Do the Vedas say that killing a snake is a sin?

[A devotee’s question brought to Swami by Śrī Anil]

Swami replied: A snake is also a soft-natured soul. It always tries to escape from us, fearing that we might kill it. It bites us only for its self-protection, when it feels threatened that we might kill it. If you quietly go your own way, the snake will also quietly go its own way. Killing any soft-natured animal or bird is a sin. A tiger or a lion kills us for eating us as its prey. The snake only bites in self-defense and not to drink our blood. So, you should not count snakes in the list of ferocious animals and birds. Any concept supported by logic is the sacred spiritual knowledge, which itself is called the Veda. Even a Vedic quotation should not be accepted if it goes against correct logic. Such a statement should be treated to be an insertion into the scripture by some wicked people.

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