With the fear of losing freedom, no one likes to be restricted. If we are confronted with rules and regulations stating that we shouldn't do this or that, we naturally keep our distance. Yet restriction doesn't necessarily mean loss of freedom.

Restrictions for our own benefit are a requirement for freedom. According to the ancient Vedic teachings, the present age we live in, Kali-yuga, is the age of quarrel, hypocrisy, and degradation. We only have to open a newspaper or to look around us to realize the accuracy of this assertion. And things are bound to get worse as time goes by.

Still, the effects of Kali-yuga can be avoided by rejecting certain activities. The Srimad-Bhagavatam mentions these activities as suna (meat-eating), striyah (illicit sex), panam (intoxication), and dyutam (gambling).

To most modern people the ability to engage openly in these acts is a sign of freedom, but they are unaware of the bondage and karmic reactions involved. The freedom they speak of is the freedom of a football -- to be kicked from here to there.

These so-called sense gratificatory acts are a sign of degradation below the human level. The scriptures therefore advise four regulative principles to keep us on the human level. They directly counteract the four pillars of sinful life and uplift us to the stage from which we can approach spiritual life.

To many people being a vegetarian means being a fruitcake, but reality shows that meat-eating has caused global problems that make one wonder whether those who favour it should not be considered nuts. For instance, research and comparative studies over the past twenty-five years show that a meat-based diet is the number one cause of heart disease and cancer.

More than half the world's grain production is fed to livestock, returning only a seventh in consumable meat. The remaining becomes inaccessible for human consumption. This kind of inefficiency is the chief cause of the present world hunger problem. Besides that, the production of meat is one of the main factors of the destruction of our environment.

More than 30 billion animals and a much bigger amount of aquatics are mercilessly slaughtered for food yearly -- hardly a claim of civilized humanity. It makes us merciless and devoid of compassion for all that lives, humans included.

Although these few points are topics on which volumes of books could be written, our main concern here is to show the usefulness of the principle of non-violence. Vegetarianism is not an end in itself, but a first step toward an individual's living in harmony with himself and the world.

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