ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes the current state of most human dietary practice as both cause and symptom of a collective condition of disease—what might be called a civilizational disease or, indeed, a pandemic. It suggests Indic dharma practices and yoga practices as a significant potential contributors to a viable program of therapy that may be promising as a way toward such a cure. The chapter also suggests that the diseased condition is brought about, aggravated, and sustained by the rampant habitual inclusion of animal flesh in the daily, or near-daily, diet of vast human populations. It considers two key therapeutic principles from Indic traditions to be considered. First, an important component of the ancient Vedic and post-Vedic Dharma tradition, namely, the practice of Fivefold Sacrifice by which a moral community is established and sustained. Second, aspects of the classical Yoga tradition, by which identification of the most basic cause of human suffering and the Yoga practices for its removal are articulated.
