One of the greatest gifts a writer can receive is not unquestioning agreement but thoughtful questions.
After reading my recent reflections on Mikey, selective compassion, consciousness, and our relationship with other sentient beings, one of my well-wishers sent me a detailed and respectful message.
Rather than dismissing my thoughts, she engaged with them.
She agreed with certain aspects, disagreed with others, and asked practical questions.
Some questions challenge our conclusions. Others refine them. Her thoughtful questions did both for me. In several places they even prompted me to look more deeply into my own assumptions, my own actions and for that I remain genuinely and ever grateful. ๐
Although I would have loved to reply immediately, I felt these questions deserved more than a hurried response. They truly invited me to pause, reflect, research further where necessary, and examine whether my own thinking needed refinement. Only after that process did I feel ready to respond.
As I reflected upon her message, I realized that many readers might share similar questions. Answering her privately would have remained a conversation between two people. Answering publicly, while preserving her anonymity, will answer similar questions that many others may have in future as well.
I therefore share this dialogue with immense heartfelt gratitude and humility.
Not because I believe I possess all the answers.
But because sincere questions deserve sincere reflection and conscious action.
Question 1
Justice for Mikey
"Why was Mikey not legally adopted or registered? Why did people grieve after his death instead of protecting him while he was alive?"
This is one of the most important questions raised.
I completely agree.
One reason Mikey's story affected me so deeply was because it made me wonder whether, as a society, we could have done more to protect him before tragedy struck.
Compassion cannot remain merely emotional.
Compassion must also become action.
His death reminded me that our legal systems and our communities need to become more proactive in protecting vulnerable beings before irreversible harm occurs.
Justice should not begin only after tragedy.
In fact, her question had an unexpected effect on me.
We have two affectionate community dogs living within our residential society. Rather than merely reflecting on Mikey's tragic story, I found myself asking a new question:
"What can I do today for the animals who are still alive?"
That simple shift in perspective changed something within me.
While reflecting upon this question, I began researching practical ways to improve their well-being and safety. I learnt about a tick-control powder for dogs, ordered it, and was able to use it on one of them (the other was not willing to cooperate!). I also purchased reflective collars so that they would be more visible to motorists at night, hoping this small step might reduce the risk of road accidents.
I am now exploring how community dogs can receive greater legal protection, what legal provisions already exist for their welfare and what role our housing society can play in that process. I still have much to learn, but at least the journey has begun.
Looking back, I realize that before her questions, my thoughts were largely focused on grieving Mikey's brutal and heartbreaking death.
Her question gently redirected my attention toward something equally important:
How can we help prevent another Mikey?
For that shift, from shock and grief to constructive action for the two community dogs in my building, I remain sincerely grateful to her.
Question 2
"Humans Have Always Eaten Meat!"
My well-wisher reminded me that human beings have historically consumed meat and that it provides rich nutrition.
I completely acknowledge this.
Animal foods provide valuable nutrients, and throughout history many societies such as the Inuit (igloo) and similar other communities have depended upon them because alternatives were unavailable.
My reflections were never intended to deny nutritional science.
They simply invite another question.
When modern circumstances provide many of us with alternatives... Do ethical questions also deserve consideration?
Nutrition answers one question.
Ethics asks another.
Science tells us what we can eat.
Ethics invites us to ask what we ought to do when multiple healthy choices and options are available to us.
These are two different conversations.
Both deserve respect.
Question 3
"But What About Protein?"
Protein is often raised as one of the strongest arguments in favour of eating meat.
Yet history and the modern world both provide numerous examples of humans who have achieved extraordinary strength, remarkable endurance including athletic excellence while following predominantly vegetarian or plant-based diets.
Traditional Indian pehalwaans, Shaolin monks, and contemporary athletes such as Carl Lewis, Lewis Hamilton, Patrik Baboumian, Scott Jurek, and Nimai Delgado remind us that exceptional feats and physical performance is possible without meat, although nutritional needs differ between individuals and every diet should be thoughtfully planned.
Many major nutrition organizations now recognize that well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets can support healthy living for many people, while also acknowledging that nutritional needs vary between individuals.
These examples are not presented to suggest that everyone should adopt the same diet, nor do they deny the importance of good nutrition. Rather, they demonstrate that the ethical discussion cannot be settled solely by appealing to protein or physical strength.
My reflection is simply this: if, for many people, good nutrition can be achieved through more than one approach, does it then become meaningful to ask what ethical responsibilities accompany that freedom of choice?
Does it invite us to reflect upon the suffering, the lives, and ultimately the deaths endured by the sentient beings who become food on our plates.
Perhaps the question is no longer simply, "Can this diet nourish me?"
Perhaps it also becomes, "What does this choice of mine ask of another conscious being who seeks to live, avoid suffering, and remain with those it knows, just as I would?"
When nutrition can be met through more than one approach, nutrition tells us what is possible. Ethics invites us to ask which path best reflects our own conscience.
Question 4
The Food Chain
Nature certainly has a food chain.
Lions hunt.
Eagles hunt.
Snakes hunt.
Because they must.
They do not cultivate crops.
They do not study nutrition.
They do not possess supermarkets.
Human beings, however, possess something unique.
Choice.
Agriculture.
Technology.
Nutritional science.
Moral reasoning.
The ability to survive in multiple ways.
Perhaps our capacity to choose and technical prowess also invites us to reflect upon how we exercise that freedom.
The existence of a food chain explains how nature functions. It does not, by itself, answer how moral beings with the capacity for reason, well-equipped with agriculture, nutritional science, technology and genuine freedom to choose among different food sources, ought to exercise that freedom when genuine alternatives exist.
I also wish to be transparent about my own journey. These reflections are not written from the perspective of someone who has already perfected every aspect of their life. After learning more about animal welfare concerns associated with the modern dairy industry, I have begun gradually reducing my own dairy consumption with the hope of eventually moving towards a vegan lifestyle. I know this will not happen overnight. Like many people, I live within family traditions and long-established habits. Becoming aware was my first step.
I hope, over time, to align my choices more closely with my conscience. I remain not a preacher, but a fellow traveller, still learning, still questioning, and still trying to live more consciously than I did yesterday.
Question 5
"What About Survival Situations?"
Another example raised was that of people stranded after a plane crash in snow who have survived by eating human flesh when there was no food in vicinity.
I completely agree.
Extreme survival situations belong to an entirely different ethical category.
When life itself hangs in the balance and no alternatives exist, survival instinct becomes extraordinarily strong.
My reflections were never directed towards such exceptional circumstances.
They concern ordinary life.
The choices we make every day when alternatives genuinely exist.
Those choices deserve to be examined differently from choices made under conditions of extreme necessity.
Question 6
"What Are You Actually Asking People To Do?"
Perhaps this is one of the most valuable questions of all!
My answer surprised even me as I reflected upon it.
I am not trying to tell people what they must eat.
Nor am I attempting to impose guilt.
Inclusive Compassion cannot be legislated into the human heart.
It has to arise from within, naturally.
My blogs simply invite readers to pause.
To reflect.
To ask questions that many of us, including myself, never thought to ask because our habits became so deeply normalized since childhood, that they no longer appeared to require self-examination.
For some people, that reflection may simply begin with a moment of gratitude before a meal, a silent acknowledgement that another living being, whether animal or plant, has contributed to sustaining our own life.
For others, it may inspire reducing meat consumption...
or exploring more humane alternatives...
or gradually moving towards a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle...
or it may change nothing at all.
Each of these remains a deeply personal choice.
Awareness cannot be forced.
Only invited.
I have come to realize that awareness is not the destination; it is the beginning of an honest conversation with one's own conscience.
Being honest about my own journey of looking to become vegan by reducing all animal milk based diet, I am not writing as someone who has already arrived at all the answers. After becoming aware about the nuances of modern dairy industry, I have myself begun seriously looking to reduce my milk consumption with the hope of eventually moving towards a vegan lifestyle. I know this is unlikely to happen overnight. Meaningful and lasting change often takes time. For me, becoming aware was the first step.
The choices I make tomorrow may not be exactly the same as the choices I made today or yesterday.
And perhaps that is what growth looks like.
Not perfection.
But a sincere willingness to keep aligning one's actions a little more closely with one's conscience.
Question 7
"Are Non-Vegetarians Less Compassionate?"
Question 8
"Is This Hypocrisy?"
Initially I wondered whether human beings were hypocritical.
The more I reflected...
the less convinced I became.
Today I feel that perhaps hypocrisy is not the most accurate word.
Conditioning is.
We grieve deeply when suffering belongs to those we identify as "ours."
The suffering of other conscious beings often remains outside our field of moral awareness.
Not necessarily because we lack compassion.
But because we inherited invisible boundaries around whom our compassion naturally includes.
Perhaps one of humanity's greatest blind spots is not that we lack compassion.
Perhaps it is that we have unconsciously learned where to stop extending it.
Question 9
"How Much of What We Believe Is Truly Our Own?"
This thoughtful question asked me whether these reflections are simply a natural consequence of my being born into a Jain family.
I believe that is a very fair question.
The truth is, my upbringing has undoubtedly influenced me.
Being born into a Jain family introduced me to the idea of ahimsa (non-violence) from an early age. Later, my interest in Vipassana meditation and the teachings of Lord Buddha encouraged me to observe suffering more carefully and cultivate greater compassion. It would be unrealistic to pretend that these influences have played no role in shaping my thinking and behaviour.
Yet, upon deeper reflection, I began to wonder whether they were the whole story.
Many people born into Jain families choose to eat meat. Others never question dairy or never feel drawn towards veganism.
Many people practise Vipassana and continue eating meat.
Equally, many vegetarians and vegans come from families, cultures, and religions where meat-eating is the norm.
This suggests that while our upbringing undoubtedly influences us, it does not completely determine the choices we eventually make.
That realization led me to a deeper question:
"If I had been born into another family, another culture, another religion, or another part of the world, would I be asking these same questions—or entirely different ones?"
Perhaps that question is not mine alone.
Perhaps it belongs to all of us.
None of us chooses the family into which we are born.
None of us chooses our first language, our earliest customs, or the moral assumptions that quietly surround us in childhood.
Every one of us begins life by inheriting a worldview long before we are capable of examining it.
The real challenge, I believe, is not to reject everything we inherit, nor to accept it unquestioningly.
Rather, it is to examine our inherited beliefs with honesty, to retain those that withstand reflection, refine those that deepen with understanding, and remain open to changing those that no longer align with our conscience.
Perhaps that is what it means to grow.
Not merely to inherit values.
But to consciously choose them.
The Question I Ultimately Ask Myself
Whether we ultimately change our choices or not remains deeply personal.
The question I now ask myself is not:
"What should everyone else do?"
It is:
"How many of my convictions are truly my own, and how many did I inherit long before I was old enough to question them?"
"If I possess the freedom to choose, am I willing to examine those choices through the lenses of awareness?"
I ask these questions not to judge anyone.
I ask them because I have begun asking them of myself.
A Personal Note About Perspective
Before concluding these reflections, I wish to share something about myself.
Every human being is shaped by family, culture, education, friendships, books, mentors, life experiences, suffering, and moments of grace.
I was born into a loving Gujarati Jain family, and I remain deeply grateful to my parents for the countless sacrifices they made for me.
My parents gave me life, love, and values. Yet, like many people, my inner world was also profoundly shaped by books, teachers, experiences, and the questions that life itself placed before me.
Like every parent and every child, however, we do not think alike on every subject.
That is neither a criticism of them nor a rejection of my upbringing
It is simply the natural journey of every human being.
As we grow, each of us gradually develops our own understanding of life, our own values and the principles by which we choose to live.
Some of my perspectives have undoubtedly been positively influenced by my parents.
Many others have been shaped by remarkable teachers whom I have never met personally, authors whose books became silent companions during different phases of my life.
Books have often been among my greatest mentors.
My Many years in medicine...
My legal journey.
My spiritual exploration.
My encounters with suffering.
My search for justice.
My study of philosophy, psychology, science, religion, and consciousness.
Each has quietly contributed to the person I continue to become.
For that reason, I never expect those closest to me to explain my worldview on my behalf.
Just as I could never fully explain theirs.
Each of us speaks from the landscape of our own experiences.
For that reason, I hope these reflections are read simply as what they are:
My own reflections.
Not the official views of my culture, tradition or even my own family.
Not the views of my community.
Simply the thoughts of one imperfect human being trying to understand life a little more honestly than yesterday.
A Heartfelt Thank You
Finally, I wish to thank the thoughtful wellwisher, her questions inspired meaningful actions as well as these reflections.
She reminded me that respectful disagreement often teaches us more than easy agreement, if we are willing to let sincere questions challenge our assumptions rather than merely defend them.
She helped me realize that my writing is not about persuading people to become like me.
It is about encouraging all of us, including myself, to ask certain questions to ourselves and make choices that align with our own conscience after thoughtful reflection.
Whether those choices ultimately change or remain the same is for each individual conscience to decide.
If these reflections encourage even one more sincere conversation like the one I was fortunate enough to have with this thoughtful reader, then I shall consider these blogs to have already served a meaningful purpose.
Because perhaps the search for truth is rarely a solitary journey.
More often, it is a dialogue between minds willing to question...
hearts willing to be open to listen...
and consciences willing to grow.
If, after reading these reflections, someone chooses to continue exactly as before, but does so with greater awareness than yesterday, then I believe this dialogue has still been worthwhile.
Forever A Humble Seeker of Truth & The Divine.
เซ ✝ ☪ ๐ ๐ฏ ☮ ☸ ๐ ⛪ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฆ
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