Subtle degrees by Rumi

Subtle degrees
of domination and servitude
are what you know as love

but love is different
it arrives complete
just there
like the moon in the window

like the sun
of neither east nor west
nor of anyplace

when that sun arrives
east and west arrive

desire only that
of which you have no hope
seek only that
of which you have no clue

love is the sea of not-being
and there intellect drowns

this is not the Oxus River
or some little creek
this is the shoreless sea;
here swimming ends
always in drowning

a journey to the sea
is horses and fodder
and contrivance
but at land’s end
the footsteps vanish

you lift up your robe
so as not to wet the hem;
come! drown in this sea
a thousand times

the moon passes over the
ocean of non-being

droplets of spray tear loose
and fall back
on the cresting waves

a million galaxies
are a little scum
on that shoreless sea

It is spiritual poverty, not material lack, that lies at the core of all human suffering.

Millions of people never analyze themselves. Mentally they are mechanical products of the factory of their environment, preoccupied with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, working and sleeping, and going here and there to be entertained. They don’t know what or why they are seeking, nor why they never realize complete happiness and lasting satisfaction. By evading self-analysis, people go on being conditioned robots.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Life is precious, don’t waste it

जन्मेदं वन्ध्यतां नीतं भवभोगोपलिप्सया ।
काचमूल्येन विक्रीतः हन्त चिन्तामणिर्मया ॥

शान्तिशतक

Transliteration:
janmedaṃ vandhyatāṃ nītaṃ bhavabhogopalipsayā ।
kācamūlyena vikrītaḥ hanta cintāmaṇirmayā ॥

śāntiśataka

Meaning:
This birth went futile in worldly indulgences.
Alas! A cintāmaṇi has been traded at the price of glass.

Is non-vegetarian food (meat) good for our spiritual life?

Reproduced from Quora

Answered Apr 6, 2017
Dada Bhagwan, May the World Attain Happiness that I have attained.

In reality, a non-vegetarian diet is not good for those who wish to live a spiritual life.

When we kill a chicken or any living being for that matter, they feel fear and pain. They want to live and are afraid of being killed. Therefore, the atoms of fear and pain that arise within them when they are killed it is present in their bodies and as a result enter our body when we consume them.

Spirituality is going towards non-violence. While eating meat, means supporting violence.

Everything we eat is living. Non-vegetarian food (for example: chicken, seafood and even eggs) possess life which all have five senses within them i.e. sight, smell, sound, touch and taste. Just like humans. All vegetarian foods like wheat, rice, fruits, vegetable, etc. are one-sense beings. One-sense life forms are not developed enough to experience fear. Therefore, we can consume them.

One may say that there is some violence even if we eat one-sense developed living beings, but the Lord does not forbid their consumption. This is because one-sensed organisms do not contain pus or meat. When we cut vegetables or fruits they do not run away from us out of fear, so we can eat it them without hesitation.

Here are thoughts by some famous people around the world on eating non-veg food:

George Bernard Shaw, playwright and Nobel Prize winner, “My body is not a graveyard! It is not a cemetery for chickens. I want to be a civilized man.”

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics; it is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming other living beings, we will be classified as savages.” – Thomas Edison famous scientist.

“People eat meat and think that they will become strong as an ox, forgetting that the ox eats grass.” – Pino Caruso (Italian writer)

“Will you be able to look at an animal’s eye and say, “My hunger is more important than your suffering?” – Moby (American musician and photographer)

If you cannot stop eating non-veg food immediately, at least change your opinion by asking for forgiveness with repentance (pratikraman). In addition, start trying different vegetarian foods, there are varieties of food available as per your taste. First, change your opinion that you want to be vegetarian, then things will follow.

For one to understand spiritual knowledge, a pure vegetarian diet is required, because the coverings from the vegetarian diet are comparatively thin, so one can maintain higher awareness.