00:00And what about the nutritional aspect, you know, like they say it's rich in tarsium and
00:09it's rich in protein and so it's must for children in a certain age, but most poor people
00:20generally depend on milk and curd for their minimal protein depletion.
00:29This too is a misconception and one does not quite need spirituality to refute this.
00:40So if you look at the weight of nutrients obtained per rupee spent, then the nutrients
00:52that one can obtain from flesh or milk products per rupee spent is either comparable to or
01:06many a times even lower than the weight of ingredients one can obtain from purely vegan
01:19products.
01:21So it is a myth that veganism can be afforded only by the relatively resourceful.
01:36There is enough medical literature now available to conclusively prove that if you want to
01:45live a compassionate vegan lifestyle, it is not only not expensive, it may actually
01:53turn out to be economically more feasible than an animal product, milk-based diet.
02:09As far as nutrients are concerned, you see, today you have top athletes, champions in
02:16tennis, cricket, several other sports, even in physically very very demanding disciplines
02:25like bodybuilding, like weightlifting, like boxing, and these are the people who are not
02:35only vegan but they actually actively ever that their performances raised to another
02:46dimension after they turned vegan.
02:51So not only are they saying that they are able to sustain their performances even while
02:57being vegan, what they are saying is that their top-level world-beating performances
03:04are due to veganism.
03:08Surely this does not point towards a deficiency of nutrients in their body and we have more
03:19and more research and medical material emerging every day.
03:25Obviously there is material to the contrary as well, but let's also remember the times
03:32we are living in.
03:35The vegan movement is still in its infancy and it is pitted against the powerful forces
03:47of animal agriculture, the meat industry, the leather industry, animal products industry,
03:56the beauty products industry.
04:01So there are industries worth trillions of dollars that are threatened by veganism and
04:13obviously these industries would pour money into sponsored research reports that would
04:29rail against veganism, but if you go to credible agencies, you read what they are saying, you
04:38find out it works, it seriously works.
04:44Now coming to Ayurveda, again you see it's a system of medicine and obviously it will
05:01talk of firstly stuff that is medicinal, because its primary concern is not compassion,
05:12but treatment of the ailing individual.
05:20Secondly because Ayurveda has its roots very much in India, therefore it would talk of
05:31its stuff that is locally available and herbs and other ingredients that can be easily sourced.
05:45So these two things have to be remembered.
05:48Ayurveda, I am not saying does not care for animals, but that cannot be its primary concern.
05:58By definition that cannot be its primary concern, its primary concern is heal the human
06:04being and whatever it takes for that.
06:10So many people may not know this, but Ayurveda even for certain ailments recommends flesh
06:17consumption, for certain diseases Ayurveda would say, for example that you must take
06:25pork and boil it and then the rasa that you have, the soup, that has to be taken for so many days.
06:39Now if that involves slaughtering that animal, which it obviously would, so be it, the life
06:46of the man is more precious and that is the defined domain of a medical system of treatment.
06:57So you cannot fault it for that, but one cannot really quote Ayurveda to justify slaughtering a pig.
07:08What Ayurveda is saying is that in that special condition this is what would work, whereas
07:16veganism is a lifestyle.
07:19Also you see now at this point when we are saying that when there is a choice, when there
07:27is a trade-off between one's sense of compassion and a medical situation that requires flesh consumption.
07:39Let's say in the Ayurvedic domain there is a situation that demands that one consumes
07:47the flesh of a pigeon, that too has been recommended in certain situations.
07:53One consumes the flesh of a pigeon or fish or something.
08:01Now is the time when one has to really decide what is it that one values more, his body
08:11or his love, it's a cliched word, but there is no other word available for it.
08:27So I have to ask this and there have been people who have said that they would rather
08:33die than kill others for the sake of their life, but then this is not something that
08:47can be institutionalized.
08:51This has to be an individual call and the individual has to decide as per his level
09:00of spiritual advancement and as per the depth of his heart.
09:07Someone may say fine my life is quite important and if to sustain my life a few animals are
09:14to be slaughtered every day, fine.
09:17Somebody might even go to the extent of saying my life is so important that to sustain my
09:21life if a few human beings are to be slaughtered every day, fine.
09:26We have had such examples in history.
09:29There have been myths prevailing at certain periods of time in certain places where it
09:35was thought that man's flesh or the fresh blood of a young man's heart is very useful
09:48in curing old age related diseases.
09:53So there have been kings who would get young people slaughtered and have fresh blood from
09:58their heart and use them.
10:00Obviously that had no scientific basis, but let's say even if there is actually a factual
10:07and scientific basis and that says that you must have God liver oil, do you really want
10:14to take that and that's a highly personal call because it is not really necessary to
10:27just add a few more years to one's life at the cost of bringing suffering to other people,
10:39other species, other people in any living form or even at the cost of destroying rivers
10:47and mountains and jungles, but then as I said that cannot be mandated or institutionalized.
10:54That is something that one has to decide for himself.
10:58Having said that, I do not want it to mean that veganism implies a reduction in one's
11:08lifespan or a compromise on one's health.
11:12On the other hand, even if one is not driven by compassion, there are strongly medical
11:25reasons and purely medical reasons that should be compelling enough to guide one towards veganism.
11:41Also what is forgotten when we talk of milk and curd is the relation between the milk
11:52products industry and the meat industry.
12:00This is, there is a very strong relation, but people conveniently try to forget it or ignore it.
12:11A religious Hindu or a pious Jain would say, but I take only milk and curd.
12:22I do not take meat and then he would absolve himself of any kind of guilt of animal slaughter.
12:31He would say, no, no, no, I worship the cow and all I draw from her is the milk.
12:37I do not take her flesh obviously, that's sacrilege.
12:43What they forget is that India is not for nothing the biggest beef exporter of the world
12:54or the second largest beef exporter probably.
12:57Where is all that beef coming from?
13:03So why don't we clearly see that the same cow that is used or buffalo, because most
13:11of the beef that is exported is buffalo meat, that the same cow or buffalo that is today
13:18used to extract milk from her is tomorrow slaughtered for the sake of flesh.
13:33You see, after all, if you are looking at the cow or the buffalo as an economic asset,
13:40why won't you want to draw and extract value from that economic asset right till the last rupee.
13:54So when the animal is in the reproductive age, you draw value from her through her milk
14:05and needless to say the process of having her deliver milk is a highly cruel process
14:13which involves forced insemination and all other kinds of cruelties which are not visible
14:21to the final consumer of the milk.
14:23So he gladly consumes it.
14:26So when she can give milk, we take milk from her.
14:30We don't take milk from her, we extract milk from her and when she cannot give milk and
14:38even after that at least 5 to 7 years of her age still remain, what do you do with her?
14:46You cannot, but then you cannot, that's what some people do.
14:54Most of those cattle are not found on roads.
14:57The number of cows that are, or buffalos that are used to give us dairy is extremely, extremely large.
15:08What we find roaming on the roads is probably not even 10 to 20% of them, very small fraction.
15:16Where have the rest of them gone?
15:19They have all gone to the slaughterhouses because to keep such a large animal alive
15:27requires economic resources.
15:30Why would the farmer keep putting in money to bring fodder and protection to a buffalo
15:37that can no more give milk and if the farmer has been trained to look at the animal only
15:45as an economic asset, then it makes quick and immediate economic sense to just sell
15:53off the buffalo to the slaughterhouse and that is what is happening.
15:57So the one who is consuming milk is actually very much guilty of getting the animal slaughtered as well.
16:07The milk industry and the meat industry are hand in glove, they are in tandem and one
16:14really cannot be without the other.
16:17That is the case in India and that is also the case worldwide.
16:22So once that correlation becomes clear to people, once people are in knowledge of facts,
16:31then it would be far easier for them to take decisions.
Comments