THE
HONG KONG MEATLESS DAY NEWSLETTER
The signs of healthier times are visible with the
ever-increasing number of vegetarians. No longer are
organic vegetarian health food shops and groups considered
to be those trendy fad places but an acknowledgement
of a better life style.
Turning to a vegetarian diet need not be simply for
health reasons. It can be expanded to include consideration
for the environmental destruction, diminishing world
food resources and more importantly, prevention of
cruelty to animals, thus practising Reverence for
Life.
The Meatless Day Campaign was first started in India
in 1986 by the Sadhu Vaswani Mission – a social
service organisation, founded by Rev. Sadhu T. L.
Vaswani, whose entire philosophy revolved round the
Supreme ideal of Reverence for all Life. The Mission
has centres all over the world with many followers
who promote these ideals. The tremendous growth and
dynamism of its various activities today is due to
the spiritual leadership of Dada J. P. Vaswani who
upholds the vision of his Master.
As a mark of respect to their founder,
Sadhu T. L. Vaswani, his birthday the 25th of November
has been declared as the International Meatless Day
and Animal Rights Day. Every year millions of people
all over the world pledge to observe this day as meatless
day and abstain from consuming all forms of meat, fish,
and fowl. For this one day, every year, hospitals, restaurants,
canteens and families around the world serve meat-free
food. In some places even the abattoirs/slaughter houses
are closed to observe International Meatless Day.
The mindset of the world is gradually
beginning to change as far as Animal Rights are concerned.
The growing response to our campaign reveals this change
slowly but surely. Ours is a movement that works on
changing peoples hearts and minds, numbers can never
be an indication but every pledge involves a voluntary
signature and every person who pledges has heard our
appeal, opened his or her mind to our ideas and taken
a conscious decision to go meatless on one significant
day.
Your invaluable support is vital for the success of
this campaign. So please do your part in building a
New World, a peaceful and loving World we all can share
and preserve for our future generations.
JOIN THE VEGGIE REVOLUTION!
JUST PLEDGE
ONE DAY AND SAVE MANY LIVES!
What would you say if I told you there
was a magic pill that could not only add years to your
life, but could also protect you from heart disease,
cancer and other degenerative diseases so common in
our modern society? And keep you slim in the bargain!
Well the fact is that such a pill exists. It is called
VEGETARIANISM.
As most of us are aware, saturated
fat is the main culprit in non-vegetarian diets, leading
to heart disease, strokes, and as new studies show even
cancers such as colon and stomach cancer. Eliminate
the saturated fat, found in all meats (even lean meats),
introduce monounsaturated or unsaturated fat such as
olive and other vegetable and nut oils and you have
laid the foundation for good health and longevity.
Of course more bricks are needed to
build the edifice of good health. Vegetarians tend to
eat far greater quantities of fruits and vegetables,
which are high in substances known as anti-oxidants,
which are the main agents in repairing the wear and
tear on our bodies incurred in daily living and strengthening
our immune systems. Early repair of damaged DNA cells
is important in preventing cancer and diseases such
as arthritis and arteriosclerosis and even cataracts.
So your mother was right – “Eat your vegetables!”
Animal protein contains high amounts
of uric acid, which put great strain on our kidneys
and subsequently our livers. Also meat in modern times
contains large quantities of hormones, pesticides and
antibiotics which wreak even more havoc on our systems.
In fact, antibiotic use in animal farming has been implicated
in recent bacterial resistance to these drugs, creating
new breeds of super-bacteria thus endangering all our
lives.
One question most people ask before
adopting a vegetarian diet is “Will I lose weight?”
Well, while no one can guarantee that you will be model
thin, it is far easier to maintain your figure on a
healthy vegetarian diet than one, which includes copious
quantities of meat. You don’t have to worry about
lacking protein on a vegetarian diet either. A well-balanced
vegetarian diet naturally contains all proteins &
amino acids necessary for good health.
More and more people are turning to
a vegetarian diet in an effort to improve their health
and well being. Modern science supports and applauds
this. So the next time you go to the supermarket, make
a detour to the fresh vegetable section where you will
find good health beckoning. You will also find a wide
new range of meat substitute soya-products. Try a few
new veggies, and enjoy the taste and the knowledge that
you are doing something good for your body.
You see; you can have your tofu and
eat it too!
Most people become vegetarians for
reasons of health or animal welfare. However there is
another equally important reason to curtail meat eating,
and that is the health of our planet.
Livestock population today consumes
enough grains & soya beans needed to feed the entire
human populations of several countries. As animals are
being reared in large numbers, animal wastes have also
become a big problem. Intensive agriculture is used
to produce large quantities of crops to feed these animals,
leading to topsoil erosion. Also to provide the land
for this purpose, rainforests are being burnt down which
affects the climate and contributes to the greenhouse
effect. Another major factor contributing to the greenhouse
effect is the release of large amounts of methane gas
into the atmosphere due to livestock farming. This leads
to global warming and the thinning of the ozone layer.
To grow these crops, chemical fertilizers
and pesticides are used heavily which cause many different
problems to the environment, such as the pollution of
the water supply along with the production of acid rain.
This endangers health and threatens wildlife and humans
alike. Fish production is also a major threat to the
environment. Not only does overfishing disrupt the ecological
balance of the oceans, but also contributes to big part
of the water pollution.
Vegetarianism, or even just cutting back on the amount
of meat and fish one consumes, is a way to help the
earth fight back- a way to protect ourselves, the animals
and the environment and replenish the dwindling food
resources on our planet.
VEGETARIANISM
AND ANIMAL RIGHTS
November 25th
as well as being ‘Meatless Day’ is also
International Animal Rights
Day. The 19th century gave black people their rights,
the 20th century was acclaimed a century of women’s
rights, the dawn of the new millennium will witness
the triumph of animal rights- so is the belief of our
campaign.
While animal rights groups in the 1980’s focused
their efforts primarily on ending animal research, they
have recently shifted more attention to farm animals,
which are more widely abused. The Humanitarian Movement
has been trying to convince potential supporters that
raising animals for food and profit is morally wrong.
Since recent times small farms are being replaced by
factory farming – a practice that cruelly treats
animals like inventoried machines with little regard
to their basic needs and welfare. Reducing consumption
of all types of meat is the next step in demonstrating
our antipathy towards inhumane farming practices –
and will hopefully force more policy changes, which
outlaw the worst excesses of the meat industry.
All life is sacred. The very first
right in the Charter of Rights for Animals should be
the right to live. Every life unit, every creature are
all children of the universe, yet we send the animals
to the research laboratories and slaughterhouses. Have
we not been taught to protect those weaker than us?
Let us begin by being vegetarian for
just one day and saving so many precious lives.
‘Hurt no one in thought, word
or deed’ is a wise and rewarding rule of life.
The Meatless Day Campaign is aimed at propagating this
fundamental law of life.
In violating the sanctity of life in animals, man gets
closer to accepting the use of violence on fellow men;
hence we have wars & strife.
The first step towards World Peace is to create an awareness
of reverence for all forms of life. We believe that
a token observation of one day, Nov. 25th as Meatless
Day, will initiate this awareness of the imperative
need for reverence for all life.
A non-violent world has roots in a non-violent diet.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!
We are not alone in our belief, many
great thinkers of all times believe likewise.
• Until he extends his circle of compassion
to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
- Dr. Albert Schweitzer
• The time will come when men such
as I will look on the murder of animals as they look
on the murder of men.
-Leonardo da Vinci
• Hold fast to vegetarianism and
abstain from taking life.
- Confucius
• While we ourselves are the living
graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal
conditions on this earth?
- George Bernard Shaw
• The greatness of a nation can be
judged by the way its animals are treated.
– Mahatma Gandhi
• Kill not animals; kill only the animal within
thee.
- Sadhu T. L. Vaswani
• When wisdom came to me, I resolved
to defend the weak, and to all living things I gave
compassion of my heart.
– Gautama Buddha
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