you can read our detailed blog on this topic here (). Till then stay tuned.