The Strange Truth About Violence in Nature || Acharya Prashant

[00:00:00]Violence is there in nature. Lion hunts a deer. There is violence through the food chain. So why is it different when a human being participates in violence?

[00:00:11]When a lion hunts down a deer, there is no violence. Violence is only when so human beings can be violent. A lion can neither be violent nor nonviolent.

[00:00:29]Violence seems to be a very core instinct of I won't say human nature I would say animal nature violence is there in nature lion hunts a deer there is violence through the food chain so why is it different when a human being participates in violence >> that's not violence that's that's chemicals dancing with each other >> you mean The intent you're the >> There is no intent.

[00:01:01]>> There is no intent.

[00:01:02]>> There is no intent. A lion has no intent.

[00:01:05]>> Biologically, >> a lion is cap incapable of making a choice in favor of eating grass.

[00:01:12]>> So how can there be intent?

[00:01:14]>> Mhm. [clears throat] >> The lion by its physical biological composition >> is not equipped to make a choice. So there is no violence. When a lion hunts down a deer, >> Mhm.

[00:01:26]>> that's not very different from a a large polymer chain absorbing a small molecule into itself.

[00:01:34]>> Right.

[00:01:35]>> And that happens all the times, you know, >> right?

[00:01:38]>> Molecules merge into each other, they bond with each other, they do a lot of things with each other.

[00:01:42]>> Yes.

[00:01:43]>> What the lion is doing to the deer is much the same because the lion has no choice. And in the absence of choice, the word uh violence is absurd.

[00:01:55]>> Right?

[00:01:55]>> Violence is only when I had a choice and I made the wrong one.

[00:02:00]>> So human beings can be violent. A lion can neither be violent nor nonviolent.

[00:02:06]>> A hinsa is not something that you can apply to any creature in the cosmos except man.

[00:02:14]>> Because of our ability to choose.

[00:02:16]>> Because our ability to choose.

[00:02:19]And because of the fact that only we suffer if we don't choose rightly.

[00:02:24]Have you ever seen a lion suffering and repenting the life choices it made?

[00:02:30]Got it. You talked of the ex and the breakup.

[00:02:33]>> Right. And lion I I don't suppose uh suffers in the same way and to the same intensity.

[00:02:38]>> Yeah.

[00:02:39]>> Huh. So man is the only one who has choice and the man is only one by man I mean human beings not really man as in uh male or female. So, so man is the only one who who who is equipped to make choices. And therefore, man is the only one who greatly suffers if he does not make the right choice. Nonviolence >> is when you resolve to yourself, I'll make the right choice. That's nonviolence or a hinsa.

[00:03:06]>> So that includes >> not exploiting others for your petty gains.

[00:03:13]M >> that includes that but that's uh not limited to that nonviolence goes much beyond uh your relationship with others.

[00:03:23]>> Nonviolence is first of all about your relationship with yourself.

[00:03:29]>> So uh there's often this argument advanced in favor of for example flesh consumption right that uh >> should you should you consume non-vegetarian food?

[00:03:40]>> Yeah. say you know the big fish is all the time eating the small fish and had the had had the creator god really wanted that animals should never be killed >> then he should have never made any carnivores >> that's a very flawed argument why >> we are products of evolution no god ever made us first of all >> and second thing all the other products of evolution they are built differently >> they are built differently Lions, for example, probably don't even have any idea of their lifespan.

[00:04:16]>> If a lion dies early, I'm not I don't think it would think in whatever way it thinks, >> right, >> that it's coming to an early death, >> right? Uh they behave in very very programmed and conditioned ways. They do what their body tells them to do. They are pretty innocent beings in that sense, right? You know, no lion would ever save money, >> right?

[00:04:40]>> No lion would ever covet a throne.

[00:04:44]>> They do what they have been doing since uh yeah, they cover a throne in the sense they fight among themselves for the leadership of the pack, but that's what they have been doing since millions of years.

[00:04:52]>> Yeah.

[00:04:53]>> Nothing has changed.

[00:04:54]>> Nothing has changed and nothing can change because they they are like toys.

[00:04:59]>> They do what they are built to do. M >> human beings are the only ones >> and I'm not saying out the out of sense of entitlement of belonging to my species.

[00:05:10]>> I'm saying this out of my observation.

[00:05:12]>> Human beings are the only ones who have this special thing called a perpetual restlessness.

[00:05:21]>> We are born restless. We want to know.

[00:05:23]We gather knowledge. We we we feel around. We ask questions.

[00:05:28]>> Curiosity.

[00:05:29]>> We are we are curious. Yes.

[00:05:31]>> And we do not like our inner state of incompleteness or discontentment.

[00:05:38]>> Right.

[00:05:38]>> Uh and therefore therefore the word called liberation applies only to human beings.

[00:05:44]>> We have never seen a cow yearning for liberation. A cow is all right as it is.

[00:05:49]it would graze and you know so nonviolence applies only to us and nonviolence is the only way to lead the right life >> or the right life is called a nonviolent life you could put it this way a nonviolent life meaning you are causing you're not causing harm to other living creatures no you know who you are and therefore what is in your best interest how can I not cause harm to you.

[00:06:20]>> If I do not know who you are and if I do not know myself, will I know you as a fellow human being?

[00:06:27]>> Mhm.

[00:06:28]M >> hello.

[00:06:29]>> This is a difficult concept to grasp because um for one I believe most people when it comes to food at least because it is such a core drive um there is more of an animal instinct when it comes to food as opposed to other life choices.

[00:06:49]>> Uh so maybe they can make more mindful choices when it comes to buying a car or a phone. But when it comes to food, maybe the animal in you does seem to act more which is why the conversations around food are never polite.

[00:07:04]>> There's always this uh tribal nature that comes out but equally the kind of importance that food has in an animal's life >> it does not have in a human being's life.

[00:07:21]>> Think of what a monkey does the entire day. It looks around for food. Yes, >> we don't do that. We don't do that.

[00:07:31]I mean sometimes we in fact skip meals and don't even remember we have skipped a meal.

[00:07:36]>> Yeah, >> there are other more meaningful things in life and that's where lies the hint.

[00:07:43]>> Why clamor so much for food when life has been enriched with so much more?

[00:07:50]>> Can't we find satisfaction in higher pursuits?

[00:07:53]>> It's a monkey that has to care so much about food. M >> I mean as human beings >> who would probably occupies 2% 5% of our consciousness and I don't suppose we would particularly like a person >> if he's all the time dreaming of food.

[00:08:10]>> Mhm.

[00:08:11]>> And if we do that then we won't won't go too far in life. So here's a difficult question which is from a spiritual perspective is there reason to become a vegan.

[00:08:26]You see first of all it's not about the other. Okay. It's not about the chicken or the goat or the cow or the animal being milked.

[00:08:42]>> Yeah.

[00:08:45]Spirituality he said is atmaan self-observation. So it's about the self. So I suffer. I'm a human being. I'm born in this body. I suffer.

[00:09:02]And if I if I can see why I suffer, if I can see why I suffer, I realize there is a sense of incompleteness within.

[00:09:18]>> And that incompleteness makes me look at the entire world as a consumer, as an exploer.

[00:09:30]I can look at the entire world as a hunter, as a consumer, which is all right. I can do that. What is not all right is that irrespective of the level, intensity, magnitude of my consumption, the incompleteness within just remains.

[00:09:53]>> Just remains.

[00:09:54]>> Yes.

[00:09:54]>> Just remains.

[00:09:56]I add this to my life. If I accumulate that so much I have gathered.

[00:10:01]No moral problem with that. One can gather. No, the universe is not run through moral principles. You can do whatever you want and ultimately you can die and all that. Fine.

[00:10:11]The problem is not uh in the fact that you will die one day. The problem is you are alive and suffering and you are giving yourself a false treatment.

[00:10:21]As a doctor, you resonate with that. M >> I have not diagnosed my problem correctly and therefore I'm offering myself one false treatment after the other and what does that do to my condition it worsens it worsens this holding tendency that we have to >> just everything just everything >> I want to consume this I want to consume that and because an animal is helpless so it can be consumed or milked >> or skinned whatever The moment I see that, the very inclination to exploit the animal disappears. That doesn't really mean that you have to be an animal lover.

[00:11:07]That doesn't mean that I I for example won't won't consume a lot of things.

[00:11:11]That doesn't mean I love those things and hence I'm not consuming them. The problem is I kill animals and I do all kinds of vicious things because there is a hole in my heart and when I start seeing that killing or whatever I'm doing grabbing clutching all this is not in any way helping my condition >> then I do not want to put my energy in that direction.

[00:11:41]I don't want to put it. It's not It's not about having mercy on the animal, >> right?

[00:11:46]>> It's not about going and hugging the animal. It's about seeing that this thing won't help.

[00:11:51]>> Won't help. You have been doing this since ages. It never helped anybody.

[00:11:56]>> And you want to continue down the same lane of agony. M m I think that that makes sense because there is a lot of um confusion both from a medical perspective and from a climate change perspective but my curiosity was how do we approach this topic from a spiritual perspective of course when you look at it from a climate perspective the arguments are very very forceful extremely forceful you probably >> can do nothing to arrest the whole thing of climate change uh without reducing the level of animal slaughter and animal farming and these things. So that's from that direction. But from a spiritual perspective, you know, it is just a general disincclination towards hurting you for my sake. Not because I have fallen in love with you, but because I know that I'm needlessly hurting.

[00:12:53]>> By hurting you, I will not gain anything. In fact, my condition would further deteriorate. So that's why it makes me think that just like how there's a carbon footprint, >> there should be a concept of spiritual footprint.

[00:13:07]>> How much harm are we causing over time require a very enlightened society? It's a beautiful thing you have just said and I just hope we as a process of evolution and resolution come to a point >> where we could have a society that thinks on these lines. Wonderfully put.

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