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Question: I was trying to preach to a gentleman in New York very recently and it happened before also. The gentleman was asking me that where in Bhagavad-gita it mentions you cannot eat fish, meat and all. So I told him that it is patrampuspam.. that sloka. But he was not happy. So both the times they were not happy. So I want to know if you have got any suggestion, so next time people ask me I can give a better answer.

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Jayapataka Swami:   Bhagavad-gita says that if we eat food that is offered to the Lord in sacrifice then you get rid of sins. But the Lord only accepts vegetarian food. But in many places in the Vedic scriptures they talk about vegetarianism. In the fifth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the personality of Kali was arrested by Pariksit maharaj because he was beating a cow and a bull. So Pariksit maharaj said,’I give you four places to stay.’ And he said, ‘you can stay where there is illicit sex, where there is gambling, where there is intoxication and where there is eating of meat, fish and egg.’ So then the personality of Kali said, ‘that actually these places do not exist in your empire. I don’t know where to stay!’ So then he said, ‘well, you can stay where there is hoarding of gold. Where there is hoarding of gold, all these things are there. So then maybe Bhagavad-gita is not so explicit, but we should take food that is offered to the Lord and He doesn’t take meat, fish and eggs, and onion and garlic. So that is the principle. Also, in the Gita it mentions the three kinds of food – satvic, rajasic and tamasic. So tamasic food is the non-veg food. That verse is also there. I didn’t specifically see, but there are other verses in the Gita. So thank you very much!
22-NOVEMBER-2019 NEW PANIHATI DHAM, ATLANTA, USA