This book by Acharya Prashant is a compilation of his honest insights on meat-consumption, its impacts, and critique of the human tendency to recklessly consume, dominate, proliferate; leading to the destruction of mankind. Acharya Prashant justly highlights and reinforces spirituality as the real solution to the global crisis in the light of ancient wisdom. The fundamental problem is the darkness of human mind. And only spiritual wisdom can heal it.

Acharya Prashant explicitly rejects the idea that eating animals is the same as eating plants. He argues that we must consume that which causes the minimum damage to consciousness.He says that this argument is often just an excuse used by meat-eaters. From an ecological standpoint, raising animals for meat requires far more plant-based agriculture (to feed the livestock) than a purely plant-based diet, making a meat-eater responsible for exponentially more plant and animal deaths.

Treating the consumption of fruits and vegetables and animals as equivalent ignores the pain and longing for freedom that animals experience.He concludes that while some may seek loopholes or excuses to continue eating meat, those who are honestly seeking truth will recognize the necessity of empathy and non-violence.

Our emotions and actions reveal what is really running us. Anger, anxiety, avoidance, or pride are not random. They point to something deeper within us.

The first step is to observe ourselves honestly, without bias. But that is not easy because the one doing the observing is often the same mind that is biased.

It quickly finds reasons and justifications, making us feel as if we have understood ourselves, while nothing actually changes.

Real self-understanding begins when we are willing to see something uncomfortable about ourselves without immediately trying to defend or explain it away. That willingness does not come automatically. It is a choice we have to make every time.

Acharya Prashant the philosopher who teaches Advaita Vedanta, the pinnacle of ancient Indian wisdom literature which is rooted in self awareness and liberation repeatedly says that veganism is the modern name for compassion. He teaches that true spiritual awakening and non-violence naturally result in veganism. However, he warns that if veganism is not rooted in deep spiritual understanding, passion for the cause degenerates into an empty trend, ego-driven superiority, or commercial gimmickry.

His teachings emphasize several critical aspects of this lifestyle.
He states that one should embrace veganism not merely out of pity for animals, but as an act of self-interest in achieving spiritual freedom. Violence towards other beings is, in essence, violence against one's own self. For example people embracing veganism without self realization may be producing more children and increasing carbon footprints.

He cautions against using veganism as an elite fashion statement or a surface-level dietary choice while the rest of one's life remains driven by greed and ignorance. Without inner transformation, passion for the cause loses its meaning.

He says that one cannot be truly spiritual and violent at the same time. True compassion means recognizing the interconnectedness of all life and taking action to end exploitation. His teachings show us the path to end speciesism.

He has consistently advocated against the mistreatment of animals used for food and made millions of humans aware of the perils of consuming them and “products” stolen from them, highlighting how vegan living linked to true spirituality is a solution to the global crises of poor health and environmental damage.

The last few weeks have been phenomenal. Now when the world is struggling with external crises, a powerful voice from India is actively reshaping how we view global responsibility and human consciousness. Modern philosopher and Vedanta exegete Acharya Prashant is on UK tour, bringing profound Eastern wisdom to the heart of the Western world.

Watching an Indian philosopher command the most prestigious academic and political stages in the world isn't just a moment of national pride, it's an awakening for humanity.

Acharya Prashant's approach is rapidly gaining traction globally, particularly in Western countries. By presenting ancient Indian wisdom like the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita as a practical, scientific philosophy rather than dogmatic religion, he bridges the gap between material success and inner peace for modern, global audiences.

Here is why his message is resonating so deeply in the West. He is presenting a fresh, urgent look at what it means to be human in the 21st century. He is challenging individuals to deeply examine their inherited beliefs and compulsive behaviors.

He points out that external crises like climate change cannot be solved without inner inquiry. His famous quote, “the climate crisis is the ego made atmospheric.”is resonating with people from all walks of life.

He says in his down to earth and honest demeanor that he isn't offering exotic gems or mysticism, but rather a mirror to see the self clearly. His message bridges Vedanta and self-knowledge with modern crises like climate change.

Experiences do not teach. Time does not teach. Suffering does not teach. Only honest seeing, combined with the intention to understand oneself, turns experience into wisdom. Without that intention, life merely repeats itself, and the ego grows stronger with every passing year.

As ancient wisdom meets the modern world, the ultimate message remains clear: the only revolution that truly matters is the revolution of the inner self.

The incident where a young boy was killed by his fiancée and her boyfriend is in the limelight since last few days. Everybody is sympathizing with the boy and his family and condemning the incident. But if we delve deeper and try to go to the root cause is the girl solely responsible? What about both the families who coerced the younger couple into an engagement knowing the girl likes somebody else? The girl was barely twenty. Did she know herself or did the parents know themselves? All of them following the conditioned patterns of the society.

Murders by boyfriends, girlfriends, or spouses are rarely sudden, isolated crimes of passion. These are the tragic culmination of deep, invisible, and long-standing toxicity that simmers within relationships based on societal conditioning, possessiveness, and superficial attraction.

The education system and society fail to teach the youth the true meaning of relationships. By focusing on early marriage and romantic pursuits as life's ultimate goals, society traps individuals in roles they are not mentally or emotionally mature enough to handle.
Society often glorifies attachment as a holy bond, blinding individuals to the abuse cooking right in front of them. When women try to step out of conditioned roles or seek personal autonomy, the underlying violence manifests grotesquely.

The root of this violence lies in a society that suppresses individual choice and prioritizes family reputation over personal well-being. The pressure on parents to 'marry off' their daughters seen as a burden to be shed creates a volatile environment.

Unless the foundation of how we perceive relationships and gender changes, such tragic incidents will continue to occur. Liberation does not begin with outer reform but with seeing rightly.

With every new headline, let us be reminded that what shocks us has always been waiting beneath our silence.

This ambience is narrating a story that sounds all too familiar.

These lines don’t just describe the silence in the surroundings, it points towards a deeper truth of our lives.
If you look closely, our life too feels like a recurring story. The same desires, the same expectations, the same struggles, the same disappointments.

As children we feel that once studies are over, everything will be fine. Then we think that once we get a job, we’ll find peace. Then we feel that if we get money, a house, a family, or status, life will become successful.
The storyline seems to change, but the inner structure often remains the same. Again and again we run in the same direction from which, even earlier, we had found only restlessness.

We want to change the results, but we do not look at ourselves.

We change circumstances, but we do not understand the root of our desires.

We write new chapters, but we carry our old mistakes along with us.

That’s why the story of life remains “all too familiar” until we ask, the happiness I am looking for who is it really that is searching for it?

Am I truly doing something new? Or am I just repeating the old patterns under new names? Is my running born of understanding, or is it merely the pull of habit and the crowd?

The real beginning of change in life happens when we start observing our own inner movements more than the outer events. Only then does that same old story begin to crack, and the possibility of something new entering life arises.

A beautiful initiative by Milton Mondal.

For the past few months, Acharya Ji’s students living in Germany have also started putting up bookstalls here. So far, such stalls have been set up twice. Last Sunday I too had the opportunity to serve at one of the bookstalls, and I learnt a lot while speaking with people.

At the place where we were, selling books was not allowed, so we created a “Free Reading Zone” where people could come and read books free of cost. This was set up in the middle of a food festival happening in a park. Most people had come there to take food for the body, while the theme of our stall was “Food for the Mind”.

To attract people, we had also arranged two interesting activities. In the first one, there was a spinning wheel with different emotions and matching facial expressions. According to the emotion a person picked, we would suggest a relevant chapter from one of Acharya Ji’s books for them to read.

The second activity aimed to help people understand why a vegan diet is necessary and how our inner problems, restlessness, and dissatisfaction drive us towards overconsumption and environmental crises. For this, we had prepared some questions and awareness-based facts, through which people got a chance to reflect on these issues.

The weather, however, was not very good. It was cloudy throughout the day and there was the possibility of rain. Yet, in that dark and cold atmosphere, this bookstall felt like a small source of light. Over the whole day, I got the chance to speak with more than fifty new people, and among them, around twenty were given Acharya Ji’s books suited to their situations and problems.

From my personal experience, talking to many people made it very clear that the fundamental solution to most of our problems lies in self realization. Some people expressed a wish to stay connected with us in the future and shared their names and details. A very heartwarming sight was when two small children came to the stall. The children chose books for themselves: one picked up “Gyaan Masti” and the other chose the book “Navratri”. Seeing the children’s interest, their parents also stayed back to talk, and they too came to know about Acharya Ji’s work.

We had also hoped that if we could get some kind of stage, we would share the message with people through songs as well. Although this time we didn’t get such an opportunity, it didn’t feel like a loss. Earlier, such things might have disturbed the mind, but this time we had such meaningful work to do that we did not really feel the lack of having a performance slot. We used that time instead to connect with even more people, talk to them, and introduce them to the books.

Through this entire experience, I got the chance to meet people from all walks of life—from doctors to students, from children to the elderly—and to understand their present condition. Had I not come into Acharya Ji’s company, this weekend too would probably have passed like any other, either in office work or in casual outings. But through this service, I got an opportunity to connect with people and make a small effort in the direction of helping them move out of their troubles. At the same time, I got to understand myself at a deeper level. That has been the greatest gain of the entire day.

I was traveling to India a few days ago and had the opportunity to watch the movie Barbie. I had been wanting to watch this movie since a long time. Although I was tired, I started watching and within a few minutes into the movie I was wide eyed and fully engrossed. I started deciphering the movie in the spiritual context.

Barbie land represents reverse patriarchy where feminism is the norm. Barbie begins as a plastic projection of an ideal. Suddenly one day amidst her dancing and partying, she just stops and says , “Do you guys ever think of dying ?” She discovers imperfection, aging and death. She gets disturbed by all this and sets out on a journey into the real world to understand all this. Ken also accompanies her. The real world shows the deep social conditioning and patriarchy stamped everywhere, sometimes vulgar and loud and sometimes clouded and hidden but subtly present. Ken discovers patriarchy and loves it and brings it back into Barbie land and turns it into Ken land.

In the end Barbie chooses to become a real woman with a body that ages.

Now if I look at this climax honestly, did Barbie find herself ? She chose a human story instead of a plastic one. She traded one ego identity for another one. The journey ends with her become more of herself, not less of herself.

Genuine understanding does not lead you to become an inflated ego of the previous one. The destination of real self enquiry is not ego fattening but ego thinning.

Barbie’s journey is moving because the ego loves it. It validates the search. It says your suffering will lead you to a fuller life. Isn’t that the ego’s favorite story ?

If you watched this movie which scene appealed to you the most
and made you stop and reflect ?

Who says Advaita is dry? The structure of classical Advaita gives birth to wonderfully beautiful creations. These lines were uttered by Acharyaji when he gave a beautiful interpretation of this book. “The Little Prince” may seem like a simple story, but it holds deep spiritual and Advaitic messages within.

In the story, the Little Prince’s world is filled with innocence and honesty or you could say an unconditioned ego. The prince visits different planets, where he meets adults with strange habits and all entangled in their ego and social statuses. These characters show how adult life is full of social conditioning. Each adult symbolizes a particular mental state and social conditioning.

Ultimately, he comes to Earth, where the fox teaches him the meaning of love and taming. “To make someone yours means to establish a relationship with them.” This line had me thinking that to the conditioned adult ego taming the other means control, manipulation, expectation or demand. Most relationships are taming be it husband wife relationship, boss employee relationship or parent child relationship. Genuine relating is the opposite. It is the willingness to be dissolved by the other’s presence.
But sadly that does not happen. Two egos attempting to secure themselves through each other, each trying to make the other fit the shape of their own need!
.

Made this simple vegan muffins . Very simple recipe . Mix together one and half cups all purpose flour and one and half cups of almond flour . Add two teaspoons baking soda , half teaspoon salt , half teaspoon cinnamon powder and two cups coconut sugar . Blend three bananas with oat milk .Add this to the dry ingredients along with one and one fourth cups cooking almond oil , three tablespoons fruit vinegar and two tablespoons vanilla essence . Fold everything together without mixing too much . If batter is too thick muffins won’t rise . Add milk to get desired consistency . To make chocolate muffins add one fourth cups cocoa and two tablespoons coffee powder .Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes or till toothpick inserted is clean . Makes about 24 small sized muffins .

To rightly define the relationship of the ego with time it can be said that the ego is the product of the mind .
The ego is completely bound by time and space. It lives in past regrets and future desires because it feels inherently incomplete and restless.
Acharya Prashant the spiritual philosopher explains that the ego is time. The mind’s movement is time .The continuous activity, chatter, and movement of the mind create the concept of time. To move beyond the ego means to realize that the core of your being is timeless and unmoving, observing the passing events of the world without being affected by them. l

In India, the consumption of ultra-processed food is rising rapidly, and with it the crisis of obesity and diabetes.

According to a recently published Lancet study, per capita annual sales of ultra-processed food (UPF) in India have nearly tripled over the last one and a half decades. Packaged snacks, sugary drinks, instant noodles and ready-to-eat meals are quickly becoming a part of people’s everyday routine.

Experts have warned that this shift is fueling illnesses like obesity, diabetes and heart disease. India is already among the countries most affected by diabetes, with more than 100 million people struggling with it. At the same time, according to NFHS-5, every fourth adult in India is overweight or obese.

The study points out that large food companies are making inroads into smaller towns and rural areas through aggressive marketing. Children and young people, in particular, are being rapidly drawn in, in the name of convenience and taste.

Experts say that ultra-processed food contains excessive sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, while offering very little nutrition. This is not only a health crisis, but also a crisis of our lifestyle and our consciousness.

🌟 AP Framework’s perspective

Sales of ultra-processed food in India have tripled. More than 100 million people are grappling with diabetes. Every fourth adult is overweight or obese. Doctors are issuing warnings, companies are writing “health” on the same products and selling them, and consumers are buying them in the name of taste and convenience. Because information alone is not enough. What is needed is the honesty to truly see.

The company says, “We only sell what people demand.” The consumer says, “I don’t have time.” The government says, “We are spreading awareness.” But no one asks why we adopted such a lifestyle in the first place, where natural food started feeling like a burden and packets started feeling like convenience.

Ego always chooses immediate pleasure. It wants taste, speed and stimulation. It does not see that the price of this convenience is being paid by the body. The body has been turned from fuel into entertainment.

In a system where children are sold junk food through colorful advertisements, where packaging sells more than nutrition, the problem is not just about food. It is about the direction of our consciousness. Ego looks only at its own instant gratification.

A person knows what is harmful, yet keeps repeating the same thing. Because the problem is not lack of information, but inner incompleteness. The restlessness within tries to fill itself with external tastes. But whatever is empty inside cannot be filled by any packet.

Laws, warnings and labels are necessary, but they cannot change the consciousness that has turned even food into an object of consumption and entertainment. Change begins when a person honestly asks: what am I eating, and why?

This tiny baby was found running on the highway . Someone rescued him and he was placed under a rescue group . We fostered him till he found a forever home .

2025 officially became the ninth consecutive year to set a global record for ocean heat content, according to a study in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

The volume of energy trapped in the world's oceans is equivalent to detonating nearly 10 atomic bombs every single second, every day of the year.

Oceans absorb over 90 percent of the excess heat generated by human activity, making them the planet's primary buffer against atmospheric warming.

Scientists warn this relentless accumulation is directly fuelling more intense hurricanes, accelerating sea level rise and pushing marine ecosystems to the edge.