​Are brahmanas allowed to eat meat?

Answer Podcast

Any other question? Are brahmanas allowed to eat meat? See, when we talk about brahmanas, also there are, at one level brahmanas are meant to be sattva guna.
But then there are sattvic, rajasic, tamasic rituals also. Isn’t it? We say there is tamasic worship. And who is going to do tamasic worship? Sattvic brahmanas are not going to do the tamasic worship.
So, there are brahmanas who are meant to do the tamasic rituals also. And those brahmanas who do the tamasic rituals, they may also eat meat. So, there are brahmanas who are, for example, when Ravana starts fighting with Ram’s forces.
At that time Ravana has, the Rakshas have their own brahmanas. They are called Yatudhanas. Yatudhanas and they perform rituals for invoking auspiciousness for Ravana.
Now, they are the brahmanas or the Rakshasas and then they are going to perform rituals of that category. So, especially those brahmanas who are administering Shakta rituals. Shakta worship is often quite tamasic, not always, sometimes.
When it is, so those may be eating meat. The Mahabharata does say at one particular place that when Yudhishthira is going up towards Badrikashtra, towards high up in the mountains. So, he said there are large number of brahmanas who are accompanying him.
And he says at one particular point that now as we move up, food will be very difficult to get. And he says to the brahmanas, those of you who cannot live without meat, please go to some other king. He will shelter you.
I cannot provide for you now. So, it is not that he was killing animals and providing for them. But then there was the situation where meat was available.
So, there are sections. As I said, we have to, you know, if we try to look at Vedic scriptures and try to see the principles of Krishna consciousness within the Vedic principle and within the Vedic scriptures, we will find them. But if we try to look and think that all the Vedic scriptures should be talking only about the principles of Krishna consciousness, we will not find that.
So, as I told you, one thing is, Prabhupada has not given us Vedic culture. He has given us the best of Vedic culture. Vedic culture has a large level of, multiple levels of things in it.
And then if we think that everything in the Vedic scriptures should equate with Krishna consciousness, then we will always live in a perpetual state of insecurity. How do I make sense of this? Why is this there? Why is this there? Why is this there? No, the Vedic culture is very broad. It is inclusive.
There are multiple levels of people at multiple levels of consciousness and they are all accommodated, facilitated to move onwards in a gradual way. So, what Prabhupada has done is like the elevator, the super fast way and the Bhagavatam also, it’s not as Prabhupada has given it. Bhagavatam itself acknowledges the path of Bhakti is rare.
So, even among sages, among Munis, among liberated people, the Bhaktas are rare. In that sense, Bhakti is a rare path. Do you answer your question?