suchandra 1 Report post Posted May 29, 2008 Before the Kuruksetra war started Arjuna presented all the arguments possible that violence is against the vedic principle. Only when Lord Krsna explained, no, in this case you have to fight the war started. Looks that Jesuit priest did some research before meeting Prabhupada. Jesuit Priest: All right. And therefore—I’m not being facetious—when you boil those potatoes, you are taking away the life of that potato. Prabhupāda: So what is your philosophy? That you can take any life? Jesuit Priest: But you said, “Thou shall not kill.” Prabhupāda: No, no. Yes. “Thou shall not kill.” That’s all right. Jesuit Priest: But you kill the potato. Prabhupāda: Now, suppose there is potato and there is your child. So would you like to kill your child in preference of potato? Mother: No, no. Jesuit Priest: You’ve not answered my question. Prabhupāda: Why this discrimination? Jesuit Priest: Why you’ve not answered my question? Prabhupāda: Yes, I am answering you, that you are to kill, but you have to discriminate what kind of killing you shall do. Jesuit Priest: Well, I’ve just said that. I gave the example of the chap who comes to you with a revolver. I can maybe protect myself. You said… You’re implying… Prabhupāda: No, no. When somebody comes with a revolver, you defend. That is another thing. But if somebody’s innocent, why you should kill? Jesuit Priest: And I say I shouldn’t. God said, “Thou shalt not kill.” Prabhupāda: Then why you are killing animals? Jesuit Priest: Well, you’re doing it when you eat your potatoes. Prabhupāda: No, the potato is not animal. Jesuit Priest: It’s a vegetable, life. Prabhupāda: No. Jesuit Priest: It starts with a little tiny seed. That’s life. Prabhupāda: No, no, no. Jesuit Priest: It grows. Prabhupāda: Potato is not animal. It is fruit. Jesuit Priest: Is that tree alive? Prabhupāda: It is a fruit. Jesuit Priest: Is that tree alive? Prabhupāda: Yes. Jesuit Priest: Has it got life? Prabhupāda: Yes. Jesuit Priest: Are you doing anything wrong when you cut it down…? Prabhupāda: Yes. Jesuit Priest: …to provide…? Prabhupāda: Yes. Jesuit Priest: …to provide…? Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, yes. Jesuit Priest: You are doing something wrong? Prabhupāda: We don’t cut down trees unnecessarily. Unnecessarily. Jesuit Priest: No, but, but, uh, but, uh, but, uh… I don’t kill… Prabhupāda: No. But the… I have asked this question to so many people, that “Why you are killing although it is prohibited, ‘Thou shall not kill.’?” They cannot give me any satisfactory answer. Jesuit Priest: Well, I think I’ve given you one. I’m just thinking in a way… Prabhupāda: Innocent animal killing and taking a potato from the tree, you are making equalized. It is not very… Jesuit Priest: Oh, no, I’m not (indistinct) and saying. All I’m saying is if you’re logical and accept different… Prabhupāda: This is logical. Now… Jesuit Priest: …kinds of life. Prabhupāda: I have to live. We agree that we have to live by eating another living entity. Jivo jīvasya jīvanam. But if I eat this grass, taken some grass, and if I eat some animal, do you think they are equal? Jesuit Priest: Yes. Prabhupāda: Equal? Then why don’t you kill your child, own child? Jesuit Priest: Because there’s a, I mean, a… That’s, that’s… Logical. I just tried to show you the difference between… Prabhupāda: Now, we don’t agree that… Jesuit Priest: …vegetative life, sensitive life and rational life. Prabhupāda: … that innocent… That… That’s all right. Revatīnandana: Rational? Animals have got rationality. Jesuit Priest: No they haven’t. Omnia animalia intelectu carent.(?) (Latin) Revatīnandana: Even your… Jesuit Priest: This is bringing out exactly… Revatīnandana: Even your own psychologists will display to you rational life in the monkeys. Jesuit Priest: No, no. Revatīnandana: And so many other animals. Rats. Jesuit Priest: No. Revatīnandana: They make rational decisions. Jesuit Priest: No they don’t. Revatīnandana: Oh? Jesuit Priest: Well, I mean it’s been accepted. … Revatīnandana: Your own psychologists will display that to you. Jesuit Priest: Well, all I can say is it’s been accepted in the teaching of not many western philosophers… Revatīnandana: Not eastern philosophers. Jesuit Priest: But all eastern philosophers… Omnia animalia intellectu carent.(?) (Latin) And now, as Mrs. Christie just said, if you’ve done a bit of study… Prabhupāda: So because, because some animal is not intelligent, you are right to kill? Jesuit Priest: No, no, no. We’re not talking about killing. He, his theme now, that there’s no difference between us and the dog. Prabhupāda: No, no. Yes. Revatīnandana: You’re more intelligent than a dog—to some degree. Prabhupāda: No, if… Jesuit Priest: So in other words, if we are, all of us here… Prabhupāda: Even the animal is not intelligent, you cannot kill. Because your child is also not intelligent, so that does not mean you can kill your child. Jesuit Priest: Oh, but nobody, I’d, nobody’d, nobody’d, master, nobody’d for one second would think about killing a child. Prabhupāda: No, no. That is not a very good reasoning, that because the animal is not intelligent, they may be killed. That is not very good reason. Jesuit Priest: Oh, no, that isn’t the reason. That isn’t the reason why we kill it. We kill the animal because we need it for a means of living. Prabhupāda: No… Jesuit Priest: As food. Prabhupāda: You need it… Just like if you can get nice fruits, grains, milk, why do you need animal? You have to eat. You have to eat and live. Not to kill. Similarly, that if you can get nice foodstuff from food grains, from fruits, from flowers, from vegetables, from milk, why you should kill the animals? Mother: Well, a lot of people now are going over to health foods. Prabhupāda: Eh? Mother: This is thought of by a lot of people. Prabhupāda: Well, lot of people may do anything. Mother: I agree with you. Yes… Prabhupāda: But a reasonable man, a religious man, he should have discrimination, that “If I get my foodstuff from here, why shall I kill a big animal?” Mother: Well, it’s not… I always think it’s not for me to condemn people, whatever they do. All I ask for in life is… I’m not condemning you, but uh… Prabhupāda: No, we are thinking in that way. It is all right that we have to eat some living entity, but a difference… If we can get… Besides that, when you get the grains, it is not actually killing. When you get the fruits, I am getting these fruits from the tree. It is not killing. The fruits are there. I take it. It falls down. I take it. The grains also. It is not killing. Garden Conversation with Mahādeva’s Mother and Jesuit Priest His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda July 25, 1973, London Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shvu 1 Report post Posted May 29, 2008 Imagine for a moment how different life would be if do not invent excuses for everything we do and stopped fnding complaints about everything that others do that we do not do. Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
