Suta Gosvami said: After reaching that place, Maharaja Pariksit observed that a lower-caste Sudra, dressed like a king, was beating a cow and a bull with a club, as if they had no owner.
(S.B. 1-17-1)


PURPORT

The principal sign of the age of Kali is that lower-caste sudras, i.e. men without brahminical culture and spiritual initiation, will be dressed like administrators or kings, and the principal business of such non-ksatriya rulers will be to kill the innocent animals, especially the cows and the bulls, who shall be unprotected by their masters, the bona fide vaisyas, the mercantile community. In the Bhagavad-Gita (18.44), it is said that the vaisyas are meant to deal in agriculture, cow protection and trade. In the age of Kali, the degraded vaisvas, the mercantile men, are engaged in supplying cows to slaughterhouses. The ksatriyas are meant to protect the citizens of the state, whereas the vaisyas are meant to protect the cows and bulls and utilize them to produce grains and milk. The cow is meant to deliver milk, and the bull helps the production of grains in the agricultural field, so they are considered as the mother and father of human society. But in the age of Kali, the cows and bulls, unprotected by the vaisyas, are subjected to the slaughterhouses organized by the Sudra administrators.


The bull was as white as a white lotus flower. He was terrified of the Sudra who was beating him, and he was so afraid that he was standing on one leg, trembling and urinating.
(S.B. 1-17-2)


PURPORT


The next symptom of the age of Kali is that principles of religion, which are all spotlessly white, like the while lotus flower, will be attacked by the uncultured sudra population of the age. They may be descendants of brahmana or ksatriya forefathers, but in the age of Kali, for want of sufficient education and culture of Vedic wisdom, such a sudra-like population will defy the principles of religion, and persons who are religiously endowed will be terrified by such men. They will declare themselves as adherents of no religious principles, and many “isms” and cults will spring up in Kali-yuga only to kill the spotless bull of religion. The state will be declared to be secular, or without any particular prin-ciple of religion, and as a result there will be total indifference to the principles of religion. The citizens will be free to act as they like, without respect for sadhu, sastra and guru. The bull standing on one leg indicates that the principles of religion are gradually diminishing. Even the fragmental existence of religious principles will be embarrassed by so many obstacles as if in the trembling condition of falling down at any time.


Although the cow is beneficial because one can draw religious principles from her, she was now rendered poor and calfless. Her legs were being beaten by a sudra. There were tears in her eyes and she was distressed and weak. She was hankering after some grass in the field.
(S.B. 1-17-3)


PURPORT


The next symptom of the age of Kali is the distressed condition of the cow. Milking the cow means drawing the principles of religion in liquid form. The great risis and munis would live only on milk. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami would go to a householder while he was milking a cow, and he would simply take a little quantily of it for subsistence. Even fifty years ago no one would deprive a sadhu of a quart or two of milk, and every householder would give milk like water. According to Vedic culture it is the duty of every householder to have cows and bulls as household paraphernalia, not only for drinking milk, but also for deriving religious principles. The followers of Vedic culture worship cows on religious principles and respect brahmanas.


The cow’s milk is required for the sacrificial fire, and by performing sacrifices the householder can be happy. The cow’s calf not only is beautiful to look at, but also gives satisfaction to the cow, and so she delivers as much milk as possible. But in the Kali-yuga the calves are separated from the cows as early as possi-ble for purposes which may not be mentioned in these pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The cow stands with tears in her eyes, the sudra milkman draws milk from the cow artificially, and when there is no milk the cow is sent to be slaughtered.


These greatly sinful acts are responsible for all the troubles in present society. People do not know what they are doing in the name of economic development. The influence of Kali will keep them in the darkness of ignorance despite all endeavors for peace and prosperity. They must try to see the cows and the bulls happy in all respects: foolish people do not know how one earns happiness by making the cows and bulls happy, but it is a fact by the law of nature. Let us take it from the authority of Srimad-Bhagavatam and adopt the principles for the total happiness of humanity.

BEYOND VEGETARIANISM:

THE “MORALS” OF MEAT-EATING

The following conversation between His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanata Swami Prabhupada and Cardinal Jean Danielou took place in Paris, in July of 1973.

Srila Prabhupada: Jesus Christ said “Thou shalt not kill.” So why is it that the Christian people are engaged in animal killing and meat eating?

Cardinal Danielou: Certainly in Christianity it is forbidden to kill. But we believe that there is a difference between the life of a human being and the life of a beast. The life of a human being is sacred because man is made in the image of God. Therefore, to kill a human being is forbidden in the Bible.

Srila Prabhupada: But the Bible does not simply say, “Thou shall not kill the human being”, it says broadly, “Thou shalt not kill.”

Cardinal Danielu: It is necessary for man to kill animals in order for him to have food to eat.

Srila Prabhupada: No. Man can eat fruits, vegetables, and grains and drink milk.

Cardinal Danielou: No flesh?

Srila Prabhupada: No. Human beings are meant to eat vegetarian food. The tiger does not come to eat your fruits. His prescribed food is animal flesh but man’s food is vegetables, fruits, grains and milk products. So how can you say that animal killing is not a sin?

Cardinal Danielou: We believe it is a question of motivation. If the killing of an animal is for giving food to the hungry, then it is justified.

Srila Prabhupada: But consider the cow, we drink her milk, therefore she is our mother, do you agree?

Cardinal Danielou: Yes, surely.

Srila Prabhupada: So if the cow is your mother, how can you support killing her? You take the milk from her and when she’s old and cannot give you milk, you cut her throat. Is that a very humane proposal? In India those who are meat-eaters are advised to kill some lower animals like goats, pigs, or even buffalo. But cow-killing is the gratest sin. In preaching Krishna consciousness we ask people not to eat any kind of meat and my disciples strictly follow this principle. But if, under certain circumstances, others are obliged to eat meat, then they should eat the flesh of some lower animal. Don’t kill cows. It is the greatest sin. And as long as man is sinful, he cannot understand God.

The human beings business is to understand God and to love Him. But if you remain sinful, you will never be able to understand God, what to speak of loving Him. When there is no other food, someone may eat meat in order to keep from starving. That is all right. But it is most sinful to regularly maintain slaughterhouses just to satisfy your tongue. Actually, you will not even have a human society until this cruel practice of maintaining slaughterhouses is stopped. And although animal killing may sometimes be necessary for survival, at least the mother animal, the cow, should not be killed.

That is simple human decency. In the Krishna consciousness movement our practice is that we don’t allow the killing of any animals. Krishna says, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati: “Vegetables, fruits, milk, and grains should be offerd to Me in devotion” (Bhagavad-gita 9.26). We take only the remnants of Krishna’s food (prasadam).The trees offer us many varieties of fruits, but the trees are not killed. Of course, one living entity is food for another living entity, but that does not mean you can kill your mother for food. Cows are innocent; they give us milk. You take their milk and then you kill them in the slaughterhouse. This is sinful.

Devotee: Srila Prabhupada, Christianity’s sanction of meat-eating is based on the view that lower species of life do not have soul like the human being’s.

Srila Prabhupada : That is foolishness. First of all, we have to understand the evidence of the soul’s presence within the body. Then we can see whether the human being has a soul and the cow does not. What are the different characteristics of the cow and the man? If we find a difference in characteristics, then we can say that in the animal there is no soul. But if we see that the animal and the human being have the same characteristics, then how can you say that the animal has no soul ? The general symptoms are that the animal eats you eat, the animal sleeps you sleep, the animal defends you defend. Where is the difference?

Cardinal Danielou: We admit that in the animal there may be same type of biological existence as in man, but there is no soul. We believe that the soul is a human soul.

Srila Prabhupada: Bhagavad-gita says: sarva-yonisu, “In all species of life the soul exists.”

Cardinal Danielou: But the life of man is sacred. Human beings think on a higher platform than the animal do.

Srila Prabhupada: What is that higher platform? The animal eats to maintain his body, and you also eat in order to maintain your body. The cow eats grass in the field, and the human being eats meat from a huge slaughterhouse full of modern machines. But, just because you have big machines and a ghastly scene, while the animal simply eats grass, this does not mean that you are so advanced that only within your body is there a soul, and that there is not a soul within the body of the animal. That is illogical. We can see that the basic chracteristics are the same in the animal and the human being.


Cardinal Danielou : But only in human beings do we find a metaphysical search for the meaning of life.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. So metaphysically search out why you believe that there is no soul within the animal, that is metaphysics. If you are thinking metaphysically, that is all right. But if you are thinking like an animal, then what is the use of your metaphysical study? Metaphysical means “above the physical” or in other words, spiritual. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says, sarva-yonisu kauteya: “In every living being there is a spirit soul.” That is metaphysical understanding.