Big thinkers always try to find a bigger meaning to life. Veda is nothing but a book. There are always lot of self help books on the shelf but you don't have to take them as religion. You take in some information that makes sense not everything. I do understand where Uji is coming from and I do support your take on it. We as human beings need to be more sensitive to the killing of lives who experience pain. The eating of plant is a non issue since plants do not have the emotion to experience pain.

As as aware human being who preach and practice humanity, it is a point of hypocrisy when human beings resort to killing animals for food by inflicting pain and death on animals who are very similar to us as far as nurturing and family goes.

We cannot compare that to the animal world who do not have any option to eat besides killing and eating other animals.

It would be nice to be a vegeterian so that we don't have to feel guilty about being an indirect cause of the death and pain felt by an animal but we tend to justify that by acknowledging that as long as we don't kill ourselves it's fine. It's a slippery slope but in the grand scheme of things there is no right and wrong except what one has come to learn by his/her own experience.

So yes it sucks that animals have to be subject to pain and murder which is very unfortunate but nature made us humans who are omnivorous so we will eat both if the opportunity arises.