MESSAGES AND GREETINGS

GREETINGS FROM AMERICA

Henry Bailey Stephens, Doctor Emeritus, University of New Hampshire Extension Service, and author of The Revolutionary Culture
Now is the time, and India is the place! This Congress should be a major step toward freeing mankind from its barbaric obsession of eating the bodies of our fellow creatures. The claims of necessity, made in the past, were always weak and illogical. Today our systems of transportation, refrigeration and storage make them completely invalid. This vicious cannibalistic habit, no doubt a residue of the ice age, not only violates our ethical and aesthetic standards; it requires six times as much land as would be necessary if we grew crops direct for human food. Over-grazing by the meat animals is creating more and more desert.
India, the homeland of all the Indo-European nations, will lead the world in correcting this situation. The great prophets of our time - Richard Wagner, ToIstoy, Thoreau, Shaw, and Gandhi - have seen that here is the key to man's rehabilitation.
As a delegate to the Congress from the Millennium Guild of America I hope that a programme may be developed now which will. bring by 2000 A.D. the dawn of a decent civilisation.

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Bele Roth, Delegate, Los Angeles Vegetarian Society
It is indeed a privilege to be invited to join this World Vegetarian Congress for I feel this movement is the vanguard of things to come.
Since the purpose of life, to my way of thinking, is growth, both individual and collective, to become a vegetarian is certainly a step in this direction. It takes strength of character; conviction of ideals, and dedication of purpose to step off the beaten path, and follow this comparatively new highway of the Vegetarian way of life.
Although there are many reasons or motives for becoming a vegetarian, varying from the purely selfish one of the desire for physical health to the humane or ethical one of love for our younger brothers, the animals, once one has embraced this path and travels upward, eventually he meets all others and there is complete agreement of the ultimate purpose. This can be summed up in the broad statement that we are convinced that only through the vegetarian way of non-violence to the animal kingdom can we achieve non-violence toward our brothers, the human kingdom .. . . and in this way establish peace on earth.

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Ruth Taylor
My life has been a long series of questioning, of study, of concentrated work. I now realize that all this was in preparation for my first trip to India. As a dancer I learned the fundamentals for the discipline of physical body. As far back as I can remember I have considered my body as a structure to house my inner self . . . and now I know it within my power to project myself goodness, or the opposite.
I was first introduced to Yoga by Indra Devi, the author of that wonderful book Forever Young Forever Healthy. It was like awakening in a world whose ways I needed to relearn. Now I am being enriched by the mental and spiritual guidance of Indra Devi. She has become my sister in spirit and with her I am visiting India.
It was always my dream to see Bombay (The Gateway of India), Delhi, the modern city, with its colourful festival of music and art and the hallowed shrine at Raj Ghat dedicated to the memory of the great leader Mahatma Gandhi. I always wanted to see the River Ganges at the Holy City of Banaras and the shrines and temple there. I wished to see the ancient temple at Buddha Gaya . . . and Sarnath where Buddha delivered his first sermon and exemplified the four noble truths. And I must see the home of India's great poet, Rabindranath Tagore, the Vishwa Bharati University he founded, . . . these places and many others. . . . Yes, dreams do come true.

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Charles Kroll, Vice President, The Vegetarian Society of New York and Present Literature Agent
On behalf of the Vegetarian Society of New York, Inc., I consider it a great privilege and honour to extend our warmest greetings at this time. We are, of course, deeply interested in the Fifteenth World Vegetarian Congress, India, commencing on November 9th, 1957, and wish it every success.
With the ushering in of the atomic age, the world stands again at the cross-roads of history; it will be plunged into mass suicide from which the planet itself may never recover, or will man find the way to preserve a peaceful existence? Dr. Albert Schweitzer in his recent Declaration of Conscience has issued a powerful warning about the danger faced by all the fall-out caused by the explosion of nuclear weapons Other noted scientists in many lands. Have also pointed out that even the so called tests of hydrogen bombs may have terribly destructive effects on the present generation and many generations yet unborn. Great masses of people in this and other lands have also raised their voices in protest against the senseless testing and piling up of these murderous weapons. However, the politicians who are in authority seem to take a contemptuous view of all the appeals and warnings and are ordering more tests of and developing more destructive weapons. A crusade for survival is certainly needed for all - including vegetarians - if man is is to continue to inhabit the earth.
With this stark portrayal of what confronts us, friend and foe alike, it is the writer's ardent hope both as a members of the Vegetarian Society of New York and the I.V.U . that out of the deliberations at the 15th World Vegetarian Congress, India, may yet come lasting peace.

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Woodland Kahler, Vice President, I.V.U.
As delegates of the American Natural Hygiene Society to the 15th World Vegetarian Congress my wife and I are deeply grateful to our Indian friends for the opportunity of moving with them in a magic circle round the map of India from Bombay to Delhi, Banaras, Patna, Calcutta, Madras, and back again to the point of departure. During this wonderful journey which now lies open to many of us attending the Inaugural Session of our Congress, we shall have the privilege of meeting the fabulous people of India in sacred places throughout the land.
India is the key country to an understanding of Asia by the people of the West. And now is the appointed time. In our Age of Anxiety we are faced at present either with Explosion followed by separateness and fear or the Quiet Way leading to the Oneness of all life. We can no longer run and hide. The world has grown too small to hide in. We must go on fighting one another or we must have a change of heart and learn to co-operate. The choice is always ours.
If you happen top be Western Christians you need not fear Lord Buddha's Quiet Way nor the "Voice of Ahimsa," for Christ, himself, was a Prince of Peace in word, deed, and thought, and all true Christians, like all true Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Muhammadans and followers of Judaism, are compassionate pioneers to whom the one great adventure here on earth is a quest for spiritual enlightenment.
During the next two weeks of the World Vegetarian Congress in India our own personal impressions will, I believe, form a lasting souvenir to remind us that the spiritual sun of India is rising out of the shadows that now darken the face of the earth. With the co-operation of the non-violent people of India the healing sunshine will flood the continents of Asia and Africa and eventually overflow into the Wild West creating a new world of Light.

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GREETINGS FROM BRITAIN

It was a delightful surprise to receive from England World Forum's beautiful Souvenir of greetings to the 15th World Vegetarian Congress. We hope that every delegate will procure a copy and read the good wishes in full. We had wished to reprint the greetings in extenso but the Indian heart is as warm in its welcome as that of our brothers overseas, and to do this we should have had to omit many of the messages from our Indian brothers, for space as well as time is not indefinitely expansible. So let the few greetings from England, quoted below stand for a representative expression of those sent from many secretaries and presidents of vegetarian societies as well as individuals in the British Isles who wished the Congress every success in its deliberations, and in its purpose to awaken the interest of every thoughtful and heartful person to the ideal of vegetarianism.

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W. A. Sibly, President, The Vegetarian Society and Past President,The I.V.U.
I am equally sure that Indian vegetarianism in spite of its long and honoured history, needs the scientific witness and support of the West.
In November the Indian scene is at its most beautiful best, the climate ideal, and those who go will find a wealth of architectural, artistic, and spiritual inspiration.

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Edward H. Kirby, Chairman, Executive Committee, The Vegetarian Society
This Congress will be an historic occasion for vegetarianism and will help all spheres of man's moral relationships to one another and to the animal kingdom.
We in the west are sometimes apt to think we are the superior people - this is not so - you in the east have much to teach us, and to contribute to the welfare of humanity; and there is no nobler way of making this contribution than through the philosophy of vegetarianism.
It is only as the cause or movement of vegetarianism progresses and reaches its fulfillment that the world will eventually become peaceful and a place of happiness and love.
The Vegetarian Society, the oldest organised Society, salutes the 15th Annual Congress in the name of Love, Peace and Progress.

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Bertrand P. Allinson, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., President, The London Vegetarian Society
Undoubtedly it the traditional wisdom of the East which first inspired vegetarianism in Britain, for western religions do not, as a rule, enjoin abstinence from flesh as a means to health and holiness.
It is therefore, most fitting that we Westerners should send greetings and express our gratitude to our like thinking comrades in India. We are told that in India there has been a tendency to break away from traditional ways of living and to adapt the Westerner's unprincipled feeding habits: We sincerely hope that by means of the International Vegetarian Congress this tendency will be reversed and that this gathering of so many eminent people of other lands will carry weight and lead the renegades back into the path of righteousness and bring to our way of thinking and living those who have not yet seen the light.

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Ronald Lightowler, Secretary, The London Vegetarian Society
May India be saved from the delusion of regarding all Western ways as being those of true progress, for undoubtedly the habit of flesh-eating has brought to the West a terrible toll of disease and misery both to the human and sub-human kingdoms.
Let us stand strongly together in our testimony of that way of life which aims ultimately to eliminate all slaughter and exploitation of animals, the general adoption of which would also make it possible for all people of the earth to be properly fed.

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Geoffrey L. Rudd, Secretary, The Vegetarian Society, Editor, The Vegetarian Representative to the Indian Congress
I cannot understand my fellow men wishing to take on the lowly work of vultures and jackals, or putting themselves on the same level as tigers - let alone turning their stomachs into free cemeteries for the dead animals.
People are, of course, perfectly free to make their own karma, just as we are free to offer advice, But in the case of flesh-eating the whole nation is adversely affected as well as the creature kingdom, which cannot speak for itself.
It is at this point that we feel it necessary to point out the desirability of either remaining vegetarian or becoming vegetarian. From my experience and study of world conditions we are convinced that flesh-eating is a retrogressive step and one calculated to bring in its train, disease and a return to savagery, for killing cannot breed anything but irreverence of life - it is a very short step from slaughtering a sentient creature to slaughtering a man. In fact we believe in the unity of life and the omniscience of Brahma it is the same.
Mahatma Gandhi addressed my Society in England many years ago and said: "The Englishman eats bread to make his meat go further, while the Indian meat-eater eats meat to make his bread go further."
Nevertheless our problems are essentially the same - to stop people from eating dead animals - even though we are trying to turn meat-eaters into vegetarians, while your main task is trying to stop vegetarians from turning cannibals.
While, to my mind, the ethical and moral aspects are of first importance, we have scientific and medical arguments which reinforce them and make the case for vegetarianism absolutely unanswerable.

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Dugald Semple, President, The Scottish Vegetarian Society
What a tragedy it would be if Mother India was to became estranged from her sympathy with the rights of animals, which although it may have been carried to extremes, nevertheless has been a noble example to the flesh-eating and vivisecting nations of the West.
Yes, let us do our utmost to save India from the soulless materialism of imperialistic nations. Let us show that war and disease are the result of disobedience to spiritual and natural law. That if we harden our hearts against the everyday cruelty off flesh-eating and blood sports, we cannot wonder that the whole; so-called civilised world is preparing for another world catastrophe.
East and West must meet if we are to hasten the coming of the New JerusaIem. We go forth to show that science is an affair of the heart as well as the head. That the poor Indian need not live on such a meagre diet, and that we must realize that without love the people perish. The basic error, as Maitra, editor of the Indian journal, once told me, "You people live beside yourself, we live from ourselves. It is only more life in the soul that can unite all people."

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C. A. Westacott, E. Westacott, Honorary Secretaries, The United Humanitarian League
It is important for vegetarians everywhere to remember at all times that vegetarianism is a principle based on the unity of life - that of Ahimsa, that is, the avoidance of inflicting suffering or death upon living creatures. It has nothing to do with diet, human health, or Food Reform.
With this in mind we send you our very best wishes for the success of your meetings.

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GREETINGS FROM NEW ZEALAND

Geoffrey Hodson, President of the New Zealand Vegetarian Society and of the Council of Combined Animal Welfare Organizations of New Zealand; Theosophical Lecturer and writer.
Meat-eating causes man to violate the principle of unity which makes all creation one living organism and all beings "parts of one stupendous whole ". . . . The present condition of man, individual, national, and international, can be regarded as a consequence of his long-continued infraction of the law of love, compassion, humaneness.
The Vegetarian Movement thus assumes immense significance. Evolutionary progress, physical, psychical, intellectual and spiritual; human relationships of all orders; man's creative genius and his use of his powers of thought and feeling; human health, efficiency, prosperity, and happiness and the welfare of man's fellow citizens on this planet, the members of the animal kingdom of Nature all these can be profoundly influenced for the better, enormously benefited, by the universal adoption of a meat-free dietary. In very truth, therefore, vegetarianism is practical idealism.
Incalculable benefit could be bestowed upon humanity if effective means, irresistible means, were devised for bringing these truths home to the mind of modern man. How to promulgate effectively vegetarian ideals and practices; how to promote universal vegetarianism; how to shatter the superstition that meat-eating is essential to health; how to break the economic power of the meat industry, the most brutal and degrading on earth; how to lead mankind to normal kindness to animal and to natural, humane ways of living, eating, preventing and treating disease - these are the problems to be solved by the world's vegetarians and humanitarians.

The answer to these questions is known at least in theory. Needed is the well-organized, ever-increasing output and dissemination of effective propaganda. By healthy, happy lives, useful lives, by voice, pen and organizing skill, and by a national, and a World Committee - carefully chosen, authorized to act and financed by voluntary contributions, from the widow's mite to the rich man's endowment of the Cause - by these means vegetarianism can be authoritatively and effectively inculcated.