Ahastani sahastanam: those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands

Expressions researched:
"Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands" |"ahastani sahastanam"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.13.47, Translation and Purport:

Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another.

A systematic law of subsistence in the struggle for existence is there by the supreme will, and there is no escape for anyone by any amount of planning. The living beings who have come to the material world against the will of the Supreme Being are under the control of a supreme power called māyā-śakti, the deputed agent of the Lord, and this daivī māyā is meant to pinch the conditioned souls by threefold miseries, one of which is explained here in this verse: the weak are the subsistence of the strong. No one is strong enough to protect himself from the onslaught of a stronger, and by the will of the Lord there are systematic categories of the weak, the stronger and the strongest. There is nothing to be lamented if a tiger eats a weaker animal, including a man, because that is the law of the Supreme Lord. But although the law states that a human being must subsist on another living being, there is the law of good sense also, for the human being is meant to obey the laws of the scriptures. This is impossible for other animals. The human being is meant for self-realization, and for that purpose he is not to eat anything which is not first offered to the Lord. The Lord accepts from His devotee all kinds of food preparations made of vegetables, fruits, leaves and grains. Fruits, leaves and milk in different varieties can be offered to the Lord, and after the Lord accepts the foodstuff, the devotee can partake of the prasāda, by which all suffering in the struggle for existence will be gradually mitigated. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.26). Even those who are accustomed to eat animals can offer foodstuff, not to the Lord directly, but to an agent of the Lord, under certain conditions of religious rites. Injunctions of the scriptures are meant not to encourage the eaters of animals, but to restrict them by regulated principles.

The living being is the source of subsistence for other, stronger living beings. No one should be very anxious for his subsistence in any circumstances because there are living beings everywhere, and no living being starves for want of food at any place. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is advised by Nārada not to worry about his uncles' suffering for want of food, for they could live on vegetables available in the jungles as prasāda of the Supreme Lord and thus realize the path of salvation.

Exploitation of the weaker living being by the stronger is the natural law of existence; there is always an attempt to devour the weak in different kingdoms of living beings. There is no possibility of checking this tendency by any artificial means under material conditions; it can be checked only by awakening the spiritual sense of the human being by practice of spiritual regulations. The spiritual regulative principles, however, do not allow a man to slaughter weaker animals on one side and teach others peaceful coexistence. If man does not allow the animals peaceful coexistence, how can he expect peaceful existence in human society? The blind leaders must therefore understand the Supreme Being and then try to implement the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, or Rāma-rājya, is impossible without the awakening of God consciousness in the mass mind of the people of the world.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.13.10, Purport:

The example given here is that water is a very nice place for a fish, but the fish is never free from anxiety about death, since big fish are always eager to eat the small fish. phalgūni tatra mahatām: all living entities are eaten by bigger living entities. This is the way of material nature.

ahastāni sahastānām

apadāni catuṣ-padām

phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ

jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

"Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another." (SB 1.13.47) The Supreme Personality of Godhead has created the material world in such a way that one living entity is food for another. Thus there is a struggle for existence, but although we speak of survival of the fittest, no one can escape death without becoming a devotee of the Lord. Hariṁ vinā naiva sṛtiṁ taranti: one cannot escape the cycle of birth and death without becoming a devotee. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.3). Aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. One who does not attain shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa must certainly wander up and down within the cycle of birth and death.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.19-22 -- New York, August 8, 1966:

I do not like to kill, but sometimes unintentionally they are killed. Therefore, according to Vedic literature, there are five kinds of yajña performed to get oneself free from this unintentional killing of animals. Now, here Kṛṣṇa says that śārīraṁ kevalaṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam. If you make your principle of life that "I have to work simply for maintaining my body and soul together." Śārīram. Śarīram means body. Because I have to execute, I have to understand, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but without this body, how can I understand or culture Kṛṣṇa consciousness? So my body must be maintained. And if I want to maintain my body, intentionally or unintentionally, I have to commit so many sins.

Take for example those who are vegetarians. They may think that "We are not killing animals." No. They are also committing sins because vegetables, they have also got life. So the nature's law is that to keep up your body you have to kill another body. Never mind it is vegetable or, I mean to say, animal or some fish or something else. You see? Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam: "One living entity is the subsistence, life-giving subsistence, for another living being." That is the nature's law. You'll find. Ahastāni sahastānām. The everything has been very nicely discussed in Vedic literature. They have discussed all the points.

Ahastāni sahastānām: "Those who have got hands, they are eating," I mean to say, "living entities who have no hands." That means we are human being, we have got hands, and we are eating animals. They have got only legs; they have no hands. So sahastānām ahastāni: "Those who have got hands, they are eating the animals which have no hands." And apadāni catuṣ-padām: "Those who have no legs, they are being eaten by the four-legged." Just like a cow eating grass. So grass cannot move. It has life, but it cannot move. So and... phalgūni tatra mahatām. Phalgūni, "those who are weak, they are being eaten by the..." Just like we find lizards. In your country you don't find lizards. In India we have got many lizards in the walls. They are eating small ants. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra. And in the snake, snake kingdom, you will find the small snakes are being by the big snake. Similarly, in sea water also, you will find small fishes are being eaten by the big fishes.

And the same law is applicable in human society. A big nation is trying to swallow up a small nation. You see? This is going on. This is nature's law. Nature's law. You cannot avoid it. But there are those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious. They... It is said that śārīraṁ kevalaṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam: "Those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are not entangled in these sinful acts." How? They are also maintaining their body. So when they are maintaining their body, they have to commit sins. They have to eat other animals or vegetables. Never mind. So how they are not committing sins? These are very intelligent questions. There is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

A devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he does not eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. Just like you take the remnants of your master. Just like servant takes the remnants of master. The master eats. In India the process is that husband and wife, that after the husband eats, the remnants are taken by the wife. The wife does not eat along with the husband. That is the old system. Now it is being changed. The husband and wife, they do not... The husband is supplied by the wife all kinds of good dishes, and when the husband is satisfied, some foodstuff is left, and that is taken by the wife. So similarly, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he does not take anything, does not accept anything, which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. Because his life is full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 7.11-12 -- Bombay, February 25, 1974:

In the śāstra it is stated that jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. "Every living entity is living by eating another living entity." That is nature. Ahastāni sahastānām. Śāstra says, in the Bhāgavata, that "Those who have got no hands, they are food for the animal with hands." Those who are eating animals, they are also animals. Even human being, in the form of human being, eating animal. So one... human being means with hands, sahastānām. Hasta means hand, and sa means with. And the animals, ahastānām, ahastāni, they have no hands. They have got only legs, four legs. So ahastāni sahastānām. This, the with-hands animal, means those who are meat-eating, they are animals, but with hands. That is the difference. Here is an animal. Just like cows, goats, lambs. They are animals. And dogs. There are dog-eaters also. There is the word, śva-pacaḥ. Śva-pacaḥ means dog-eaters. Yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam, aho bato śva-paco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam. Even a person coming from the family of dog-eaters... There are dog-eaters still. So if he chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he becomes glorious. Aho bato śva-paco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam. Caṇḍāla... They are called caṇḍālas. Caṇḍālo 'pi dvija-śreṣṭho hari-bhakti-parāyaṇaḥ. Even if a caṇḍāla... Caṇḍāla means the dog-eaters. So these animal-eaters, they are also animal, describing, animal with two hands. Ahastānāṁ sahastā... Ahastāni sahastānām. Apadāni catuṣ-padām. Apadāni means those who have no legs, like plants, trees, the grass. They have no legs. They are standing. They have got legs, but they have no moving power. They are called pāda-pa. Pāda-pa means they have got legs for eating. We are eating with mouth; they are eating with legs.

So everything, analytical study is there in the śāstras very minute, senses and power, who has got.

Lecture on BG 13.1-3 -- Durban, October 13, 1975:

There are eight million four hundred thousand forms of living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. In the water there are nine hundred thousand forms of living entity. Then, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means the living entities who cannot move, just like the trees, plants, grass, vegetables. They are standing in one place. They are also called "having no leg." Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. This is nature's law, that the living entities which have no hands, they are eatable for the living entities who have hands. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. And the living entities which cannot move, they are the food for the living entities which has got four legs. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.

In this way the weak is the food for the strong. This is the law of nature, that one living entity is the food for another living entity. So when a person eats another living entity, it is not unnatural. This is nature's law. But when you come to the human form of living entity, you must use your discrimination. Just like one living entity is food for the another living entity. It does not mean... In the lower animals sometimes the father-mother eat the offspring, but in the history of human society it has not come into notice that the father and mother eating the offspring. But time has come when the mother is killing offspring. That has come already. This is due to Kali-yuga.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:

The natural law is that ahastāni sahastānām: "The animals which has no hands"—that means four-legged animals; they have got legs, no hand—"so they are food for animals with two legs and two hands." That means human being. Human being is also animal, more powerful, more intelligent than the lower animals. So the śāstra says, ahastāni, "The animals who hasn't got hands, they are food for the animals with two hands." Ahastāni sahastānām and apadāni catuṣ-padām: "And the animals or the living entities which cannot move, apadāni..." Pada means legs.

Just like the trees, plants, grass. They cannot move. They have no leg. They have got leg, but they cannot move. They are eating through the legs. Therefore they are called pada-pa, means "collecting waters through the leg." Just these trees. They are drinking water from within the earth with their legs. Therefore they push their roots very deep to find out where is water. And if you put little water on the root of the tree, they live. They drink water. They are standing on the river side drinking water and becoming very flourished. But although they are drinking the same water, still, they are differently constituted with different fruits, different flowers. This is God's creation, we have to understand that.

So apadāni sapadānām, apadāni catuṣ-padām. Apadāni means those who cannot move, these trees, plants, grass, they are eatables for the four-legged animals, catuṣ-padām. Catuḥ means four. Similarly, phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra. Those who are weak, they are food for the strong. That is going on. "Might is right." In the human society also. Just like you Europeans, Americans... Europeans they have come. You come this land of America. Because you are strong, you have eaten up all the original inhabitants. (laughs) So this is going on. This is called struggle for existence.

Lecture on BG 13.22-24 -- Melbourne, June 25, 1974:

Therefore it is common sense, one who is smaller or weak, he is enjoyed by the stronger. That is the nature. You will find. In our daily dealings, what we are doing? That... Ahastāni sahastānām. Ahastāni. There are animals who have no hands. They have got legs. So ahastāni sahastānām. Both of we are animal. The great, the cows and there are many others. They are animals. We are also animals or living entity.

But those who have got hands, they eat the animals who have no hands. Ahastāni sahastānām, apadāni catuṣ-padām. And the living entities which cannot move or who have no legs to move, just like trees, planets... They have also got legs, but that leg is meant for eating. Therefore the trees and plants are called pāda-pa. We pour water on the leg of the tree because they eat water through their legs. But that legs cannot move. Apadāni.

So apadāni, those living entities which cannot move, they are food for the catuṣ-padām, those who have got four legs. Just like cows, goats and others. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra. Those who are weak, they are foodstuff for the strong. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. In this way, one living entity is food for the another.

Then these animal killers, they may not be encouraged, "So then we are doing nice, because one living entity is food for another. So we are eating every, anything. Any moving animals we can eat. Bird, beast, goats, cows, horse, ass, whatever is available." Yes, you can eat. But that is the natural law for the animals and uncivilized man, not for the civilized man. Because one living entity is food for another living entity, you cannot eat your father, mother or children. Why? Because you are human being, you have got discrimination.

Of course, in the human form of life, in Africa, they are cannibals. They eat their grandfather as a feast. They make a feast. And, you will be not surprised, they like to eat white man. Yes. In some parts of the Africa, they, whenever they get opportunity to kidnap a white man, they like to eat very much. (laughter)

So although the nature's law is like that, one animal or one living entity is the foodstuff for another, but that should be, there should be discrimination. So so far we are concerned, Kṛṣṇa conscious men, we are not animals. We are perfect beings. We don't eat any living entity.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- Mayapura, June 20, 1973:

Devotee: They say it is for the purpose of eating, fish(?) are created for the purpose of eating.

Prabhupāda: That is also in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, that jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. That we also accept. But just like jīvo jīvasya jīvanam, then why don't you eat your own son? He is also jīva. Why do you discriminate? Therefore discrimination is the better part valor. We should know, we are also eating the vegetables. What kind of jīva, living entity we shall eat, that is to be discriminated. Not that because one living entity is food for another living entity, it does not mean I shall eat my own son. I am father. We do not do that. Because we use our discrimination.

Similarly, in the human form of life there should be discrimination. We have to eat. We have to eat. Discrimination means (indistinct), that what kind of food I shall eat. Suppose the hogs, they eat stool. Does it mean because the stool is also food, I shall eat that? That is discrimination. If you say that everything is food, then why don't you eat stool? One man's food, another man's poison. That is... What is to be eaten, what is not to be eaten, that is discrimination. Now our discrimination is, because human life is meant for becoming God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, we have to act in God consciousness. We have taken vow that we shall eat the remnants of foodstuff, prasāda, from Kṛṣṇa. Now, what Kṛṣṇa wants? Kṛṣṇa says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa says "Give Me vegetable, water." "Anyone who offers Me in devotion." So we have to eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Although animals are meant for eating by the man. That is stated in the (indistinct). Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. Ahastāni, they haven't got hands(?). Ahastāni. (indistinct) sahastānām, they are food of the human being. So ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. Just like the creepers, grass, and vegetables. Catuṣ-padām. They're food for the four-legged. Phalgūni jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.

So, in this way, there is order that one life is meant eaten by another. That is nature's law. But we should use discrimination what kind of foodstuff, what kind of living entities we shall eat. That Kṛṣṇa... (?). We have taken vow to eat only Kṛṣṇa's prasādam. There is something. Whatever Kṛṣṇa orders.

Lecture on SB 1.15.25-26 -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1973:

Pradyumna: "Translation: O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the burden of the earth, has engaged the stronger Yadu to kill the weaker, and the bigger Yadu to kill the smaller." (SB 1.15.25-26)

Prabhupāda: This is the theory of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. The law of nature is like that, that the stronger overpowers the weaker. The stronger overpowers the weaker. In another place it is stated,

ahastāni sahastānām

apadāni catuṣ-padām

phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ

jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

A living entity, they live by eating another living entity. What is that? Ahastāni sahastānām. Sahastānām means those who are endowed with hands. That means man, man form, human form, they have got hands. So those who have no hands..., just like the animals, they have got legs, they have no hands. So ahastāni, those who have no hands, they are food for the animal with hands: bite that animal. Those animal with hands... They are animal, those who are eating another animal; they are not human being. Although they have got the form of human being, they are not considered human being. Human being means when he's civilized, cultured, then he's human being. If he's not civilized, if he's not cultured, simply having two hands-he's animal.

So that culture begins, civilized, in the Aryan families. Therefore they are called Aryans, "advanced." Aryan means advanced. People want to group themselves in the Aryan family. Just like Hitler, he declared himself only, "The Germans are only Aryans, and Jews are not Aryans," like that. You can manufacture. But real Aryan means one who is advanced in spiritual consciousness. He is Aryan. Not a class of men. Aryan means he's advanced in spiritual consciousness. The Aryan civilization is so eulogized because they..., in the Aryan civilization there was Vedic culture. That is Aryan. Otherwise ahastāni sahastānām, and that is apadāni catuṣ-padām. This is going on, struggle for existence. In the primitive age that human being, so-called human being, naked, in the jungle, they eating animals. The animals have no leg... The Darwin's theory is that there was no civilized man, but gradually it has developed. It is not very clearly explained; he does not know what is the evolution. Evolution means to become civilized. That is evolution. Or to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is evolution.

Lecture on SB 6.1.2 -- Honolulu, May 6, 1976:

Sometimes this morning we were talking about vegetarian and nonvegetarian. Our mission is not to make a nonvegetarian a vegetarian. No. Our mission is that "Either you are vegetarian or nonvegetarian, it doesn't matter. You become Kṛṣṇa conscious." That is our mission. To become vegetarian is not very good qualification. It is better than the nonvegetarian, but that is not the ultimate solution. The ultimate solution is when you become a lover of God. That is ultimate solution.

So we are not preaching this vegetarianism. Just like there are Jains or many other religious system, Buddhism. They are after making people vegetarian. But the law of nature is that one living entity is the food for another living entity. That is the law of nature. You will find even in the lower animals, they are eating one another. That is the law of nature. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. This is the law of nature. Ahastāni, one who has no hands, he is the food... They are all animals. The animal which has no hands... Just like goats and others: they have only legs. So they are food for the animals with hands. Ahastāni sahastānām. That is the law of nature. Apadāni catuṣ-padām. The animals which has no leg—that means which cannot move... The plants, the grass, the trees, they cannot move. They have got leg, but they cannot move. Their legs are made for eating. As your mouth is made for eating, the trees... Therefore they are called pada-pa. They drink water by the leg. This is God's creation. You cannot think that how it is possible to drink water by the leg, but it is God's creation. You see. You pour water on the leg of the tree; it becomes very luxuriant, healthy. So different. And so far God is concerned, He can eat with legs; He can see with hands; He can eat with eyes. That is God. That is God. Añgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti (Bs. 5.32). Añgāni, that is transcendental. He is not under any rule. He is not under any rule. If you say, "Why Kṛṣṇa is eating by the eyes?" yes, that is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. If you offer something, Kṛṣṇa, simply by seeing, He is eating. That is Kṛṣṇa. And again if you say, "If He is eating, why the plate is full?" that is Kṛṣṇa. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Kṛṣṇa is not a hungry man like me, that "If you give Me something, I will eat everything, finished." No. Kṛṣṇa can take the whole plate; still it will remain the whole plate, for giving prasādam.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- New York, July 22, 1971:

God is giving us to eat so many things. What your education system will improve? We are eating fruits, grains, or whatever we eat. That is given by God. Food is supplied to the animals. The four-legged animals... Ahastāni sahastānām. Sahastānām ahastāni. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, everything is... The food is there. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam: "One living entity is the food for another living entity." Ahastāni sahastānām. Just like animals, they have got no hands. So they are food for the animals which has..., who has got hands. We are animals with hands, and there are animals without hands. So ahastāni sahastānām. Sahasta means hand, with—hands animals, they're eating others which has no hand. Apadāni catuṣ-padām. "And those who have no legs, they are food for the animals, four-legged." Just like grass. This is also living entity, but it has no leg to move. It has leg, but it is fixed up. It cannot move. They're condemned, that "You cannot move." A tree is standing for seven thousand years. It cannot move. So they are food for moving animals. Just like cow eats grass. The goat eats grass. So apadāni catuṣ-padām. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra. In this way the world is being exploited. The weaker section is being exploited by the stronger section. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam: "One life is meant for being exploited by other life." This is nature's law. So we have no quarrel with persons who are meat-eating. But our propaganda is to make people God conscious. That's all.

So in order to become God conscious, you have to follow some rules and regulations. We do not give any credit to the vegetarians than the meat-eaters. Because one has to eat. But our proposal is, Kṛṣṇa conscious men, that we shall eat remnants of foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa. That is our philosophy. And Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26), that Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who offers Me a little fruit, a little water, and little leaf with devotion and love, I accept it." Kṛṣṇa is not hungry that He is begging some food from us. No. He is trying to create loving transaction: "You love Me; I love you." Kṛṣṇa is God. Kṛṣṇa, practically by His energy everything is produced. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So why He should beg for, from me, a little leaf and little fruit and little water? He has no business. But if we offer a little fruit and little leaf and little water with love—"Kṛṣṇa, I am so poor that I cannot secure anything. I have secured this little fruit and little flowers and a leaf. Kindly accept it"—Kṛṣṇa is very glad. Yes. And if He eats, offered by you, your life is successful. You make friendship with Kṛṣṇa. That is our preaching.

Lecture on SB 6.1.12 -- Honolulu, May 13, 1976:

So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, "My dear king, if a diseased person eats the pure, uncontaminated food prescribed by a physician, he is gradually cured, and the infection of disease can no longer touch him. Similarly, if one follows the regulative principles of knowledge, he gradually progresses towards liberation from material contamination." This is the translation of the... Nāśnataḥ pathyam. Pathyam. Pathyam means good foodstuff, not "Anything I can eat." That is the business of the hogs and dogs. Just like hogs have no discrimination. Anything, up to stool you give him: it will eat. That is not human civilization. Although it is the law of nature that ahastāni sahastānām. Vegetables or animals who has no hand... Just like ordinary animals, they have got four legs, no hand. So these four-legged animals is the food for the two-legged animals. Ahastāni sahastānām. Uncivilized men means two-legged animals. They are animals, but two-legged. There are four-legged animals; there are two-legged. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām: "And living entities who have no legs, just like the vegetables, grass, plants, trees..." They have no legs. They cannot move, but they are living entities. They are food for catuṣ-padām, for the animals who have got four legs. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām, phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra: "And the weak is food for the strong." Phalgūni... Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. This is the law of nature, that one life is meant for maintaining another life. That is going on. So sometimes they put forward this argument that "You are also eating vegetables. They have got life. Why you object that nonvegetarians who are eating four legged animals...?" No. We are not going to infringe to the laws of nature. That is not our business. You can eat four-legged animals because you are also animal. But when we speak of civilized animals... Civilized is not animal. That is human being. So long one is not civilized, he is animal.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture -- Toronto, June 17, 1976:

So loke, in this material world, vyavāya āmiṣa madya sevā. Vyavāya means sex indulgence, sex life. And āmiṣa means meat, fish, egg-eating. Āmiṣa. Therefore vegetarian diet is called nirāmiṣa, not āmiṣa. So it is general tendency of the living being to become āmiṣa, to eat meat. That is the general laws of nature. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One living entity is the life for another living entity. Ahastāni sahastānām. There are animals, two-legged animals, and there are four-legged animals. The four-legged animals is the food for the two-legged animals. So long we remain as animals, then there is the necessity of eating meat. Ahastāni sahastānām. Hasta means hands. So those who are living like animals, only two legs. The other animals, four legs, and here is an animal of two legs, dvipad-paśu. For them, the animal is eatable, āmiṣa-madya sevā. And drinking wine, or intoxication, and vyavāya, sex life. Loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya sevayā nityastu jantu. So long he is jantu, these things are required. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalā. That is general tendency. But when one gives up voluntarily for higher status of life, that is called nivṛtti-mārga. Pravṛtti-mārga and nivṛtti-mārga. Pravṛtti-mārga means to fulfill these desires, āmiṣa vyavāya madya sevā. But when one is trained up to give up these habits, that is called nirvrtti-mārga. So we have got so many pravṛttis, inclinations. But when you voluntarily give up all these nonsense habits, that is called nivṛtti-mārga and tapasya.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1968:

Madhudviṣa: Prabhupāda, why did Lord Jesus Christ eat meat?

Prabhupāda: That was circumstantial because we have to take into consideration of the situation of the country and the people. Where there is no other food, one must live. Then meat-eating is not bad in that case. Because survival is required. But when there are substitutes... Everyone is eating another life. That is the law of nature. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that sahastānām ahastāni. The animals, animal who has got hands, he eats the animal who has no hand. That means four-legged animals. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. And the animals or living entities who cannot move, they are foodstuff of the moving. That means the grass, plants, they are the foodstuff for the cows and other animals. Nūnaṁ mahatāṁ tatra. And the big animal eats the small animal. Just like we see a big serpent is eating a small serpent, a big fish eating a small fish. So this is the law, that nūnaṁ mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. So one life is meant for maintaining another life. This is the law of nature. But Upaniṣad says that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: (ISO 1) everything belongs to the Lord. Just like in a hotel there are many kinds of foodstuff, but they all belong to the hotel keeper. And you can take only on your table what is offered to you. You cannot take anything, anything, whatever you like, no. That is illegal. Similarly, everything is food, that's all right. But you can take only what is allotted for you, that's all. So human being should take, as far as possible, vegetables. The teeth is made for eating vegetables. That is scientifically true. And if you take vegetables all along, then you will never be diseased. And so far we are concerned, we are taking Kṛṣṇa prasādam. That I have already explained, that Kṛṣṇa wants this foodstuff... If Kṛṣṇa says that "Give Me meat," then we shall eat meat. Because we are concerned with Kṛṣṇa prasādam. We are not distinguished that "Vegetable eating is nice, meat eating is not nice." No. The nature's law is that you must eat, and that eating is something living. Vegetable is also living. But we are not concerned, vegetarian or nonvegetarian. We are concerned with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, "You give Me fruits, flowers, grains." We offer that. If Kṛṣṇa says, "You give Me meat, chickens," we shall offer and we shall take.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Hayagrīva: Well, this..., thinking in this way Augustine writes, he says, "We do not apply 'Thou shalt not kill' to plants, because they have no sensation, or to irrational animals that fly, swim, walk or creep, because they are linked to us by no association or common bond. By the creator's wise ordinance they are meant for our use, dead or alive. It only remains for us to apply the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' to man alone, oneself and others." So...

Prabhupāda: So that is imagination of Augustine. But Jesus Christ does not say such qualitative killing. He says frankly, "Thou shalt not kill." When he says that, he means, "You should not kill." But when there is absolute necessity, just like he says that "One life is food for the another life..." Does he not say it like that?

Hayagrīva: He says, uh... (break) He says..., this is, this is Augustine writing. He said, "Some people try to stretch the prohibition 'Thou shalt not kill' to cover beasts and cattle and make it unlawful to kill any such animal, but then why not include plants and anything rooted in and feeding on the soil? After all, things like this, though devoid of feeling, are said to have life and therefore can die and so be killed by violent treatment."

Prabhupāda: No, that is not Vedic philosophy. Vedic philosophy admits that one living entity is the food for another living entity. That is natural. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

ahastāni sahastānām

apadāni catuṣ-padām

phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ

jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

Those who have got hands, they eat the animals without hands, only four legs, and the four-legged animals eats the animals which cannot move—that means plants and vegetables. Similarly, the weak is the food for the strong. In this way there is natural law that one living entity is food for another living entity. But our philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy, is not based on this platform, that plant life is not sensitive and animal life is more sensitive or human life is more sensitive. We take all of them as life, either human being or animal or plants or fish, it doesn't matter. That is inevitable. Either you eat animal or vegetable, you eat some living entity. That is inevitable. You cannot avoid. Now it it the question of selection. That, of course, is there. But apart from this vegetarian or nonvegetarian diet, we are concerned with Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Kṛṣṇa, whatever..., our philosophy is whatever Kṛṣṇa eats, we take the remnants of His foodstuff. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "You give Me food, and prepared from patraṁ phalaṁ toyam, vegetation." So if by killing vegetable or plant there is any sin, that, that is Kṛṣṇa's. We simply eat after His eating. This is our philosophy. We are not after vegetarian diet or nonvegetarian diet. Whatever Kṛṣṇa eats, we take the remnants of food.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

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?

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.

Professor Durckheim: So that's what I mean. So if we kill plant or tree...

Prabhupāda: No, we don't kill. You take the fruits.

Professor Durckheim: We cut it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, cutting is not allowed unless it is absolutely necessary.

Professor Durckheim: For eating vegetables, for instance, you need it.

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.

ahastāni sahastānām

apadāni catuṣ-padām

phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ

jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

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 (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.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Devotee (1): Saw a lynx, a big cat.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Devotee (1): A lynx, a small cat.

Kīrtanānanda: Something like a little wildcat.

Prabhupāda: They eat, they're eaten by the fox?

Kīrtanānanda: They'll eat the fox. They're very rare though.

Prabhupāda: Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.

ahastāni sahastānām

apadāni catuṣ-padām

phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ

jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

The handless animal is the food for the animal with hands. This is the beginning of life. Uncivilized man eats the animals. Apadāni catuṣ-padām: these grass, plants, they are for the catuṣ-padām, four-legged. Cows, deer, goats, they eat. And those who are weak, they are for the strong. In this way, this is the nature's way. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One life, a living entity is food for another.