On what grounds do you prohibit meat-eating ?

Question: On what grounds do you prohibit meat-eating
?

Swami Sivananda: On medical, psychological, moral and
spiritual grounds. The mind is made up of the essence
of the food that a man takes. Tamasic food results in
a Tamasic mind (inert, dull). Meat is Tamasic and
hence should be avoided.

When an animal is killed or butchered, a contraction
of its nervous system takes place on account of fear.
(And you might have felt certain disturbances in your
own stomach when you have experienced fear.) This
leads to the secretion of certain poisons in the
liver, etc., of the animal. These poisons are
cumulative in their nature and are never removed or
lost during the process of boiling or cooking meat.
Hence, meat-eating is poisonous and dangerous in the
long run.

There is no difference between you and an animal when
both are considered as souls inhabiting the bodies.
From whichever source you derive the right to live and
enjoy in this material body, from that very same
source, the souls of these animals have derived equal
rights to live and enjoy in their material bodies.
Hence, you do not possess the moral right to kill a
single living being, however small it may be.
Last, but not least, there is One Consciousness which
has expressed itself in the form of the various
beings, animate and inanimate. And this makes you one
with all beings. Can you willingly and joyously cut
your own fingers and cook them and eat them ? Not
knowing this oneness alone is the purpose of your
coming again and again into the mundane plane. You can
know, feel and experience this oneness only when you
stop injuring and hurting others and begin to love all
as your own Self. Verily, the animals are thy own
Self. Thou alone art residing in these animals as the
individual souls and thou alone art manifest in the
form of the material bodies in which these souls
reside. Hence, wake up; stop meat-eating and
butchering the animals. Develop love for them and
promote oneness.