Ruchika Chitrabhanu was born and raised in a Jain family and pursued her Master’s in Philosophy in Jainism. Inspired by Gurudev Chitrabhanu and Smt. Pramoda Chitrabhanu, Ruchika has been a vegan for over seventeen years, and she raises awareness about animal compassion and the benefits of following a vegan lifestyle through events and festivals in India. She is a co-founder of Ahimsafest, India’s largest vegan festival, she also co-founded The Earthen One, an events platform to help people transition to a vegan lifestyle, and she is a board member of Jain Vegan Initiative. Ruchika will be a keynote presenter at our upcoming Ahimsa Vegan Conference.

Resources:

Ahimsa Vegan Conference- August 26 & 27. 2023

Gurudev Chitrabhanu and Smt. Pramoda Chitrabhanu

AhimsaFest in India

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Compassionate Living

Hope for the Animals Podcast

Today on the podcast we have Brialle Ringer joining us. Brialle is a breathwork, yoga, and meditation guide, vegan fairy goddess, and embodied leadership coach on a mission to support changemakers lead with greater ease, joy, and passion. Drawing from her degree in Social Work, certifications in Yoga, Integrative Energy Healing, and Plant Based Nutrition, Brialle takes a trauma-informed, healing centered, and holistic approach to her work.

Brialle share with Hope how her wholistic healing journey expanded into a service for the vegan community. She talks about the importance of feeling the grief and anger around the state of the world and channeling those feelings in a supportive system and healing environment. Brialle offers suggestions on ways to ground yourself emotionally and physically so we can break free of “grind culture” and embody a more sustainable work/life balance. She also talks about the work she does with the Global Majority Caucus focused on supporting black, brown, and indigenous people of color who are working in animal and vegan advocacy.

Resources:

Brialle’s Website

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Compassionate Living

Hope for the Animals Podcast

On today’s episode we have a recurring guest joining us, Hope’s husband, Cogen Bohanec. Hope and Cogen start us off with a big announcement and then Cogen discusses his work as a constructive theologian in the Dharma Traditions and how he connects Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Dharma with environmental and animal rights issues. He talks about eco-psychology, eco-theology, karma theory, and the dangers of “human exceptionalism.” Cogen also talks about his recent writings regarding animal personhood, animals’ intrinsic value, and how we can remove systems of oppression through religious and cultural transformation.

“It is a false binary to say that we are either altercentric (other centered) or egocentric. That’s a false binary. Actually it’s more of a dialectic, care for ourselves is care for the other. Care for the other is care for the self. It’s a both/and solution.” – Cogen Bohanec, PhD

We would like to thank A Well-Fed World (AWFW) for their generous support of this podcast! A Well-Fed World is an international hunger relief and food security organization advancing plant-based foods and farming to create a sustainable, nourished, and climate-friendly future. Learn more at awfw.org.

Resources:

Vegan, Animal Advocacy and Veganism is an online, self-study course with Hope Bohanec, offered by Arihanta Academy. Learn more and register for the spring semester here.

Other Episodes with Cogen:

Episode 48: Vegan Love and Rescue with Cogen and Hope Bohanec

Episode 57: The Vegan Hypocritical Imperative with Cogen and Hope Bohanec

On this episode we are joined by Christopher Jain Miller, the co-founder and Vice President of Academic Affairs of Arihanta Academy, a Jain Dharma college. He completed his Ph.D. in the study of Religion at the University of California, Davis and is the academic advisor for the global Jain Vegan Initiative. Chris and Hope dig deep into the parallel philosophies of Jain dharma and vegan living. They explore the concept of Ahimsa, Sanskrit for non-violence, and how young Jains are seeing veganism as a way to practice their principle of non-harming in a modern context.  They also discuss Arihanta Academy, a new online Jain college, and Hope’s class in starting Sept 24 called Ahimsa, Animal Advocacy and Veganism.

Resources:

Arihanta Academy

Hope’s Class- Ahimsa, Animal Advocacy, and Veganism

Chris’s Classes- Jain Philosophy in Daily Life, Yoga Sūtra: The Classical Yoga of Patañjali

Instagram- @thejainveganinitiative

This episode we are joined by Reverend Sarah Bowen. Rev. Sarah is an award-winning author, animal chaplain, and multifaith spiritual educator. She is also one of the co-founders of the Compassion Consortium, a monthly interfaith, interspecies online spiritual gathering. Hope and Sarah discuss how for many, there is a paralleled path between a spiritual journey and a vegan journey. Sarah shares what it means to be an Animal Chaplin and discusses the existence of animal’s spiritual lives. Sarah also shares that she will be starting an Animal Chaplaincy program in the fall for anyone who is interested in the intersection of animal protection, animal relationships, and spirituality.

Resources:

Sarah’s Book: Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice For Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, & Healing The Planet

Compassion Consortium

Thomas Wade Jackson is the director of the award-winning, feature-length documentary, A Prayer for Compassion and the founder of The Compassion Project, a multi-media production company. He also has an essay in the new anthology Vegan Voices, Essays by Inspiring Changemakers, edited by Joanne Kong. Thomas and Hope have a wonderful conversation about the connection between spirituality and veganism, what the Bible says about our relationship with animals, his latest film project, and his essay in Vegan Voices called Vegangelism and the Gospel of Spiritual Alignment. Thomas explains why he calls himself a Vegangelist and shares with us the “good news” about veganism.

Resources:

Vegan Voices: Essays by Inspiring Changemakers

A Prayer for Compassion (film)

Interfaith Vegan Coalition

Compassion Consortium  

Today on the podcast, we are joined by Gwenna Hunter. Gwenna is the creator of Vegans of LA and Vegans for Black Lives Matter. She also manages several vegan food aid programs that provide local communities in Los Angeles with nutritional support. Gwenna shares with us the growing awareness of veganism in the Black community, her work bringing vegan food to marginalized communities, and her spiritual receptiveness that led her to have a powerful lucid dream of becoming one with a cow. Join us for this important discussion on evolving our activism to include equity and compassion for everyone.

Resources:

Plant Based Briefing Podcast

Vegans for Black Lives Matter

Vegans of LA

Compassion Consortium

We start off the podcast with Hope offering some perspective and depth into the concept of Ahimsa. This Sanskrit word is being utilized in the vegan community to help consider non-violence and veganism in a deeper context than just food choices. Later in the podcast, we will have long-time animal activist, author, podcaster, and yogi Victoria Moran. Victoria and Hope discuss veganism and spiritualty, training vegan lifestyle educators through Victoria’s Main Street Vegan Academy, and the new Compassion Consortium, which is bringing together people of faith for vegan-focused spiritual services.

We are excited to announce that the Hope for the Animals Podcast will now air on the Vegan Broadcasting Network (VBN). The podcast will be featured on Sundays at 10:00 AM (PST) and Tuesdays 6:00 PM (PST). Vegan Broadcasting Network (VBN radio) is a webcast radio station that streams both live and automated programming worldwide. VBN was created as a place where listeners can tune in and hear conscious music and the latest news on vegan, animal rights, and social justice issues.

Resources:

Main Street Vegan

Compassion Consortium

Veganism and the Spiritual Life Retreat

A Prayer for Compassion

Vegan Broadcasting Network (VBN)

TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 23

On this podcast, Hope offers her thoughts about the seemingly inescapable question posed to vegans, “Don’t plants feel pain?” She then interviews Lisa Levinson, director of In Defense of Animals’ Sustainable Activism Campaign. Lisa is also the founder of Vegan Spirituality, a group that explores veganism as a spiritual practice. More recently, she co-founded the Interfaith Vegan Coalition, a group that fosters an inter-religious collaboration to address animal cruelty.

In this episode, Lisa and Hope discuss faith-based vegan advocacy, compassion fatigue, and spiritual support for vegans. Lisa also talks about her work with the National Goose Protection Coalition, which provides resources to help stop the slaughter of wild geese. 

Resources:

Vegan Spirituality FaceBook page

Spiritual Forum Vegan Retreat

Vegan Interfaith Coalition

National Goose Protection Coalition

TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 8