Sir, How did you become vegan? || Acharya Prashant (2021)

Acharya Prashant

Full Video: Vegan India Conference interviews Acharya Prashant (2021) Link:    • Vegan India Conference interviews Ach...    ‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl... ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information: 19.07.2021, in conversation, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India  Context: ~ What is the relation between Vedanta and veganism? ~ Why should one respect all forms of consciousness? ~ How to go beyond ones' physical nature? ~ Should we emulate the actions of the avatars? ~ What is the relation between love, compassion and understanding?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00How did you learn vegan? I am very curious to know this.

00:08You see, I was vegetarian since birth firstly. I was born in a vegetarian family and I was

00:23into spiritual literature since an early age and I really do not remember one day or one

00:33episode that made me particularly conscious towards animals but even in my earliest memories

00:43I had this affection towards all living entities. So that was there but I was not a vegan. When

00:54I was in IIT second year or something, there was a Hindi story I read and it was a good

01:07story. It was the autobiography of a calf, a cow's calf. So how it is born and what it

01:24has to go through and how it was denied milk and then how it was castrated and then how

01:32it was exploited in the fields and ultimately how it was dispatched to the slaughterhouse.

01:38So that made me quit milk at that time. However, the entire full concept of veganism was not

01:53known to me at that time. So I left milk but continued taking milk products for another

02:03decade almost, more than a decade, 15 years. Then it was probably waiting to happen that I quit all

02:14this altogether. So I had my rabbits and there was one particular female rabbit and she had an

02:32injury in one leg and it was incurable. So the doctors had asked me to euthanize it. I had

02:40refused. So it required daily care, the dressing had to be changed, the wound had to be cleaned up

02:48and these things and she could not run. So all the others rabbits would run around and be away

02:54and do their stuff and this one would stay with me all the time. So and then one day she died and

03:06it was my mistake actually. I did not know much about their anatomy. I probably allowed her to eat

03:16some stuff that she shouldn't have taken. So I was in grief and two or four days after that I watched

03:26this movie, The Ship of Theseus and in that there was this scene in which they were conducting

03:34experiments on rabbits and one of those rabbits looked so much like Nandu, my rabbit and that

03:46was the moment sitting in the cinema hall there. At that time I decided to just do away with

03:53everything that involves anything related to any animal. So and that was the moment and after that

04:03it didn't really require any effort. That day and this day it has been what seven, eight years now.

04:10We'll have to look at the release date of that movie. I mean that longer time. So it's been

04:19quite effortless since then. Once it was left, it was left. Amazing. So thanks for sharing that

04:30touching story with us. I'm pretty sure a lot of people will identify because truly you know when

04:36you're seeing a chicken or a dog or a rabbit pass a road also and a car is coming in front of them, your mouth

04:42doesn't water. We don't feel like, hey that is a dog. Now what am I going to eat it for dinner?

04:48I'll take the liberty of sharing another interesting story in brief because you just talked

04:53of watching a goat or a chicken or something. I was driving down one particular road and there

05:03were these butcher's shops by the side and it was a bit late in the night, nine or ten or something

05:11and one chicken just somehow managed to escape the butcher's knife. It was about to be slaughtered

05:18and came running right in front of my car and I jammed the brakes and the butcher of course came

05:29running from the behind and picked the animal up and took it back and I drove on for around 500

05:36meters and then I decided that well I can't leave the animal like that. So I took a u-turn, came back

05:47and bought the chicken and brought it to my place and stayed with us for many years and we have just

06:06so many memories and photos and videos and anecdotes with it. How beautiful. That is adorable. Acharya ji, it's been a true honour to hear about not just your perspective

06:26but also practice in daily life. I think true leaders lead by example and you're certainly

06:32doing that. So this will encourage a lot of people. Thank you so much and that's all the time

06:41which we have but I'm sure sometime if you give permission I would love to speak to you at length

06:46about this. It would be my pleasure, surely, certainly. Thank you so much. Thank you.

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