Vegetarianism in Hinduism

Vegetarianism is an extremely important part of most schools of thought in Hinduism. The reasons for it are a wide variety of practices and beliefs that have changed over time. According to a study, an estimated 20-30% of all Hindus are vegetarians. Some sects of Hindus do not observe vegetarianism.

The idea of nonviolence is applied to animals in this case. The intention is to avoid negative karmic influences which can result from violence. The suffering of all beings is believed to arise from craving and desire, conditioned by the karmic effects of both animal and human action.

In Vaishnavism, it is essential for the devotees to offer their food to their chosen deity before eating it as prasadam. This is strictly observed by the people who follow the schools of Bhakti Yoga, especially the Gaudiya Vaishnavas. They mostly offer prayers to Lord Vishnu or Lord Krishna, and according to the scriptural injunctions they obey, only vegetarian food is acceptable as prasadam.

"What need there be said of those innocent and healthy creatures endued with love of life, when they are sought to be slain by sinful wretches subsisting by slaughter? For this reason, O monarch, know that the discarding of meat is the highest refuge of religion, of heaven, and of happiness. Abstention from injury is the highest religion. It is, again, the highest penance. It is also the highest truths from which all duty proceeds. Flesh cannot be had from grass or wood or stone. Unless a living creature is slain, it cannot be had. Hence is the fault in eating flesh. That man, who abstains from meat, is never put in fear, O king, by any creature. All creatures seek his protection. He never causes any anxiety in others, and himself has never to become anxious. If there were nobody who ate flesh there would then be nobody to kill living creatures. The man who kills living creatures, kill them for the sake of the person who eats flesh. If flesh were regarded as inedible, there would then be no slaughter of living creatures. It is for the sake of the eater that the slaughter of living creatures goes on in the world. Since, O thou of great splendour, the period of life is shortened of persons who slaughter living creatures or cause them to be slaughtered, it is clear that the person who wishes his own good should give up meat entirely. The purchaser of flesh performs himsa by his wealth; he who eats flesh does so by enjoying its taste; the killer does himsa by actually tying and killing the animal. Thus, there are three forms of killing. He who brings flesh or sends for it, he who cuts off the limbs of an animal, and he who purchases, sells, or cooks flesh and eats it—all of these are to be considered meat-eaters." (Mahabharata 13.115)