"'Yudhishthira said, "Thou hast told it many times that abstention from
injury is the highest religion. In Sraddhas, however, that are performed
in honour of the Pitris, persons for their own good should make offerings
of diverse kinds of meat. Thou hast said so while discoursing formerly
upon the ordinances in respect of Sraddhas. How can meat, however, be
procured without slaying a living creature? Thy declarations, therefore,
seem to me to be contradictory. A doubt has, therefore, arisen in our
mind respecting the duty of abstaining from meat. What are the faults
that one incurs by eating meat, and what are the merits that one wins?
What are the demerits of him who eats meat by himself killing a living
creature? What are the merits of him who eats the meat of animals killed
by others? What the merits and demerits of him who kills a living
creature for another? Or of him who eats meat buying it of others? I
desire, O sinless one, that thou shouldst discourse to me on this topic
in detail. I desire to ascertain this eternal religion with certainty.
How does one attain to longevity? How does one acquire strength? How does
one attain to faultlessness of limbs? Indeed, how does one become endued
with excellent indications?"

"'Bhishma said, "Listen to me, O scion of Kuru's race, what the merit is
that attaches to abstention from meat. Listen to me as I declare to thee
what the excellent ordinances, in truth, are on this head. Those
high-souled persons who desire beauty, faultlessness of limbs, long life,
understanding, mental and physical strength, and memory, should abstain
from acts of injury. On this topic, O scion of Kuru's race, innumerable
discourses took place between the Rishis. Listen, O Yudhishthira, what
their opinion was. The merit acquired by that person, O Yudhishthira,
who, with the steadiness of a vow, adores the deities every month in
horse-sacrifices, is equal to his who discards honey and meat. The seven
celestial Rishis, the Valakhilyas, and those Rishis who drink the rays of
the sun, endued with great wisdom, applaud abstention from meat. The
Self-born Manu has said that that man who does not eat meat, or who does
not slay living creatures, or who does not cause them to be slain, is a
friend of all creatures. Such a man is incapable of being oppressed by
any creature. He enjoys the confidence of all living beings. He always
enjoys, besides, the approbation and commendation of the righteous. The
rig