From Self-Inquiry to Compassionate Living: The Vedanta-Veganism Connection by Acharya Prashant

“Ahimsa is deep understanding. Without that understanding, whatever one does is violence. Veganism is nothing but the logical culmination of vegetarianism. Where does vegetarianism come from? The feeling that I will not kill the animal—I don’t want to harm the animal. That same feeling finds its final expression in veganism”.

—Acharya Prashant

The primary task of this article is to address the relationship between Vedanta and Veganism. It explains how veganism sans Vedanta is impossible and quite dangerous. But first, it is important to understand what Vedanta is.

What is Vedanta?

Vedanta is an inquiry. Vedanta is a rebellion. Vedanta is a rebellion against ignorance of the self. Vedanta explores the ‘I’ to dissolve it. Go to Vedanta. That's where you'll find rigorous self-inquiry. That's where you will find freedom from the sufferings of the self. Vedanta goes directly into the one who is facing the problem.

Problems are multifarious, and problems are so diverse, but the one facing the problem has remained much the same since the advent of time. Man’s insides have not changed. Our exteriors have changed, but our interiors have not. Vedanta introduces us to our reality. It repeatedly takes us to the experiencer. If we look at our situation, we are suffering. We are in bondage. Vedanta helps us ponder, “What is it within me that constantly keeps me in bondage and suffering?” Vedanta asks this question. “Who am I? I often find myself in strange and disgraceful situations—who am I? Where did I come from? Who am I?” and this is self-enquiry.

Relation between Vedanta and Veganism

Vedanta is all about freedom from suffering. If there is no suffering, there is no need for any kind of spiritual path or spiritual discipline. Man is suffering and one has to start from there.

You look within yourself, or you look around yourself, you would find it hard to deny that there indeed is suffering. Man is suffering. And at the same time, suffering cannot be one’s utter destiny. Surely there is a way out, surely redemption is available. And if redemption is available, and man is still suffering, it shows that man is somewhere making wrong choices. An exit out of the hellhole does exist, but the man seems to be trying at other places, knocking at false doors. When you are exploiting the other, it is for self-gratification not for self-liberation.

And if Liberation is your goal, then how can you spend your energy just pleasing yourself?

You look at a deer, you hunt it, you eat it up. A lion, An elephant, A tree, a river – anything, anything, anything is there just to be exploited. All of man’s energy is flowing in a very foolish direction. And Spirituality is Intelligence, so this has to be corrected. One has to see why one wants to kill and consume at all. One wants to kill and consume because one is forgetting his Real intention, one is forgetting his Real need. One is forgetting why he exists at all. The prisoner has no business getting too cozy inside his cell. He should remember that he is in an awkward position. He should constantly remember just one thing: Freedom, not gratification. And if you can remember the fact of your bondage and your desire for your Freedom, then you will become very sensitive to the point of others’ bondage, and parallelly others’ desire towards their Freedom.

If you remember that you must fly free, you also clearly see that the others must also fly free. Then you want it not only for yourself, you want it for others as well. The existential game is such that you cannot just plan it out for only yourself. You must have it in mind that that which you are demanding for yourself must reach others as well. Compassion and Vedanta are so very intimate. And in today’s time, Veganism is the strongest name for compassion. You cannot be Spiritual and violent at the same time. You cannot be Spiritual and a flesh-eater at the same time.

The whole vegan movement is meaningless without Vedanta.

Vedanta is about looking into yourself, figuring out all the nonsense that keeps circulating within, and owning the responsibility to correct, purify and improve yourself. And veganism cannot simply work without it. It is very, very comforting to the ego to keep spirituality at arm's length; that might be the real problem. Because if you accept that spirituality is the solution, then you will have to self-correct.

Even the well-read population, even the intellectual population does not want to turn vegan. Because irrespective of how much knowledge you have and how deep your intellect is, the animalistic tendency to consume, to exploit, to be afraid, to be greedy, to be envious; remains the same.

Even if to promote veganism, even to save animals, if you turn to spirituality, you will have to feel uncomfortable, you will have to live with an inner conflict. And that's the reason why vegans want to keep these two very separated. The problem with the hollow vegan movement is that it wants to keep Veganism at the center and use faith to promote the cause of veganism. That won't work. You will have to keep faith at the center. And when faith is at the center, then veganism happens on its own, and that is the only way veganism can happen.

More than a lakh, probably five lakh people would have been turned vegan by the efforts of the Prashant Advait Foundation. They have not been turned vegan, they have been turned spiritual. And because they have been turned spiritual, veganism has just happened. Just happened. Once you are spiritual, you just cannot bear to consume dairy or meat. You cannot have veganism sans Vedanta. Acharya Prashant claims, that one cannot discard spirituality and still hope for veganism to succeed, your ways have not succeeded today. In the past you have been trying for ten years, twenty years; you have not succeeded. You will not succeed even in the future. Veganism without spirituality would be quite dangerous.

Non-violence is the only way

If you are violent towards other beings, it only means that you are violent towards yourself as well because you and the other being are essentially one, the differences are countless but worthless. You are supposed to liberate the other, in that lies your Liberation. You are not to annihilate the other. If in the other’s Liberation lies your Liberation, then surely in the other’s destruction lies your annihilation.

Acharya Prashant posits, “Otherness itself is the mother culprit”. In the existential dimension, you and the other are one. In the existential dimension, all beings striving for Liberation are one. And is there a being that is not striving for Liberation? No, not at all.

To be existent is to be desirous of Liberation.

Otherwise, why would anyone exist at all? We exist to be loved and liberated, and you cannot have liberation in isolation because as long as you are a believer in isolation, that itself is bondage. Therefore, those who are violent towards other living forms are fundamentally violent towards themselves. Vedanta explains, that do not turn vegetarian or vegan for reasons of mercy or pity, turn a vegan in your self-interest. You’re not killing the other, you’re killing yourself. If you are decent to the other, then it is yourself you are helping.

Conclusion

The integration of Vedanta and veganism presents a profound path to personal and collective liberation. Acharya Prashant's insights illuminate the essential connection between spiritual depth and compassionate living. Veganism, when embraced through the lens of Vedanta, becomes a natural extension of spiritual practice, embodying the core principles of non-violence and interconnectedness. To practice veganism effectively, one must engage in rigorous self-inquiry and recognize the intrinsic link between personal freedom and the liberation of all living beings. Only through this holistic approach can true compassion and spiritual fulfillment be achieved.