It has been an obsession of human beings to create a hierarchy that places the human species on top and lumps all the "other animals" together beneath us. The resulting "speciesism" allows us to look upon animals as less deserving of all manner of rights and considerations than humans. To support this lower status, humans have argued that animals act instinctually; don't have souls; don't feel physical pain like we do; and lack self-consciousness, cognitive intelligence, emotional feelings, morality, and ethics.

If you want to know if someone is a "spiritual being" ask yourself, "Is he or she breathing?" If the answer is yes, then you know that you are in the presence of a spiritual being.

We are the only animals who steal and drink the milk from other species.

As a yoga practitioner with some understanding of how karma works, you have to ask the question, "If I am seeking liberation, will it serve my purpose to rob other beings of their freedom?"

The raising of animals for food and all that it entails is the single most destructive force impacting our planet's fragile ecosystems. Our planet simply cannot sustain the greed of billions of human beings who are eating other animals.

Compassion is essential for any type of relationship between anybody – human to human, human to dog, human to cat, human to bird.

Human beings are Earthlings and as Earthlings are connected to every other living being on this planet.