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

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ 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?...  ~~~~~  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 of

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

03:28of amino acids and that then changes into what you call as the elementary life, where is God in

03:38all this. So we are coming from there and you have to be very uneducated to say no, one fine day one

03:50particular fellow sitting somewhere in the sky had some kind of a brain wave and he said I have

03:56to make something as stupid as human beings. It's established where we are coming from. There

04:08is theoretical proof, there is archaeological proof. We know where we are coming from. No God

04:15made this human being and this human being is still evolving. Even today you do not look the

04:23same way you did 50,000 years back and if you manage to somehow luckily survive for another

04:3010,000 years, even physically you will not look the way you do today. Tell me who will make that

04:37man 10,000 years from today? It's evolution, it's evolution. We are coming from the jungle.

04:46Now we are coming from the jungle. We are not still in the jungle. All other animate beings

05:03are still in the jungle except the ones we pulled out of the jungle like the poor dog or the household

05:13cat. We have come out of the jungle. So we are now free from the obligation to behave in the

05:27ways of the jungle. There has to be a difference between a human being and an animal. Otherwise why

05:36do you live in cities? Why do you go after knowledge? Why do you operate as per certain codes?

05:49So what does the animal live by? The animal lives by its very physical nature

05:55and the physical nature does not need to be taught to the animal. You do not teach a monkey

06:09to climb up the tree and pluck the guava and the monkey will not go after buffalos come what may.

06:19So all those animals live in the jungle and follow the law of the jungle and that's why

06:28they are called animals if you keep following the law of the jungle and the law of the jungle says

06:35whatever 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.

07:01You could say the continuation of the species but all that applies to animals.

07:07As a human being you are not merely subjected to the laws of nature. You understand the laws

07:16of nature and you say well the laws of nature are secondary to my need to elevate my consciousness

07:28and that's the reason why I am quitting the jungle and coming out so that I can have

07:33a more favorable environment in which to expand and elevate my consciousness.

07:41That is the entire point of emerging from the jungle.

07:46The jungle is not a conducive place if you want to meditate or learn or understand or experiment.

07:55That's why you emerged from jungle. You said fine we'll take to farming so that all the time we

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

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

08:14So just because certain things happen in the jungle they don't have to be followed by human

08:21beings and you are already doing that. No creature in the jungle was ever found wearing the t-shirt

08:29that you do. Even the fellow you are arguing with was surely wearing something at least.

08:37Ask him if he has seen any animal wearing any of those

08:42cloth items that he was carrying on his body.

08:48The argument 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 you know chase and eat your pet rabbit.

09:42You are not going to cuddle the dog.

09:44Similarly if a human being comes to chase and slaughter your pet rabbit he deserves the same

09:53treatment because he is behaving like a dog.

10:01It is not your physical constitution that decides your species.

10:06It is the height of your consciousness that decides the species you really belong to.

10:11To be called a human being you have to display some height or depth of consciousness.

10:21Otherwise you are just a chimpanzee walking around in human clothing

10:25and needlessly, worthlessly, you are just a human being.

10:32Needlessly, worthlessly benefiting from all the progress of human civilization.

10:46Are you getting it? Please understand

10:49all the things that are justified in the name of being natural

10:53and being human. They don't really apply to human beings.

11:03The jungle would be fast asleep at this moment.

11:09It's going to strike midnight in the next two minutes.

11:13Who is awake in the jungle? Nobody. Maybe the owls or the predators.

11:20But you are awake. Why don't you go to sleep? Because you are a human being.

11:25Because to you this discussion is more important than your sleep.

11:29To no animal is knowledge ever going to be more important than sleep.

11:36But you have other priorities. Your priorities can contradict nature and they must contradict nature.

11:41One of the highest scriptures in Advaita Vedanta says you are beyond Prakriti.

11:53So do not behave as per the laws of Prakriti.

12:00Which animal is trying to blast itself away to Mars or Moon?

12:03Tell me. Which animal uses Twitter?

12:15And if you are so hell bent on emulating the examples of animals,

12:21then you should not even marry. Animals get into couples or is it groups?

12:30You know, there is no definite need to just let it be one on one.

12:36Why call somebody as your wife or husband? Animals don't do that.

12:43Animals don't even brush their teeth or do they?

12:46So throw that toothbrush away if you want to quote animals again and again.

12:54Animals don't even use that toilet paper.

12:56And animals don't flush.

13:00But you want to again and again quote animals to justify your lust for taste and many other things.

13:14I want to consume flesh. So I'll say, you know, if the lion can kill the deer,

13:18why can't I eat the flesh of the deer?

13:21Because the lion does not wear an underwear.

13:29If you want to be held equivalent to a lion, first of all, tear that thing away.

13:44You see, 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 from,

13:59what is the body and what is consciousness. Therefore, we accept and propagate very stupid beliefs

14:11and live all our life by those beliefs and all that just leads to more and more sorrow.

14:22Compassion is one word that animals can never exhibit. You talked of veganism. Veganism is

14:27founded on compassion. No animal can ever be compassionate. Ever. And if you think animals

14:34can be compassionate, then you do not understand the meaning of the word compassion. Animals only

14:40have things that nature has given them. Prakriti has given them and there is no compassion in

14:47Prakriti. 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 animals,

15:30then you are depriving yourself of joy, of love, of compassion,

15:35of understanding, realization. All these words pertain only to human beings.

15:41Why do you want to condemn yourself to a loveless life? Animals do not have love. I understand many

15:49people will simply be very provoked at this statement and they'll say, no, no, no, animals

15:57do love. If you go to the jungle, you find birds loving each other. And the cow has so much love

16:03for the calf. No, all that is just biological conditioning. That is not called love. Love is

16:09when you transcend the conditioning. Even a human mother loving her baby is not love.

16:18Love is a different element altogether.

16:29Yeah. Thank you.

16:38We have the next question from Rakesh.

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