Protection of Domestic Animals in ISKCON

[Guest guest]

> Do you have any quotes from Srila Prabhupada saying that once any animals

> are used by devotees for any purpose they must be maintained for life?

>

> Your servant,

>

> Kesava dd

 

Dear Kesava prabhu,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

I don't believe that we will find such an exact quote from Srila Prabhupada.

But in a number of places Srila Prabhupada talks about the role of human

beings as "elder brother" of the animals and explains how important it is for

spiritual progress that we avoid killing animals. Based on Srila Prabhupada's

instructions, ISKCON's Ministry of Agriculture formulated standards, endorsed

by the GBC in 1984 which provide for the protection of all domestic animals

which "have come under our protection." So I guess it depends on how you

interpret "has come under our protection." To me it means that if I have

brough a domestic animal onto ISKCON property to do some service, that animal

has come under our protection. Maybe that is a stricter interpretation than

others would make.

 

 

Here are a few quotes from Srila Prabhupada and also the original 1984 article

from the Ministry of Agriculture on protection of domestic animals in ISKCON:

 

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Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1: Chapter Seventeen, Text 8 :PURPORT

 

The protection of the lives of both the human beings and the animals is

the first and foremost duty of a government.

 

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Protection of Cows and Domestic Animals in ISKCON

 

from

 

ISKCON FARM NEWLETTER

Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 20 1984

 

 

Ministry of Agriculture: Notes from Mayapur

 

Two principles were endorsed by the G.B.C. this year which directly concerned

ISKCON farms. I wanted to briefly explain these as a prelude to future

articles in which the different aspects of these principles will be discussed

in detail.

 

The first principle is that domesticated farm animals who have come under our

protection should not be given away or sold outside of ISKCON.

 

This came up because, over the short history of ISKCON, a notable number of

farm projects, ailing due to lack of manpower of funds, have, in the name of

“practicality,” had to seriously consider this issue. The point of this

resolution is to clarify where the bounds of our responsibility lie.

 

In this age we can know for sure that if the *ultimate* destination of the

animal is unknown, the animal will most likely end up getting slaughtered.

This includes horses, sheep, cows and bulls, and any other domesticated

animals. Even if someone promises never to kill a cow, he may change his mind

or sell the offspring when they are born later on.

 

We cannot take that risk, saying that we are not responsible, and turn our

heads. It is not within our jurisdiction to make that decision. Srila

Prabhupada made it clear that the decision has already been made by Krsna and

“practicality” is no excuse.

 

The way out of this predicament is sought in the second resolution which says

that the Ministry of Agriculture should be consulted *before* purchasing land

and animals in order to guard against ill-advised, whimsical acquisitions that

will end in disaster. This points to the gravity of the situation. Great

caution and all good advice should be taken *before* accepting dependents.

Some criteria for this decision are:

 

1. Qualified manpower.

2. Adequate land.

3. Adequate facilities.

4. Adequate resources to maintain the program.

5. Realistic plans for expansion.

 

Prior to acquisition, either myself or a local representative of the Ministry

of Agriculture should report on these criteria to the local G.B.C. or his

agriculture committee. A long-term expansion plan can be endorsed in this

way; not that every little expansion will get bogged down in bureacracy.

 

{Paramananda dasa, ISKCON Minister of Agriculture}

 

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Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 7: Chapter Fifteen, Text 24 :PURPORT

 

By practice, one should avoid eating in such a way that other living

entities will be disturbed and suffer. Since I suffer when pinched or killed

by others, I should not attempt to pinch or kill any other living entity.

People do not know that because of killing innocent animals they themselves

will have to suffer severe reactions from material nature. Any country where

people indulge in unnecessary killing of animals will have to suffer from wars

and pestilence imposed by material nature.

 

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Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1: Chapter Three, Text 24 :PURPORT

 

The animal-killers are dangerous elements on the path going back to Godhead.

There are two types of animal-killers. The soul is also sometimes called the

"animal" or the living being. Therefore, both the slaughterer of animals and

those who have lost their identity of soul are animal-killers.

 

Maharaja Pariksit said that only the animal-killer cannot relish the

transcendental message of the Supreme Lord.

 

Therefore if people are to be educated to the path of Godhead, they must be

taught first and foremost to stop the process of animal-killing as above

mentioned.

 

It is nonsensical to say that animal-killing has nothing to do with spiritual

realization.

 

....There is no justice when there is animal-killing.

 

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Madhya-lila: Chapter Twenty-five, Text 42 :PURPORT

 

Unless one is free from the sin of animal killing, he cannot understand

religion or God.

 

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Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1: Chapter Seventeen, Text 8 :PURPORT

 

The protection of the lives of both the human beings and the animals is

the first and foremost duty of a government. A government must not

discriminate in such principles. It is simply horrible for a pure-hearted soul

to see organized animal-killing by the state in this age of Kali. Maharaja

Pariksit was lamenting for the tears in the eyes of the bull, and he was

astonished to see such an unprecedented thing in his good kingdom. Men and

animals were equally protected as far as life was concerned. That is the way

in God's kingdom.

 

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Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1: Chapter Seven, Text 37 :PURPORT

 

A cruel and wretched person who maintains his existence at the cost of

others' lives deserves to be killed for his own well-being, otherwise he will

go down by his own actions.

 

PURPORT

 

A life for a life is just punishment for a person who cruelly and

shamelessly lives at the cost of another's life. Political morality is to

punish a person by a death sentence in order to save a cruel person from going

to hell. That a murderer is condemned to a death sentence by the state is good

for the culprit because in his next life he will not have to suffer for his

act of murder. Such a death sentence for the murderer is the lowest possible

punishment offered to him, and it is said in the smrti-sastras that men who

are punished by the king on the principle of a life for a life are purified of

all their sins, so much so that they may be eligible for being promoted to the

planets of heaven.

 

According to Manu, the great author of civic codes and religious principles,

even the killer of an animal is to be considered a murderer because animal

food is never meant for the civilized man, whose prime duty is to prepare

himself for going back to Godhead.

 

He says that in the act of killing an animal, there is a regular conspiracy by

the party of sinners, and all of them are liable to be punished as murderers

exactly like a party of conspirators who kill a human being combinedly. He who

gives permission, he who kills the animal, he who sells the slaughtered

animal, he who cooks the animal, he who administers distribution of the

foodstuff, and at last he who eats such cooked animal food are all murderers,

and all of them are liable to be punished by the laws of nature.

 

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