Almost on a routine basis, one comes across debates on adoption of vegetarian (V) lifestyle versus virtues of being non-vegetarian (NV). People adopting vegetarian lifestyle talk about virtues of not harming animals and also quote religious scriptures as evidence to prove their point. Those adopting to NV lifestyle refer to ingredients present in such food (proteins, vitamins, etc) apart from adding that killing of plants is also akin to killing life and thus, V lifestyle is not really a virtue that it claims to be. To complicate this debate, we have a new entrant who call themselves vegans who avoid diary products using the same logic vegetarians use – to avoid cruelty to animals (more particularly, milk-giving animals). 

So the obvious question that may then be asked is – what lifestyle must one really adopt? Whose arguments are valid and/ or invalid? Before this, one must ask a more pertinent question – for any decision to be made, what are the decision variables used to arrive at the decision? In the more prevalent argumentation logic that we witness, these variables primarily revolve around morality (as conveyed in the शास्त्र), avoidance of harm to animals and health. So the obvious question that comes up is – are these variables valid in the first place? Did our Rishis use these variables to make their arguments about food lifestyle choices? Even a cursory reading of the शास्त्र aligned to the सनातन धर्म corpus makes it evident that the above-stated decision variables do not form the core of arguments used in such शास्त्र. Given below is a summary view on the decision variables that, I believe, are applied in the शास्त्र by the Rishis.

1. Our original स्थिति is referred to as गुणातीत स्थिति viz निर्गुण and निराकार. It is our स्वरूप. 
2. From this स्थिति, we seek an अनुभव. And for this अनुभव, we need a body, environment, etc and these (body, environment , etc., also referred to as प्रकृति)  are created out of त्रिगुण viz सत्व, रजस् & तमस्. 
3. And how does one understand the त्रिगुण? सत्व refers to knowledge or knowing aspect, रजस् to activity & movement while तमस् refers to solidity or that which stores energy. Within our own body, our बुद्धि – मन complex is comprised predominantly of सत्व, our प्राण predominantly of रजस् and our शरीर predominantly of तमस्. Similarly, the world is also filled up with all objects which too are infested with त्रिगुण only.
4. And where did this प्रकृति come from? It came from my own original state of being, my own स्वरूप only, just as spider web comes out of a spider only for the spider to rest in it.
5. So, we have a unique situation – to live and experience life, we need a body made of त्रिगुण and to sustain त्रिगुण within us, we have to necessarily consume food viz also composed of त्रिगुण.
6. सत्व गुण is the closest to the गुणातीत स्थिति while तमस् is the farthest. For the best quality of अनुभव, सत्व has to be dominant within our persona. So, सात्विक diet is encouraged for all since one who consumes dominant सत्व food is able to experience life as per the original intent that has emanated from our स्वरूप. 
7. There is another aspect that enables us to determine the kind of food one must have. This aspect is the nature of कर्म that we do – the गुण that is used up or applied the most needs to be compensated by the food we eat. This means that those doing कर्म where बुद्धि – मन complex is used primarily will benefit more by sticking to a सात्विक diet but where शरीर use is dominant needs intake of a तामसिक diet too. One must however not forget that any form of diet is necessarily comprised of त्रिगुण though there is this idea of a dominant गुण (fresh milk, fresh veggies acquired through minimal हिंसा tends to have a dominant सत्व while fresh मांस tends to have dominant रजस् while liquor has a dominant तमस्).
8. Environment also has a role in determining the food that one consumes. One living in cold Siberia needs to have food that enables storing of energy for a longer time in our body to meet the challenge of the harsh cold climate. Therefore, it is normal for people in this region to consume hard meat and take to liquor – both of which have a high dominant तमस् thereby enabling one to withstand the cold climate. One must however note that with advent of technology, people living in Siberia too live in conditioned environments and the need for high intake of a dominant तमस् food is significantly minimized. 
9. It is pertinent to add here that there are vegetables which have a dominant रजस् (onion) and dominant तमस् (garlic, cauliflower). Equally, the same vegetable when fresh will possess a higher quantum of सत्व but once it becomes बांसी, the same vegetable see reduction in सत्व as it gains more तमस्.

How are the above nine points useful in making a decision about food choice? A simple table is proposed below with an intent to convey the idea more clearly. Kindly do not take this literally – this has been proposed only to convey the spirit of the concept. 

Those living within सनातन धर्म

The four वर्ण operate within the fold of सनातन धर्म. And since they are aligned to सनातन धर्म, their food tends to have a predominant सत्व component. However, driven by their स्वभाव, there are variations in the गुण-mix of the food consumed by them as given below: 

वर्ण	सत्व	रजस्	तमस्
ब्राह्मण	70	20	10
क्षत्रिय	60	30	10
वैश्य	50	30	20
शूद्र	50	10	40

Superficials

We have a category of people who are more प्राकृतिक् in their world views. They are mixed up and confused since they read everything and assimilate their readings at a superficial level. When asked, they will say they value humanity, they sometimes use logic of modern science or  quote ancient wisdom at other times. Because of this confusion, if one asks how one must balance गुण in one’s life, since they do not understand गुण but have some idea of what the world “balance” means, they will provide their view as below 😀:

Type	सत्व	रजस्	तमस्
व्यावहारिक मनुष्य	33.33	33.33	33.34

Essentially, it is best to keep away from superficials – they are most vocal in conveying their confusion strongly to the world but tend to be superficial in their opinions. . 

What about a देव, असुर and a राक्षस

One is called as देव who is predominantly सत्व in orientation, असुर is one who is predominantly रजस् while a राक्षस is one who is predominantly तमस् in behaviour and conduct. 

Type	सत्व	रजस्	तमस्
देव	85	10	5
असुर	25	60	15
राक्षस	15	25	60

Conclusion

Key debates within सनातन धर्म is not whether the food we comsume is vegetarian or non-vegetarian. The debate revolves around the गुण-mix one may need to adopt to live a fulfilling life. And the गुण-mix or the food choice taken one by anyone gets driven by nature of कर्म one does, the environment one lives in, one’s own innate गुण orientation (which त्रिगुण is predominant) and the end goal that one seeks (one may either be seeking मोक्ष or one may prefer living with प्राकृतिक goals driven by needs of survival and materialism). Lastly, one must note that whatever food one seeks, its source is a transformation of primal matter (प्रकृति) that has emerged from me only. Once evaluation of all these factors is undertaken in a reasoned way, decision on choice of food becomes easier and informed.  And for a सनातनी, the arguments using decision variables of health, perceived morality and harm to life may be avoided since they will seem sub-optimal from धर्म lens.

Om Tat Sat