People are all different, yet behind the scenes we all have the same source. We are individuals, with unique personalities, yet we all have the same one Supersoul or expansion of the godhead within us.
The Sanskrit word for Supersoul is paramatma. We are an individual expression of consciousness, with one being separate and different from the other in flavor. Yet we all also house the one same Supersoul.
In Jungian psychological terms we are a unique expression of consciousness, and even have a unique personal unconscious for this lifetime. Yet we all have the same collective unconscious, a deeper strata which powers us psychically.
Our external personality and genetic makeup may be different, yet in deeper ways we are all the same. This simultaneous sameness and difference is part of our design and expression. Not only as human beings, but also among all diverse species of life.
The ancient texts describe how it is not only humans that have the animating spark of consciousness or eternal spirit within, but rather every creature that shows life or consciousness, is powered by that same quality of eternal consciousness or spirit.
This is one of the hardest concepts to comprehend for the conditioned human being. We can hardly imagine someone of another race as being non-different from us, what to speak of another species. Yet that is precisely what the conclusion is. That is exactly what the ancient texts on consciousness tell us.
Anyone who has a little intuition or who has meditated on the concept will agree that all life follows the same principles. We are born, grow, maintain, produce by-products, dwindle and then die. Regardless of the outer difference of species, all living creatures, including plants, are conscious, animated and have the will to life. They all feel the pain or stress of injury and death.
Any creature who is conscious is also housing a spark of animating spirit or consciousness. Beyond that, any creature or plant also houses the one Supersoul within. Spirit or soul is present in every single creature that is alive, from the elephant to the blade of grass, to the microbe and bacteria.
The external body may be different, but the original spark of consciousness is the same in quality from one species to the next. And all house the same one divine, the one Supersoul within. Wherever there is consciousness, there is soul and Supersoul. They are like two friends who reside in every single organism or living entity in existence.
That's why even being vegetarian is part of the insight. The transcendentalist who sees the soul within all creatures immediately gives up the urge to kill and eat them. This is the principle of ahimsa, or non-violence. One who is on the path of transcendence or liberation and who has had their eyes opened to the sanctity of all life, will avoid harming or killing any creature because they have the same will to life and the same right to life as we do. We kill only that which we can offer in sacrifice and what we need to survive.
I have been vegetarian for the majority of my life and for all of my adult life, since age 19, and I am very fit and healthy. It is a moral principle for me, as one who has seen the beauty of life in all creatures, to offer the same respect to all creatures. We may be obliged to eat in order to survive, but we commit a crime by taking the life of any creature simply to feed our senses.
So we eat only those creatures that we must, like plants with lesser consciousness. Never would anyone with a realization of the sanctity of life wish to harm any other creature or murder it for the pleasure of the tongue and belly. That is a crime. I certainly don't need to kill any animal to live this healthy life of mine. No awakened conscious person would kill for pleasure. Yet that is what the abattoir is - humans killing for pleasure on an industrial scale. And this is abhorrent. It shows serious ignorance, brutality and greed.
Lower animals kill to survive and they have no choice so are pure in their actions. But humans have higher consciousness and should know better. Animal flesh is pleasurable for the tongue and belly for some humans raised by ignorant parents, but it is repulsive for the yogi and seeker of consciousness awakening.
Compassion is the symptom of an awakened human. Such awakened people who are introspective and philosophical about life will conclude that lesser creatures obviously feel pain and suffering, just as we do, so it makes no sense to be a torturer and killer of these lesser creatures when we should be there protector.
If you need to kill in order to eat and survive, then kill the least conscious creatures, like plants. Even then, it is still killing because that plant has the spirit soul or consciousness animating it, and it has the Supersoul or Godhead also present there. The two are always together in all creatures. The soul and Supersoul are both present in all living beings. That is the conclusion of the ancient texts on consciousness, and it is the realization of the yogi who has understood reality and who has some degree of self-realization, Anything else is false.
So you decide for yourself where you are situated in realization. You can justify or make excuses why you need to kill animals if you like, but don't tell me it is for health. I am living proof of healthy vegetarianism. The majority of the 1 billion people in India are proof of healthy vegetarianism. And they have been this way for centuries. Only when the invaders from lesser nations arrived to pollute the purity of lifestyle in India did they introduce animal slaughter and degrade the Indian people.
First try to understand that all humans are of the same consciousness, then try to extrapolate, based on common sense and observation, that actually all life is of the same consciousness. You must have seen in a dog or a cat or a cow that these creatures feel exactly the same pleasure and pain as a human. So what kind of barbarian am I that I must torture and murder these weaker creatures for my pleasure, especially when totally unnecessary?
This is the most basic ABC level understanding that we all need to reach if we are to make any progress on the path of consciousness evolution and transcendence. To me it is so obvious and irrefutable. It's common sense. Just look at any animal and tell me differently. Just look into any abattoir and tell me that this is normal to you. It's as sick and insane and torturous as any battlefield where masses of people die needlessly all day every day for years.
It is madness, but we are numbed to it because we have not thought about it philosophically and because it is far removed from our sight - the abattoir and the battlefield. And we are numb to it because our parents and their parents did it, all in ignorance of the finer truths of consciousness, which are not taught in the naive and limited philosophical teachings of most of this planet today.
Yet, if you dig deeper and make serious inquiry, you will find that for millennia before, civilizations that are spiritually and morally driven, have taught protection of lesser creatures, not abuse and exploitation. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Jains have all taught and practiced non-violence and vegetarianism for thousands of years. Only recently have some of these doctrines lost their truth and been corrupted into being blinded to that truth regarding life and consciousness.
Ultimately it's your choice and your path. You must act according to your level of realization on your path. I simply choose to follow my common sense based on what I see staring me in the face on the ground when I look at an animal weaker than me. I back this up with masses of literature and philosophical teachings from the oldest wisdom traditions on the planet. I can only follow my conscience and my intelligence and my physical body.
All of these combined tell me that I feel better eating a plant based diet with minimal dairy and zero animal body parts. My health is great, and more importantly, my mind is happy knowing that I have only love and compassion for all living creatures who show peace toward me and who are weaker than me. I cannot in good faith or conscience murder anyone simply for the pleasure of my tongue.
Live your truth and be the example to others of your state of consciousness. Uplift humanity and protect those weaker than you. Think about what you are doing, about what your parents taught you. Think it through to its conclusion. And if you want help, then study the literature on the subject of consciousness and become informed. Why be the jailer in a prison you help to facilitate for life on earth, when you can be a liberator and protector of the fallen and weakest among us?
Bhagavad Gita ch 6:31
सर्वभूतस्थितं यो मां भजत्येकत्वमास्थित: । सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि स योगी मयि वर्तते ॥ ३१ ॥
sarva-bhūta-sthitaṁ yo māṁ bhajaty ekatvam āsthitaḥ sarvathā vartamāno 'pi sa yogī mayi vartate
SYNONYMS sarva-bhūta-sthitam—situated in everyone's heart; yaḥ—he who; mām—unto Me; bhajati—serves in devotional service; ekatvam—oneness; āsthitaḥ—thus situated; sarvathā—in all respects; vartamānaḥ—being situated; api—in spite of; saḥ—he; yogī—transcendentalist; mayi—unto Me; vartate—remains.
TRANSLATION The yogī who knows that I and the Supersoul within all creatures are one worships Me and remains always in Me in all circumstances.
PURPORT A yogī who is practicing meditation on the Supersoul sees within himself the plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa as Viṣṇu—with four hands, holding conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower. The yogī should know that Viṣṇu is not different from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa in this form of Supersoul is situated in everyone's heart. Furthermore, there is no difference between the innumerable Supersouls present in the innumerable hearts of living entities. Nor is there a difference between a Kṛṣṇa conscious person always engaged in the transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa and a perfect yogī engaged in meditation on the Supersoul. The yogī in Kṛṣṇa consciousness—even though he may be engaged in various activities while in material existence—remains always situated in Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī: nikhileṣu avasthāsu jīvanmukta sa ucyate. A devotee of the Lord, always acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is automatically liberated. In the Nārada-pañcarātra this is confirmed in this way: dik-kālādy-anavacchinne kṛṣṇe ceto vidhāya ca tanmayo bhavati kṣipraṁ jīvo brahmaṇi yojayet. "By concentrating one's attention on the transcendental form of Kṛṣṇa, who is all-pervading and beyond time and space, one becomes absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa and then attains the happy state of transcendental association with Him." Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest stage of trance in yoga practice. This very understanding that Kṛṣṇa is present as Paramātmā in everyone's heart makes the yogī faultless. The Vedas confirm this inconceivable potency of the Lord as follows: eko 'pi san bahudhā yo 'vabhāti aiśvaryād rūpam ekaṁ ca sūryavad bahudheyate. "Viṣṇu is one, and yet He is certainly all-pervading. By His inconceivable potency, in spite of His one form, He is present everywhere. As the sun, He appears in many places at once."
Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta, original Macmillan 1972 edition, freely available at www.prabhupadabooks.com.
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