Prabhupada, to Upsala Student Assembly, Stockholm, September 7, 1973: Our philosophy is not like that, that we give protection to the human being and send the cows to the slaughterhouse. No, that is not our philosophy. Samah sarvesu bhutesu. We think on this subject matter, that if a man is killed, as he’s put into so difficult position for being killed, the animal also. They also feel. It is nonsense to think that animal has no soul, no. Everyone has got soul. There are 8,400,000 species or forms of life. Everyone has got soul. Even the ant has got soul, or the elephant has got soul, what to speak of other animals. Everyone, even the trees, birds, beasts, plants, everyone has got soul. And in the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says,
sarva-yonisu kaunteya murtayah sambhavanti yah tasam brahma mahad yonir aham bija-pradah pita [Bg. 14.4]
The part and parcel of Krishna or God, the soul, is there everywhere. Don’t think that simply human being has got soul. This is not very good philosophy, that the animals have no soul. They have got soul. You can practically examine. What is the symptom of possessing soul? First of all try to understand. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita: avinasi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idam tatam: The presence of soul can be perceived when there is consciousness on the body. This is the proof. When you pinch my body, I feel pain, when I pinch your body, you feel pain, when I pinch an animal’s body, he also feels pain. Even I pinch even the tree’s body he feels pain. It is scientifically proved. Sir Jagadish Candra Bose has proved by machine that when you cut a tree, it feels pain and it is recorded in this statistic machine. So everyone has got the soul. So how you can think…?
When you take the animal to the slaughterhouse for killing, he cries. Why? Because he’s feeling pain. He knows that “I’m going to be killed.” So there is soul. Soul is there. You don’t think that soul is not there: soul is there. Therefore, a Krishna conscious person who has realized God, he is samah sarvesu bhutesu, he’s equal to all living entities. He’ll feel pain even for cutting a tree. He’ll feel pain, he’ll feel pain even he traverses over an ant.
Full Lecture: http://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/bg/18/41/stockholm/september/07/1973
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