Prabhupada 0174 - Every Living Entity is a Child of God
Lecture on SB 1.8.26 -- Los Angeles, April 18, 1973
So every living entity is a child of God. God is the Supreme Father. Kṛṣṇa says: ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. "I am the seed-giving father of all living entities." Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). "In whichever form they may live, they're all living entities, they're My sons." Actually that is the fact. We all living entities, we are sons of God. But we have forgotten. Therefore we are fighting. Just like in a nice family, if anyone knows: "Father is supplying us food. So we brothers, why should we fight?" Similarly if we become God conscious, if we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, this fighting will be over. "I am American, I am Indian, I am Russian, I am Chinese." These all nonsense things will be over. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice. As soon as people become Kṛṣṇa conscious, this fighting, this political fighting, national fighting, will be over immediately. Because they'll come to real consciousness that everything belongs to God. And as the children, a child of the family has got right to take advantages from the father, similarly if everyone is part and parcel of God, if everyone is child of God, then everyone has got the right to use the property of the father. So that right is not that right, the right belongs to the human being. According to Bhagavad-gītā, this right belongs to all living entities. Never mind whether he's living being or animal or trees, or birds or beast or insect. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We do not think in terms of that simply my brother is good, I am good. And all bad. This kind of narrow, crippled consciousness we hate, we kick out. We think: paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find.
- vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
- brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
- śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
- paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
- (BG 5.18)
One who is paṇḍita, one who is learned, he sees every living entity on the equal footing. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava is so compassionate. Lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau. They can actually do the beneficial work to the human being. They are seeing, actually feeling that all these living entities, they are part and parcel of God. Someway or other, they have fallen in the contact of this material world, and, according to different karma, they have assumed different types of bodies. So paṇḍita, those who are learned, they have no discrimination that: "This is animal, they should be sent to the slaughterhouse, and this is man, he'll eat it." No. A actually Kṛṣṇa conscious person, he's kind to everyone. Why the animals should be slaughtered. Therefore our philosophy is no meat-eating. No meat-eating. You cannot. So they'll not hear us. "Oh, what this nonsense? This is our food. Why shall I not eat?" Because edhamāna-madaḥ (SB 1.8.26). He's intoxicated rascal. He'll not hear the real fact.