Vegetarianism
The Hindu who believes in non-injury or nonviolence (ahimsa) naturally adopts a vegetarian diet. It is a matter of conscience more than anything else. The Vedic and Puranic scriptures of Hinduism explain that animals have souls and the act of killing animals brings bad karma because the killer will suffer the pain of the animal he has killed in this life or the next. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami adds that when we eat meat, fish, fowl and eggs, we absorb the vibration of the creatures into our nerves. This promotes fear, anger, jealousy, confusion, resentment and the like. The Manu Dharma Shastras state, “When the diet is pure, the mind and heart are pure.” Generally there is the belief, based on scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita, that one's food shapes the personality, mood and mind.