s and actually kills
living creatures is the slaughterer. Those are the three kinds of
slaughter, each of these three acts being so. He who does not himself eat
flesh but approves of an act of slaughter becomes stained with the sin of
slaughter. By abstaining from meat and showing compassion to all
creatures one becomes incapable of being molested by any creature, and
acquires a long life, perfect health, and happiness. The merit that is
acquired by a person by abstaining from meat, we have heard, is superior
to that of one who makes presents of gold, of kine, and of land. One
should never eat meat of animals not dedicated in sacrifices and that
are, therefore, slain for nothing, and that has not been offered to the
gods and Pitris with the aid of the ordinances. There is not the
slightest doubt that a person by eating such meat goes to Hell. If one
eats the meat that has been sanctified in consequence of its having been
procured from animals dedicated in sacrifices and that have been slain
for the purpose of feeding Brahmanas, one incurs a little fault. By
behaving otherwise, one becomes stained with sin. That wretch among men
who slays living creatures for the sake of those who would eat them,
incurs great demerit. The eater's demerit is not so great. That wretch
among men who, following the path of religious rites and sacrifices laid
down in the Vedas, would kill a living creature from desire of eating its
flesh, would certainly become a resident of hell. That man who having
eaten flesh abstains from it afterwards, attains to great merit in
consequence of such abstention from sin. He who arranges for obtaining
flesh, he who approves of those arrangements, he who slays, he who buys
or sells, he who cooks, and he who eats, are all regarded as eaters of
flesh. I shall now cite another authority, depending upon that was
declared by the ordainer himself, and established in the Vedas. It has
been said that that religion which has acts for its indications has been
ordained for householders, O chief of kings, and not for those men who
are desirous of emancipation. Manu himself has said that meat which is
sanctified with mantras and properly dedicated, according to the
ordinances of the Vedas, in rites performed in honour of the Pitris, is
pure. All other meat falls under the class of what is obtained by useless
slaughter, and is, therefore, uneatable, and leads to Hell and infamy.
One should never eat, O chief of Bharata's rac