Indianise and spiritualise veganism, if you want it to succeed ||Acharya Prashant, on Veganism(2021)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information:  The Interviewer Supriya Mishra is the Founder and Editor of 'The Vegan Indians'. Website: https://www.theveganindians.com  Context: ~ What is the solution to climate change? ~ How spirituality can stop the climate change? ~ Climate change have no scientific solution ~ How veganism is related to compassion? ~ Why veganism is necessary for today's generation? ~ What is the relation between veganism and climate change? ~ How could veganism change the world?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~  #acharyaprashant #GoVegan #ClimateChange #Veganism

Transcript

00:00Talking about meat eating, there are some cultures even in India, it's a very intrinsic

00:07part of their culture and they have been eating meat since the time immemorial.

00:11So what do you think, how can that mindset be changed?

00:15How can they change their habits?

00:17Do you think meat alternatives that are coming into the market can help them shift to…

00:21I am in favour of meat alternatives.

00:24Anything that saves the poor animal's life, it's okay.

00:28It's lab-grown meat, fine, it's soya chunks, fine and I think there are some other alternatives

00:35also that taste so much like meat.

00:38Anything that saves the poor animal from that farm and that knife is welcome.

00:47See, dropping meat is not all that difficult, we make that happen every day, right?

00:58As far as our organization is concerned, we do not have an exact number, but the estimate

01:08is tens of thousands of people who would have dropped meat and a relatively smaller number

01:17who would have dropped dairy as well, let's say 50% of those who have dropped meat.

01:25So that happens and it's not as if people drop it for a while and then go back to it.

01:33We know for sure that there are people who dropped it five years back and have no inclination

01:39at all to revert to meat.

01:43So people who drop meat probably need to give them a strong enough reason, right?

01:55Had we been so mad after meat, we would have dug up corpses and enjoyed their meat as well.

02:07Had we been so mad after meat, then the Muslim would have gone after pork and the Hindu would

02:15have gone after beef, but we don't do that, right?

02:20Once we have a strong reason to not consume meat, we listen, that reason is missing.

02:33Somebody needs to have the clarity and the voice and the power to bring that reason to the population.

02:43People will listen and I believe in the intrinsic goodness of every person, we all behave in

02:55very very pitiable ways, we know that, we see that, you know, often times we behave

03:03as if we are absolute monsters, but still the potential to be very very good remains

03:11within all of us and I have faith in that.

03:16So I would not be a cynic and feel that it's Kali Yuga and it's therefore very difficult

03:26to evoke compassion inside a person or that this current generation has gone to dogs and

03:35now nobody can rectify them.

03:37I don't subscribe to all this.

03:41I think if we can talk to them properly with due reasons and get them to act from the right

03:56center within, things can change, things can change quite swiftly.

04:13Last question from my side, how do you think veganism will fare in the coming years?

04:18Where do you see it going in the next couple of years, basically how will the growth be?

04:23There are two different trajectories and the vegan movement will follow one of them

04:35or be situated at some point in the middle of them.

04:44The first trajectory is the way it is currently going, it will remain a foreign concept, a

04:58thing for the rich, a fad for the elite, that's how the general public takes it, because I

05:08am in touch with the common populations and dealing with people on an everyday basis is

05:14what I do, so I know how they look at veganism, that's one possibility.

05:21The other possibility is you ask yourself again and again, what is it that made India

05:28vegetarian and the same forces that made India vegetarian will make India vegan as well,

05:36you will have to respect those forces, you will have to channelize those forces in your

05:43Because veganism is nothing but the logical culmination of vegetarianism, where does vegetarianism

05:53come from?

05:55The feeling that I will not kill the animal, I don't want to harm the animal, that same

06:01feeling finds its final expression in veganism, when I say killing the animal is very bad,

06:16but when I am milking the animal, that too is bad, not only that when I am milking the

06:21animal, I am preparing the grounds for its slaughter, so you will have to extend vegetarianism

06:33into veganism, instead of that I often find that vegans take vegetarianism as some kind

06:40of adversary, they say no, no, no vegetarianism, in fact it's a very strange thing, I have

06:47found, I don't know whether it's a subconscious thing or what, but vegans often take vegetarians

06:57as bigger adversaries compared to even meat eaters, you say meat eaters, we can probably

07:08talk to them, but vegetarians, they are horrible, this is a problem, huge problem, I repeat

07:17veganism will have to be taken as the pinnacle of vegetarianism, vegetarianism is not an

07:25enemy, you could say vegetarianism is a work in process and veganism is the final output,

07:35when you go to the people and talk in this language and explain the concept like this,

07:39then they will understand.

07:42So Indianizing veganism should be the motto, thank you so much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended