Can we do Mantra japa while consuming non vegetarian on a daily basis?

Question

I have a particular condition which makes me unable to consume more carbohydrate food. I usually stay active and consume a balanced diet with meat included. Lately I wanted to start sandhyavandan and japa of gayatri mantra and kaal bhairav mantra daily. Can I do that while following my current food habits? I know that meat is a rajasic food. Please Someone elaborate.

Answer 1

Since you're a dvija, it should be known that eating the meat of un-sacrificed animals is highly sinful:

Manu 5.33 - In normal times the twice-born man conversant with the law shall not eat meat unlawfully; having eaten it unlawfully, he shall, after death, be devoured by them helplessly.

What is lawful meat?

Manu 5.36 - The Brāhmaṇa shall never eat animals that have not been consecrated with sacred texts; but those that have been consecrated with sacred texts, he shall eat, taking, his stand upon the eternal law.

So as a dvija, if you eat meat, you have committed a sin and are liable for prayaschitta.

Can we do Mantra japa while consuming non vegetarian on a daily basis?

There is a verse from the Upanishads:

The Vedas do not purify one of bad conduct.

So if one willingly and continually commits heinous sins, the Vedic rites like gayatri japa, sandhyavandana, etc. may not purify him.

Answer 2

Japa Yoga, a famous treatise by Swami Sivananda Saraswati speaks about the code of conduct of a person practicing Japa:

On Page 114 of the text under the title Rules to be observed During Japa, Sivananda writes:

• Japa is done to elevate the sattva guna of a person , which ultimately helps them in spiritual progress. Any activity that inhibits the same, therefore, should be strictly avoided.

Answer 3

Yes, you can. The idea that fish and meat are bad is a post-Buddhistic idea. A spiritual aspirant has the option of eating fish and meat if he wants after not eating it for a year.

He who thus knows this Yajnayajniya Saman, woven in the limbs of the body, is endowed with all the limbs, and is not crippled in any limb; he reaches the full length of life, lives gloriously, becomes great with offspring and cattle and great also with fame. His holy vow is that he should not eat fish and meat for a year, or rather, he should not eat fish and meat at all.

Chandogya Upanishad 2.19.2

Are there no asses and the like to whom home and forest are the same and who wander about naked without shame? Do they become yogins thereby? If men could get liberated by coating themselves with mud and ashes, are all the country-folk who live in mud and ash, freed? Denizens of the forest like deer and other animals live only on grass, leaves and water; do they become yogins thereby? Frogs and fish live all their lives in rivers like the Ganges; do they acquire special merit thereby? Pigeons eat nothing but stone; the chataka bird does not partake of the water on earth; are they too yogins thereby? Truly, such privations and the self-denials are only for deceiving the world. The only means for liberation is the knowledge of the Truth, the Divine.

Kularnava Tantra, Human Birth and Life, Readings by M.P. Pandit

What is the Kularnava Tantra passage saying? It is saying that mechanically following vegetarianism won't lead to release. I am posting some Garuda purana verses that say the same thing.

Some fools infatuated by my illusion wish for moksha by torturing their bodies by fasts, taking cores but once in a day.

Can the ignorant fools get release by torturing their body? Can a serpent die simply by beating the hole wherein it dwells?

The imposters who guise themselves with matted hair and deer-skins and pretend to be pious move about deceiving people.

For him who takes delight in the pleasures of the world and pretends that he knows Brahman, both karman and Brahman are far distant.

Alike at home and in forest, naked and shameless, the donkeys move here and there. Do they become unattached?

If men achieve release by anointing mud and ash will they be released?

Jackal, mouse and dear live in the forest and consume grass, leaves and water. Are they also ascetics?

From their birth to death, frogs and fish stay in the river such as Ganga. Do they become Yogins?

Doves, Silaharas and Catakas do not drink water from earth. Are they Vratins?

People are content with their routine work. But that does not help them to reach their goal. It is the knowledge of truth or reality that effects release.

Garuda Purana, Dharma Khanda, Chapter XLIX

All spiritual practices are about cleansing the mind.