348
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
[Ādi-līlā, Ch. 17]
‘Do not kill.’ Why then are you killing so many animals daily?” they cannot answer. Some of them imperfectly answer that the animals have no souls. But then we ask them, “How do you know that animals have no souls? Animals and children are of the same nature. Does this mean that the children of human society also have no souls?” According to the Vedic scriptures, within the body is the owner of the body, the soul. In  Bhagavad-gītā  it is said:
dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumārah yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati
“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Bg. 2.13)
Because the soul is within the body, the body changes through so many forms. There is a soul within the body of every living entity, whether animal, tree, bird or human being, and the soul is transmigrating from one type of body to another. When the scriptures of the  yavanas —namely, the Old Testament, New Testament and Koran—cannot properly answer inquisitive followers, naturally those advanced in scientific knowledge and philosophy lose faith in such scriptures. The Kazi admitted this while talking with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Kazi was a very intelligent person. He had full knowledge of his position, as stated in the following verse.
TEXT 170
कस्मित् अमार शास्त्र,—अग्नि सव जानि । जाति-अनुरोधे तव से शास्त्र मानि ॥ 59० ॥
kalpita āmāra śāstra,—-āmi saba jāni jāti-anurodhe tabu sei śāstru māni
SYNONYMS
kalpita —imagined;  āmāra —our;  śāstra —scripture;  āmi —I;  saba —everything;  jāni —know;  jāti —by community;  anurodhe —being obliged;  tabu —still;  sei —that;  śāstra —scripture;  māni —I accept.
TRANSLATION
“I know that our scriptures are full of imagination and mistaken ideas, yet because I am a Mohammedan I accept them for the sake of my community, despite their insufficient support.