Eating vegetables is also violence

Eating vegetables is also violence, and vegetarians are also committing violence against other living entities because vegetables also have life. Nondevotees are killing cows, goats, and so many other animals for eating purposes, and one who is vegetarian is also killing. That is the law of nature. Jiva jivasya jivanam: one living entity is the life of another living entity. But for a human being, that violence should be committed only as much as necessary.

If one kills many thousands of animals in a professional way so that other people can purchase the meat to eat, one must be ready to be killed in a similar way in his next life and in life after life. There are many rascals who violate their own religious principles. According to Judeo-Christian scriptures, it is clearly said, "Thou shalt not kill." Nonetheless, giving all kinds of excuses, even the heads of religions indulge in killing animals while trying to pass as saintly persons. This mockery and hypocrisy in human society bring about unlimited calamities: therefore occasionally there are great wars. Masses of such people go out onto battlefields and kill themselves. Presently they have discovered the atomic bomb, which is simply awaiting wholesale destruction.

Some people say, "We believe that animals have no soul." That is not correct. They believe animals have no soul because they want to eat the animals, but actually, animals do have a soul.

Here is the scientific proof; the animal is eating, you are eating: the animal is sleeping, you are sleeping; the animal is defending, you are defending; the animal is having sex, you are having sex; the animals have children, you have children; they have a living place, you have a living place. If the animal's body is cut, there is blood; if your body is cut, there is blood. So, all these similarities and not the presence of the soul? That is not logical. In logic there is something called analogy. Analogy means drawing a conclusion by finding many points of similarity. If there are so many points of similarity between human beings and animals, why deny one similarity? That is not logic. That is not science.

Some rascals put forward the theory that an animal has no soul or is something like a dead stone. In this way they rationalize that there is no sin in animal-killing. Actually, animals are not dead stones, but the killers of animals are stone-hearted. Consequently no reason or philosophy appeals to them. They continue keeping slaughterhouses and killing animals in the forest.

By killing animals, not only will we be bereft of the human form but we will have to take an animal form and somehow or other be killed by the same type of animal we have killed. This is the law of nature. The Sanskrit word mamsa means "meat." It is said: mam sah khadanti mamsah. That is, "I am now eating the flesh of an animal who will someday in the future be eating my flesh."

The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind, and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities selected those foods that best aid health and increase life's duration, such as milk products, sugar, rice, wheat, fruits, and vegetable.

Animal fat is available in the form of milk, which is the most wonderful of all foods. Milk, butter, cheese, and similar products give animal fat in a form that rules out any need for the killing of innocent creatures. Protein is amply available through split peas, dal, whole wheat, etc.

The best food is the remnant of what is offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gita, the Supreme Lord says that He accepts preparations of vegetables, flour, and milk when offered with devotion. Of course, devotion and love are the chief things that the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts.

Therefore to make food antiseptic, eatable, and palatable for all persons, one should offer food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

We eat Krishna-prasadam

"Discrimination is the best part of valor." So far we are concerned, we are eating certainly vegetable, but not directly. We eat Krishna-prasadam. Krishna says: patram punpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati: "Anyone who offers Me with love and affection vegetables, grains, milk, I eat." So if there is any sin for eating vegetables, that is Krishna sin, not our sin. We take the prasadam. We are teaching people to eat Krishna-prasadam. We are not teaching people to become vegetarian or non-vegetarian. That is not our business. After all, we have to eat, so if we eat Krishna-prasadam. "If you accept prasadam which is offered to God, then you are free from all sinful resultant action." Bhagavad-gita 4.10

You must have discrimination. You are human beings; you are not cats and dogs. You must have discrimination, what to eat, what to not eat. Because we have to eat some other living entity, it does not mean that I shall eat my sons and daughters.

We Should Not Eat Meat to Satisfy Our Tongue

Our prohibited injunctions are that we should not eat meat. So I have seen it when on the plane. But on the plane, we see so many European, and American friends traveling. They are eating the meat, not very large quantity, very little quantity.

Some of them are eating voraciously, no, but generally, I see if they give up that little one piece of meat, say, one ounce or two ounces, immediately we can save ourselves from so many sinful activities, so many slaughterhouses running on all over the world. If we simply control the tongue, what is that? You are eating a piece of meat. But they cannot. They cannot. The tongue is dictating, "No, meat is very nice. Take it." A little. It is not much. He's not living on meat. There are loaves, there are vegetables. Actually, he's living on that. Nobody takes two or three loaves, of the same weight meat. Meat, little quantity. But they take a loaf, butter, rice, and other things. Without vegetables, without food grains, you cannot live.

It is simply for the tongue. Simply for this tongue, little only. He cannot live simply on meat unless he's an animal exactly. He has to take vegetables, food grains, and butter. These are milk products. Otherwise, he has no chance to live. But for the tongue's sake, he's taking a little piece of meat, and for that reason, we have to maintain thousands and thousands of slaughterhouses.

Simply for the tongue we are committing so many sinful activities and becoming implicated because implication means there is no God consciousness, Vedic dharma.