Theos-Talk Archives (June 2002 Message tt00060)

This is being sent to the Theosophical mailing lists to which I
subscribe, and being bcc'd to a number of Theosophists whose opinions
are important to me. Obviously, nobody's perfect, and I have therefore
ignored the tendency among many members to preach holism in matters of
medicine and religion, but when it comes to politics, forget entirely
about karma, and look only to symptoms. But, when I see this as being
done in the name of the Theosophical Society or a related organization,
I feel I must comment.

>From a letter being circulated by Radha Burnier in the name of the
Theosophical Order of Service:

> The Government of India is currently formulating its tenth five-year plan
> and the meat sub-committee has recommended the development of the large
> scale slaughter of animals. It wishes to encourage the export and 
> import of meat and to promote the eating of flesh by Indians all
> in the name of foreign exchange, economic development and modernization. 
> As you can imagine, this is contrary to the country beautiful spiritual 
> tradition ahimsa and represents a further step down the path Western 
> nations have taken of the industrial exploitation of animals without
> regard for the environment and human health.

Now, let's examine that statement. India is a country with extreme
poverty and a lot of starvation. Now, while vegetarianism is an
admirable show of ahimsa, and you are free to die for your ideals, it is
a major violation of ahimsa to expect somebody ELSE to die for your
ideals. And remember, the "beautiful spiritual tradition" of India also
included an oppressive caste system which the Theosophical Society
worked hard to eliminate. You cannot force evolution on people. 

> Radha asks us to write to the Prime Minister of India to express our
> concern while there is still time to do so. A limited period has 
> been set by the Government for public consultation before the new
> five-year plan is adopted. Radha believes that letters from members 
> of the TS and TOS around the world, written either as individuals 
> or as members of a TOS group or branch, will bring real pressure to 
> bear on the Government.

What a wonderful idea. Let's stop poverty and starvation by WRITING
LETTERS. If I had known it was that easy, I would have been hundreds and
hundreds of letters. But I know that it is not that easy. Simply writing
letters cannot stop poverty and starvation.

If you don't like what the Indian government is doing, come up with a
viable alternative. But writing from the comfort of your homes, from a
perspective of never having known involuntary hunger, is both arrogant
and hypocritical.

Bart Lidofsky