Challenging Perspectives: God's Design and the Vegan Dilemma || Acharya Prashant, IIT Madras (2023)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 29.09.23, IIT-Madras (Online), Greater Noida  Context: ~ Where we are coming from Jungle or God ? ~ Are we product of evolution from Jungle ? ~ What Prakriti wants from us ? ~ Are we beyond Prakriti ? ~ What is more important  for human being - consciousness or physicality ? ~ Veganism founded on what ? ~ Who can love ? Who can have compassion ?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Hello, Namaste Sir. I am Lokesh, second year UG student. So my question is, once I was

00:13having a conversation with one of my friends about veganism and he asked me if God has

00:19created us, why would he create us in such a way that one species has to kill another

00:25species in order to survive? For example, lions have to kill deers and snakes have to

00:32kill rats. So how do I answer this question to someone who believes God has created us

00:37or God has shaped the course of evolution?

00:43Was this fellow a B.Tech student? Yes. When you do your courses, do you operate in ifs

00:57and therefores? Or you want to test and question and probe? Or you base your entire statement

01:09on a huge hypothesis? If God has created us, can there be a bigger hypothesis because if

01:17he has created you, then he has created whosoever he is, then he has created the entire universe

01:22and there is nothing bigger than the universe. So this is the biggest hypothesis you can

01:26have. Do you want to proceed on such a huge hypothesis?

01:36I wouldn't proceed but considering there are so many people who believe these hypotheses,

01:42so how do we answer this question to them? You cannot answer this without putting aside

01:55God himself because that's the ultimate argument. You see, God has given us this great book

02:03and this great book says that certain animals exist to be butchered and slaughtered and

02:07consumed and after that there is no argument left. So first of all this hypothesis has

02:18to be questioned. You see, behind us is not a God, behind us is a chimpanzee and that's

02:35the entire problem. People do not understand that we are not coming from a glorious God.

02:43We are coming from a scary jungle and before that some kind of a muddy puddle, not even

02:51the blue ocean. Life didn't really start in the ocean. Life started in some kind of a

03:02mud house which had been concentrated by the beating down of sun rays. So there was a lot

03:17of heat and concentration of chemicals and a lot of mud and all that combined to give

03:27us long chains of amino acids and that then changes into what you call as the elementary

03:36life where is God in all this. So we are coming from there and you have to be very uneducated

03:48to say no one fine day one particular fellow sitting somewhere in the sky had some kind

03:54of a brainwave and he said I have to make something as stupid as human beings.

03:59It's established where we are coming from. There is theoretical proof, there is archaeological

04:10proof. We know where we are coming from. No God made this human being and this human being is

04:17still evolving. Even today you do not look the same way you did 50,000 years back and if you

04:28manage to somehow luckily survive for another 10,000 years even physically you will not look

04:34the way you do today. Tell me who will make that man 10,000 years from today. It's evolution,

04:44it's evolution. We are coming from the jungle. Now we are coming from the jungle. We are not

04:55still in the jungle. All other animate beings are still in the jungle except the ones we pulled out

05:08of the jungle like the poor dog or the household cat. We have come out of the jungle. So we are now

05:21free from the obligation to behave in the ways of the jungle. There has to be a difference between

05:34a human being and an animal. Otherwise why do you live in cities? Why do you go after knowledge?

05:40Why do you operate as per certain codes? So what does the animal live by? The animal lives by its

05:54very physical nature and the physical nature does not need to be taught to the animal. You do not

06:07teach a monkey to climb up the tree and pluck the guava and the monkey will not go after buffalos

06:18come what may. So all those animals live in the jungle and follow the law of the jungle and that's

06:28why they are called animals. If you keep following the law of the jungle and the law of the jungle

06:33says whatever you do has to be done in your self-interest and the only good is your own

06:41survival and furtherance. In classical language we call that as Prakriti. All that Prakriti wants

06:52from a living being is the security of the body and the continuation of the genes. You could say

07:02the continuation of the species. But all that applies to animals. As a human being you are not

07:12merely subjected to the laws of nature. You understand the laws of nature and you say well

07:19the laws of nature are secondary to my need to elevate my consciousness and that's the reason

07:30why I am quitting the jungle and coming out so that I can have a more favorable environment in

07:38which to expand and elevate my consciousness. That is the entire point of emerging from the jungle.

07:44The jungle is not a conducive place if you want to meditate or learn or understand or

07:53experiment. That's why you emerged from jungle. You said fine we'll take to farming so that all

08:00the time we don't have to think about food. You can grow food and store it so you will have spare

08:06time, luxury time and what do you do in that time? You involve yourself in higher pursuits. So just

08:17because certain things happen in the jungle they don't have to be followed by human beings and

08:22you're already doing that. No creature in the jungle was ever found wearing the t-shirt that

08:29you do. Even the fellow you are arguing with was surely wearing something at least. Ask him if he

08:39has seen any animal wearing any of those cloth items that he was carrying on his body. The

08:48argument usually is if animals can do that why can't we? Because you are not an animal. That's

08:53the answer. If animals can kill animals for food why can't human beings kill animals for food?

09:01Because you are not an animal and if you do the same thing as animals do then you are just an

09:07animal and if you are just an animal then I'll behave with you the way animals deserve to be

09:12behaved with. You do not speak to animals do you? You do not use words with them. If you find them

09:22doing rubbish you spank them. Yes of course. A dog comes to chase and eat your pet rabbit.

09:39You are not going to cuddle the dog. Similarly if a human being comes to chase and slaughter

09:54your pet rabbit he deserves the same treatment because he is behaving like a dog. It is not

10:06your physical constitution that decides your species. It is the height of your consciousness

10:14that decides the species you really belong to. To be called a human being you have to

10:19display some height or depth of consciousness. Otherwise you are just a chimpanzee walking

10:30around in human clothing and needlessly worthlessly benefiting from all the progress

10:40of human civilization. Are you getting it? Please understand all the things that are

10:50justified in the name of being natural. They don't really apply to human beings. The jungle

11:04would be fast asleep at this moment. It's going to strike midnight in next two minutes.

11:14Who is awake in the jungle? Nobody. Maybe the owls or the predators. But you are awake.

11:23Why don't you go to sleep? Because you are a human being. Because to you this discussion

11:28is more important than your sleep. To no animal is knowledge ever going to be more important

11:34than sleep. But you have other priorities. Your priorities can contradict nature and

11:41they must contradict nature. One of the highest scriptures in Advaita Vedanta says you are

11:52beyond Prakriti. So do not behave as per the laws of Prakriti. Which animal is trying to

12:01blast itself away to mars or moon? Tell me. Which animal uses twitter? And if you are

12:16so hell bent on emulating the examples of animals, then you should not even marry. Animals

12:25get into couples or groups. There is no definite need to just let it be one on one. Why call

12:36somebody as your wife or husband? Animals don't do that. Animals don't even brush their

12:45teeth or do they? So throw that toothbrush away if you want to quote animals again and

12:50again. Animals don't even use the toilet paper and animals don't flush. But you want to again

13:02and again quote animals to justify your lust for taste and many other things. I want to consume

13:16flesh so I will say if the lion can kill the deer, why can't I eat the flesh of the deer? Because

13:24the lion does not wear an underwear. If you want to be held equivalent to a lion, first of all tear

13:34that thing away. You would be realizing how all kinds of distortions in thought and behavior

13:51come from inner ignorance. Because we do not understand who we are and where we are coming

13:58from. What is the body and what is consciousness? Therefore, we accept and propagate very stupid

14:09beliefs and live all our life by those beliefs and all that just leads to more and more sorrow.

14:25Compassion is one word that animals can never exhibit. You talked of veganism. Veganism is

14:31founded on compassion. No animal can ever be compassionate. Ever. And if you think animals

14:37can be compassionate then you do not understand the meaning of the word compassion. Animals only

14:43have things that nature has given them. Prakriti has given them and there is no compassion in

14:50Prakriti. Compassion is when you transcend Prakriti. No animal transcends Prakriti.

15:03No animal can even love. Though we delight in saying that you know my dog loves me so much.

15:09No, the animal can be habituated to you. The animal can be attached to you. But love is

15:16something very exclusive to a heightened consciousness. Animals do not have that

15:21consciousness. Animals cannot love. And if you want to put yourself in the same bracket as

15:29animals then you are depriving yourself of joy, of love, of compassion, of understanding,

15:36realization. All these words pertain only to human beings. Why do you want to condemn yourself

15:46to a loveless life? Animals do not have love. I understand many people will simply

15:54be very provoked at this statement and they'll say no no no animals do love. If you go to the

16:00jungle you find birds loving each other and the cow has so much love for the calf. No,

16:06all that is just biological conditioning. That is not called love. Love is when you transcend

16:10the conditioning. Even a human mother loving her baby is not love.

16:19Love is a different element altogether.

16:21Yeah, thank you.

16:38We have the next question from Rakesh.

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