They are completely in the mode of darkness, just like the animals they slaughter. There may be many animals in a pasture, and if one takes an animal aside and cuts its throat, the other animals will simply stand, look, and continue eating grass. They do not realize that the next time they may be slaughtered. The people in Kali-yuga are in the same situation...

[Posted January 31, 2008]

Killing Them Softly?

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Now we hear that abuse is taking place in slaughterhouses... Duh.

CNN Jan 30, 2008 -

Video of workers abusing cows raises food safety questions

A video showing California slaughterhouse workers abusing dairy cows -- a violation that raises questions about U.S. food safety -- was released by the Humane Society of the United States on Wednesday.

The video, which one lawmaker said raises questions about the safety of the nation's food supply, shows Hallmark Meat Packing Co. workers administering repeated electric shocks to the downed cows -- animals that are too sick, weak or otherwise unable to stand on their own. Workers are seen kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up their noses in an effort to force them to their feet for slaughter. go to story

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World of Slaughter

Cows and Karma A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
You are killing innocent cows and other animals—nature will take revenge. Just wait. As soon as the time is right, nature will gather all these rascals and slaughter them. Finished. They'll fight amongst themselves—Protestants and Catholics, Russia and America, this one and that one. It is going on. Why? That is nature's law. Tit for tat. "You have killed. Now you kill yourselves."

They are sending animals to the slaughterhouse, and now they'll create their own slaughterhouse. [Imitating gunfire:] Tung! Tung! Kill! Kill! You see? Just take Belfast, for example. The Roman Catholics are killing the Protestants, and the Protestants are killing the Catholics. This is nature's law. It's not necessary that you be sent to the ordinary slaughterhouse. You'll make a slaughterhouse at home. You'll kill your own child—abortion. This is nature's law. Who are these children being killed? They are these meat-eaters. They enjoyed themselves when so many animals were killed, and now they're being killed by their mothers. People do not know how nature is working. If you kill, you must be killed. If you kill the cow, who is your mother, then in some future lifetime your mother will kill you. Yes. The mother becomes the child, and the child becomes the mother. more

Next time, they may be slaughtered also

excerpt from Teachings of Lord Kapila

People actually waste their time talking politics, sociology, anthropology, and so on. They read many literatures that do not glorify the Supreme Lord Hari, and thus they waste their time. This Krishna consciousness movement is giving everyone a chance to become pious. Punya-shravana-kirtanah [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.17]. It is not necessary to give money or bathe in the Ganges. There are many pious activities and many processes recommended in the shastras for becoming pious. However, in Kali-yuga people have lost all their stamina. They are so sinful that there is no question of becoming pious through all these prescribed methods. The only means is hearing about Krishna and chanting His names. Krishna has given us ears to hear and a tongue to speak. We can hear from a realized soul and thus perfect our lives. In this way we are given a chance to purify ourselves. Unless we are purified, we cannot become devotees. Human life is meant for purification. Unfortunately in this age people are not interested in Krishna, and they suffer through material existence one life after another after another. In one life they may be very opulent. Then they don't care about the next life. They think, "Let me eat, drink and be merry." This is going on all over the world, but the shastras say that people are making mistakes in this way. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarmah (SB 5.5.4): people have become mad with sense gratification, and therefore they engage in all sorts of forbidden things. Karma means regulated work, and vikarma means just the opposite—unlawful, forbidden activities. The word akarma means that one is not affected by the results of work. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (3.9):

yajñarthat karmano 'nyatra
loko 'yam karma-bandhanah
tad-artham karma kaunteya
mukta-sangah samachara

"Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage."

When people are in the modes of passion and ignorance, they perform vikarma. They do not care for their future lives, and they are habituated to eating anything and everything, just like hogs. They do not care for the shastric injunctions, and they are totally irresponsible. They are just like street boys who have no education and do not care for anything. Such urchins do whatever they like, for their fathers and mothers do not care for them. Life in ignorance, tamo-guna, is such a careless life. People simply act unlawfully, not considering the results of their actions. They act for sense gratification, and actually they take pleasure in committing sins. In Calcutta I have seen people taking pleasure in cutting the throats of chickens and laughing when the chicken jumps and flaps about. Sometimes in Western countries students are taken to slaughterhouses just to see how the cows are butchered. In this age, people take pleasure in committing all kinds of sins. They have no brains to see that this body is temporary and full of suffering. They are completely in the mode of darkness, just like the animals they slaughter. There may be many animals in a pasture, and if one takes an animal aside and cuts its throat, the other animals will simply stand, look, and continue eating grass. They do not realize that the next time they may be slaughtered. The people in Kali-yuga are in the same situation, but the Krishna consciousness movement is trying to give these rascals a little sense. We are saying, "Don't remain animals. Become human beings." In the words of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:

krishna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha

"Forgetting Krishna, the living entity has been attracted by the external feature from time immemorial. Therefore the illusory energy (maya) gives him all kinds of misery in his material existence." (Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya 20.117)

When one forgets his relationship with Krishna, he acts in a very foolish way, and maya gives him one misery after another. It is also stated:

maya-mugdha jivera nahi svatah Krishna jñana
jivere kripaya kaila krishna veda-purana

"The conditioned soul cannot revive his Krishna consciousness by his own effort. But out of causeless mercy, Lord Krishna compiled the Vedic literature and its supplements, the Puranas." (Cc. Madhya 20.122)

The Vedic literatures—the Vedanta, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata and many others—should be utilized if we wish to become free from the contamination of tamo-guna [the mode of ignorance] and rajo-guna [the mode of passion]. The whole world is revolving due to kama and lobha. Kama means "lusty desire," and lobha means "greed." people cannot have enough sex or money, and because of this, their hearts are filled with contaminations, which have to be cleansed by hearing, repeating and chanting. Human life is meant to get rid of anarthas, unwanted things, but where is the university or college where this science of purification is taught? The only institution is this Krishna consciousness society. Krishna is within the heart, and the contaminations are also there, but Krishna will help us cleanse them. Nashta-prayeshv abhadreshu nityam bhagavata-sevaya (SB 1.2.18). We must regularly hear Srimad-Bhagavatam and chant Hare Krishna; these are the two processes recommended by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Haridasa Thakura was chanting three hundred thousand holy names a day, but we have fixed the number at sixteen rounds. Nonetheless, we are so unfortunate and fallen that we cannot even perform them. We should not waste our time reading and talking nonsense, but should engage in the study of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Our time is very valuable, and we should not waste it. Chanakya Pandit has said: ayushah kshana eko 'pi na labhyah svarna-kotibhih. We may live for a hundred years, but not one moment of these hundred years can be returned, not even if we are prepared to pay millions of dollars. We cannot add a moment, nor can we get a moment back. If time is money, we should just consider how much money we have lost. However, time is even more precious because it cannot be regained. Therefore not a single moment should be lost. Human life should be utilized only for chanting and reading Vedic literatures. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is publishing many books so that people can utilize their time properly by reading them and make their lives successful. Not only should we read Srimad-Bhagavatam, but we should also serve the person bhagavata, one whose life is nothing but Srimad-Bhagavatam. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya [SB 1.2.18]. By this process we can attain the stage of bhagavad-bhakti [love of God], but first we must get rid of all these anarthas, unwanted things. Presently we are wasting our time thinking, "This is my country. This is my nation. This is my body and my family," and so on. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya [our eternal occupation is to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead]. We can vanquish all these false conceptions when we come to the platform of sattva-guna [the mode of goodness]. Then we will not be disturbed by tamo-guna or rajo-guna, nor by kama or lobha [lust and greed]. This is the vasudeva platform. Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya.

Sri Guru and Gauranga