|| Acharya Prashant (2023)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 24.01.23, Peta Interview (online), Greater Noida  Context:  Acharya Prashant received the Most Influential Vegan award from PETA. Here he is in conversation with PETA CEO Ingrid Newkirk.  PETA USA:    / @peta   PETA India:    / @officialpeta.  .  ~ 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?  ~ What is the relation between Vedanta and veganism? ~ Why should one respect all forms of consciousness? ~ How to go beyond ones' physical nature?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~  #acharyaprashant

Transcript

00:00And so, I remember going to a wedding in Maryland, in the U.S., and there was an Indian couple,

00:13maybe about 40 years old there, and we sat at the same table, and we hadn't gone to the

00:19buffet yet, and I said, oh, are you vegetarian?

00:24And both of them said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not vegetarian.

00:28And you think, I know you are, I said, well, we are, meaning my partner and I, we're vegetarian,

00:35I thought you might be, and she said, well, we usually are, and I thought you were trying

00:41to adjust, thinking that I might find something wrong with you being vegetarian.

00:48That's a very sad state of affairs, and what's interesting to me is that the West is moving

00:55around this circle and coming back to the position that we shouldn't eat animals, and

01:02that we shouldn't steal from animals, you know, the milk that the mother cow makes for

01:08her baby, her beloved baby.

01:11When you talk about consciousness, I always think of the look in those eyes of that mother

01:19who is watching her baby being taken away.

01:23So some human animal can steal the milk and put it as ghee or butter or cheese or whatever

01:30it is.

01:32In the West, there is a growing awareness, and maybe some of this is for animals out

01:39of concern, and some of it is because of all the devastating information we have been bombarded

01:46with about the ill effects of animal milk, eggs, meat on human health.

01:53So a selfish reason comes in there, and also because people know they should be caring

02:01about the environment, even if they don't really care, they know they should care, and

02:06they are hearing that animal-based agriculture worldwide is taking our water resources, taking

02:13our land resources, cutting down the rainforest.

02:17So the consciousness is really in all these different ways, isn't it, of intellectual,

02:24of thought, and of awareness and of information.

02:28On the animal side, I think we can see they're all conscious.

02:32You can just look into those eyes and see fear in the slaughterhouse, terrible fear,

02:39petrified, but most of the time, they don't get choices.

02:45The rabbit can't have the carrot.

02:47The mother cow can't have her baby because they're dominated by the human species that

02:54doesn't think beyond what it wants itself.

02:57And I think your work in saying, look at yourself, you are more than your interests, your pleasures.

03:06You are a thoughtful, conscious being.

03:09Act like one is very, very important.

03:14And also, what is happening is, in the Indian context especially, cultural reasons succeeded

03:24in keeping a vast majority of Indians vegetarian, if not vegan, since centuries, compared to

03:34other parts of the world.

03:36Cruelty towards animals or other life forms in India was lesser.

03:47Lesser to what extent?

03:50We might speculate, but certainly India was kinder towards life forms still recently.

03:58The only problem is the reasons were just cultural.

04:02And culture is man-made, so culture can change.

04:05Culture is time-bound, culture changes.

04:07As you pointed out, the Indian youth, the Asian youth, in fact, youth all over the world,

04:15they look at the West as their idol and they want to emulate the Western culture because

04:27the image of the West is that of a successful and wealthy and powerful man.

04:35And who does not want to go after success and wealth and power?

04:39So that's what Indians have also been doing.

04:41They look at the West and say, wow, that's where you have real power and money.

04:45So they emulate the culture also and that's where the cultural reasons meet their limits.

04:52If you are being vegan or vegetarian, just because that's what goes in your family,

05:00in your tradition or in your religion, then that won't take you very far.

05:05Cultures will change.

05:07Some other culture will come and eclipse your current culture.

05:12Then higher than the cultural reason is the biological reason,

05:17because this comes from within the organism.

05:21This does not come from the family, from tradition, from someone else, from the society.

05:27So for example, when I look at a stray dog and there is a feeling of empathy that arises.

05:36Without even knowing why I am empathetic, I want to do something for the dog.

05:41It's cold these days.

05:43So we want to take care of a few puppies that live close to our place and we want to take

05:51care of them.

05:52We do not necessarily know the origins of that feeling, but still we want to do something.

05:58And that I take as higher than the cultural reason because the feeling is mine to a greater

06:05extent.

06:05The culture is not really mine.

06:06The culture is a borrowed thing or an inherited thing.

06:10But the feeling arises from within me.

06:12And so the feeling works in a far better way and in a deeper way than the culture.

06:20India has been losing out due to the erosion of its culture.

06:26Feelings will help, but what really works is understanding and that is the spiritual

06:33reason.

06:34So cultural, emotional and then spiritual.

06:37When one really, really knows what it means to live, who one is and what his relationship

06:47with the world is, then it becomes impossible to really hate someone or be insensitive to

06:57someone.

06:58And then it's also not just about eating animals or hurting animals.

07:07One starts living from a different center and there is a total change in personality.

07:15One, you know, it's a thing that will probably make you smile.

07:19One becomes vegan even without knowing it.

07:23We witness that daily and I'm enjoying sharing it with you.

07:27There are so many people in our vicinity, in the field of our work, they have become

07:34vegan.

07:35They don't even know that they are vegans.

07:37And that I take as a very innocent and beautiful example of real veganism.

07:44Veganism arising from the heart.

07:47Veganism not as a concept borrowed from somewhere, but as a living thing that has just sprouted

07:55from your very center.

07:56You know, you have come to realize what the curd is made of and where it comes from.

08:02You have just seen those things and now you just can't do it.

08:08It's impossible.

08:09Even if you want to, you can't do it.

08:11I have seen instances, we had a long period of lockdown here at the time of COVID-19,

08:232020, a few months in 2021 as well.

08:28So there were patches in which even medicines were not available.

08:35So we had a couple of cases in the foundation, their B12 levels went down and that happens

08:47once every few months.

08:48It happens that you get yourself checked and find that B12 is borderline.

08:52So we just take organic supplements.

08:54And they are very easily available and you take the supplement for a month and you are

08:58okay.

08:59Because of the lockdown, even the supplements are not available.

09:04It didn't even occur to people to consume dairy or anything because supplements are

09:11not available.

09:13They didn't declare it, but that's what they were de facto saying.

09:16We would rather die than hurt someone.

09:19They didn't make it dramatic and announce it in so many words.

09:24It remained subtle.

09:26But if you look at it, that's what they were practically saying.

09:30Let the B12 levels dip if they have to.

09:33We would prefer to go, but we just cannot bear hurting someone anymore.

09:40That's the message.

09:42But we just cannot bear hurting someone anymore.

09:48That's the magic of spiritual veganism.

09:52And I think the world will have to come around to that.

09:57You talked of environmental influences.

09:58You talked of climate change.

10:00All these things to me, they go together.

10:03Climate action, protection of species going extinct, anti-natalism, minimalism, veganism.

10:16These go together.

10:18And if the planet is to be saved, there is no option except the bundle of these five.

10:26And at the center of these five, to me, lies spirituality and that's the route we are taking.

10:42Success has been mixed.

10:46It's just that the reach has to greatly increase.

10:51We have been pretty successful in the territory.

10:54We have been able to cover.

10:57The problem is that we have not been able to cover a huge territory.

11:02First of all, we are limited to India.

11:04Secondly, even in India, because we are relatively nascent,

11:07so our reach is still limited compared to the work that needs to be done.

11:14I think per month we are reaching out to no less than 40 to 50 million people,

11:22but much more needs to be done.

11:25Otherwise, the very existence of the planet, I do not see how far we are going.

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