It was a small Australian country town. My first impression was that this was a health food shop. It was called So and So Natural Foods and the signage in green and white conveyed an impression of freshness and lightness. Once inside, I realized that it was in fact a butcher’s shop. Some clever butchers “go with the flow” and advertise with slogans such as “chemical free”, “naturally grown” etc… etc.

I made my standard presentation, during which the fairly young attendant took hold of one of my “Higher Taste” copy. In butcher shops, I generally don’t mention the wonderful, karma free Hare Krishna vegetarian cookbook for obvious reasons. But this person was very much interested and revealed that his mother was in fact a vegetarian. For her, he purchased three vegetarian cookbooks by Kurma Prabhu and after thanking him, I left in total amazement at the varieties of Krishna’s sometimes-contradictory arrangements. I also gave him a complimentary copy of one of Srila Prabhupada’s books as per standard procedure: in this case “Renunciation Through Wisdom”.

Let us remember Srila Prabhupada words to the effect that “There is no justice when there is animal-killing. “ in Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.24, purport. Here is the full passage:

“…There are two types of animal-killers. The soul is also sometimes called the “animal” or the living being. Therefore, both the slaughterer of animals and those who have lost their identity of soul are animal-killers.

Maharaja Pariksit said that only the animal-killer cannot relish the transcendental message of the Supreme Lord. Therefore if people are to be educated to the path of Godhead, they must be taught first and foremost to stop the process of animal-killing as above mentioned. It is nonsensical to say that animal-killing has nothing to do with spiritual realization. …………This rejection of the Vedas by Lord Buddha was adopted in order to save people from the vice of animal-killing, as well as to save the poor animals from the slaughtering process of their big brothers, who clamor for universal brotherhood, peace, justice and equity. There is no justice when there is animal-killing.” Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.24, purport.