View source for We are not advocate of vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism. That is not our business. We are Krsna-ites. What Krsna said, we have to do

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[[Category:We Are Not (Disciples of SP)]]
[[Category:Advocate]]
[[Category:Vegetarian]]
[[Category:Nonvegetarian]]
[[Category:This Ism or That Ism|Z]]
[[Category:Not Our Business (Disciples of SP)]]
[[Category:We Are (Disciples of SP)]]
[[Category:Krsna]]
[[Category:What]]
[[Category:Krsna Says]]
[[Category:We Have To (Disciples of SP)]]
[[Category:Do]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB6117HonoluluMay171976_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="620" link="Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Honolulu, May 17, 1976" link_text="Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Honolulu, May 17, 1976">
<div class="heading">But we are not advocate of vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism. No. That is not our business. We are Kṛṣṇa-ites. What Kṛṣṇa said, we have to do.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Honolulu, May 17, 1976|Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Honolulu, May 17, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Similarly, anywhere, those who are actually sādhu, saintly persons, they are very tolerant. Kṣamā-rūpa tapasvinām. That is the qualification of sādhu: titikṣava. At the same time kāruṇika, merciful. The others are torturing him, but still he is merciful.</p>
<p>That is the qualification of sādhu. Titikṣava kāruṇikā. Why? Suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām: "He is friend of everyone." There is no distinction that "He is American," "He is Indian," "He is Christian," "He is Hindu," "He is dog," "He is cat," "He is man..." No. He is kind to everyone. Why we are preaching "No meat-eating"? If you stop meat-eating, then the poor animals will be saved. So what business we have got with the animals? Suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām. A saintly person is friend to everyone. "Why unnecessarily an animal should be killed?" That is his feeling. You can eat animals because by nature this is the arrangement, that ahastāni sa-hastānām. Even we eat vegetable, that is also killing. But because I have to kill somebody to eat, that does not mean that I can kill my child also. That is also going on. There is discrimination. Similarly, our principle is that we are kind, merciful, to everyone. But we have to eat, so we eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Because after all, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. So if He eats something, the responsibility is His. But we are not advocate of vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism. No. That is not our business. We are Kṛṣṇa-ites. What Kṛṣṇa said, we have to do. Therefore sādhu, suhṛt. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām. Sādhu is not enemy. Ajāta-śatrava. He does not create enemy, but the world is such that if you become devotee, even your father will be enemy. Prahlāda Mahārāja, five-years-old boy, what was his fault? He became a devotee and his father was prepared to kill him. This is world. So he does not create an enemy, but these demons, rascals, out of their jealousy they become our enemy. Otherwise our process is not to make enemy. We invite everyone, "Please come here, take prasādam, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, dance, and go home." Where is enmity? (laughter) But still, they'll become enemy. This is the world. But if he lives with the sādhava, suśīla, and follows the rules and regulation, then he also becomes sādhava. Saṅgāt sanjāyate kāmaḥ. Just like if you mix with a drunkard, thieves and rogues, then you also become a drunkard, thief, similarly, if we live with the sādhu, sādhava, then you become sādhu.</p>
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<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<div id="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1974 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1974 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="RoomConversationwithProfessorDurckheimGermanSpiritualWriterJune191974Germany_0" class="quote" parent="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="123" link="Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany" link_text="Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany">
<div class="heading">We are not eating on the material platform. We are eating on the spiritual platform. Because we are eating, if there is anything sinful, that is Kṛṣṇa's. We are taking His remnants of foodstuff. So this is our philosophy. We don't advocate vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism. We advocate, "Eat Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, the remnants of foodstuff which is offered to Kṛṣṇa."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany|Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Professor Durckheim: May I put one question to this? How do we know that the plant, the flowers and so on do not suffer when we take them away?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, they have also sensation. They have sensation when you pluck it. That is proved by scientists, Dr. Jagadisha Candra Bose. The trees have got sensation.</p>
<p>Professor Durckheim: So that's what I mean. So if we kill plant or tree...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, we don't kill. You take the fruits.</p>
<p>Professor Durckheim: We cut it.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, cutting is not allowed unless it is absolutely necessary.</p>
<p>Professor Durckheim: For eating vegetables, for instance, you need it.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. No, that is the law of nature, that every living being is eating another living being. That is stated in the Vedic śāstra.</p>
:ahastāni sahastānām
:apadāni catuṣ-padām
:phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ
:jīvo jīvasya jīvanam
<p>That "Those who have no hands—that means animals—they are food for the animal who has got hands. And those who have no legs, they are food for the four-legged." Just like grass has no legs, but it is a food fo the cows and the goats. Apadāni catuṣ-padām, phalgūni tatra mahatām: "Then one who is powerful, very powerful..." Just like tiger, he jumps over another animal. So because the other animal is weak and this animal is strong, so in this way, the feeding is going on, one living being for the other. But when you come to the... That is nature. The tiger will never eat grass. But we human being, we eat grass, goat, cows and everything. Because advanced, so-called advanced. But our foodstuff is to accept the remnants of foodstuff which is eaten by Kṛṣṇa. That is our philosophy. Kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Just like in this temple, we don't eat anything. Neither we eat grass, neither we eat animals. We eat kṛṣṇa-prasāda. So Kṛṣṇa says that "You give Me these foodstuffs." Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati ([[Vanisource:BG 9.26 (1972)|BG 9.26]]). So we are not eating on the material platform. We are eating on the spiritual platform. Because we are eating, if there is anything sinful, that is Kṛṣṇa's. We are taking His remnants of foodstuff. So this is our philosophy. We don't advocate vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism. We advocate, "Eat Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, the remnants of foodstuff which is offered to Kṛṣṇa." This is our philosophy. And apart from this philosophy, because one living entity is food for another living entity, it does not mean that I shall eat my children also. There is discretion, that human being, they should offer these fruits, vegetables, milk as it is prescribed in the śāstra to God, Kṛṣṇa, and take. That is human civilization, not for the satisfaction of the tongue we have to maintain big, big slaughterhouse and eat them. No, that is not human civilization. The main business of the human society is to understand God, and as soon as he understands God, he understands that every living entity is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Then how we can eat? That because Kṛṣṇa eats, Kṛṣṇa allows, then we eat. So responsibility is Kṛṣṇa's. This is our philosophy. Yes.</p>
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