Did Shri Rama and Shri Krishna consume meat and kill animals?

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on May 30, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Devotees’ questions answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[Smt. Ramasundari asked: Recently, You gave a discourse, wherein it was clearly explained how the non-vegetarian habits of people lead to the killing of animals. You also mentioned that their intense suffering while being killed by humans is the cause of many natural calamities. I explained the same to my grandson Śrī Karthikeya Datta and he questioned me back as follows, “Śrī Rāma being a kṣatriya and Śrī Kṛṣṇa being a Yādava must have consumed non-vegetarian food. Did they also kill animals for meat?” I said to my grandson that they would not have killed animals for meat. Instead, they would have got the meat of animals that had to be killed for various other inevitable reasons or of animals that may have died already. This did not satisfy him. So, I thought of asking You what the right answer for his question is.]

Swāmi replied: Even your answer is not completely correct. Raama and Krishna are God. God preached non-violence by coming as incarnations like Buddha and Mahavira. Raama and Krishna never ate non-vegetarian food. In the Vaalmiiki Raamaayanam, there were several insertions called Prakshepas. In such one prakshepa (inserted by others, perhaps non-vegetarians), it is told that Raama killed a deer when the new hut was built in Panchavati forest. This is an insertion only to get support for non-vegetarian food. Of course, some incarnations followed non-vegetarian food-eating. God has to follow certain strong inevitable practices of sinners to become friendly with them and except that one strong sin, God will stress on other strong sins to be resisted. When all other sins are resisted, He will come as a special incarnation to preach the resistance of that strong sin, exclusively as Buddha. Let us take the case of Bhagavaan Shri Satya Sai Baba. He was also a Kshatriya like Raama. But, He always opposed the non-vegetarian food. Shirdi Sai Baba was born as a Brahmana, but, still He cooked non-vegetarian food for the sake of non-vegetarians. He never ate non-vegetarian food. Once, Baba asked a Brahmana devotee to kill a goat on pious holy day. The devotee was ready to kill it proving his unimaginable devotion to the word of God. Then, Baba stopped him saying that He will kill the goat. As soon as Baba said this word, the goat by itself fell on the ground and died. Hence, this shows that the birth and death of any living being are in the hands of God only.

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