Way to Brotherhood

We living entities are all sons of God, but we have forgotten this, and therefore we are fighting. In a happy family, all the sons know, "Father is supplying food to us all. We are brothers, so why should we fight?" Similarly, if we become God conscious, the fighting in the world will come to an end. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Russian," "I am Chinese" — all these nonsensical designations will be finished. Real consciousness and understand that everything belongs to God. The children in a family all have the right to accept privileges from the father. Similarly, if everyone is part and parcel of God, if everyone is a child of God, then everyone has the right to use the property of the father. That right does not belong only to the human beings; rather, according to Bhagavad-gītā, that right belongs to all living entities, regardless of whether they are in the bodies of human beings, animals, trees, birds, beasts, insects, or whatever.

We do not think, "My brother is good, and I am good, but all others are bad." This is the kind of narrow, crippled consciousness we reject. We look equally toward all living entities. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (5.18):

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śvapāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

"The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater [outcaste]."

One who is paṇḍita, one who is learned, sees all living entities to be on an equal level. Therefore, because a Vaiṣṇava, or devotee, is learned, he is compassionate (lokānāḿ hita-kāriṇau), and he can work in such a way as to actually benefit humanity. A devotee of the Lord feels and actually sees that all living entities are part and parcel of God and that somehow or other they have fallen into contact with this material world and have assumed different types of bodies according to different karma.

Those who are learned (paṇḍitāḥ) do not discriminate. They do not say, "This is an animal, so it should be sent to the slaughterhouse so that a man may eat it." No. Why should the animals be slaughtered? A person who is actually God conscious is kind to everyone. Therefore one tenet of our philosophy is "No meat-eating." Of course, people may not accept this. They will say, "Oh, what is this nonsense? Meat is our food. Why should we not eat it?" Because they are intoxicated rascals (edhamāna-madaḥ), they will not hear the real facts. But just consider: if a poor man is lying helpless in the street, can I kill him? Will the state excuse me? I may say, "I have only killed a poor man. There was no need for him in society. Why should such a person live?" But will the state excuse me? Will the authorities say, "You have done very nice work"? No. The poor man is also a citizen of the state, and the state cannot allow him to be killed. Now, why not expand this philosophy? The trees, the birds, and the beasts are also sons of God. If one kills them, one is as guilty as one who kills a poor man on the street. In God's eyes, or even in the vision of a learned man, there is no discrimination between poor and rich, black and white. No. Every living entity is part and parcel of God. And because a devotee sees this, he is the only true benefactor of all living entities.