Let us not believe that since the spiritual soul never perishes and survives the death of its body, there is no harm in slaughtering animals for the gratification of the senses. Although amply provided with grain, fruit, and milk, modern man indulges in the consumption of animal flesh. Let us know that there is no need to slaughter land and aquatic animals, nor to destroy plants, from the blade of grass to the tallest tree. And no one is an exception to the truth of this rule. A person wishing to progress on the path of spiritual realization must not, at any cost, do violence to animals when food is abundant.
True non-violence consists of not hindering the spiritual progression of any being, whether human, animal, or plant, because in all these material bodies resides a soul. Now, souls incarnated in animal bodies, by transmigrating from one species to another, follow a certain evolution and progress, too. A slaughtered animal sees its progress slowed. Indeed, before rising to the higher animal species, it will have to return to the species it prematurely left to complete its due in days or years. One must therefore not slow down the evolution of animals for the sole satisfaction of one's palate. Such is true non-violence. Not to harm anyone, human, animal, or plant, such is God's command.
Why is it said that all material planets are places of suffering?
The Supreme Eternal, Krishna, explains: All the planets in the galaxy, from the most evolved to the lowest, are places of suffering, where birth and death follow one another. But for the soul who reaches my kingdom, there is no more rebirth.
All spiritualists, at one point or another, must achieve devotional perfection in devotional service if they wish to reach the absolute abode of God and never return to the material universe. Even those who reach the planets of celestial beings, inhabitants of the Edenic, paradisiacal planets, the highest material planets, remain trapped in the cycle of death and rebirth. While some ascend from Earth to the Edenic planets, such as Brahmaloka, Candraloka, or Indraloka, others degrade and leave these places of bliss to return to Earth or another similar planet.
If a being progresses in their God-consciousness during their stay on higher planets, then they will move on to increasingly more evolved planets, until, at the time of universal destruction, they find themselves transported to the eternal kingdom of God. At the moment of the annihilation of the world, Brahma, the demiurge and first created being, and those around him, all constantly absorbed in God-consciousness, each reach one of the spiritual planets according to their desires.