Today’s Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants will be presented in Hindi and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Everywhere in the world, we can observe and be touched by acts of kindness. People from all walks of life, faiths, and cultures extend themselves beyond the call of duty to help others unconditionally. Through their noble deeds, humanity as a whole is elevated.

To commend virtuous actions and encourage more people to be inspired by their examples, Supreme Master Ching Hai has lovingly created a series of awards, including the Shining World Leadership Award, Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Inventor Award, to recognize some of the most exemplary, generous, caring, and courageous people who walk amongst us.

Maneka Gandhi is a vegan Indian politician, passionate environmentalist, animal protector, advocate for the plant-based diet and author of many thoughtful books in the areas of etymology, law and animal welfare.

Be it a withering plant on a drying riverbed, an injured sloth bear in captivity, or a hungry child on the street, in Maneka Gandhi’s eyes their lives are equally important – indeed, interdependent. A powerful voice speaking up for the voiceless, Ms. Gandhi is committed to protecting Mother Earth, animals and humans from all forms of exploitation.

If you really want to save the world, you have to stop looking at the differences, and see everything as one, everything, because it is. The person who cuts a leaf harms me as much as the person who burns down a forest, as much as the person who runs a slaughterhouse, as much as the person who puts a choke chain on his dog, as much as the person who abandons the cat because he’s got a new baby at home. All this leads to violence. If we could just stop that, it will be such a fun world to live in.

Ms. Gandhi began her advocacy work at the age of 27 after deep contemplation regarding what she could do for the people of India. To bring her caring ideals to the wider community, she entered politics and won her first election in 1989, becoming a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament.

She remains a Member of Parliament to this day and her compassionate policies and visions represent the hopes of the noble Indian people. She has also served as a minister in four Cabinets. Maneka Gandhi’s heart which has always remained in environmental and animal justice, led her to help create India’s first Department for Animal Welfare and serve as its minister.

I believe that the animal welfare movement has to be a serious scientific movement, as good as any other. So we have to decide what is the equivalent of leather? What should schools study? Should we have an animal welfare course in universities?

In 1992, Ms. Gandhi started the non-profit group People for Animals, which quickly became the largest animal rights and welfare organization in India.

We save about 5,000 animals a day. It's not a lot, but it's something. And we do it without any government grants. We do it without any money at all. We have 31 shelters. We have 180 units. We have about 300 to 400 pleas for help coming in every day. Every single day, I interact with people who are mean to animals. I get the police to deal with them. I intervene at every level, somebody’s neighbor who’s mean to her dog gets a call from me. Ministers get a call from me. Administrators have to deal with me.

In 1995, Ms. Gandhi was appointed chairwoman of India’s Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals, a federal government agency which exposes and stops animal cruelty occurring in research laboratories. She also helped implement a national ban on the use of animals in circus performances.

I made all the environmental laws for India. The coastal regulation zones, the pollution laws, the air laws, the water laws, the transport laws, the slaughterhouse laws, I wrote the first law, apart from the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals Act, it's an accumulation of all the laws on animals which has been formed since People for Animals was made.

And now it's taught in 112 universities in India. Then I wrote 38 booklets, so that people would know how to set up a (animal) shelter, how to run it, how to look after donkeys, and how to look after monkeys. I wrote India's first (animal) first aid book, because nobody knew what first aid was about for animals.

Under Ms. Gandhi’s wise leadership, better national conservation policies have been implemented and she has supported the country’s vegetarians by helping enact a food purity law.

I started something called the Green Dot and the Red Dot which you have on all food products now because otherwise people didn’t know what were vegetarian and non-vegetarian. So a lot of products that claimed to be vegetarian were non-vegetarian because they had gelatin.

Ms. Gandhi has even hosted nationally-broadcast television programs. One program was called “Maneka’s Ark,” a weekly talk show about animals. Another program was “Heads and Tails,” a series that exposed cases of animal exploitation in India.

It was a program which showed you how a chicken became a chicken sandwich. And how a pig became ham. And how people did animal sacrifices. And how people carried chickens upside down, you know? And it identified people who broke the law. And it showed you two good people and two bad people. I mean not bad people, bad institutions, bad things, two good things. And it turned a whole generation vegetarian. (Wow.) I still get approached by hundreds of people saying, “You know Mrs. Gandhi, when I was young, I saw this program and I didn’t ever touch meat again.”

Why did Ms. Gandhi chose to be vegan?

I simply cannot see the difference between a two-legged animal and a four-legged one. And I can’t see them think differently. I can’t see them love differently. I can’t see them talk differently. We have to respect them, as they respect us. In almost every which way, they’re cleverer than us. They can fly. They can navigate. They can make straight lines without rulers. They can do millions of things we can’t do. So to simply destroy a superior species, or to eat somebody who’s related to you, you know genetically, the closest relation to a human is the pig. So to eat your first cousins, seems to me to be gross.

It takes intelligence to be a vegan. It’s wonderful to see in India all the people at the top of the game, are all vegetarian. The richest community in India is not by any coincidence vegetarian. It’s because God brings luck to it. The Jains don’t have a single poor person in entire community.

What would Ms. Gandhi’s like to do next to better animal welfare in India?

What would I like to do? What is my great dream? It’s to get the money to start a veterinary college. The People for Animals Veterinary College.

For her outstanding work in safeguarding vulnerable animals and the fragile environment as well as promoting veganism Supreme Master China Hai honored Maneka Gandhi with the Shining World Compassion Award. A warm letter to Ms. Gandhi accompanied the splendid crystal Award plaque given to her, the following of which is an excerpt:

Your kindness, enthusiasm, and devotion to saving both animals and our environment is an inspirational example of love in action – exemplifying the meaning of Ahimsa. Thank you for all you have done to ennoble humanity by awakening us to universal kindness and the wisdom of compassion. You are making a significant difference to the uplifting of human consciousness and to the betterment of life on Earth, for all her precious inhabitants.

For selfless dedication to the welfare of animals, for tireless exertion to save the environment, for the nobility of your vision, wisdom and creativity, and for using your prestigious position of influence to serve all that is righteous and good, we applaud and celebrate the outstanding compassionate deeds of Ms. Maneka Gandhi. With Great Honour, Love, and Blessings, Supreme Master Ching Hai

Thank you again and I am honored by this award.

On Supreme Master Ching Hai’s behalf our Association member presented Ms. Gandhi with a check for US$20,000 to further the mission of People For Animals, Supreme Master Ching Hai’s #1 international best-sellers, “The Birds In My Life” and “The Noble Wilds” as well as some of her DVDs and CDs.

The world needs the Supreme Master very, very much. I wish there were thousands like her. There is a belief amongst our gurus that if 40,000 enlightened souls sat together and wanted the same thing at the same time, especially world enlightenment, they could do it. I wish the Supreme Master would organize it. I’m sure she can.

After the Award ceremony, Ms. Gandhi’s representative sent Supreme Master Ching Hai the following letter.

Honourable Supreme Master Ching Hai, This is with reference to the Shining World Compassion Award conferred on Ms. Maneka Gandhi earlier this year to help further her cause of protecting the animals and saving the environment. Accordingly, Ms. Maneka Gandhi has transferred the entire amount of US$20,000 to the non-profit charitable Trust that she heads, People For Animals to be solely used for the benefit of animals and the environment. We should be most grateful to receive your blessings for this work. With Humble Respects, Ambika Shukla For Maneka Gandhi Chairperson People For Animals

Ms. Gandhi, the world is fortunate to have upright individuals like yourself who speak out without hesitation on behalf of our animal friends. You truly set a model example for everyone to follow.

Be Veg, Go Green 2 Save the Planet!

For more information on People For Animals, please visit www.PeopleForAnimalsIndia.org

Generous viewers, thank you for joining us today on our program. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May we all live and let live.