Can only human beings collect Karma?

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Jayapataka Swami: Only human beings can collect good and bad karma. This is time when you can score. Once you are animal, then you just suffer the karma. You don’t get to take new karma. Because animals don’t have discretion, they act according to their instinct. Therefore they are not responsible for any particular karma. Just like the tiger, by nature it is going to eat the animal. So it is not sinful when it eats the animal. But human beings, they have a choice. They can become vegetarians or they can be meat-eaters, they have a choice. So if they choose meat, then they get bad-karma and if they chose to be vegetarians then it is better.

HH Jayapataka Swami
Question and Answer Session
Polish Woodstock Festival, 2002