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Summary of Question:	Plants Are Alive?
Category:	Sikh Practices
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 3/17/2004 11:15 AM MDT

Quote" Sat Siri Akaal, Singhee,

Search this forum using keyword 'plant' and see what you get. Plants do not have souls. Plants are indeed alive. Lots of sentient beings do not have souls. But there is an order of things, an Intelligence, if you will, that is an aspect of the Divine. Plants are lower on this chain than animals and fish. Moreover, it is possible, for example, to pick fruit or eat green vegetables without KILLING the entire plant. Finally, many food-plants have a short, seasonal life cycle. We harvest their bounty before they would die naturally anyway."
Guru ang sang,
DKK

I have copied and pasted a reply to whether plants are alive, it seems that this answer is not satisfying. By this logic we can conclude that it is ok to kill part of an animal to eat it without killing the entire animal..Moreover it is clear that plants are alive, just because they may have a handicap doesn't give us the right to kill them..In fact it seems like it is more cruel to kill a living thing which has a handicap(plants). another reason given is because plants have a shorter life span, this still doesn't justify killing it.(murder is murder) we know how long animals live..by this reasoning we could kill an animal just before it were to die. couple of months, or weeks before or even days. Moreover there are many plants which don't have short live spans and are perennial. Please answer my question and do not ignore it.

Thanks
John

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I agree with DKK's answer...which also implies a respect for plants and trees. The way in which most plants are grown these days (mass production with mass usage of pesticides, etc)is not respectful or in harmony with all of life. It is up to all of us to become informed and live as much as possible in harmony...eating organic food, for example...find other materials besides wood to use in homes, etc. etc. I read a great respect in DKK's answer. Read it again...it is there. GTKK