The most sacred animal to Hindus is the cow; one of the reasons is because the bull is a vahana (vehicle) for one of the three most important deities, Shiva. Due to the cow’s significance in Hinduism, they were once sacrificed at temples in the Vedic period. Today Cows should be protected and given sacredness, because they have a strong connection wit the Gods. The Bulls are essential in the villages of India to pull carts and ploughs to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the village.
As stated above Krishna had a strong connection with cows, in stories he is was known to milk them and to play with them. This importance of cows has such an impact on the lives of Hindus living in India, because they are deeply revered and killing them or harming them is forbidden. In India, the right of way is given to them on the streets. In addition, for elderly cows retirement homes or gowshalas have been set up for mainly old cows and other animals.
People in India have been known to respect the cow so much that due to their dharma to protect them some Hindu businessmen have offered to have some of the cows shipped over to India to be looked after in gowshalas.
Furthermore due to the respect for the cows, all Hindu are obliged to refrain from eating beef as it is tamasic (bad for the soul) and that if it is eaten Hindus must not pray with such immorality on their tongues.
Hindus also believe that due to respect for all living creatures as set out by the principle of ahimsa they should be vegetarian. This is because it is stated that if the Gods have been known not to eat meat of any kind then why do humans need to, because surely if the Gods can cope then so can the human race. The three gunas show the way in which a Hindu should operate his/her life. Obedience to the teaching of the three gunas affects the purity of the soul and they affect your personality. It therefore affects the karma of a living being. The three gunas are:
Sattva ~ Using the qualities of light, knowledge and truth. (sattva) this is the eating of fresh fruit and vegetables, grains and rice. The Sattvic way helps the mind to be calm and pure working for better knowledge of God.
Raja ~ Using the forces of energy and desire. A Rajistic mind is involved in worldly actions and busy gaining lower knowledge than the Sattvic mind. This would be eating all meat except beef, eggs, spicy foods, and alcohol.
Tamas ~ Using the forces of darkness, ignorance and heaviness, the tamasic mind is an inactive mind straying from God. The tamasic mind is one where foods that are overripe and rotten have been eaten, and of course the holiest animal being eaten the cow.
Therefore, many Hindus are vegetarian due to the three gunas playing a very important part in the Hindu life, by affecting the devotion to God, and focussing on choosing the right path and following your dharma to achieve moksha.
There are also medical reasons as to why Hindus refrain from eating beef. Eating meat is strongly associated with heart disease, some cancers, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The British government advocates more consumption of bread, cereals, potatoes and fruit, however not meat. Fish and white meant are better for the body than other kinds of meat. 90 % of the productive land in the western world is used to grow crops to feed just cattle. 8 Kg of grain protein fed to Animals produces 1kg of meat, which is such a waste when a 10% reduction in the production of meat could release enough grain to feed ten million people.
The devastated Amazon forests (cleared for cattle ranching) and cash crops like sugar beet have made dramatic climatic changes to the world showing that the protection of the cow could be beneficial in many ways.