prabhu kahe, — vede kahe go-vadha niá¹£edha
ataeva hindu-mÄtra nÄ kare go-vadha

 prabhu kahe - the Lord replied; vede - in the Vedas; kahe - is enjoined; go-vadha - cow-killing; niá¹£edha - prohibition; ataeva - therefore; hindu - Hindu; mÄtra - any;  - does not; kare - execute; go-vadha - cow-killing.


Text

Refuting the Kazi’s statement, the Lord immediately replied, “The Vedas clearly enjoin that cows should not be killed. Therefore every Hindu, whoever he may be, avoids indulging in cow-killing.

Purport

In the Vedic scriptures there are concessions for meat-eaters. It is said that if one wants to eat meat, he should kill a goat before the goddess KÄlÄ« and then eat its meat. Meat-eaters are not allowed to purchase meat or flesh from a market or slaughterhouse. There are no sanctions for maintaining regular slaughterhouses to satisfy the tongues of meat-eaters. As far as cow-killing is concerned, it is completely forbidden. Since the cow is considered a mother, how could the Vedas allow cow-killing? ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu pointed out that the Kazi’s statement was faulty. In the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (18.44) there is a clear injunction that cows should be protected: kṛṣi-goraká¹£ya-vÄṇijyaá¹ vaiÅ›ya-karma svabhÄva-jam. “The duty of vaiÅ›yas is to produce agricultural products, trade and give protection to cows.†Therefore it is a false statement that the Vedic scriptures contain injunctions permitting cow-killing.