Acharya Prashant responds to a question about the practice of serving non-vegetarian food during Navratri celebrations, particularly in West Bengal. He begins by stating that in practice, humans always celebrate only one thing: their own state of being. Festivals are meant to be an opportunity to rise above one's usual self and become better. However, people often treat festivals as a license to indulge even more in their base tendencies, essentially celebrating their fallen state. This is evident in the increased pollution during Diwali, heightened consumption during Christmas, and a spike in animal slaughter during Eid. He explains that the practice of killing animals to celebrate the Goddess is a profound misunderstanding of Dharma. The Goddess, especially in the Shakta tradition, is the subject of the central text, the Durga Saptashati. This scripture begins with a king and a merchant who, in their sorrow and detachment, retreat to a sage's ashram, a place where even predator and prey live in harmony. This sets the tone for the entire text. The Goddess is depicted as Prakriti (Nature) itself, and her role is to annihilate the asuras (demons) who represent the tendency to exploit and consume Nature for selfish pleasure. Acharya Prashant highlights the deep contradiction in these practices. The Goddess's consort, Shiva, is known as Pashupati, the lord of all animals. It is illogical to think that killing animals would please either Shakti (the Goddess) or Shiva. He points out that all creatures are not just children of the Goddess but are her own forms. Therefore, killing an animal in front of the Goddess's idol is like killing her living form in front of her stone image. The story of the Goddess is about her destroying those who commit violence against Nature, not about encouraging it. He addresses the argument that these practices are part of 'culture'. He asserts that people have wrongly placed their culture—which is merely a collection of habits and traditions—above Dharma, which is submission to Truth. True religiosity should reform and purify culture; instead, people distort Dharma to justify their cultural habits. He concludes by stating that the central message of the Durga Saptashati is that those who try to consume Nature will be destroyed by the Goddess. The festival of the Goddess is not an occasion to become Mahishasur (the buffalo demon) ourselves. He makes a heartfelt plea that one's enjoyment should not be the cause of another's death.