Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 17.154

pitā-mātā māri' khāo — ebā kon dharma

kon bale kara tumi e-mata vikarma

SYNONYMS

pitā-mātā — father and mother; māri' — killing; khāo — you eat; ebā — this; kon — what kind of; dharma — religion; kon bale — on what strength; kara — do; tumi — you; e-mata — such; vikarma — sinful activities.

TRANSLATION

"Since the bull and cow are your father and mother, how can you kill and eat them? What kind of religious principle is this? On what strength are you so daring that you commit such sinful activities?"

PURPORT

Everyone can understand that we drink the milk of cows and take the help of bulls in producing agricultural products. Therefore, since our real father gives us food grains and our mother gives us milk with which to live, the cow and bull are considered our father and mother. According to Vedic civilization, there are seven mothers, of which the cow is one. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu challenged the Muslim Kazi, "What kind of religious principle do you follow by killing your father and mother to eat them?" In any civilized human society, no one would dare kill his father and mother for the purpose of eating them. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu challenged the system of Muslim religion as patricide and matricide. In the Christian religion also, a principal commandment is "Thou shalt not kill." Nevertheless, Christians violate this rule; they are very expert in killing and in opening slaughterhouses. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, our first provision is that no one should be allowed to eat any kind of flesh. It does not matter whether it is cows' flesh or goats' flesh, but we especially stress the prohibition against cows' flesh because according to śāstra the cow is our mother. Thus the Muslims' cow-killing was challenged by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness