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Killing animals (Letters)

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to R. Prakash -- Allahabad 22 June, 1951:

The diet portion of the transcendental treatment consists in the distribution of prasadam. i.e. in all gatherings the audience should not only be sustained by melodious musical performances of Bhajan Sangat or by religious or theistic discourses but they must be given some sort of remnants of food-stuff offered to God, as recommended in Bhagavad-gita.

By this process of medical treatment people become gradually free from the following four kinds of addictions of sins namely—

(1) Illegitimate connection with women.
(2) Habit of animal killing.
(3) Addiction to intoxication habits
(4) Lure of gambling.

The conditioned human beings are enwrapped in the above four special ___ due to the influence of Kali-yuga and by the transcendental treatment of Hari Sankirtana the mirror of the heart of human being becomes cleansed of all the above mentioned dusts. As soon as the dusts are removed the human being is able to visualize a clear conception of his real self and thereby he becomes free from the miseries pertaining to the body & mind, pertaining to the other living being and pertaining to the onslaughts of nature.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Seattle 9 October, 1968:

Students' prayers 24 hours a day to listen to the political talks and desiring the war should stop is useless. God cannot be their order supplier. First of all they act sinfully, and when there is reaction of war, pestilence, famine, and so many other nature's disturbances, they pray to God for stopping them. This is not possible. Just like a criminal first of all commits theft, burglary and debauchery, and when he is captured, by the police force, if he prays to the government to stop, that is not possible. So they are engaged in all sinful activities, and by natures' law, there must be reaction. I am encouraging now cow killing or animal killing, and when by nature's law, the turn comes upon me to be killed, if I pray I want to stop it, how it can be stopped? So their process is not very genuine. They want to make God as order supplier. So God is not order supplier. He is order giver. He orders everyone to surrender unto Him, and the fools and rascals who do not surrender unto Him, they want to order God in the form of so-called prayer, that He should ask material nature to stop her legal activities. That is not possible.

Letter to Rayarama -- Seattle 17 October, 1968:

Next point, a Krishna Conscious person does not encroach upon the right of other living beings, as such they do not approve organized slaughterhouses for killing animals. Next point, if you maintain slaughterhouses then you have to suffer the consequence, because in the law of nature, there is no distinction between one life to another. Every living entity is equally valuable.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Jadurani -- New Vrindaban 17 June, 1969:

Maharaja Pariksit said that chanting the glories of the Lord can be executed by liberated persons. This means by chanting one becomes liberated from all material impediments. Not only chanting gives us liberation, but even in our conditioned state we like to hear the sweet melodious sound of the chanting. Only a person who is committing suicide or who is addicted in animal killing, such persons cannot relish the sweetness of this chanting. But even if they take to this chanting, they will become liberated.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Acyutananda -- Los Angeles 15 March, 1970:

So this movement, Krishna Consciousness, very quickly develops this God Consciousness, and it is very easy to adopt it.

But, at the same time, we must remember that a sinful man cannot develop God Consciousness. The four pillars of sinful life are: 1) illicit sex, 2) animal killing or animal eating, 3) indulgence in intoxication in any form, and 4) take to the life of gambling. We therefore request all religious institutions to check their followers from the reactions of these four principles of sinful life. That will pave the way of developing God Consciousness, and thus all the people will be happy.

Letter to Subala -- Los Angeles 15 March, 1970:

So this Movement, Krishna Consciousness, very quickly develops this God Consciousness, and it is very easy to adopt it.

But at the same time, we must remember that a sinful man cannot develop God Consciousness. The four pillars of sinful life are: 1) no illicit sex, 2) animal killing or animal eating, 3) indulgence in intoxication in any form, and 4) take to the life of gambling. We therefore request all religious institutions to check their followers from the reactions of these four principles of sinful life, and that will pave the way of developing God Consciousness, and thus all the people will be happy.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Rayarama -- Bombay 22 October, 1971:

If you want to preach the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ on the principles of Bhagavad-gita you will find so many differences. Those who are following Jesus Christ, let them follow strictly to the principles of the Bible. "Thou shalt not kill" is now being misinterpreted by Christian priests. Now they say "Thou shall not murder." This means trying to save themselves from the crime of animal killing. So you cannot teach such unscrupled followers the message of Bhagavad-gita.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Dasarha -- Bombay 4 March, 1972:

First of all, to be saved by God means that one must obey what God orders or His laws of commandments. But in the Bible God says "Thou shall not kill," but where is the Christian who does not kill animals and eat? They have changed the meaning of kill to mean "murder," and for them, murder means only other humans. So unless you find out some Christian who is actually intelligent, it is useless to try for convincing them of these points. Simply show them by example that we are finding great spiritual joy in serving Krishna, sell them some literature, give them prasadam, and invite to the temple, and if they cannot understand from the point of view of philosophy, at least they will be able to appreciate our wonderful and enlivening activities and that we have proved ourselves the most upright, moral persons and the best examples of enlightened souls for the general improvement of all the citizens.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Sir Alistair Hardy -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 28 July, 1973:

At the present moment the people are all demonic, the do not care for sinful life, unrestrictedly they are killing animals which is the most sinful activity, unnecessary. They are indulging in all kinds of intoxicating habits, and unnecessarily they are indulging in prostitution. The demonic people take advantage of women who do not get husband and take advantage of their body for sense gratification. These things are happening because people have no knowledge of the powerful. So the real problem is want of God consciousness. People should know that power, then other problems will be automatically solved.

Letter to Sir Alistair Hardy -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 28 July, 1973:

Now so far as ideology of religion is concerned: Religion means to abide by the orders of God, that's all. God is great, we are his sons, he is supplying all our necessities these are the right understandings. Why should there be any difference in religious practices. If you come to God consciousness then we can understand the birds the beasts the plants everyone is son of God, we have no right to kill. But the so called man made religious systems say the animals are our food and another religion says, "No, no, there should be no animal killing," this difference in practice of religious systems is due to want of God consciousness. If we actually come to the point of God consciousness then all these differences will be perfectly resolved, but unless there is actual God consciousness you will not be able to change the Ideologies. I have asked many Christian Gentle men "Why are you killing when in the Bible it is clearly said, Thou shalt not kill?" they cannot give me any satisfactory reply. In a round about way they try to avoid this question. So all these are due to a lack of God consciousness.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Alfred Ford -- Los Angeles 16 July, 1974:

Now this question may be raised why are so many cows being killed in the slaughterhouse. The answer is that those who are killing cows, according to the decision of karma kanda, these killers of cows will in the next life be cows, and the cows who are killed will become men and kill the killers. The word flesh is called mansa which means the animal in future will kill me and eat. This is called karma bandhanam, bound up by the laws of karma. If you kill some living being, he will kill you in the next life. According to Manu samhita, the Vedic lawbook, a murderer is hanged and thereby released from sinful activities so that in the next life he may not be killed. Life for life sentence is given to end the result of sinful activities in this life instead of waiting for the next life. Unfortunately people at the present moment do not know what is the next life, what is this life, what is karma, how one becomes entangled, how one becomes free. The modern education is void of all this enlightenment. They are kept in darkness without any knowledge of the values of life. Our Krishna consciousness movement is a great boon to the human society. We are trying to save the human society from all kinds of suffering, past, present, and future.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Dvarakesa -- Mayapur 18 January, 1976:

The idea of the communist philosophy is that the state should be benefited. But the state being imperfect, the living entities other than the human beings cannot derive any profit. It is therefore no better than the capitalists. For the benefit of the human beings, the capitalist kills the poor animals. Similarly, the communist does the same thing. Where is the difference? Perfect communism is in the Srimad-Bhagavatam wherein it is stated that you feel for the poor animals as well as the human beings. Srimad-Bhagavatam instructs that even if there is a snake or lizard in the house, it is the duty of the householder to see that they are also eating, not starving. So you have to begin your preaching with such broader idea of communism.

Page Title:Killing animals (Letters)
Compiler:Labangalatika
Created:17 of Jan, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=12
No. of Quotes:12