Sometimes I am questioned in European countries that: "What is the difference between patraṁ puṣpam? That is also eatable. They are also vegetable. They have got life. Why do you ask us not to eat meat because they are living being?" So answer is that it is not the question of living being. Every living being has to eat another living being. That is the law of nature. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. The . . . those who have got hands, they are eating the handless of the animals. Those who have not . . . those who have got legs, they are eating the legless, just like the vegetables. Just like cows, goats, or other animals, they are eating grass. The grass is also a living entity, but it has no legs. It is being eaten up by another animal which has got legs.
Similarly, we are also a kind of animal with hands. We are eating another animal, which has no hands. Similarly, those who are strong, even in animal kingdom or vegetable kingdom, those who are strong, they are eating the less strong. In this way the whole world is maintained by one animal is eating another animal or one living entity is eating another living entity. That is the law of nature. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.
So you are not interfering with the right of the living entity. A tiger has got the right to eat another animal. So we are not going to preach amongst the tigers that, "You become vegetarian" or "You become Kṛṣṇa conscious." That is not our business. Our business is that we are inducing, we are entreating, we are requesting people that, "You take Kṛṣṇa prasāda." That is our business. To become vegetarian or nonvegetarian is not very big business. We do not admit that vegetarians are very much pious and nonvegetarians are not pious. No. Not like that. We say that everyone is impious who is not taking foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa. That is our view. Anyone.
That is stated by Kṛṣṇa. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ: "Anyone who is eating foodstuff offered to Yajña, to Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, he is diminishing his volumes of sinful life." Bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt (BG 3.13): "And anyone who is cooking for himself, not for Kṛṣṇa, then he is simply eating a lump of sinful life." It doesn't matter whether he is vegetarian or nonvegetarian. This is the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to eat what is offered to Kṛṣṇa. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva.
Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). If you simply work for Kṛṣṇa . . . that is called karma-yoga. One who is working simply for Kṛṣṇa, he is karma-yogī. You have got tendency to work. You have got tendency to flourish yourself by advancing industrialism. That's nice. You go on, do it. We don't forbid it. But do it for Kṛṣṇa. Make Kṛṣṇa center. That is the whole teachings of Bhagavad-gītā. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). You offer . . . kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. Yat karoṣi. "Whatever you do, it doesn't matter. Whatever you eat," yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi, "whatever you sacrifice, whatever you give in charity, give unto Me." Kuruṣva tat mad-arpaṇam. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to educate people how to live in spiritual atmosphere, and then there will be peace and prosperity. Unless one is in spiritual life . . . because factually, we are spiritual entities. Mamaivāṁśaḥ. We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the whole spirit, and we are His part and parcel. Just like a machine, and there is small screw, a part of the machine. The screw, although it has no value, but because it is a part of the machine, big machine, if that screw is missing, you will have to purchase at any price. It has got value. The same screw, when it is without the machine, it has no value, because it is only a small particle of the machine.
Similarly, when we are out of the atmosphere, we are out of Kṛṣṇa atmosphere . . . there are many examples. Just like a fire and the sparks of the fire. They are of the same quality. If the spark of the fire falls on your cloth, it will immediately burn. But the spark of the fire and the whole fire is different in quantity. But in quality the spark of the fire is as good as the fire.
There are many examples. You can understand what is our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God. We are small. We are atomic small, and Kṛṣṇa is unlimitedly great. That is the difference. Otherwise, so far quality is concerned, Kṛṣṇa and ourself, the same. As the parts and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, if we live always with Kṛṣṇa, then we are in spiritual life. If we always live in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that in spite of our living in this material world we are called jīvan mukta, "liberated in this material condition." Jīvan mukta. He hasn’t got to die and take liberation. Even in this life he is liberated. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- māṁ ca 'vyabhicāriṇi-
- bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
He is already Brahman-realized. Kṛṣṇa says: "Anyone who is engaged in My devotional service, avyabhicāriṇi, without any deviation, twenty-four hours," as we are teaching these boys and girls . . . this function is meant for engaging them there twenty-four hours in Kṛṣṇa's business. They are going to outside for securing advertisement. It may seem equal that another man has got to secure advertisement and they have also got securing advertisement, but there is gulf of difference. They have gone for Kṛṣṇa, and others, they have gone for sense gratification. That is the difference.