Mumbai, Dec 15 (NIE): Praising India for advocating vegetarianism, Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama said on Friday that all living beings must be respected. He added that vegetarianism is important as animals and fish are getting exploited every day.

He was delivering a lecture on ‘Relevance of Ancient Indian Education System in the Modern World’ at the TechFest organised by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

“In aeroplanes, I see a lot of poultry being offered as meat. Earlier, animals would not be killed much but the rate has increased after economic development,” he said.

Maintaining that vegetarianism is important because all livings beings have a life, he said: “We have stopped using non-veg food in the Tibetan monastery institution. We must respect all forms of life. India’s vegetarianism is very important. “

The Dalai Lama spoke of how all religions advocate the message of kindness and compassion and one must practice it fully. In his hour-long speech, he said that the difference between “we” and “they” in the world creates killing and violence.

Later, a guest asked The Dalai Lama how technology can help mixed civilisations like India, Egypt and China. While maintaining that he does not believe in Artificial Intelligence, the Dalai Lama said: “Many moderns scientists do not accept the importance of mind as compared to brain. Both brain and mind affect our consciousness. I do not believe in Artificial Intelligence. A Japanese scientist once believed that brain is more important than consciousness. While earlier in 20th century, they did not accept the importance of minds, now they do.”

Nobel Prize recipient John C Mather, who also participated in the event, spoke about the working of telescopes.