Andrej Stojanovic, Serbia
How Mohanji Encouraged Me to Stop Eating Meat
I am 20 years old, and I come from Serbia. As someone from the Balkans, meat is deeply rooted in our culture. I grew up eating large amounts of it, and during the last two years, since I started tracking my macros, I was eating up to one kilogram of meat every single day. This is just a little background. From the very beginning, the idea that we should not eat meat because animals have souls made complete sense to me. The thought that their final emotion before death is immense fear, and that by eating their flesh we also absorb that energy and create karma, resonated deeply with me.
At first, I was under the illusion that eating meat was acceptable because I wasn’t the one killing the animals. But I soon realized that I was still participating in it by supporting the industry, buying meat, and consuming it. Once I understood this, I genuinely wanted to stop eating meat. However, fear immediately appeared. Would I get enough protein? Would I become sick more often? Would I lose the muscles and physique I had spent four years building? What would people think? Would they think I was crazy? How would my family and friends react? How would I prepare meals without meat when I had eaten it with almost every meal my entire life?
These thoughts stayed with me for about a year. During that time, I continued eating meat exactly as before. Then something started happening. Whenever I ate meat, images of dead animals would appear in my mind. I felt sadness while eating, yet I still couldn’t stop. This is where one sentence from Mohanji completely changed my life. I attended a talk about preparing for the pilgrimage to Kailash. At that time, I was still undecided about going because the trip was in the middle of summer, and I had planned to spend my vacation at the seaside with my friends. But that is another story.
During the talk, one of the speakers said that if we eat meat, Kailash becomes much more difficult because Kailash does not resonate with such low energies. The moment I heard those words, I felt an overwhelming wave of sadness. I wanted to cry. That is very unusual for me—I hadn’t cried in years. I closed my eyes.
In that moment, I clearly saw Mohanji standing in front of me in physical form. He looked at me and simply said: “You can do it.” Immediately afterwards, the sadness disappeared and was replaced by an incredible feeling of happiness, peace, and fulfillment. The entire experience lasted about fifteen seconds, but to me it felt infinitely longer.
The talk was on Saturday. On Sunday, everything was completely normal. I continued eating meat as usual. But on Monday, something simply clicked. Instead of my usual breakfast of five eggs, I made oatmeal. For lunch, I ate peas. For dinner, I had seitan. For the first few days, I didn’t tell anyone that I had stopped eating meat. Then people began to notice. Meal by meal, day by day, meat completely disappeared from my life.
The interesting part is that on Sunday evening I was still eating nearly a kilogram of meat a day, and by Monday I had stopped completely. Many people were worried because I changed so suddenly—even my mother, who had already been vegan for five years. But I felt an enormous support inside me, all because of one simple sentence from Mohanji.
There are two moments after giving up meat and eggs that I will never forget. The first happened five days after that Monday. After training with my friends at the gym, we went to our usual restaurant. Everyone ordered meat. For the first time in my life, I asked, “Could I have anything without meat?” I will never forget the reactions of my friends or even the waiter, who knew me well.
There was judgment, teasing, confusion, concern, and many different emotions. Yet none of it affected me. Normally, I am a very emotional person. I care deeply about what my close friends think of me. But not that day. There were endless questions. Some judged me, some worried about me, and some simply joked. I calmly replied that I no longer wanted to eat meat because it no longer felt right for me. That was all. Normally, I tend to over-explain myself, but this time I didn’t feel the need.
Looking back, that moment was incredibly important because it strengthened my commitment right at the beginning. The second experience happened about four months later. I attended a traditional Balkan wedding, where almost every dish contained meat. The parents of one of my closest friends, who were getting married, kindly arranged a special vegetarian meal just for me. When the other guests noticed, around thirty people—most of them complete strangers and much older than me—spent nearly an hour commenting on my decision. They said many unpleasant things. I don’t even want to repeat them because that isn’t the point. What matters is that, once again, I wasn’t affected.
Throughout that entire situation, I could feel Mohanji’s support. That feeling alone was enough to stop me from arguing or feeling hurt, despite the things that were being said. Of course, I still encounter situations like this regularly, but these two experiences had the greatest impact on me and made me even stronger. Looking back, all of my fears turned out to be illusions. I didn’t lose my muscles, even though I stopped training for about a month. Some people accepted my decision easily, while others struggled with it. I also realized that the common belief that we all need 180–200 grams of protein every day is simply not true for everyone.
Since giving up meat and eggs, I have experienced many positive changes. I feel lighter. Fear, anger, and frustration have almost disappeared from my life. Feelings like guilt and self-blame have greatly diminished. My body functions much more easily, and I actually have more energy—even though I eat much less food than before.
My face finally cleared up after struggling with acne for five years and trying countless treatments. Once I stopped eating meat, the acne simply disappeared. To me, it felt like a miracle. I discovered who my true friends really are. I no longer become irritable when I’m hungry. I have much better emotional control. I feel more authentic. I rarely get sick—in fact, I haven’t been ill since I stopped eating meat.
Most importantly, I finally trust and respect myself because I stayed true to a decision that is far from easy for someone my age and in my environment. Simply put, my life has become much lighter, calmer, and more peaceful. The biggest lesson for me is seeing how deeply Mohanji’s words reached my patterns and my entire being. How could someone who was eating enormous amounts of meat every single day completely change within twenty-four hours? My message is simple:
With Mohanji, anything is possible.
What we call reality is, for him, simply an illusion—something that can be transformed for our highest good and for the benefit of the entire planet. I am infinitely grateful that he helped me open my eyes and guided me towards giving up meat and eggs.
It is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 3rd September 2026
Disclaimer:
The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments on these blogs are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Mohanji, Mohanji Foundation, it’s members, employees or any other individual or entity associated with Mohanji or Mohanji Foundation. We make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of any information presented by individual authors and/or commenters on our blogs and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.
We reserve the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner we see fit blog entries or comments that we, in our sole discretion, deem to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, of an express commercial nature, or otherwise unacceptable.
Mohanji Testimonials team