If killing plants is sin, how is vegetarian food better?

The following is a response of Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamji of Udupi Puthige Matha (of the Madhva Sampradaya) about vegetarianism. We will be posting each of his answers to various questions on the topic in successive posts.

Plants are also having life, so killing plants should also be a sin. Thus in what way is vegetarian food better than non-vegetarian food in terms of killing or committing "sin"?

It is true that plants also have "life" and killing plants is also sin.The best way is to observe total non-violence, that is to take only those fruits which have naturally fallen from the trees or plants. In this way we are doing harm to no one. But everyone can not follow that vow. We have to take food in order to survive and sustain this body. Hence, we need to take that path which is less sinful and does less harm to other jivas (living entities).

Now there are two reasons to say that vegetarian food is having insignificant sin. Many plants like rice, wheat, etc., are having life only for one crop time. Once their yield is over, they die naturally, even if we don't cut them. So by cutting those plants (which have already died) we are doing less or no sin at all. In other plants, like mango, coconut, etc., by plucking the fruit, we are not killing the plants, and so we are doing very minimal or no sin at all. So vegetarian food is less sinful. Moreover, it is inevitable for our survival, but non-vegetarian food is a luxury to us and we can survive even if we avoid that.It is more sinful since we need to kill animals all the time.

Next we need to know why certain acts are sinful। Each and every life (whether plant, animal, or human) has come to this world to do "sadhana" (spiritual practices), so that they may get a better birth next life and finally get "moksha" (liberation). Whenever such "sadhana" opportunities are cut short, it becomes a sin. For plants there is not much "sadhana" available to them. They cannot do any kind of physical or mental activities in terms of "sadhana". So by cutting them, we are not doing much harm to their "sadhana".So it is not so sinful. But animals can do a good amount of "sadhana" by means of physical and mental activities. By killing them, we are cutting short their opportunities to do "sadhana" towards their liberation (moksha). Thus it is much more sinful.

Source: indiadivine.org