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THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
Father Emmanuel:  But in the Old Testament the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”  does  refer to murder. And when Jesus said, “Thou shalt not kill,” he extended this commandment to mean that a human being should not only refrain from killing another human being, but should also treat him with love. He never spoke about man’s relationship with other living entities, but only about his relationship with other human beings. When he said, “Thou shalt not kill,” he also meant in the mental and emotional sense—that you should not insult anyone or hurt him, treat him badly, and so on.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  We are not concerned with this or that testament but only with the words used in the commandments. If you want to interpret these words, that is something else. We understand the direct meaning. “Thou shalt not kill” means, “The Christians should not kill.” You may put forth interpretations in order to continue the present way of action, but we understand very clearly that there is no need for interpretation. Interpretation is necessary if things are not clear. But here the meaning is clear. “Thou shalt not kill” is a clear instruction. Why should we interpret it?
Father Emmanuel:  Isn’t the eating of plants also killing?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  The Vaiṣṇava philosophy teaches that we should not even kill plants unnecessarily. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  [9.26] Kṛṣṇa says:
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśṅāmi prayatātmanaḥ
“If someone offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or a little water, I will accept it.” We offer Kṛṣṇa only the kind of food He demands, and then we eat the remnants. If offering vegetarian food to Kṛṣṇa were sinful, then it would be Kṛṣṇa’s sin, not ours. But God is  apāpa-viddha —sinful reactions are not applicable to Him. He is like the sun, which is so powerful that it can purify even urine—something impossible for us to do. Kṛṣṇa is also like a king, who may order a murderer to be hanged but who himself is beyond punishment because he is very powerful. Eating food first offered to the Lord is also something like a soldier’s killing during wartime. In a war, when the commander orders a man to attack, the obedient soldier who kills the enemy will get a medal. But if the same soldier kills someone on his own, he will be punished. Similarly, when we eat only  prasāda  [the remnants of food offered to