According to the Vedic injunctions, only an aggressor can be killed. If a person comes with an intent to kill, one can immediately take action and kill in self-defense. It is also stated that one can be killed if he comes to set fire to the home or to pollute or kidnap ones wife. Lord Ramacandra killed the entire family of Ravana because Ravana kidnapped His wife, Sitadevi. However, killing is not sanctioned in the sastras for other purposes. The killing of animals in sacrifice to the demigods, who are expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is sanctioned for those who eat meat. This is a kind of restriction for meat-eating. In other words, the slaughter of animals is also restricted by certain rules and regulations in the Vedas. Considering these points, there was no reason to kill Jada Bharata, who was born in a respectable, highly exalted brahmana family. He was a God-realized soul and a well-wisher to all living entities. The Vedas did not at all sanction the killing of Jada Bharata by rogues and thieves. Consequently the goddess Bhadra Kali emerged from the deity to give protection to the Lords devotee. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that due to the Brahman effulgence of such a devotee as Jada Bharata, the deity was fractured. Only thieves and rogues in the modes of passion and ignorance and maddened by material opulence offer a man in sacrifice before the goddess Kali. This is not sanctioned by the Vedic instructions. Presently there are many hundreds and thousands of slaughterhouses throughout the world that are maintained by a puffed-up population mad for material opulence. Such activities are never supported by the Bhagavata school.   (More...)