Dr. Sulekh Chand Jain
This is a very practical issue that I am sure many of us are faced with some times. Most of us have friends (Indians and non-Indians) who are non-veg. Many times we have occasion to go out to eat or go on vacation together. In this scenario, the following situations can arise. Some of these I have faced myself.
- We all decide to eat together and the waitress brings one bill/invoice. Here we all decide to split equally among all the participants but I realize that my portion of the veg food did not cost as much as the other non-veg friends. If I pay my equal share, I am subsidizing their non-veg food. This bothers me. So, what should I do here?
- As happens amongst friends, sometimes in the past our non-veg-friends had paid theentire bill but this time it is my turn. Now, should I pay the entire bill or not?
- We have an out of town guest who is a close friend and we go out to eat. The guest orders non-veg food. Being the host, should I pay for his/her meals?
- At Thanksgiving time in the US, my company/employer gives each employee a free turkey voucher. I am a vegetarian and the turkey voucher has no value to me. Instead, I have the option to cash the same voucher for some pre- designated dollar amount at the company office. Please note that the cash value of the voucher is much less than the actual price of the turkey in the open market. Now, one of my colleagues at work knows that I am a vegetarian and I do not want the turkey. So, he offers to buy the same voucher from me (at the same cash price or even slightly higher what the company will cash that voucher for). Now, what should I do? By selling the voucher to my colleague, am I still responsible for the life of the turkey?
- I work for a company, large or small. The company gets visits from many customers and other important company guests. I have meetings with these visitors and after the meeting, I offer (as I am supposed to) to take them out for lunch or dinner on behalf of the company. The guests eat what they want, veg or non-veg (as I cannot dictate what they should eat or not eat). They are the guests of the company and not of mine. Here should I pay or not pay or what should I do knowing full well that the company expects me to be the host and that I will be reimbursed fully for these expenses?
- Say I am the owner of a company and I take my important visitors to lunch or dinner (or the non-veg food is brought in the company). Being the owner, what should I do?
These are all real life situations. I am sure there are many other similar situations. Here let me share with you how I have tried to handle such situations.
In all such cases, when the money is coming from my own earnings or pocket, no matter how close a friend or a visitor is, I make it very clear in advance to the guest that I will only pay for veg meals and if they eat non veg, then they are on their own. Similarly, I will not equally split the invoice. Here I tell the waiter to bring me my separate bill.
When the employer is paying the bill, then I don’t feel it is my job to force my views on the company’s customers and visitors regarding what they should eat. Here I pay the entire bill and get reimbursed by the company.
If I happened to be the owner of my own company (this has not been the case with me), here too, I would only serve veg food, no matter what. I will not deviate from my core belief. Please note that in India to the best of my knowledge, for example, Birlas never served any non-veg foods to any; no matter how high up they might be.
In the case of the turkey vouchers, I refused to sell the vouchers to my colleagues. In most of the cases, I destroyed the voucher but in no case did I trade with my colleagues for anything or give them free.
All of us in our lives face this music. My simple principle has been that where himsa is involved, I will not pay or offer goods and services to my guests that I do not consume.
Now you decide: is this behavior consistent with ahimsa?
