Cowism
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    • The Emotional Depth of A Cow
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    • A Day With Krishna’s Cows In Vraja
    • A Good Life Makes For Happy Cows
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    • Passing Away
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    • I'm Sorry, What Was Your Name Again?
  • Cow And Humanity
    • Cow Is Complete Ecology
    • Cow: An Engine Of Progress And Prosperity
    • Cow: A Life Form For All-round Good Of The World​
  • Cows Are Cool
    • The Old Man And The Cow - An Extraordinary Friendship
    • A Mean Leopard : Moo-ved By The Love of A Cow
    • Ways To Cool Down An Angry Bull
    • Looking Beyond Their Exterior
    • Motherly Licks That Saved A Life
    • Brainy Bovines
    • Cows Don’t Want to Die
    • Emily the Cow Who Saved Herself
    • Cows Never Forget A Place or a Face
    • Wooden Cow Moo-ves Hearts
    • The Social Lives of Cows
    • Canada Owes A Lot To This Cow
    • Gentle Giants
    • Cows To Reform Prisoners In Indian Jails
    • Cows Grieve
    • She Liked To Listen To Your Story
    • The Brave Russian Bull
    • Cows Are Intensely Emotional
    • Cow Feeds Baby Goats
    • Some Facts About Cows!
    • This One Is ‘Paan’ Fanatic!
    • Kids And Cows - In Ancient India
    • Cows Love This 8 Years Old Girl
    • Study : Cows Excel At Selecting Leaders
    • Bulls - An Observation
    • An Old Cow Tugs At Millions of Heartstrings
    • Cow’s Cradle
    • Sweet Music for Milking
    • Happy Cows, Happy Society
    • Holy Cow! De-stressing Is So Simple
    • The Path of Prosperity - Little Girl Has Better Idea
    • Cows - Fussy About Cleanliness
    • Cows Moo With A Regional Accent
    • Canny Cows
    • The ‘Gentle’ Bessie
    • 14 Cows For America
    • Ganga’s Story
    • Cows Form Cliques!
    • Cowlick - The Way To Give ‘Solace’
    • Story of Sadie - The Face of Modern Dairy Industry
    • Cows Have Strange Sixth Sense
    • Cows Are Precious
    • Ignorance - A Prerequisite of The Standard Western Diet
    • Inseparable Friends - A Calf And A Goat
    • What Do Cows Drink? - A Riddle
    • Suddenly in Fashion - Farming and Cows
    • Cow Fashion Show
    • This One Was My Bodyguard
    • Appendix
  • To Kill Cow
    • Section I : Life Is Sacred >
      • Animals Have A Soul
      • Mother And Child - A Story
      • Religious Philosophy And Attitude Towards Animals
      • Hunter And The Sage
      • Legalized Terrorism - Animal Abuse And Killing
    • Section II : Why Do Indians Consider Cow As Sacred? >
      • Sacred Cow - A Dumb Indian Idea?
      • Cow Gives And Gives And Gives
      • Humanity Owes Milk Debt To Cows
      • Cow - The Provider of All Human Necessities
      • Cow - A Symbol of Innocence, Purity And Magnanimity
      • To Further The Cause of Cow Protection
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But What About Killing Plants?

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One of the strongest objections animal killers raise against vegetarianism is that vegetarians still have to kill plants, and that this is also violence. But it is nonsensical to equate fully sentient animals like cows with lowly vegetables. Certainly, plants are as alive as cows; modern experiments prove that plants have feelings, and the Bhagavad-gita, the essence of all Vedic teachings, confirms that all life forms contain spirit souls qualitatively equal to one another. 

Still all killings are not the same. Going by the argument, killing the person so arguing and killing a potato should be the same but he would not agree to that. Besides most of the time the plants are not killed. At the time of harvesting, the rice or wheat stalks turn yellow and are already dead. When plucking an apple or tomato, the plant is not killed. Whatever violence exists in vegetarian diet, it is minimal because plants have been put by nature in a kind of anaesthesia. That is why chopping a potato and killing a cow creates very different scenes. Potato does not scream, writhe or tries to flee away. Is it the same thing to operate a person who is fully conscious and a person with anaesthesia?

We have to eat something, and the Vedas also say, jivo jivasya jivanam: one living entity is food for another. So from a humane standpoint, the problem in choosing a diet is not how to avoid killing altogether—an impossible proposal—but how to cause the least suffering while meeting the nutritional needs of the body. A well-balanced diet of fruits, grains, vegetables, and milk products meets these criteria, and this diet is recommended in such scriptures as the Bhagavad-gita as most truly human.