http://www.webcom.com/ara/col/books/VEG/ht -- This link takes you to the website of the book "The Higher Taste". It offers purely vegetarian recipes of a wide variety, particularly those of India, that can be printed for your use. They are easy to follow and excellent for nutritional value as well as for the spiritual path. They are sattvic recipes, meaning ingredients in the mode of goodness, and do not contain any garlic or onions, which some people feel are rajasic, or passionate. You will also find articles on the nutritional and environmental benefits of a vegetarian diet, and how such a diet is especially important for a spiritual and karma-free lifestyle.

"Great Vegetarian Dishes" is one of the cookbooks byKurma Dasa. He has produced others, plus several videos on cooking, which are all excellent. It is nearly 300 pages long. It contains 240 easy and nutritious recipes from around the world, and advice on how to prepare meals with a spiritual consciousness. To more easily view it over the web, we have divided it into the following sections available through these links:

• Introduction, Spiritual Advice, and Rice and Soups,
• Breads and Vegetables,
• Salads and Chutneys,
• Savories and Grain Dishes,
• Beans and Legumes,
• Dips, Sauces and Dressings,
• Sweets and Deserts,
• Drinks and Meal Suggestions.

For those who observe the day called Ekadasi, here is a cookbook with a collection of 49 preparations of all kinds, such as vegetable preps, chutnies, curries, paneer (cheese) preps, lassis, and more, all without grains or beans. Check it out online at: Ekadasi Recipes Cookbook.

Here is another little cookbook of eleven vegetarian sweets from the various states of India. They are great preps if you want to try something different, called: Diwali Sweets.

Another cookbook that you may like is "Vasti's Online Indian Vegetarian Cookbook." You can find it at this website: http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/Vineyard/2378//page1.html

Here is a most comprehensive cookbook called "Food for Peace" by Rambhoru devi dasi. It contains all kinds of breads, salads, vegetable preps, drinks, savories, and lots more, plus articles on vegetarianism. You can find it at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Courtyard/8761/index.html.

Two more online cookbooks that you can look over or print for your immediate use include "A Taste of Vitality" and "Desserts of Vitality". These offer purely vegan recipes with no dairy or wheat ingredients. More people are taking to the vegan diet, so this will accommodate them. Some of these, however, use garlic and onions which some people who follow the sattvic diet may object to using. Therefore, I recommend excluding or substituting such ingredients with asafoetida (hing), or something similar if you prefer. Any experienced cook can use these recipes with their own imagination to make them in a way more to their liking. Otherwise, these are good recipes and informative books. Your can find these at: http://www.vitalita.com/cookbooks.html. Or you can go right to the PDF versions (if you have Adobe Acrobat reader) at the following sites: http://www.vitalita.com/docs/ATasteOfVitality.pdf and http://www.vitalita.com/docs/DessertsOfVitality.pdf.

In the words of George Bernard Shaw:

The Prayer of Fellowship of Life

"Our God our Father, we thank Thee for the wonder and beauty of Thy creation. Forgive us, we pray that we have taken it all for granted and have ruthlessly and selfishly exploited it in so many ways contrary to Thy will.

"In particular we pray for the animals and birds, sharers with us in Thy creation, that are powerless to protect themselves from the terror and anguish of slaughterhouses and vivisection laboratories, and those that die cruel and often lingering deaths so that we may wear their skins. Let us cease to turn deaf ears to their cries and teach us how to live our lives mercifully and justly so that our love for Thee will be mirrored by our love for all Thy creation."