Indoor shower, indoor sea
Ever since getting a chair for use in it, I've been having several showers a day. I'm telling myself it's solely for the purposes of keeping cool in this oppressive heat, as I haven't done any actual washing in there yet (neither my body nor the dishes). Several years have passed since I was obsessive about keeping clean. I would have several washes and baths a day, but that, thankfully, has been cut right down. Having a shower - quick, easy, economical - newly returned to my list of options is a mixed blessing. When the summer has stepped down from its pedestal - this is high summer indeed - I shall hopefully limit my showers to a morning and an evening, to clean my body, nothing more; and I shall continue with my midday baths, for the purpose of getting thoroughly clean. I look forward to it. Until then, keep clean, keep cool. I know I will!
Don't vegetables feel pain too?
One of the questions asked of vegetarians concerns the death or suffering of plants. How can I, avoiding
karma negatively influencing my future life/lives by not causing pain or death in an animal, justify causing pain and death to a plant?
Firstly, a plant's nervous system, if we can call it that, is not as advanced as that of an animal. But this alone isn't justification enough. Still the plant suffers, still the plant dies, still that suffering appear on my karmic record. My solution is to offer first the food to the Lord Krsna. By having my food blessed by the process of offering it into the presence of God, the karmic reaction is reduced to zero. The Lord cancels out the suffering; He knows about it, therefore He, who controls
karma - in fact
karma is a part of His universal body - can protect our souls, our futures, from the negativity created by causing suffering in another lifeform.
It is God in his infinite love that supplied this food for us, therefore we must thank Him.
