Today’s Vegetarian Elite
will be presented
in Hindi and English,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English,
French, German,
Hindi,
Indonesian, Italian,
Japanese, Korean,
Mongolian, Nepali,
Persian, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish,
Tagalog, and Thai.
I would like to say my
namaskar (greetings) to
Supreme Master Ching Hai
and to all of you
in the audience.
Blessed weekend,
wise and reverent viewers.
Today,
on Vegetarian Elite
we will take a glimpse
into the life
of Maneka Gandhi,
respected Member
of Parliament in India,
devoted environmentalist,
animal welfare advocate,
and compassionate vegan.
It has been
over three decades since
Mrs. Maneka Gandhi’s
name was first heard
in India’s political circuit.
In 1974, she married
Sanjay Gandhi, the son
of the Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi.
The couple
had their first born
six years later, a boy
they named Varun Gandhi.
Shortly after his birth,
however,
his father Sanjay Gandhi
unexpectedly passed away.
Mrs. Gandhi became
politically active
following the departure
of her husband.
While she was Minister
of Social Justice
and Empowerment,
she played a historical role
in the Indian
pension reform efforts.
At the age of 33,
she became
the country’s Minister
for the Environment.
Prior to her post, India
had no environmental
protection laws.
As an environmentalist
and animal rights leader,
Mrs. Gandhi sees
no difference
between the two roles,
and champions both
alongside one another
in her political career.
I don’t see any difference
between being and being.
A chicken is a human,
is a pig, is a donkey,
is an ant.
They all feel pain,
they all feel love,
they all feel sorrow,
they all love their children,
they all live in societies
even if you separate them.
They are all part of
the large whole.
And any time
we hurt any one of them
or create a society
that hurts them,
we simply destroy ourselves,
and that is what leads me
to work in this field.
Mrs. Gandhi invested
her compassion early on
in animal welfare.
In 1980, she founded
India’s first ever
animal shelter in her
husband’s remembrance.
This initiative grew to
become the organization
“People for Animals.”
Despite her busy schedule,
she still personally
answers questions
posed on
the organization’s website.
I used the legacy
my husband left me to
make an animal hospital,
and called Sanjay Gandhi
Animal Care Center.
More than 10 years later,
I was confident enough
to start
an animal organization,
which now is the largest
animal organization
in India.
We have 26 hospitals,
we lobby,
we rescue animals
from morning to night.
We look at wild animals
rescue as well.
Her many accomplishments
in animal rights include
banning animal circuses
in India and winning
court cases that have
closed slaughterhouses.
For her dedication
and achievements,
Maneka Gandhi has been
the recipient of several
prestigious awards,
among which are
the “Lord Erskine Award”
from the Royal Society
for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals
in 1992;
the “Prani Mitra Award’
for her outstanding
contribution to
animal welfare in 1996;
the “Bhagwan Mahaveer
Award for Excellence
in sphere of Truth,
Non-violence &
Vegetarianism” in 1999,
the “Maharana Mewar
Foundation Award”
for Environmental work
in 1996; and in 2001,
“Woman of the Year
Award of the International
Women’s Association.”
Within her sphere
of activism, Mrs. Gandhi
speaks prolifically about
why one should
keep a vegan diet.
You know
you can’t eat animals
and then look after them
because
there is no difference
in one and the other.
In so many parts
of the world
people keep cruel aspects,
and keep and eat dogs;
now we keep dogs as pets
and eat goats.
So it is ridiculous to assume
that you can eat [meat]
and be a part of
animal welfare movement.
In an interview
with Satya Magazine
in September 15, 1995
Mrs. Gandhi stated
about her work:
I couldn’t go around
saving the one cat
and one dog, which is
what people mean
when they say ‘animals,’
it had to be saving
the meat animals,
or rather preventing them
from being born.
So, I had to do
vegetarianism.
I had to do ahimsa which
fitted the whole thing,
the whole catchall phrase
of environment, animals,
vegetarianism.
Everything comes
into ahimsa.
She has inspired
countless people
to seek truth in
environmental protection,
animal concerns,
and their own diet.
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri,
Chair of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change and
Nobel Peace Prize laureate,
shared with us
how Maneka Gandhi
helped influenced
his vegetarianism:
And I must give the credit
to Mrs. Maneka Gandhi.
She told me, “I defy you
to remain vegetarian
for a month.”
I said, “All right,
I’ll do it just to show you.”
And interestingly
at the end of that month,
I didn’t feel like
eating meat.
If one really believes in
protecting environment
and making
the most efficient use
of the resources
on this planet,
then I don’t see why one
has to be non-vegetarian.
So now I have become
a vegetarian,
I feel very concerned
that one kills animals to
satisfy our own appetites
and I don’t know whether,
as civilized human beings,
we should be doing that.
When we return
after this message,
Mrs. Maneka Gandhi
shares her knowledge
about the dire effects
of climate change
threatening the lives of
all species on our planet…
and offers a simple
and effective solution.
You are watching
Vegetarian Elite
on Supreme Master
Television.
I refuse to
take part in any violence
– against women,
against children,
against animals,
against the Earth,
against anything
that I can protect,
I will protect it.
And the result is
that I will be protected.
If we keep waiting for
large masses of people
to work
it doesn’t work at all.
So therefore it would
have to be each person
doing their own
and understanding it.
We need to
switch immediately
to solar energy,
to wind power.
This has to move to 70%
almost immediately.
Secondly,
we have to plant trees,
plant trees, plant trees,
and plant trees.
The third is we have to stop
using chemical fertilizer,
because that is
creating huge black holes
in the ocean.
And the forth thing is that
we have to be vegetarian.
If these 4 things we do,
which are not difficult
at all, we will be able to
stop climate change
as of this year.
Welcome back to
Vegetarian Elite
on Supreme Master
Television.
In a Washington DC
climate change
video conference with
Supreme Master
Ching Hai,
Maneka Gandhi sent
the following messages
that were heard by
thousands of
audience members,
countless viewers,
esteemed scientists,
and US political leaders.
For many years now we
have been experiencing
the problems
of climate change.
In my own constituency
there was a terrible
drought this year. And
just when the government
had come to grips with it,
it turned into
an unseasonal flood.
The farmers lost
everything.
The lentils I eat, regarded
as a staple in India,
are now so expensive
that they have become
a luxury.
They’re actually putting
police people in Kenya
to guard the taps
so that nobody can take
more than one mug,
while the slaughterhouse
in Kenya
takes all the water.
Take the power
into your own hands.
You can become
an Earth saver.
You don’t need machines.
You don’t need
governments.
You don’t
even need treaties.
You can stop it today
by yourself.
In this strange
political debate, we have
stopped recognizing
that this is one world
and we are all going
to live or die together.
Let me explain how
you and I can turn this
around immediately.
Methane and carbon
dioxide are greenhouse
gases, which means that
their presence in the air
traps heat and affects
the Earth’s temperature
and climate,
making the planet warmer.
As it warms,
the climate changes
and the glaciers melt.
When the glaciers melt,
the rivers first flood
and then dry up.
The developed countries
of the world are producing
so much carbon dioxide.
And the developing
countries like China,
India, and Brazil
are being blamed
for producing methane.
What is the single largest
contributor to methane?
Livestock raising
for meat production.
And why is methane such
a lethal greenhouse gas?
It is 23 times more potent
than carbon dioxide
in trapping heat
in the atmosphere.
Because it is a short-lived
gas with a lifespan
of only 8.4 years,
the effects of its reduction
will be felt immediately.
As climate scientists
have affirmed,
we need to reduce
short-lived greenhouse gases
today in order to
ensure a livable planet
for our children, and
we need to reduce CO2
to ensure a livable planet
for generations
a few hundred years
from now.
The methane emissions
for India, China,
and Brazil have doubled
since 1990 and
are expected to go up
even further by 2020;
scientists say up to 43%.
And there is only one reason
and it’s because
these countries
grow animals for meat
for the developed world.
So these three nations
cannot stop producing
methane unless you stop
buying their product.
Between 1970 and 2002
the annual per capita
meat consumption
in developing countries,
like mine, has risen
from 11 kilos to 29 kilos.
In developed countries,
the eating of meat
has risen from 65 kilos
to 100 kilos per year.
100 kilos means over
300 animals are killed
by one person every year.
A single dairy cow
produces between 550
to 700 liters of methane
a day.
The world’s top destroyer
of the atmosphere is not
the car, nor the factory –
it is the meat-eating
human being.
There is a 400-page
United Nations report,
which has identified
the world’s rapidly
growing herds of cattle
as the greatest threat
to the climate, forests,
wildlife, and the
continuation of the Earth.
But you can remove methane
in one day starting with
today’s dinner.
If you stop eating meat
today, you will stop
my Ganges glacier
from melting.
My people
will survive, because
the magnificent and holy
Ganges will stop
turning into a stream.
So will the Yangtze
and all the major rivers
of Asia and
so will the Amazon.
And how will this
impact you?
My people will not
become refugees and
storm your gates
to enter your country.
So, not only will you
save the world yourself,
stopping eating meat
will also stop so much
poverty on the planet.
It brings you better health.
It eliminates
most cancers.
It frees up masses of land
for vegetables and grains
and really good eating.
It allows water
for the poor.
For instance, do you know
that one slaughterhouse
in my city uses 16 million
liters a day, and
one family gets one liter?
The costs of
reducing carbon dioxide
are much larger because
it needs technology.
The cost of
reducing methane is zero.
Simply stop eating meat.
Not only is
Mrs. Gandhi’s call to action
scientifically backed,
it is uncomplicated
and precious: if you want
to do something, wherever
you are based, start there.
Start the movement
of planting trees
and being vegan.
If you can create
one area of excellence,
the world will follow.
We haven’t yet understood
the magic of the universe.
The universe is there
to do a straight tradeoff –
you be good,
it’ll be good.
Nature is just there to say,
“You be kind, I’ll be kind;
you be mean,
I’ll be mean.”
And we are now exhausting
all our remedies.
Therefore the only remedy
now left is,
let us just stop killing!
If you stop killing animals
today, you will find
you will stop killing
human beings
almost simultaneous.
you will not be growing
animals for killing,
you won’t have
the terrible misery
of slaughterhouses.
Once you stop killing
then the whole of Earth
springs back, and it become
a Garden of Eden.
And it happens now.
I’m not talking about
2,000 years from now.
In 10 years,
I will be still there
and so will you.
Thank you,
Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, for
being such a viable voice
for the animals, people
and planet!
We are awaiting the future
that you envision
with great hope
and anticipation.
Thank you, gentle viewers,
for your loving presence
on today’s
Vegetarian Elite.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television for
Between Master
and Disciples.
Let us all do our share
in making this world
a beautiful place
to live and share!
Contact animal welfare
organization
People for Animals
and write to Indian
Parliament Member
Makeda Gandhi at
www.PeopleForAnimalsindia.org
Blessed weekend, wise and reverent viewers. Today, on Vegetarian Elite we will take a glimpse into the life of Maneka Gandhi, respected Member of Parliament in India, devoted environmentalist, animal welfare advocate,
and compassionate vegan.
It has been over three decades since Mrs. Maneka Gandhi’s name was first heard in India’s political circuit. In 1974, she married Sanjay Gandhi, the son of the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The couple had their first born six years later, a boy they named Varun Gandhi. Shortly after his birth, however, his father Sanjay Gandhi unexpectedly passed away.
Mrs. Gandhi became politically active following the departure of her husband. While she was Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, she played a historical role in the Indian pension reform efforts. At the age of 33, she became the country’s Minister for the Environment. Prior to her post, India had no environmental protection laws.
As an environmentalist and animal rights leader, Mrs. Gandhi sees no difference between the two roles, and champions both alongside one another in her political career.
Maneka Gandhi(f): I don’t see any difference between being and being. A chicken is a human, is a pig, is a donkey, is an ant. I, They all feel pain, they all feel love, they all feel sorrow, they all love their children, they all live in societies even if you separate them.
They are all part of the large whole. And any time we hurt any one of them or create a society that hurts them, we simply destroy ourselves, and that is what leads me to work in this field.