Abstaining from Flesh
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avicorin tāyiram vēṭṭali ṉoṉṟa / ṉuyircekut tuṇṇāmai naṉṟu
“Than thousand rich oblations, with libations rare, / Better the flesh of slaughtered beings not to share.”
“To abstain from the killing and eating of living things is better than to perform a thousand sacrifices in the sacrificial fire.”
Better than pouring offerings into fire and performing a thousand sacrifices is refusing to eat flesh obtained by taking even one creature's life.
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Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
அவி சொரிந்து ஆயிரம் வேட்டலின்= தீயின்கண் நெய் முதலிய அவிகளைச் சொரிந்து ஆயிரம் வேள்வி வேட்டலினும்; ஒன்றன் உயிர் செகுத்து உண்ணாமை நன்று= ஒருவிலங்கின் உயிரைப் போக்கி அது நின்ற ஊனை உண்ணாமை நன்று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Rather than pouring offerings into sacred flames and performing a thousand ritual sacrifices, it is far more virtuous to refrain from killing even a single creature to eat its flesh.