Why are all disciples vegetarian?

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHY ARE ALL YOUR DISCIPLES VEGETARIAN? I do not believe in vegetarianism, because I do not believe in anything. My disciples are vegetarian not as a cult, not as a creed. They are vegetarians because their meditations make them more human, more of the heart, and they can see the whole stupidity of people killing living beings for their food. It is their sensitivity, their aesthetic awareness that makes them vegetarians. I don't teach vegetarianism; it is a by-product of meditation. Wherever meditation has happened, people have become vegetarian, always, for thousands of years. The oldest religion in the world is Jainism. It is a small religion, that's why not much is known to the outside world; it exists only in India. Jainism has no God; hence, there is no possibility of prayer. When God and prayer are discarded, then what is left for a religion?

Why don't you allow nonvegetarian food in the ashram?

Why can't you eat your mother? Why can't you eat your husband or your child? -- so delicious. The question is not religious, I would like to remind you again, it is a question of aesthetics. An aesthetic man will see that life remains beautiful it does not become ugly and nightmarish. But the question has arisen in Chinmaya's mind, that shows something. In India people who are vegetarian are not really vegetarian; it is just because they are born in a vegetarian family, so from the very beginning the vegetarianism has been imposed on them. And naturally they are curious, naturally they want to taste other things also, and naturally the idea arises, "The whole world is nonvegetarian; people must be enjoying." The vegetarian feels that somehow he is missing much. That's why the question has arisen. It has nothing to do with meditation. You can eat meat and…

Let no sleep e'er close thy tired eyes, without thou ask thyself: what have I omitted, and what done?

ABSTAIN THOU IF 'TIS EVIL; PERSEVERE IF GOOD. MEDITATE UPON MY COUNSELS; LOVE THEM, FOLLOW THEM: TO THE DIVINE VIRTUES WILL THEY KNOW HOW TO LEAD THEE. I SWEAR IT BY THE ONE WHO IN OUR HEARTS ENGRAVED THE SACRED TETRAD, SYMBOL IMMENSE AND PURE, SOURCE OF NATURE AND MODEL OF THE GODS. BUT BEFORE ALL, THY SOUL TO ITS FAITHFUL DUTY, INVOKE THESE GODS WITH FERVOUR; THEY WHOSE AID, THY WORK BEGUN, ALONE CAN TERMINATE. INSTRUCTED BY THEM, NAUGHT SHALL THEN DECEIVE THEE; OF DIVERSE BEINGS THOU SHALT SOUND THE ESSENCE; AND THOU SHALT KNOW THE PRINCIPLE AND END OF ALL. IF HEAVEN WILLS IT, THOU SHALT KNOW THAT NATURE, ALIKE IN EVERYTHING, IS THE SAME IN EVERY PLACE. SO THAT, AS TO THY TRUE RIGHTS ENLIGHTENED, THINE HEART SHALL NO MORE FEED ON VAIN DESIRES. THOU SHALT SEE THAT THE EVILS WHICH DEVOUR MEN ARE OF THEIR CHOICE…

Osho, the Gita certainly emphasizes sattvic food for seekers, but nowhere does it explicitly forbid meat. And you have said meat is easy to digest—and that’s what doctors say, too. Then what obstacle does meat-eating create? For spiritual practice you have strongly stressed the usefulness of a vegetarian diet. But books indicate that many saints who attained through Sufi, Zen, and Tantra paths did not remain vegetarian. And in our own country, Paramhansa Ramakrishna always ate non-vegetarian food. What is the reason for this contradiction?

Then my vision is this: Ramakrishna is an exceedingly pure man. Therefore such a small impurity could not obstruct him. You may not be able to conceive this. Exceedingly pure. If you permit me, I would say: purer than Mahavira. Had Mahavira eaten meat or fish, he could not have attained the supreme. But Ramakrishna did. This means only this: the man is so pure that such a small impurity could not hinder him. Despite that impurity he crossed beyond. Understand it like this: you climb a mountain. The rule for mountain-climbing is that the less the load, the better. If you climb with loads of weight on your head, climbing becomes hard. You may abandon the idea or stop at some midway camp. But then a very powerful man, a Hercules, climbs the mountain with a heavy weight—and reaches the top. This man is not the rule. This Hercules…

Beloved Osho, in existence only the animal kingdom is capable of eating itself for food. A cabbage cannot eat a carrot for lunch, but man has even been known to eat his fellow man for dinner. The man of zen has dissolved into the vast existence and chooses not to eat meat. Please explain.

First, you are not aware that even animals don't eat from their own species. A lion will not eat another lion, nor will a snake bite another snake. Yes, animals eat animals from other species. Vegetables cannot ordinarily eat, but there are trees, rare trees in Africa, still existent, which eat animals, birds or even man. They use their big leaves and a beautiful perfume to attract the birds. Because of the perfume, the bird comes to the tree, thinking that this is an ordinary tree, and as he sits on the tree the leaves close and suck the blood of the bird. A few trees are capable of catching animals through their branches and eating them, and a few trees have movement also. They move from one place to another place. They need a very soft earth in which they can manage to use their roots as legs. And…