Actually the four regulative principles, Srila Prabhupada explained is where human life begins. Anyone who doesn’t follow the four regulative principles is an animal...sorry to say it ...I mean there may be some in the room (crowd laughter) some such animals may be here. Anyway it is possible to come to the human form of life very quickly by accepting the four regulative principles...but as long as we are not; we are simply an animal...we are on the animal platform. So it is nothing spiritually exalted, four regulative principles, it is just where human life begins, it is not even an expression of bhakti: no meat fish or eggs no intoxication, no gambling, no illicit sex doesn’t mean we have reached the platform of devotional service yet. It just means that we have stopped being an animal, that’s all! It just means we have just become human but we didn’t do anything for Krishna yet! Then from that platform , that human platform we have to begin to do some service, roll up our sleeves and let’s get into it...let’s do something now. In chanting Hare Krishna, yes we begin devotional service.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami 30/08/2009)
