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ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಿ - Krishna Shastry
ಪ್ರಾಣಿ ಹಕ್ಕುಗಳು, ಶುದ್ಧ ಸಸ್ಯಾಹಾರ, ಪರಿಸರ, ಆರೋಗ್ಯ ಇವೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಒಳಗೊಂಡ ವೀಗನಿಸಂ ಎಂಬ ತತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ನಂಬಿಕೆ ಇಟ್ಟಿರುವ ಒಬ್ಬ ಸರಳ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ ನಾನು.
ನನ್ನ ಇತರ ಆಸಕ್ತಿಗಳೆಂದರೆ ನೀತಿಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ, ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ನೀತಿಸಂಹಿತೆಗಳು, ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ಆರೋಗ್ಯ, ಆವಿಷ್ಕಾರಗಳು, ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆ, ಭಾಷಾನೀತಿಗಳು ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ.

I am a simple Kannadiga following veganism, that cares about animal rights, pure vegetarianism, environment and health.
My other interest include ethics, public healthcare, public policies, innovation, science & technology, Kannada language and linguistic policies.
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Friday, June 15, 2012

Karuna Society, for Animals and Nature – Puttaparthi


Introduction

I happened to visit Puttaparthi for couple of days and during this trip I got a wonderful opportunity to interact with Clementien, President of Karuna Society for Animals and Nature: http://www.karunasociety.org/

Among many things, I also learnt about their unique organic farming project:

Excerpts from the discussion

Our discussion mainly revolved around organic farming, animal rights, human-animal relationships and veganism. I found Karuna Society’s vision, balancing act etc. to be quite interesting and I could easily see that their attempts are very honest.

At Karuna Society, they believe that it is practically impossible to produce organic and healthy grains, vegetables etc. in large quantities for the current population without help from animals, their muscle power. They don’t see tractors as perfect solution because of their bad effect on soil. However, they firmly believe in working together with animals and looking after them with love and care, and definitely not in misusing them or slaughtering them.

Milking cattle is a thing that they oppose, and they have observed that entire government policies are deeply flawed because such policies promote more milking, reduction of male cattle, more usage of artificial ways of farming etc. Through several practical examples, people in Karuna Society have observed that there are still many compassionate farmers and farming techniques in India, and these are fast eroding due to bad overall policies. Their attempt is to revive the good farming culture or at least keep them alive.

People at Karuna Society feel that vegans should not turn blind eyes towards ground realities and remain arguing only on limited technical lines. For ex: most of the so called vegan food that we eat are still associated with lot of cruelty on cattle. Even most of the organic food are also not exceptions. So, is it not better to help and support organizations like Karuna Society who honestly try to do a great balancing act? Eventually we may together realize a perfect world where we completely stop being dependent on animals – but until then we need to choose what is best available option.

Field Trip

I felt it would be nice if vegans visit them with open mind and learn more about/from their practical experiences. Hence, I am planning a field trip to this place sometime in September. (It is Karuna Society’s recommendation to arrange this after couple of months because farming will be more active during that time after the rains.) If you are interested, feel free to contact me (doesn’t matter if you are a vegan or not).

Details at a high level are as below; at the moment I am just gauging the initial level of interest, I will create a refined formal event soon. Meanwhile, subscribe for this thread for updates.

Trip Timeframe: September 2012, one of the weekends

Distance from Bengaluru: Around 150km.

Travel Options: KSRTC a/c non-a/c bus facility available; roads are nice and you can have a nice drive also if you wish.

Eating Options: There is a nice healthy eatery (almost organic + almost vegan) at Puttaparthi where we can have nice food: http://swamyskitchen.com/ (There are many other regular Indian food options also).

Accommodation: Good accommodation available at rates cheaper than Bengaluru. (Ex: Sai towers offers very good single non-a/c room for Rs.550/- per day and a/c for Rs.1000/- with 24 hour checkin-checkout). Maybe something cheaper/better can also be worked out, lets see.
 


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Update on Field Trip (27 Aug 2012)

The plan at a high level is as below:

- Start from Bengaluru on Sep 22nd (Saturday)
- Stay overnight at Puttaparthi
- Return on 23rd (Sunday)

- Accommodation & Activities: Planning in progress

An event has been created in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/273670789399123/

It would be convenient if you respond to this event through Facebook, but alternatively you can confirm by posting comment on this blog or emailing me personally also.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.

Regards,
Krishna.

6 comments:

Organic Farmer said...

Sir
I would like to know more about this trip. I am from Chennai. MY mail ID rdpgiri@gmail.com.

Thanks & Best WIshes

Giri

Anonymous said...

Please let me know when you plan on taking this trip. mithuvin_mithuvin@hotmail.com

Shankar Narayan said...

I understand your view point, Krishna. I agree that a staunch vegan need not be 100% vegan as he or she has to depend upon others to get his so called vegan food. At the same time, I also believe that institutionalising animal usage, in whatever context, is counter-productive for animal rights theory and it helps only in legitimising the exploitation of animals and in the long run,so called 'taking care of animals like family members' certainly backfires. Therefore, I appreciate a policy wherein we strive to avoid all animal products and services in our life, advocate a total ban on animal usage.
With respect and regards,
Shankar Narayan

ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಿ - Krishna Shastry said...

Dear Shankar,

I totally understand your viewpoint. I am not advocating usage of animals. But if we are not producing our own food, we cannot hide from the fact that animals are indeed used in most of the (so called) vegan food production as well. Is there a practical solution to this?

When we don't have lot of choices to buy various kinds of food (from the source perspective), these kinds of efforts do need recognition. And during the course of our observation and interaction, if we can suggest them to further minimize animal usage, we should do so.

Regards,
Krishna.

Anonymous said...

we may together realize a perfect world where we completely stop being dependent on animals - sounds like a very sad place to me. there is no perfection in anything and we need to be flexible, tolerant and alow the flow of creation to take place. there is not one perfect solution for any problem, and viewpoints, lifestyles will always differ. that is what life on beautiful planet earth is all about. Tolearnce, adjustment and lots of compromise will be necessary, not our take on what perfect life should be. Sorry, but i love diversity too much, would not want to live in the perfect place someone else envisages.

Unknown said...

Probably the apex of spiritual pilgrimages, Puttaparthi was the abode of Sathya Sai Baba who was considered the reincarnation of Sai Baba.The place draws many followers and for accommodation, check out these hotels in Puttaparthi based on your budget and requirements.

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