Full Video: Veganism, milk consumption, and religion ||Acharya Prashant, interviewed by The Speaking Tree (2020)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBLoDS_2EA8&t=20s
Video Information: Interview Session, 18.02.2020, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Context:
Why should one turn vegan?
What is the relationship between veganism and spirituality?
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
~~~~~
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBLoDS_2EA8&t=20s
Video Information: Interview Session, 18.02.2020, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Context:
Why should one turn vegan?
What is the relationship between veganism and spirituality?
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
~~~~~
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Cultural and social practices are time dependent.
00:11 So when we talk of India and specifically the Hindu communities association, rather
00:28 affinity with milk and milk products, that's a socio-cultural thing that does not really
00:42 have much to do with the essence of religion.
00:49 So India being an agrarian economy throughout her history and even today two-third of our
01:05 population is involved in agriculture, the role of the cow, the role of oxen was important.
01:28 And so from there came this association with the entire cow family.
01:40 But all of that was firstly in great limits and secondly a cultural practice.
02:02 Cultures must change in response to the realities of the times.
02:17 The essence of religion cannot change.
02:21 Culture has to adjust itself as per the prevailing conditions.
02:26 Sir, sorry I am interrupting, but when you say the essence of religion must not change,
02:32 what is this essence you are referring to?
02:35 That which we talked of in the previous question, that man lives as per his ego and the narrower
02:45 is the ego boundary, the greater is man's own suffering.
02:50 So this is the simple essence of all religion.
02:55 The more you live by your petty self-concept, the more you will suffer.
03:02 Therefore all religion truly is about liberation from the ego, nothing else.
03:10 You see when people talk of Shri Krishna, they often invoke the fact that he came from
03:25 a family of cowherds and he used to…
03:33 Yes, that he had great love for milk and butter and these things.
03:46 The essence of Krishna does not lie in his fondness towards milk.
03:55 The essence of Krishna lies in Srimad Bhagavad Gita and there is not a single verse in Srimad
04:06 Bhagavad Gita that speaks highly of milk or recommends milk consumption.
04:14 So this is something that we have to ask ourselves, what do we want to see as the essence of Krishna,
04:27 the timeless immortal essence of Krishna.
04:31 The fact that he would consume milk, ghee, butter or the fact that he very lucidly explains
04:42 over 18 chapters what it means to live, what it means to work and what it means to fight
05:00 through the battle of life.
05:04 Unfortunately Gita is not only a little hard to decode for most people but also living
05:13 by the Gita requires a certain honesty, a certain discipline, a certain sacrifice.
05:26 So most people would rather live by the mythology and the folklore associated with Shri Krishna
05:37 rather than his essence.
05:40 So that's what I ask people, I mean what does Krishna mean to you, milk and butter or Nishkama
05:46 Karma.
05:47 [Music]