Le Cow Quote Du Jour # 35

[Guest guest]

Everyone is working very hard simply for sense gratification. And as soon as

you take this life of sense gratification, you are sure to commit sinful

activities. For example, throughout the whole world there are so many

breweries manufacturing liquor. Especially in the Western countries you will

find so many, the advertisement, liquor advertisement, whiskey

advertisement, cigarette advertisement. And what to speak of slaughterhouse?

There are many, many hundreds and thousands of slaughterhouse. And innocent

animals are being killed all over the world unnecessarily. People can live

with food grains. That is allowed for the all living entities. In the

Bhagavad-gita it is said, annad bhavanti bhutani: [bg. 3.14] "Simply by

growing food grains, both the animals and the man, they can live very

happily." And you can grow food grains very easily. I have seen in the

Western countries, they are growing food grains for the animals, and the

food grains are eaten by the animals, and the animal is eaten by man. They

are producing food grains. What is the statistics that the animal eating

food grains, the same time, the same amount food grains can be eaten by so

many men?

 

Brahmananda: The acreage... For a cow to eat requires so many acres for that

one cow, and then that cow is slaughtered and it only feeds a few men,

whereas that same acreage could feed hundreds of men by grains.

 

Prabhupada: Yes.

 

Devotee: Seventeen times.

 

Prabhupada: So these things are to be noted, how they are engaged in sinful

activities. And the solution is given in the Bhagavad-gita, that "Produce

food grain." Annad bhavanti bhutani.

 

So I see in your this Mauritius land, you have got enough land to produce

food grains. You produce food grain. I understand that instead of growing

food grains, you are growing sugar cane for exporting. Why? And you are

dependent on food grains, on rice, wheat, dahl. Why? Why this attempt? You

first of all grow your own eatables. And if there is time and if your

population has got sufficient food grains, then you can try to grow other

fruits and vegetables for exporting. The first necessity is that you should

be self-sufficient. That is God's arrangement. Everywhere there is

sufficient land to produce food grains, not only in your country. I have

traveled all over the world -- Africa, Australia, and other, in America

also. There are so much land vacant that if we produce food grains, then we

can feed ten times as much population as at the present moment. There is no

question of scarcity. The whole creation is so made by Krsna that everything

is purnam, complete. Purnam idam purnam adah purnat purnam udacyate,

purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate [isopanisad, Invocation]. If we

don't produce food grain -- you require it -- and put unnecessarily men into

scarcity, that is sinful. That is sinful. Everything, every instruction for

our happy life and to advance in Krsna consciousness and make life perfect

 

Unfortunately, we do not know what is the perfect life. Therefore it is said

here, punah punas carvita-carvananam: [sB 7.5.30] "chewing the chewed." If

we don't make our life perfect Perfect means stop this business of chewing

the chewed.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.30 -- Mauritius, October 2, 1975