Vegetarian Life

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for the survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. -Albert Einstein

I personally feel it is very important to eat as healthy as possible. That is one of the reasons I plant a garden. Although not everyone has that luxury to plant a garden, still there are so many fresh fruits and vegetables available in every American grocery store, there is ample opportunity to eat a healthy vegetarian diet.

Back in 1972 when I first became a vegetarian, the challenge was learning how to cook vegetarian meals. Therefore I am including the first cookbook that taught me the basics as a free pdf download (just click on link at bottom of post). Wishing you all a happy and healthy life. -V

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The Case Against Animal Slaughter

Happy New Year! We all hope for a happy life and peaceful world, but still we see so much violence and war happening around the world. The strict law of karma deals measure for measure with anyone who violates the laws of nature. As long as the people of the world continue to murder and eat animals, they will perpetually suffer the sinful reactions of criminal violence and catastrophic wars. That is why I believe this to be a proper first post for the New Year. -V

The Case Against Animal Slaughter

(excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine January 1976, Vol. 11 No. 1)

From the standpoints of health, economics and ethics, animal slaughter and meat-eating are detrimental to human society.

1. Slaughtering animals causes extreme suffering. Animals are sentient creatures with feelings like humans. Cows especially can sense that they are going to be slaughtered, and they live in constant fear.

2. We have no right to artificially end the life of any creature, especially that of a cow, who nurses her own offspring and the whole human society with her milk.

3. Killing animals breeds insensitivity toward all beings, sadism and general irreverence. Pythagoras taught, “Those who kill animals for food will be more prone than vegetarians to torture and kill their fellow men.”

The strict law of karma deals measure for measure with anyone who violates the laws of nature. As long as the people of the world continue to murder and eat their two most benign friends, the cow and bull, they will perpetually suffer the sinful reactions of criminal violence and catastrophic wars.


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Coming Soon; New Kurma Cookbook!

My wife shared this with me, something she saw on Facebook. Time Tested “Big” Prasadam Recipies. Love Kurma’s cookbooks and recipes. Hare Krishna and happy New Year!

New Kurma Cookbook!

I’ve finally opened my treasure trove of time-tested ‘big’ prasadam recipes from five decades of quantity cooking. Interwoven with hundreds of fascinating stories, realizations and memories from early disciples, FEAST includes Srila Prabhupada’s original recipes, ISKCON Sunday feast kitchen classics, and modern favourites.

This large and beautifully presented 492-page book, designed and published by Srimati Mayapriya devi dasi from Bookwrights Press, is a generous collection of 375 meticulous, large-sized vegetarian and plant-based recipes from myself and veteran chefs Gopati dasa and Apurva dasa, as well as 60 other Hare Krishna kitchen giants.

Feast is a legacy of love, offered by ISKCON’s first generation of cooks for future chefs, and for the upliftment of human society at large. Srila Prabhupada writes “Simply by liberal distribution of prasada and sankirtana, the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous.” (SB 4.12.10)

Coming soon!

Japan Was Once A Nation of Vegetarians

My wife shared this with me, something she saw on Facebook. Very interesting!

Japan was once a nation of vegetarians who held the cow as the most sacred of these animals and the fiercest protector of this animal was the ‘Samurai’ feared throughout the land for their martial arts, bravery and devotion to duty.

~

As Buddhism departed the shores of Vedic India it had a profound influence upon many countries including China and Korea and Japan and upon entering the lands of Japan around 1500 years ago leaders such as Emperor Tenmu banned the consumption of meat.

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Ghee, Ghee and More Ghee

This was something that Srutakirti Prabhu posted on Facebook. We are sharing it with you because I truly believe that Ghee was that special ingredient that made the the prasadam in the early days both magical and mystical. We ate huge quantities of prasadam at the Sunday “Love Feast” and danced in ecstasy.

GHEE, GHEE, GHEE AND MORE GHEE!

(from a BTG article by Srila Prabhupada more than 65 years ago.)

“Pure Ghee (Clarified butter) offered on the fire of ‘Yajna’ produces more and more Ghee but non-acceptance of such sacrificial rites, under the plea of non-productive economy, drives away completely the production of ample pure ghee, yielding place to the harmful hydrogenated vegetable oils. In the ‘Ayurvedic’ scriptures oil is particularly mentioned to be harmful for the stomach but in the absence of sacrificial energy of the human being he is forced to accept harmful vegetable oil for the stomach in the name of and absence of pure unadulterated clarified butter. That is the importance of the process of ‘Yajna’ and that is the Law of Nature.

Foolish people think vitamin value of foodstuff in their own way and push into the stomach all sorts of rubbish thing thinking that ‘Vaiswanara’ heat, representative of the Supreme Lord, will accept any such rubbish thing for assimilation. The case is different. The ‘Vaiswanara’ representative power of Godhead in the stomach of the human being can accept only leaves, flower, fruits of the vegetable group and pure water and milk for vitaminising the human energy. The mouth being the entrance door to the region of the stomach, it must guard the tongue of every human being to acquire the quality of a Brahmin, who can accept only foodstuff of ‘Satwik’ quality. Description of Satwik quality foodstuff is mentioned in Bhagwat Geeta and that also of the Brahmin in fact.”

Animal Rights

Animal-Rights

I like the above picture, it is so profound.

…Any living being, if he terrifies other living beings, is a most wretched subject, and the king should at once kill such a disturbing element. As the wild animal is killed when it creates disturbances, similarly any man who unnecessarily kills or terrifies the jungle animals or other animals must be punished at once. By the law of the Supreme Lord, all living beings, in whatever shape they may be, are the sons of the Lord, and no one has any right to kill another animal, unless it is so ordered by the codes of natural law. The tiger can kill a lower animal for his subsistence, but a man cannot kill an animal for his subsistence. That is the law of God, who has created the law that a living being subsists by eating another living being. Thus the vegetarians are also living by eating other living beings. Therefore, the law is that one should live only by eating specific living beings, as ordained by the law of God. The Īśopaniṣad directs that one should live by the direction of the Lord and not at one’s sweet will. A man can subsist on varieties of grains, fruits and milk ordained by God, and there is no need of animal food, save and except in particular cases. (from purport SB 1.17.10-11)

Full text and purport

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Vegetarian Diet

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for the survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.

-Albert Einstein

A Vegetarian diet not only is the safe alternative to meat eating, but increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. As Srila Prabhupada explaines in the Bhagavad-gita;

Bhagavad-gita As It Is
Macmillan 1972 Edition
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 17 The Divisions of Faith
Text 8-10

Foods in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such nourishing foods are sweet, juicy, fattening and palatable. Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, pungent, dry and hot, are liked by people in the modes of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease. Food cooked more than three hours before being eaten, which is tasteless, stale, putrid, decomposed and unclean, is food liked by people in the mode of ignorance.

PURPORT

Thc purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities selected those foods that best aid health and increase life’s duration, such as milk products, sugar, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables. These foods are very dear to those in the mode of goodness. Some other foods, such as baked corn and molasses, while not very palatable in themselves, can be made pleasant when mixed with milk or other foods. They are then in the mode of goodness. All these foods are pure by nature. They are quite distinct from untouchable things like meat and liquor. Fatty foods, as mentioned in the eighth verse, have no connection with animal fat obtained by slaughter. Animal fat is available in the form of milk, which is the most wonderful of all foods. Milk, butter, cheese and similar products give animal fat in a form which rules out any need for the killing of innocent creatures. It is only through brute mentality that this killing goes on. The civilized method of obtaining needed fat is by milk. Slaughter is the way of subhumans. Protein is amply available through split peas, dhal, whole wheat, etc.

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The Practice of Yoga

The gopis remembered their pastimes with Krishna p208

click on image to enlarge

This morning as I was making a breakfast offering, and was offering a nice glass of fresh milk, my mind just seemed to go to this picture of Krsna milking a cow. And I thought ‘milk is such a wonderful food, miraculous really. One can live on milk, and as small children milk is all that is required, and as we develop as yogis, we can subsist on the gifts of God, such as fruits, grains and milk, without a need for killing.

The above picture is one of my very favorites from the Krsna Book, because it is so simple and sweet, and there is a noticeable absence of technology.

The following are two verses from the Bhagavad-gita As It Is describing the healthy diet, and activities of the yogi.

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Some Noteworthy Quotations on Vegetarianism

This morning I took out one of my favorite cookbooks; “Great Vegetarian Dishes” by Kurma Dasa. There are over 240 recipes from around the world. Kurma Dasa also has a nice web page Cooking With Kurma, and while visiting this nice site I ran across these noteworthy quotes on Vegetarianism we share with you.

“Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind.” 
Albert Einstein

“There is just no reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. Man can live without meat.” 
The Dalai Lama

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other. 
Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

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Vegetarian Life

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for the survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. -Albert Einstein

I personally feel it is very important to eat as healthy as possible. That is one of the reasons I plant a garden. Although not everyone has that luxury to plant a garden, still there are so many fresh fruits and vegetables available in every American grocery store, there is ample opportunity to eat a healthy vegetarian diet.

Back in 1972 when I first became a vegetarian, the challenge was learning how to cook vegetarian meals. Therefore I am including the first cookbook that taught me the basics as a free pdf download (just click on link at bottom of post). Wishing you all a happy and healthy life. -V

More

Basic Chapati Recipe

With all this extra time at home, I have been spending more time in the kitchen. Instead of the quick meal that often took place after a long days work, we are finding renewed pleasure in going through our vegetarian cookbooks and planning nice well balanced meals. One thing we have been eating more of is chapatis. They go well with almost every vegetable dish, are easy to prepare, and are a healthy alternative to bread which usually contains yeast.

From The Hare KRSNA Cookbook 1972

Basic Chapati
1 cup Whole Weat Flour
1/4 cup Melted Butter
Warm water

Mix the flour and water together, adding water gradually until dough is soft but not wet, and can be kneaded. Knead the dough until it’s fairly soft (8 to 10 minutes). Cover and let dough rest for one hour. Sprinkle flour on rolling area and makes 1-1/2 inch balls out of dough. Flatten balls and roll out to about 4-5″ diameter. Place the chapati on a heated skillet (dry, free from oil) and cook until bubbles appear. Turn chapati quickly and let cook until bubbles appear again. Using tongs, remove chapati from pan, and hold over an open flame or burner to make it puff up. Heat it first on the side that was first cooked. You can lay directly on the burner for a brief moment, but don’t let it stick. When chapati puffs up, turn quickly and repeat on other side till it puffs. Remove, butter both sides, and cover with a clean cloth to keep in heat while remaining chapatis are cooked.

Health Consciousness/Standard Devotee Diet

Once when Srila Prabhupada saw what was being served to the devotees, lavishly prepared multi-course lunches, he told the managers that it was too opulent. He said we should eat simply during the week with rice, dhal, chapatis and a little subji and once a week on the Sunday love feasts we could be more lavish. Today with more of us becoming Health Conscious, it is good to remember the very simple devotee diet that was recommended to us so long ago.

Standard Devotee Diet

Srila Prabhupada recommended a standard diet for the devotees, and instructed that all of the temples should follow it every day. That menu follows:

BREAKFAST:

Simple farina cereal with nuts and raisins
Milk (steaming hot), or yogurt in the summertime
Chick peas (raw, soaked overnight)
Ginger root (raw)
Oranges, apples and/or bananas

LUNCH:

Rice
Chapatis
Dal made with freshly ground ginger root and freshly ground spices
Subji made with ghee, freshly ground ginger root and freshly ground spices

BEFORE TAKING REST:

Milk (steaming hot)
Bananas

For a free download of the Hare Krishna Cookbook on pdf More

The evidence is in: Raw milk actually boosts immunity, prevents infections

raw-milk-in-glass

The following article was emailed to me from a devotee friend which he took from the web page “naturalnews.com In addition I have posted chapter 23 of “The Teachings of Queen Kunti” entiled “Natural Prosperity”. Milk is an important and beneficial requirement to a healthy diet and human prosperity.

…Human prosperity flourishes by natural gifts and not by gigantic industrial enterprises. The gigantic industrial enterprises are products of a godless civilization, and they cause the destruction of the noble aims of human life…For real peace and tranquillity and a sufficient supply of milk, water, and everything else we need, we simply have to depend on Kṛṣṇa. (Teachings of Queen Kuinti Chapter 23 “Natural Prosperity”)

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would like us all to believe that raw milk is a flaming health hazard with the potential to cause a national disaster. What could be more toxic than raw food, right? That must be what is making our nation sick – not the over-consumption of genetically-modified, pesticide-laden foodstuffs.

However, a recent study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has shown that consuming raw milk will not, in fact, be a death sentence.

Researchers, doctors and other medical professionals from across Europe joined forces to investigate the effects of consuming raw milk, and revealed that raw milk isn’t just non-toxic, but also yields some impressive health benefits!

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Heavenly Delights: Gulab Jamuns

Today being the New Year, a Holiday celebrated around the world, we thought we would post a festive recipe. This Gulab Jumaun recipe was taken from the very nice cooking web page Cooking with Kurma. I encourage you all to try this wonderful recipe on your friends and family.

Succulent Milk Balls in Rose-scented Syrup (Gulab Jamuns)

Gulab Jamuns are ideal confections for festive moments and entertaining. When guests are confronted with them for the first time they invariably ask, “What are they? ” Guesses then range from preserved fruits to doughnuts. In fact, Gulab Jamuns are made from just milk powder and flour. They’re fried slowly in ghee until the lactose in the milk powder caramelises and turns them a golden brown, and then they are soaked in a rose-scented, medium- heavy sugar syrup. Hence, the Hindi words Gulab Jamun meaning literally “rose ball”.

Full recipe follows More

Eggless Tapioca Pudding

tapioca

This morning I was thinking what to cook for a Thanksgiving Offering. There was some confusion on the two calendars we have, because one said that today was Ekadashi (fasting day from grains and beans) and the other gave an alternate date of tomorrow for our location. But I decided to play it safe and observe Ekadashi with my menu planning. I decided it would be good to make a nice Tapioca Pudding (without eggs).

The beauty of this tapioca pudding is that it is egg-less and it does not need baking. It is cooked right on stove top with just three main ingredients: tapioca, milk and sugar. Just like that it tastes good but often it is further embellished with cashews, saffron and cardamom. Or you can use seasonal fruits to garnish.

Eggless Tapioca Pudding

1/2 cup tapioca
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

* Combine tapioca, milk & sugar in a medium/large saucepan and let sit for 5 minutes.

* Bring to a slow boil over medium high heat. Stir the milk and tapioca and sugar frequently to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the container. It thickens as it cooks but will still be a liquid.

* Remove from heat and add vanilla.

* Cardamom (optional), Saffron (optional), and Cashews (optional)

* Stir & allow to cool. It thickens as it cools.

Makes 8-10 servings

Note: Two tablespoons of tapioca for a cup of milk will give you a fairly thick pudding. If you want yours thin, use less tapioca or more milk. Same goes for sugar.

Prasadam – Ghee, Part Three

ghee

Previously we posted part One & Two of the article on Ghee (which is the crown jewel of oils, and is one of Srimati Radharani’s most favored ingredients). Today we are posting part Three of this fine article as posted on the Sampradaya Sun

Prasadam – Ghee, Part Three
by Sun Staff (SUN)

A journey through India: border to border, bhoga to prasadam.

The importance of golden ghee in cooking Krsna prasadam is very evident when we consider books of Vaisnava literature such as Sri Govinda-lilamrta and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. In Govinda-lilamrta we find descriptions of the great range of uses for ghee, as it’s described in the conversations between Mother Yasoda and the gopis who are arranging so many nice foodstuffs for Krsna.

In Verse 53, Mother Yasoda is telling Kilimba that they had milked the cow named Sugandha, and churned her milk into butter, and the gopis could use this special butter to make ghee. Yashoda requests the gopis to make many different dishes cooked in ghee, and to prepare sweets with ghee, and Rohini Devi also describes the preparations Radharani has been making for Krsna with ghee.

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Ghee is Life

ghee

This morning I happened to visit the Sampradaya Sun web page. Rocan Prabhu has been doing a series entitled ” A journey through India: border to border, bhoga to prasadam” and in the last week has done a two part article on ‘Ghee’. We have reprinted both the first and second part here.

Prasadam – Ghee
by Sun Staff

…the Mother of all ingredients is milk, and all its glorious byproducts. Today we’ll begin an exploration of ghee, which is one of the final foodstuffs derived from processing milk. Cow’s milk is said to possess the essential sap of all plants, and ghee is a most valued derivation of that nutritious stuff. The clear golden liquid known as ghee is the crown jewel of oils, and is one of Srimati Radharani’s most favored ingredients.

The word ghee comes from the Sanskrit ghrta [ghrit], or “sprinkled”. Aayurghritam means ‘ghee is life’, and this is reflected in the many sacred ways the stuff is used in devotional practice, from cooking to feeding the sacred fire, or performing abhisheka with panchamrta. Use of ghee as a substance to anoint the Deities is mentioned in Yajurveda, and the Rgveda has many references to butter and ghee.

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Foods in the Mode of Goodness

food1

I must have woke up hungry, because my meditation this morning was on wholesome, nurturing foods in the mode of goodness.

…The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. (from purport to Bg. 17.8-10)

Foods in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such nourishing foods are sweet, juicy, fattening and palatable. Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, pungent, dry and hot, are liked by people in the modes of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease. Food cooked more than three hours before being eaten, which is tasteless, stale, putrid, decomposed and unclean, is food liked by people in the mode of ignorance. (Bhagavad-gita As It Is 17.8-10)

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Animal Rights

Animal-Rights

This morning I was reading from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam:

…Any living being, if he terrifies other living beings, is a most wretched subject, and the king should at once kill such a disturbing element. As the wild animal is killed when it creates disturbances, similarly any man who unnecessarily kills or terrifies the jungle animals or other animals must be punished at once. By the law of the Supreme Lord, all living beings, in whatever shape they may be, are the sons of the Lord, and no one has any right to kill another animal, unless it is so ordered by the codes of natural law. The tiger can kill a lower animal for his subsistence, but a man cannot kill an animal for his subsistence. That is the law of God, who has created the law that a living being subsists by eating another living being. Thus the vegetarians are also living by eating other living beings. Therefore, the law is that one should live only by eating specific living beings, as ordained by the law of God. The Īśopaniṣad directs that one should live by the direction of the Lord and not at one’s sweet will. A man can subsist on varieties of grains, fruits and milk ordained by God, and there is no need of animal food, save and except in particular cases. (from purport SB 1.17.10-11)

Full text and purport More

Bill Clinton Explains Why He Became a Vegan

bill cliton

Last night former President Bill Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention. I was able to catch part of his speech. I woke up this morning thinking that sometime back Bill Clinton had stopped eating meat, fish and eggs, and became a vegan. Veganism, by definition is; “Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.” (this quote was taken from the Vegan Society). Although I personally am an avid vegetarian, and believer in offering everything to Krsna, I very much appericate the ideals of veganism and its attempt to practice ahimsa, or the idea of causing no injury and harm to other living entities, as well as it being a healthy lifestyle. There is a definition of ahimsa, or nonviolence, at end of post.

…”I just decided that I was the high-risk person, and I didn’t want to fool with this anymore. And I wanted to live to be a grandfather. So I decided to pick the diet that I thought would maximize my chances of long-term survival.” -Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton Explains Why He Became a Vegan
by Joe Conason

Full article More

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108 Imporant Slokas from the 1972 Bhagavad-gita As It Is

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The Hare Krishna Cookbook

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Prayers By Queen Kunti (Slokas)

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