THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE
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At present, despite impressive progress in science and
technology, the world is faced with a crisis of unremitting
violence in the shape of wars, terrorism, murder, vandalism,
child abuse, and abortion. More than 140 wars have been
fought since the United Nations was formed in 1945, and in
America alone, 20,000 people are murdered each year. With
social and political solutions conspicuously failing,
perhaps it's time to analyze the problem from a different
perspective - the law of karma. The callous and brutal
slaughter of countless helpless animals must be considered
as a powerful causative factor in this wave of uncheckable
violence.

In his purports to the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the ancient 5000
year old text from India (which is available from Dial-A-
Guru BBS (718) 624-8614 [data]), Srila Prabhupada, the guru
of the Hare Krishna movement, has pointed out how the
widespread violence among humans is a karmic reaction to
animal slaughter. "In this age the propensity for mercy is
almost nil. Consequently there is always fighting and wars
between men and nations. Men do not understand that because
they unrestrictedly kill so many animals, they must also be
slaughtered like animals in big wars. This is very much
evident in the Western countries. In the West,
slaughterhouses are maintained without restriction, and
therefore every fifth or tenth year there is a big war in
which countless people are slaughtered even more cruelly
than the animals. Sometimes during war, soldiers keep their
enemies in concentration camps and kill them in very cruel
ways. These are reactions brought about by unrestricted
animal-killing in the slaughterhouse and by hunters in the
forest."

The question is sometimes raised that if the atma (soul) is
completely transcendental to the material body, why should
killing, if great pain is avoided, be considered wrongful
violence? Even the Bhagavad-gita states, "For the soul there
is neither birth nor death. He is not slain when the body is
slain." In his Srimad-Bhagavatam purports, Srila Prabhupada
addresses this question. "All living entities have to
fulfill a certain duration for being encaged in a particular
type of material body. They have to finish the duration
allotted in a particular body before being promoted or
evolved to another body. Killing an animal or any other
living being simply places an impediment in the way of his
completing his term of impreisonment in a certain body. One
should therefore not kill bodies for one's sense
gratification, for this will implicate one in sinful
activity." In short, killing an animal interrupts its
progressive evolution through the species.

We can also appreciate the unjustness of animal-killing by
seeing that the body is a dwelling place for the atma
residing within. An individual unexpectedly driven out of
his comfortable home suffers great inconvenience and
distress. Such merciless and unjustified action is
undoubtedly criminal. Furthermore, in order to receive his
next material body, the living being must suffer extended
prebirth tribulations. For the human being this involves
months of being tightly packed in the darkness of the womb,
where one is constantly distrubed by infections, acid fluids
burning the skin, jarring motions, and discomforts resulting
from the eating and drinking habits of the mother.