As home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, Iran’s glorious past is reflected in her dignified people and rich cultural heritage. We invite you to join us today, caring viewers, as we travel to the country’s northern province of Gilan, whose people are known for their proud independence.
In its capital at Rasht, we will meet two brothers, Mehran and Mehrdad Houshmand, who exemplify the true meaning of freedom of spirit through their courageous lifestyle choice.
On June ２５, ２００８, Supreme Master Television received a letter addressed to Supreme Master Ching Hai from Mehran. The following is an excerpt from the letter:
Master Ching Hai, With greetings and respects to you, I am very thankful and grateful to you for giving all of us the method to connect with God so people who truly understand the Truth can get out of thedarkness and become nearer to the permanent Heaven.
Master, ever since I’ve known of your benevolent work, teachings, lectures and way of thinking about all of the beings, I gradually changed. I own a dairy farm and had plans for it for the next ５０ years, but your talks and words touched me so much that I started a completely vegetarian diet for the last six months.
HOST: And thus begins the inspirational saga of the Houshmand brothers. Mehran and Mehrdad gave a tour of their former family farm and shared their heart-touching story of transitioning from dairy farming to a compassionate vegan lifestyle.
Mehran: What you are seeing now was once a cattle ranch. We used to raise ４０ cattle here and send our products to the factories. First we were very pleased because of the feeling that we were somehow delivering services for society, but as time went on, we understood that these cattle, to give us a lot of milk, sustained
a lot of pressure.
HOST: By global standards, their dairy farm was relatively small in its manner of operation. After they had the fortuitous opportunity to view Supreme Master Television, the kind-hearted siblings realized that even on their family-run farm, the cows were experiencing great suffering. Having to endure incessant daily milking,
a lack of exercise, and cramped living conditions, the dairy cows frequently became ill.
Mehran: Mostly they suffered from milk fever and breast inflammation and we had to use antibiotics repeatedly to cure them. When seeing the syringe, the cattle became terrified and frightened.
Mehrdad(m): In the long term, the animals were afflicted with different diseases, so that even administering antibiotics would not cure them. We would give them various antibiotics, yet the animals still could not stand on their feet and ultimately they would die.
HOST: In addition to the problem of illnesses and the continual use of antibiotics, the brothers became aware that their dairy farm was creating environmental hazards as well.
Mehran : Because of the heavy rain that we had, their excrement would get washed away and would penetrate into the soil, and certainly that would pollute the underground water sources.
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