Are eggs vegetarian or non-vegetarian?

Tinku K. asked: Most doctors recommend eating eggs because they contain proteins. Some people are even saying that eggs are not non-vegetarian, but vegetarian. Guruji, please tell me whether eggs are a vegetarian food or a non-vegetarian food.

Swami replied: As regards proteins, they are available in plenty in pulses and vegetables too. So, it is not as if proteins are only available in eggs. Among eggs, there are two types; fertilized and unfertilized eggs. The first type will give birth to a chick, if incubated. Such an egg is certainly non-vegetarian and consuming it suffers from the sin of ending the life of a harmless creature. The second type of eggs does not give birth to a chick. Since it does not involve the killing of the chick, it can be treated to be vegetarian, like the milk of a cow.