People who eat meat argue that just as there is life in plants, there is also life in animals. If you can eat fruits and plants, then why can’t you eat animals? This argument is also given by many learned scholars, but why don’t they understand that there is a difference between plucking a plant and killing goats to eat? Science explains that there is life in both plants and animals. But it also tells us that animals have a nervous system through which they feel pain or pleasure, whereas plants do not have such a nervous system, so they do not feel pain like animals. Has anyone ever said that they killed wheat today, but on the other hand, it is said to kill or slaughter animals?

You can go and see how pigs are slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, and then on the other hand, see wheat being harvested or any other crop being cut, you will understand the difference. Where pigs are slaughtered, such a painful cry is heard. If meat-eating brothers see that scene and listen, then 80% of them surely give up eating meat. Pigs, like humans, feel pain. They bleed like us, they scream, they struggle, they beg for mercy, tears well up in their eyes as if they’re pleading, “Don’t kill us, let us go.”

If you see a human being pricked with a needle and then see the same happening to a cat, dog, or any other animal, you will realize that they feel pain just like humans. A cow feels joy and pain like a human mother for her calves. The difference is that humans have more intellect and wisdom, but the capacity to feel joy and pain is the same in both humans and animals. Watch how a fish struggles when taken out of water; now try holding your breath and you will feel the same struggle. When you know that it also feels pain like you, then how can you cause suffering to any living being?

ਆਦਿ ਪੁਰਖ ਤੇ ਹੋਇ ਅਨਾਦਿ ॥
ਜਪੀਐ ਨਾਮੁ ਅੰਨ ਕੈ ਸਾਦਿ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
(Guru Granth Sahib ji- 873)
Guru Ji has given us the command to eat grains, while they have forbidden us from eating meat. Here the clear command is that grains come from the primal being, and one who chants the Naam after eating grains follows Guru Ji’s command.

ਦੂਖੁ ਨ ਦੇਈ ਕਿਸੈ ਜੀਅ ਪਤਿ ਸਿਉ ਘਰਿ ਜਾਵਉ ॥ 
(Guru Granth Sahib ji- 322)
If you won’t cause pain to any being, you’ll return home with honor. If you want to go to the next world with respect, then don’t eat meat by causing pain to living beings. But it’s unfortunate that those who eat meat don’t even believe in the afterlife.