Does ruling over all creatures mean a license to kill them?

[Shri Anil asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! In the Old Testament, Genesis 1:28-30, it is said: God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth — everything having the breath of life in it — I have given every green plant for food.”

There is a misunderstanding among some Christian devotees that since God said “Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth”, it means that we have permission from God to eat non-vegetarian food. However, in the same paragraph, God stresses on the fact that He has provided vegetarian food for human beings and even for animals. Swāmi, kindly clarify this contradiction. At Your Divine Feet, anil.]

Swāmi replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Your interpretation is correct and the interpretation of those Christian devotees is wrong. Ruling does not mean killing and eating. It only means using them and giving food to them. The entire objection is only to the killing of the creatures for food and not to the eating their meat after they die naturally. The eater of non-vegetarian food encourages their killing and hence, becomes a sinner. In any case, even medical science says that vegetarian food is far better for health than non-vegetarian food.

Keywords:

| Shri Datta Swami | Does ruling over all creatures mean a license to kill them? |

★ ★ ★ ★ ★