One could call him a spiritual teacher rooted in Advait Vedanta. Or one could call him a most contemporary representative of all the spiritual traditions of the world. Equally, one could call him breathtakingly original and beyond any tradition.

But the most appropriate way to know him would be through his work.

His work is founded on compassion and expresses itself as demolition. In classical sense he is a most orthodox spiritual teacher, in the contemporary sense he is a veganism promoter, an environmental activist, a science activist, a campaigner against superstition, and a champion of essential human freedom.

The sections most benefited by his work include:

• Animals: Given that the overwhelmingly biggest threat to animals of all kinds comes from the ignorance of man about his own body and self, reforming man’s mind is the best way to save animals. It is estimated that millions of animals especially animals used for food – chicken, goat, sheep, cows, buffaloes, fish have been saved due to his work. Besides a large number of wild animals too have been saved. With his efforts over the years it is broadly estimated that lakhs, if not millions, of people have adopted vegetarianism or veganism and have chosen an awakened lifestyle involving environmental consciousness and a low carbon footprint. Many see him as the spiritual face of the vegan movement.

• Youth: Youth, especially in India, face multi-directional challenges coming from the conditioning acquired from family, society, education and media, career challenges, dilemmas about physicality, love and relationships and deep existential questions about the meaning and purpose of life. They are in delicate situation where the chances of making suboptimal decisions and life taking unhealthy turns are quite high. Acharya Prashant has been unique in addressing the energy and conflicts of the youth. There are so may who remain indebted to him for having received lifesaving clarity at critical junctures of decision making.

• Women: Women throughout the world, and especially in India, continue to be recognized as the largely disempowered half of mankind. While there have been concerted efforts in the social, political, economic ways to instill women with due agency and power, yet nothing is really effective without the inner dimension of clarity and freedom. Acharya Prashant's work has been to awaken women to their true identity beyond the compulsions of the body and the conditioning of the mind. Countless women today - from the teenage schoolgirl to the septuagenarian homemaker - owe their sense of liberty and clarity, and the courage to rise against external oppression and internal debilitation, to the teachings of the master.

• Spiritual seekers: There are spiritual seekers for whom spirituality is a mere entertainment. Then there are those for whom spirituality is a respectable name for medieval superstition. Then those who come to spirituality to escape the bare realities of life. Then those who suppose that spirituality consists of esoteric rituals, methods, and exercises. Then those who want only superficial treatments to deep underlying life problems. Acharya Prashant has been well known to vigorously shake such seekers out of their self-deceptive psychic stupor.And then there is the odd genuine seeker. The one who has already tried hard to go into the recesses of his mind, and the reality of life. The one who is prepared to work hard for his liberation. The one who is fed up of self-imposed bondages, and is prepared to pay the price for freedom. Acharya Prashant comes as a rare and real friend to such seekers.