Acharya Prashant responds to a question about vegan athletes using sports equipment made from animal products. He explains that while sports equipment is undergoing a change, the strings in rackets were historically called 'guts' because they were made from animal intestines. However, he notes that sports technology has advanced, and more strings are now made from non-animal materials, providing a choice. He states that he is not aware of specific vegan players who still use animal-derived strings. The speaker then broadens the discussion to the general lack of compassion in human history. He points out that animal products are ubiquitous across all fields of human endeavor, including arts and sciences. When a large animal like a cow or buffalo is slaughtered, every part of its body is used industrially. This means almost everything that comes to us is likely to contain or be manufactured with some animal product. He provides examples such as musical instruments like the tabla and dholak using animal skin, cricket balls being made of leather, and sugar being processed with bone char. He asserts that hardly any industrial product is totally free of animal cruelty. This widespread cruelty, the speaker explains, stems from human ignorance, indifference, and a lack of self-awareness. He mentions that even medicines often contain animal products or are tested on animals, and the same applies to cosmetics, clothing, and footwear. The root of this issue is human ignorance and the ego. He argues that this cruelty cannot be challenged in a fractured way. To truly make a difference, one must address the problem at its center, which is the lack of self-knowledge. As human consciousness awakens and we become more self-aware, all forms of animal cruelty will naturally decrease. A fragmented approach, while making an individual feel good, does not address the larger, systemic issue.