Climate Change

The temperature of this city is already higher than what it should be. It won’t be higher in the next twenty years; it is already higher today. Read how many people are dying and by how many years has the average life expectancy already reduced—already reduced.

What do you mean… read_more

The Earth doesn’t have resources to support eight billion or eleven billion vegans. Veganism doesn’t help the cause of climate change beyond a point. We need two things: less people and less consumption, and both of them together.

You need a situation where there are not more than two or… read_more

We don’t need to do anything fancy to check climate change. Limit the number of human beings, and the Earth’s health will be restored very quickly. Nothing else is needed.

The biggest contributor to climate change, rather the only contributor to climate change is human beings and their consumption, quantity… read_more

Man’s hunger is not so much in the stomach; it resides in his mind. And no fruit is enough when it comes to the mind.

So, man has been destroying everything he can touch, and climate change is the most recent, the most devastating, and probably the most final symptom… read_more

जहाँ माँस खाना शुरू किया, तहाँ समझ लो कि आप कार्बन डाइऑक्साइड बढ़ाने वालों की कतार में शामिल हो गए। उपभोग के माध्यमों में जो चीज़ ग्लोबल वार्मिंग (वैश्विक उष्मीकरण) के लिए सबसे ज़्यादा घातक है वो है माँस का सेवन। माँस का सेवन समझ रहे हैं सबसे ज़्यादा घातक… read_more

It is very well known that one tree over the course of forty years would absorb just one ton of carbon dioxide, and that is if that tree lives to get forty years old. How effective is that? Please. One tree over forty years absorbs one ton of carbon dioxide.… read_more

When you eat meat, when you eat chicken, you are actually not paying for the environmental damage that your plate of meat has cost. You are not paying for the climate change. You are not paying for the biodiversity depletion. You are not paying for the loss of tropical jungles,… read_more

Bringing one child into the world is the equivalent of cutting down a lakh trees, maybe more. Just do the maths.

You show so much of sentiment when a tree is hacked down, but you show no sentiment when you see family after family procreating. You, in fact, send them… read_more

Questioner (Q): In one of your videos, you mentioned that we don’t need to awaken fifty percent or more of the population to institutionalize change, we just need a small percentage. I don’t really understand this logic. Could you elaborate?

Acharya Prashant (AP): See, the majority is anyway never very… read_more

Questioner (Q): Why should I care about global warming or such worldly issues? If the world is unreal, then why do all these things matter?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You don’t care about global warming, do you?

Q: Still, why should anyone care about global warming?

AP: Forget about others, because… read_more

Questioner (Q): What solution does the Gita offer for contemporary sociopolitical issues like global warming? Could Shri Krishna have anticipated back then that the planet would be facing a crisis like this at some point?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You see, the crisis that you are talking of is man-made. You… read_more

Questioner (Q): One of the most important lessons I have learned from spirituality is Vasudhaiva Kuṭumbakam, that the whole world is one family. But the current trend is that all the countries are involved in unilateralism and self-absorption, and phenomena like power absorption, racism, terrorism, and intolerance. These things… read_more

Questioner: Do you think that capitalism is at the root of the problems we face today? If yes, what can the individual do? For example, at societal level, income inequality has kept on increasing; at the economical level, greed drives many business decisions; at the individual level, we are put… read_more

Questioner (Q): The right action dictated by spirituality is what the world requires, but if the world economy was to be structured around it, then wouldn’t that make most of the prevalent jobs and business models obsolete? If everybody becomes spiritual, won’t the world’s economic system collapse? If the economy… read_more

Questioner (Q): The richest of our society are the ones responsible for the most consumption and they take all the resources to themselves. Though they might be ethically and legally justified in doing so, at the end of the day, the large heaps of wealth make no sense to me,… read_more

Questioner (Q): As a researcher in public policy, I spend a lot of my time trying to understand the marginalized sections of the society. By marginalized, I mean slum dwellers, tribal populations, and the rural sectors in India. They are marginalized in many ways, because although our government’s policies have… read_more

Questioner (Q): How can we encourage factories and companies in poor areas to prioritize the health of the local environment over having the greatest profit margins and the lowest costs? How can we motivate them for this kind of a change, when the natural tendency of human nature is to… read_more

Questioner: What we are taught in conflict management is that when you are dealing with conflict, the best way is to take the other person’s perspective and then come to a resolution through a compromise. The current state of affairs doesn’t seem to encourage this though; in fact, there are… read_more

Questioner (Q): Spiritual wisdom has traditionally talked of sacrificing material desires and living a life of an ascetic, but most people are habituated towards excessive consumption, which is almost like a pandemic these days. Most people do not connect with concepts like sacrifice and renunciation, and hence avoid spirituality altogether.… read_more

Questioner (Q): In an earlier conversation, you mentioned that climate change is an expression of the sickness of our very soul. I found that to be a pretty daunting and scary way of putting it. My question is, how should we bring this topic and the awareness of what is… read_more

Questioner (Q): I am concerned about what will happen to me when I grow old. There are retirement homes one can resort to, but that is not a viable option to everybody. My mother, for example, got very sick when she got old, and if we had not been there… read_more

The Earth cannot afford even one more human being

Questioner: What kind of a change our education system needs to have so that our coming generations can live together in peace and fulfillment?

Acharya Prashant: Why? Why must you think about the coming generations? Is this not the language of… read_more

Questioner (Q): This discussion today is a followup to a conversation between Acharya Prashant and my colleague, Dr. Evan Goodstein, the director of Bard’s graduate programmes on sustainability and the ‘Solve climate by 2030’ program. In a conversation we held earlier, you gave my colleague an answer from a deep… read_more

Questioner (Q): It is a true honor to be here today talking with you about climate change. I am an economist and the director of the graduate programs of sustainability in Bard College of New York. Along with my colleagues, we are making an effort to create a worldwide teach-in… read_more

Questioner (Q): Having seen your videos and being in constant touch with you, one can see that the central idea of your teachings is, as you very lucidly have said, “You are not missing the secret, you are missing the obvious.” For us humans as social beings, the most obvious… read_more

Questioner: While COVID-19 has severely affected many world economies, many things have come into the limelight in the wake of the pandemic. People have realized that life is precious and that nature has limited resources.. How do you see the future of the economy? Will we move towards a resource-based… read_more

Questioner (Q): My question is about global warming. As you have said in your videos, the problem of global warming is due to excessive consumption. In our final year of graduation when companies offer us placements, they offer us a lot of money and pick up the best minds using… read_more

Questioner (Q): Spiritual wisdom has traditionally talked of sacrificing material desires and living an ascetic life. But, most people are habituated towards consumption, consumption is like a pandemic. Most people do not connect with talks of sacrifice and renunciation and hence avoid spirituality altogether. What is the solution?

Acharya Prashant… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: ग्लोबल-वार्मिंग (वैश्विक ऊष्मीकरण) तो पिछले सौ साल में भी नहीं पिछले पचास साल में ही ज़्यादा हुई है पर नॉन-वेज (माँसाहार) तो पंद्रह-हज़ार साल से खाया जा रहा है तो फिर आप क्यों बोलते हैं कि ग्लोबल-वार्मिंग और नॉन-वेज (माँसाहार) में कोई लिंक (संबंध) है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: बेटा, किस … read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, ये तो साफ है कि जो वैश्विक समस्याऍं हैं, बड़ी समस्याऍं, जैसे ग्लोबल वॉर्मिंग (भूमंडलीय ऊष्मीकरण) या क्लाइमेट चेंज (जलवायु परिवर्तन), उनका कारण ये गलत खोज ही है, कि इंसान गलत जगह पर खोज रहा है। तो एक आइडियल वर्ल्ड (आदर्श विश्व) तो यही होगा कि ये… read_more

Questioner (Q): What kind of change our education system needs to have so that our coming generations live together in peace and fulfilment?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Why? Why must you think about the coming generations? Is this not the language of the old matriarch, who first of all ensures that… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: नमस्कार, आचार्य जी।

सरकार और जितने भी चिकित्सा प्रमुख हैं, जानकार हैं, उन्होंने एक बात साफ-साफ कह दी है कि इस बीमारी का निवारण बहुत साफ है—'सोशल डिस्टन्सिंग'। जबतक एंटीडोट नहीं आ जाता और उसको न जाने कितने साल लगेंगे, तब तक आप एक दूसरे से दूर रहें और… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, पर्यावरण को लेकर के बचपन से ही रुझान रहा है और जैसे-जैसे बड़े हुए हैं, उसको विनाश की ओर बढ़ते हुए ही देखा है। काफ़ी इच्छा थी कि इसके लिए कुछ किया जाए पर फिर अपने काम-धाम में ही लग गए। जब कभी भी गाड़ियों में से… read_more

प्रश्न: आचार्य जी, 'भोजन' और 'अध्यात्म' बहुत बातें होती है इस पर — यह मत खाओ, वह मत खाओ, शरीर शुद्धि इत्यादि। कृपया प्रकाश डालें इस विषय पर।

आचार्य प्रशांत: "जल्दी से खाओ और आगे बढ़ो, बहुत काम करना है" — मेरे देखे तो अध्यात्म और भोजन का यही संबंध… read_more

प्रश्न: आचार्य जी, वर्तमान जीवन के व्यवहारिक कष्टों पर प्रकाश डालने की अनुकम्पा करें।

आचार्य प्रशांत: दो-तीन बातें हैं, और बड़ी सीधी-सीधी हैं।

पहली बात तो ये कि - बच्चे मत पैदा करो। अगर ये उम्मीद कर रहे हो कि दुनिया में आठ-सौ करोड़ लोग हैं आज - जो कि… read_more

Questioner: Earlier you were talking of our current systems being a whitewashed extension of what already exists in the jungle. My question is, if the animal nature is so innate, natural and core to the human experience, then does one need to embrace it and perhaps enhance it in one’s… read_more

Questioner (Q): The very first thing that we learn in studying economics is that more is better, and we build the entire economic theory around it. More is better, so you should get more and more contentment as you get more and more in the material dimension. What would Vedanta… read_more

Question: Acharya Ji, what will happen to us in old age? Will we be able to manage ourselves then? My mother fell sick a few days back. Had we not been with her, she wouldn’t have been able to manage herself. Will the same happen to us in old age?… read_more

Acharya Prashant (AP): We all know, that the biggest threat facing this planet, mankind, today is catastrophic climate change and there are huge international conferences in which all kinds of diverse measures are discussed, and then there is a slew of recommendations. Experts, the so-called most intelligent people on the… read_more

Questioner: I have a reasonably well-paying job. It does not help me in liberation, but it is aligned with my aspiration to become financially independent and it provides me with some free time. My question is, how to identify the right action and utilize this time correctly? Recently I started… read_more

Questioner (Q): Sir, why should I care about global warming or any political situation in a country? If the world is unreal, then why do all these things matter?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You don’t care about global warming. Do you?

Q: But still, why should anyone care about global warming?… read_more

How do you, asks the chief of police, patrol a city, where the butcher shops are guarded by vultures, where bulls get pregnant, cows are barren, and calves give milk three times a day, where mice are the boatmen, and tomcats row the boats, where frogs keep snakes as watchdogs,… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: पिछली बार चंडीगढ़ तरफ़ से आया था जी,। आप से जुड़ा था। तबजब मैं अकेला आया था, बिलकुल हताश, परेशान था। आज मेरीमेरे साथ श्रीमती जी भी आईं हैं। मेरा प्रश्न यह है जी, जैसे संतों ने कहा है—

प्रेम-गली अति सांकरी, तामे दो न समाहिं। जब मैं था… read_more

A fellow reproducing blindly is a threat to the entire humanity. How is his family his personal matter? Somebody sets a bomb inside his home, and the bomb is powerful enough to bring down the entire building, not merely his apartment. Will you say, “It is his private matter. How… read_more

You must be wondering why I am speaking about this thing regarding procreation, regarding having kids. It is because this is the single most important issue facing you and me and the planet and the millions of species today. This is the one thing that man immediately, today, this moment,… read_more

Episodes of physical sickness are occasions when you can truly test how much spiritual mettle you have.

You do not want to deliberately have a sick body; as far as possible, avoid sickness. But then, sickness is inevitable, just as old age is inevitable. Sickness will come.

You need to… read_more

The shopkeeper’s business is to sell his goods, and that’s what most gurus of today are: they have to sell their goods. When that is what you want to do, how can you afford to antagonize a big chunk of the population? And you would never, never do that if… read_more

What is it that is keeping beef affordable? It is milk consumption, because it is in circulation.

You see, you have an asset; if the only thing that you can have from it is its flesh, then you will be required to firstly raise it to its maximum weight, and… read_more