00:00 Animal agriculture obviously is something extremely, extremely problematic.
00:12 In fact I have thought of calling it the third world war.
00:18 Because what do you call as a world war?
00:20 A spectacle of all out destruction, right?
00:24 Total catastrophe, that's what we call as the third world war.
00:28 The third world war is that after which no fourth one is possible.
00:32 So that's the condition we are in today, are we not?
00:37 So yes, and very few people are aware of the kind of damage that their food habits are
00:45 causing to the earth.
00:47 That because you want meat, therefore so much forest has to be cleared and that leads to
00:55 extinction of so many species on a daily basis and when you clear away the forest and you
01:00 grow these crops, 70% of that is being used to feed the animals and that is also the cause
01:05 of water shortage and the problem of global hunger.
01:11 There is enough food grain but most of that is being used to feed the animal because you
01:16 want to consume the animal's flesh and if you want to consume 1 kg of animal flesh that
01:21 requires probably 20 kg of grain and what 50 kg of water, something like that, round
01:28 about, depending on the kind of flesh.
01:32 So and then we talk of the scarcity of fresh water, we say there is not enough food for
01:40 everybody to eat.
01:42 The fact is much more than what is needed by the entire human population is being produced
01:48 but fed to the cattle so that you can, you can, and when you are feeding that to the
01:54 cattle and it is a massive cattle and it produces so much methane and that is where all the
01:59 climate change is coming from.
02:02 And methane is 20 times more vicious in its greenhouse potential compared to the gas that
02:09 is commonly blamed in the popular culture, carbon dioxide.
02:13 Nobody is talking of methane.
02:15 The fact is methane is the real culprit and if methane is the real culprit where is methane
02:19 coming from?
02:21 Yes, a part of methane emission, a big part is from coal but there is hardly anything
02:30 you can do about that.
02:34 Rather it is much easier to work on animal agriculture.
02:39 We do not realize how much methane one buffalo being killed for its beef is producing and
02:50 we keep talking of so many things.
02:54 The one central thing that we do not talk of is food.
02:59 We take it as some kind of liberal prerogative, I will decide what is on my plate.
03:11 The vegan movement has to progress from a position of liberalism to a position of liberation.
03:26 If veganism is about liberal values, you know, animals too must have their rights.
03:38 Then somebody will turn around and say, then I will exercise my right to choose what I
03:43 want to eat.
03:44 So, you cannot have your cup and eat it too.
03:48 We have to realize that it is these very same liberal values that are at the core of the
03:57 catastrophe we are witnessing.
04:00 You cannot turn the problem itself into a solution.
04:06 The problem is the problem and the solution has to be at a level higher than the problem,
04:11 only then it will succeed.
04:17 Liberation is the answer.
04:18 Liberation from what?
04:20 Liberation from my own self.
04:22 Liberation from my lust to consume.
04:25 And when I am liberated from that, then we will have the answer not only to the problem
04:31 of violence towards animals, but also to a lot of other problems.
04:36 Why?
04:37 Because fundamentally all the problems are originating from a common core and that common
04:42 core is internal human ignorance.
04:46 If you can take care of internal human ignorance, you will take care of all the problems.
04:50 Whereas, if we have a piecemeal approach, we want to address the problem of cruelty
04:56 towards animals in an isolated way, we will not succeed.
05:01 I feel a bit apprehensive and disappointed when I see the vegan community treating veganism
05:09 as an objective problem in itself.
05:11 No, when I say veganism, I mean the challenge to turn people vegan.
05:19 Cruelty towards animals is not an objective or isolated or a standalone problem in itself.
05:26 It is originating from the violent animal within each of us and the violent animal sitting
05:33 within us can be taken care of only through core spiritual teaching.
05:41 Without that veganism won't succeed.
05:42 Thank you.
05:43 Thank you.
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