which can compare with flesh in the matter of taste,
I desire, therefore, O puissant one, to hear what
the merits are of abstention from flesh, and the demerits
that attach to the eating of flesh, O chief of Bharata’s
race. Thou art conversant with every duty.
Do thou discourse to me in full agreeably to the ordinances
on duty, on this subject. Do tell me what, indeed,
is edible and what inedible. Tell me, O grandsire,
what is flesh, of what substances it is, the merits
that attach to abstention from it, and what the demerits
are that attach to the eating of flesh.’
“Bhishma said, ’It is even so, O mighty-armed
one, as thou sayest. There is nothing on earth
that is superior to flesh in point of taste. There
is nothing that is more beneficial then flesh to persons
that are lean, or weak, or afflicted with disease,
or addicted to sexual congress or exhausted with travel.
Flesh speedily increases strength. It produces
great development. There is no food, O scorcher
of foes, that is superior to flesh. But, O delighter
of the Kurus, the merits are great that attach to
men that abstain from it. Listen to me as I discourse
to thee on it. That man who wished to increase
his own flesh by the flesh of another living creature
is such that there is none meaner and more cruel than
he. In this world there is nothing that is dearer
to a creature than his life. Hence (instead of
taking that valuable possession), one should show
compassion to the lives of others as one does to one’s
own life. Without doubt, O son, flesh has its
origin in the vital seed. There is great demerit
attaching to its eating, as, indeed, there is merit
in abstaining from it. One does not, however,
incur any fault by eating flesh sanctified according
to the ordinances of the Vedas. The audition is
heard that animals were created for sacrifice.
They who eat flesh in any other way are said to follow
the Rakshasa practice. Listen to me as I tell
thee what the ordinance is that has been laid down
for the Kshatriyas. They do not incur any fault
by eating flesh that has been acquired by expenditure
of prowess. All deer of the wilderness were dedicated
to the deities and the Pitris in days of old, O king,
by Agastya. Hence, the hunting of deer is not
censured. There can be no hunting without risk
of one’s own life. There is equality of
risk between the slayer and the slain. Either
the animal is killed or it kills the hunter.
Hence, O Bharata, even royal sages betake themselves
to the practice of hunting. By such conduct they
do not become stained with sin. Indeed, the practice
is not regarded as sinful. There is nothing, O
delighter of the Kurus, that is equal in point of merit,
either here or hereafter, to the practice of compassion
to all living creatures. The man of compassion
has no fear. Those harmless men that are endued
with compassion have both this world and the next.
Persons conversant with duty say that that Religion
is worthy of being called Religion which has abstention
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