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You can eat meat, but you cannot eat meat by killing your father and mother. That is human sense. You are taking milk from the cow; it is your mother

Expressions researched:
"you can eat meat, but you cannot eat meat by killing your father and mother. That is human sense. You are taking milk from the cow; it is your mother"

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Conversations and Morning Walks

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

You can eat meat, but you cannot eat meat by killing your father and mother. That is human sense. You are taking milk from the cow; it is your mother. You take milk, that in Australia they produce so much milk, butter and everything. And after it is finished, cut the throat and make business, send to other countries. What is this nonsense? Is that humanity? Do you think?.


Director: What's your answer that such a small percentage of the population, tiny percentage of the population, accept the philosophy that...

Prabhupāda: No. Tiny percentage... Just like there are so many stars in the sky, and there is one moon. In percentage the moon is nothing. If we take percentage of the stars, the moon is nothing. But moon is important than all the nonsense stars. (laughter) But if you take percentage, he has no percentage vote. But because he is moon, he is important than all these rascal stars. This is the example. What is the use of taking percentage of the stars in the presence of moon? Let there be one moon, that is sufficient. There is no question of percentage. One ideal man. Just like in Christian world, one ideal Lord Jesus Christ.

Director: How do you feel about Mao Tse-tung?

Prabhupāda: Huh? What is that?

Amogha: He says how do you feel about Mao Tse-tung?

Director: In China he's the ideal man.

Amogha: He's a Communist.

Prabhupāda: His ideal is all right. His ideal, Communist idea, that everyone should be happy, that is good idea. But they do not know how to make ev... Just like they are taking care of the human being in the state, but they are sending poor animals to the slaughterhouse. Because they are godless, they do not know the animal is also a living being and the human being also living being. So for the satisfaction of the tongue of the human being the animal should be cut throat. That is the defect. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). One who is learned, he is equal to everyone. That is learned. "I take care of my brother and I kill you," that is not right. That is going on, everywhere. Nationalism. Nation... National means one who has taken birth in that land. But the animal, poor animal, because they cannot make any protest, send them to the slaughterhouse. And if there were ideal men, they would have protested, "Oh, why you are doing this? Let them live also. You live also. Just produce food grains. The animals can also take, you can also take. Why should you take animal?" That is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Director: But where the winters are long, people have to kill animals to have something to eat over winter.

Prabhupāda: Well, but you should have... I am not speaking for India, Europe. I am speaking the whole human society. Just try to understand.

Director: People started eating meat because in winter they had nothing else to eat.

Prabhupāda: No, you can eat meat, but you cannot eat meat by killing your father and mother. That is human sense. You are taking milk from the cow; it is your mother. You take milk, that in Australia they produce so much milk, butter and everything. And after it is finished, cut the throat and make business, send to other countries. What is this nonsense? Is that humanity? Do you think?

Director: Well, say two hundred years ago people, to survive the winter, had to kill the...

Prabhupāda: No, no. You take your mother's milk. You take your mother's milk, and when the mother cannot supply milk, you kill her. What is this? Is that humanity? And nature is so strong, for this injustice, sinful, you must suffer. You must be prepared to suffer. So there will be war, and wholesale will be killed. Nature will not tolerate this. They do not know all these, how nature is working, how God is managing. They do not know God. This is the defect of the society. They do not care what is God. "We are scientists. We can do everything." What you can do? Can you stop death? Nature says, "You must die. You are Professor Einstein, that's all right. You must die." Why the Einstein and other scientists, they do not discover a medicine or process, "No, no, we shall not die"? So this is the defect of the society. They are completely under the control of nature, and they are declaring independence. Ignorance. Ignorance. So we want to reform this.

Director: Well, I certainly wish you luck.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Director: I wish you luck.

Prabhupāda: Hmm, thank you.

Director: As a public servant that you reform society as your life. To carry out the instrument of society.

Prabhupāda: So kindly cooperate with us. This is... Try to learn the philosophy, and you will be surprised how nice philosophy it is.

Director: I'm quite sure.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So we don't count for percentage. Let personally become ideal man. The same example: there is no percentage in comparison to the stars and one moon. What is the percentage? There are millions of stars. It is... What is the percentage, one in million? It is practically zero percentage. But still, because it is moon, it is more sufficient than all these small stars. So produce moon.

Director: Yes, but that moon is big, and you can recognize it, but another man, just another star...

Prabhupāda: No, that's all right. If you cannot make as good as moon...

Director: Pardon?

Prabhupāda: You cannot make, but it is possible if they are ideal men.

Director: I know what you're saying, but a person would ask you, you're just a man like me, how, you know... It's not just as a star..., that your opinion, just like me...

Prabhupāda: No, if you approve this method you can cooperate in so many ways. First of all you have to see what is this method, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That we are prepared to serve you, to convince you, the first-class nature of this movement. Now if you are convinced, try to cooperate. And induce other leaders. You are also one of the leaders. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ (BG 3.21). If the leaders of the society become compassionate with this movement, others will automatically follow, "Oh, our leaders, our minister is supporting this."