The question of human survival and the need to
foster a new eco-centric spirituality
It was Socrates who defined
Wisdom as “Knowing that you do
not know”. The emerging present-day realities perhaps defy even a wise man like
Socrates. As humanity cruised towards the twenty-first century with the
confused visions of a world without war and boundaries, and statesmen, scientists,
social activists, religious leaders and others reiterate from different world
forums their commitment to the ushering in of a just an d peaceful world order,
the one thought that troubles the mind s of sensitive souls who have no stake
in any of these high- profile declamations is how wise are we in believing that
the web of soulless consumeristic and materialistic culture with all the
temptations it offers is a dependable and durable shield ?
Ninetieth Century and Twentieth Century
witnessed feverish and almost unprincipled appropriation of nature’s wealth for
enhancing the material comfort and wealth of humankind. Like thieves, humankind
continued to plunder Nature disregarding
all warnings.
Our
continued neglect of ecological aspects disturbed most of the environmentalists
all over the world and the Greens inspired by Gandhi under Petra Kelly spared
no efforts to highlight the danger this planet faces from the unprincipled use
of what nature keeps like a treasure for all her children from all times to
come Petra Kelly wrote.
“As
human beings, we have exploited and controlled our environment. We have treated
this environment like a river, with a seemingly endless supply of pure Water.
Only now it is beginning to dawn on us that the planet’s environment circulates
in a close system, and that what we add to it, stays with us. The ozone system,
and that what we add to it, stays with us. The ozone system and that what we
add to it, stays with us. The ozone depletion, acid rain, and global warming
are all related to human-generated emission in to the atmosphere… We must
realize that we cannot makes compromise when it come to such substances as dioxin
plutonium, lead and many other cancer-causing substance… Much of the
development, as we have known it, has been based on the terrible assumption that
big is beautiful. Huge dams, huge highways, and most terrible consequences.
They have produced chain reactions of the environmental damage including the
spread of diseases, floods, soil erosion and water, pollution. The dilemma of
development has been that the very means by which it is achieved – namely
industrialization has destroyed the natural resources which it is based.
The
first decade of the 21st century does not appear to have scanned
fully the balance sheet of the 20th century which humanity has
inherited as a haunting legacy:
1) Decolonization,
death of imperialism, rise and fall of communism, rise of USA as the leader of
a unipolar world.
2) Development of Science and Technology and
emergence of a technological mentality and crass materialism.
3) 3) Death of religion and spirituality.
4) Spread
of violence and serious search for nonviolent alternatives.
5) Utter
disregard of nature, thus resulting in all-round destruction of eco-systems.
Paradoxically, the emerging scenario sends different
but bewildering signals. It might be true in one sense that humanity is now
getting integrated into a global
society. The nation-State is losing its relevance; and the local community is
re-establishing its relevance once again. A new man is rising from the womb of
the conflicts scarred time.
Primary of Science and Technology:
Two forces
have made this possible. Science & Technology and man’s continuing guest
for peace. Science & Technology have made it possible for man to use the
laws of physics, Chemistry and Biology of late, to unravel the mysteries of
nature and thus to “ conquer nature”. Nothing is now, too far. This very power
has however produced side-effects like population explosion, ecological
destruction and environmental pollution which threaten the very survival of
human race. Its effects on social system and on human personality are deep and
wide-ranging and are fraught with unwanted and undesirable phenomena.
It is not fashionable
now to discuss and share experiences and practices on Ahimsa or Nonviolence as a positive philosophical or spiritual frame
of reference, and action strategy to minimize and ultimately root out violence
in various forms from our daily life.
Spirituality is viewed as other worldly and violence
as a fact of life while nonviolence is considered as a desirable objective but
difficult to achieve.
Gandhi, one of the outstanding proponents and
champions’ alternative life style, used nonviolence as a technique and a way of
life to cleanse individuals and social and political systems and prepare to
ground for a new global social order with local community as the base and
individual human being as the center place. His efforts, alas after his death, are fast degenerating in to a
highly pernicious system where in even those who were in the front line of his
nonviolent army succumbed to the temptations of power and Epicureanism to which
in turn, make India one of the most violent counties of the World, raising also
the question where is Gandhi in India today.
In fact the whole world is turmoil today. Violence
has gripped us all. At the global level, we are dissipating our energies in hot
and cold wars, In trade wars information wars while at the national level we
are torn by ethnic, religious and political conflicts, and at the individual
level, we have now practically lost much of the individuality and autonomy. We
flow with the current to play safe to begin with, and end up in margin in the
crowd and losing our identities.
Inspite of its failure in the Land of Gandhi in the
recent decades, ‘Ahimsa’ appears to be only remedy to cure the ills of humanity
today. It is now being widely recognized even by those who continue to do
violence to win the race. Violence has been used to curb violence ever since
man emerged from animal stage of evolution. But without any success. Humanity could
survive this inherent violence only because of the counter balancing- non
violence.
Great leaders of past such as Ram, Krishna, Buddha,
Mahavira, Ashoka, Christ, Zoroster, Mohammed, and Gandhi tried to strengthen
nonviolence as a means to subdue violence and thereby to create a nonviolent
(Ahimsatmak) social order. They kept the torch burning and enlightened humanity
but could not eliminate the darkness forever. Given the constraints of time and
space each had only a limited area of influence. After their departure from the
scene, their followers converted their teachings and experiments into a creed
or religion which was not infrequently used to perpetrate violence of worst
from on the non-followers.
The centaury that we have just left behind, namely
the 20 the century, by and large, has been essentially a period of science and
technology. No doubt Science and Technology have helped humanity to compact
effectively some of the most dreaded diseases which had hunted it and enhanced
the material side of human life. It also at the same time sharpened
unfortunately, the violent nature latent in human beings, as reflected in the
development of weapons of mass destruction and spreading of violent tendencies
on a global scale. Students o History and commentators of history describe the
20 the century as the most violent century in the known history of humanity.
This century also witnessed a decline in some of the
cherished institutions which humanity developed with considerable passion and
hope over the centuries, particularly the religions. Religions have ceased to
be the focal points of transformations and there has been undoubtedly a contemporary decay
in so far as the reach and import
of the message enshrined in the religious precepts.
Spirituality,
which was misunderstood earlier to be a kind of journey in mysticism or such
exercise of ascetic and mendicants and such people who were exploring the
mysteries of human life, has also cease to be of any interest to contemporary
men and women, who ate caught up in a mad pursuit of comforts. They are all
enticed by market economy, talk about global village, cosmic order and such
other endearing formulations which go by the new culture which is being assiduously sought. The surprising, perhaps
alarming, fact is that nobody knows where he or she is heading to need to discover the springs of spirituality
in each person.
In a cultural milieu where man has been reduced to
the status of a commodity whose worth is assessed on the basis of his / her
purchasing power or bank balance , any consideration about spirituality, its
role in shaping the destiny of every human being , nay, humanity, at large will
only invite derisive response. I draw comfort from the simple fact that the
skeptics, have never achieved anything
permanent in nature. On the contrary, optimistic who had vision and whose
ability to see through the womb of time have never been dissuaded from looking
ahead and unraveling the mysterious of the mind of human beings where dwell
springs of spiritualism. Spirituality in the simplest team is just the natural
light in every person which enables him or her to steer clear of the internal
darkness.
To feel to see and to bath in the ever-inspiring of
spiritualism one should have a certain kind of consciousness.
When one talks about spirituality what place does he
allot to the aspirations of our self. In fact self is the real problem that is
to be tackled. Any attainment, leave alone spiritual, is dependent on this.
Raychand Bai, a great Jain Scholar who influenced Gandhi has this to say in
this context.
Great saints advise attainment of following
disciplines for enlightenment of our self:
1. To give knowledge of the scriptures to our
disciple so as to make him or train him like us.
2. Whatever
knowledge we have as a preceptor, we should teach it to others and enlighten
them with the same.
3. One
should not abandon his fixed religious discipline even in times of great
trouble or difficulty
4. Practice
penance without any desire for worldly happiness here or in future
births.
5. Whatever
lessons we have received from our great preceptors we should carefully keep
them in our mind and behave accordingly and we should accept new lessons
discriminatively
6. We
should abandon the sense of mine and thine
7. We
should conquer all affections and sufferings
8. We
should keep our mind simple and ready to receive good beneficial spiritual
lessons from highly non- attached great souls.
9. We
should practice pure self-control
10.
We should keep pure, our right
understanding of the Self and non-self
11.
Keep your mind in concentrations with
healthy self –attitude of liberation
12.
Follow religious discipline without any
deceit.
13.
Give due respect to deserving persons
14.
Shorten the limit of desires by means of
contentment
15.
Merge yourself always in an atmosphere
of total non- attachment
16.
Behave without any illusion or
attachment
17.
Be attentive in pure good activity
18.
Observe Samvara or close all doors from
which sinful Karmas may enter your soul, and thereby stop the inrush of sins
into your soul.
19.
Try to get rid of our faults with an
eqanimous mind.
20.
Observe five great vows as flawlessly in
original form
21.
Perfome kayotsarg enthusiastically
22.
Engage yourself in acquiring self
knowledge and self-mediation with a concentrated mind without any
Pramad-care-lessness or idleness or sloth
23.
Always be minutely with single
mindedness for all sense-control
24.
Never be afraid of any misery that may
result even in your death
25.
Engage yourself in purifying yourself by
repentance.
The
views expressed by Arnold Toynbee and Dr.Daisaku Ikeda in their famous dialogue
, “Choose Life” assumes importance in this context. The dialogue between them
turned out of be a masterpiece and a brilliant exposition of man’s predicament
in all its aspects: personal and social, political, international,
philosophical and religious. Besides revealing the brilliance of the two minds,
it vividly bares to humanity what it has been doing in the name of progress and
where this so- called progress will lead.
Another attractive aspect is the optimism it exudes
when the two scholars agree that the man made misery could be effectively
countered by a timely and creative initiative by man himself , rather than
looking for remedies elsewhere.
President Ikeda has continued such dialogue with great intellectuals of the
world such as Aurelio Peccei, Bryan
Wilson, Josef Darbolav, Rene Huyghe, Karan Singh, Henry Kissiner, Anatoli
A, Logunov, Andre Malraux, Kelegri, Kinus Pauling and many others with
remarkable insight. Choose life the first of such dialogue of this nature would
go a long way in creating a new awareness
amongst the people to take urgent steps to preserve and protect our
precious human heritage which at the moment faces serious danger from man
himself. The latest in this series is : Waking with the Mahatma Gandhi for
Modern Times with this writer.
While
initiating this discussion, Ikeda points out that the most urgent need of our
times is to relieve the miseries afflicting mankind. Even the greatest signific
and technological achievements will sound hollow if attained at the cost of the
welfare of the inhabitants of our planet. For example, If the nations go on
competing with one another putting a heavy strain on their national budget, and
not allocating sufficient funds for more
pressing problem such as poverty and
industrial hazards to life, all their efforts are not just futile but even
harmful development and possession of nuclear weapons should not become a
priority in the national budget.
A vast majority of the human race
which is poverty –stricken needs not only a helping hand but active assistance
in the form of food, clothing and shelter, Mankind’s recourse are limited ;
hence a judicious use of the wealth is not only imperative but essential. IN
the prevailing consumerist culture this might be an archaic philosophy to the
prophets of unlimited consumption. They will not appreciate need to develop
proper consciousness in order to sustain and regulate the system of human life
in consonance with law of nature. The former head of the Tetapanth Jains,
Acharya Sr. Tulsi discussing the need for developing a proper consciousness
points out the three corresponding playgrounds.
1. The region from the anus up to the navel forms
the playground of material consciousness
2. The
region from the navel to the Larynx forms the playground of moral consciousness
3. The
region from the up to the crown forms the playground of spiritual consciousness
II
It
would not be out of place here to remember that as early as 1909 Gandhi through
his little classic , Hind Swaraj drew humanity’s attention to what would be the
shape of things if it continued to believe that machines would take humanity to
the ‘Promised Land’ Strange as it may look, Gandhi was criticised at that time
for his medieval views, Very few of even
those who read the book understood why Gandhi took such a position .As D.G
Tendulkar, one of his biographers, pointed out even those who understood Gandhi’s
position could not see that it was not a romanticized picture of the past as
the ideal for India’s future nor was it an attempt to see beauty in voluntary simplicity
and poverty.
In
Hind Swaraj Gandhi described in a graphic details the dangers inherent in man’s
new found enthusiasm in high-teach and machines. For reason unknown for many
years this book was not read by many and even those who did it cursorily led to believe that Gandhi aired
anti-progressive and ant-scientific views in this book. True, Gandhi was
uncompromising in his attack on man’s unprincipled exploitation of nature and
he did not spare the Western Civilization
for their frenzied efforts to consider that science and technology would offer
all what humanity needs. Gandhi was misunderstood on this score, for many of
them could not fully comprehend the farsightedness and deep penetration with
which Gandhi could predict what would happen to humanity after fifty years or so.
The
ashramas or the communities Gandhi founded, both in South Africa and in India
were meaningful centres where Gandhi demonstrated with convincing success how
each member of these communities could live in harmony with nature. The
community life Gandhi was developing highlighted the importance of manual
labour, tree planting , agriculture Simple life, and crafts. In short they were
attempts at self-sufficiency without invoking the blessings of the temptations
from outside. While they could be described to be bold experiments, by no
stretch of imagination could anyone say they were utopian ideals. The running
and recurrent principle of the community life was to live according to the
rhythm of nature and in harmony with nature with minimum need and not to
exploit nature beyond taking what nature offers and in perfect agreement with
the now-famous and oft-quoted remark of Gandhi. “The Earth provides enough to
meet every man’s need but for anybody’s greed”.
Gandhi was never against technology,
but he was definitely opposed to man becoming slave to technology and this was
amplified in his ashram experiments. It was a producing community and the
accent was on self-reliance to the extent possible. It would strive to produce
all its needs except those for which the local resources do not exist. On
health side of the Gandhian experiment was the view that the cities were
treated as the clearing houses of the village products and not as agents of
co-existence which is in evidence in these experiments. From this Gandhi
developed the concept of decentralized economy which was geared to restoring
the organic relations between man and nature thus avoiding the pitfalls of
environmental destruction and ecological imbalances.
Gandhi’s genius is reflected in the
remarkable way he integrated education with development of both the individual
and the community. It was the extension of the traditional Indian system of
education in the Gurukulas which had a great significance in the over-all
context. The Gurukulas were total educational experiments in the sense that
besides mastering the secrets of life, philosophy, literatures, science and
arts, the students and their Gurus were making earnest efforts to live in
harmony with Nature which would be possible if only the learners and their
masters tried to respect Nature.
The traditional system of education
thus was aimed at fostering an unbreakable bond with nature. Modern education,
Gandhi painfully realized, was alienating a man from the environment Gandhi and
Tagore advocated the need for developing the synthesis of tradition and
modernity. Tagore’s initiatives in Shantiniketan and Gandhi’s experiments in
his ashrams both in South Africa and India constitute the core of new practical
attitude these two great visionaries were seeking to propagate. Tagore
approached nature with a certain disturbed and intense agony generated by both
intellectual and spiritual compulsions. Tagore’s vision of nature was always
guided by aesthetic and spiritual values. Tagore who was an idealist
entertained outlook in man. He considered human civilization as a spiritual
feast, the invitation to which would be open to all. Hence he promoted the idea
of making the shantiniketan as the meeting place of the East and West. His aim
was to give an opportunity to the children to find their freedom in nature by
being able to love it.
The general scenario now is one of
utter helplessness and nobody seems to have any control over his/her future. To
add to this is the acquisitive tendency of those who are tempted to go for all
kinds of things the market offers. A kind of insatiable greed seems to have
taken control of all of us and no effort is being made anywhere to limit one’s
wants. And this has become a global phenomenon and no country seems to be free
from this. Thus the average man finds himself to be truly at cross roads
of utter despair and helplessness. He is
swept away by the mighty waves of materialism and consumerism. Economic
well-being appears to be the sole purpose of life and the manner in which value
systems are being trampled upon, raise
the big question: Where are we heading to?
The usherers, drum-beaters and
self-styled (self-appointed?) custodians of emerging trends, perhaps, are
impervious to the following paradoxes:
While absolute poverty has decreased
globally, relative poverty has increased.
More people have become literate. But
access to information and technology have become concentrated and centralized.
More countries have become
democratized but there is greater concentration of power.
Communication explosion but growing
alienation, family break up, lack of communication at individual level has
become remnant.
By ‘growth’ what is meant today is
economic growth and man has all of a sudden been reduced to the level of a
commodity whose worth is determined by factors other than what distinguishes
man from the beast.
‘Does progress clash with real
progress?... I take it, mean material advancement without limit and by real
progress we mean moral progress, which again is the same thing as progress of
the permanent element in us….If therefore material progress does not clash with
moral progress, it must necessarily advance the latter…..”, Gandhi pointed out
six decades ago.
(III)
The law of growth presupposes that any
growth will be subject to the innumerable constant factors which govern human
life. Modern planners seem to have forgotten the simple truth that while some
thing ought to be growing others ought to be diminishing. Unlimited material
consumption in a finite world is an impossibility, as Schumacher points out.
Man always lived in harmony with
Nature and what sustained him in all the crisis he faced in his profound,
courageous and determined march towards unravelling the mysteries of various
kinds is his respect for all forms of life around him. What has guided him in
this long, very often distressing and disappointing and at the same time lively
search for identify, is the realization of how everything in nature is
dependent on one another. This is the core of the ancient wisdom.
The oriental traditions have been
credited with established norms of determining Man’s behaviour towards Nature
and its resources. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism and Confucianism have
all treated nature with respect and considered it as the source of Man’s
happiness. The Vedas which were considered to be the bedrock of Hindu religion
and philosophy provide a world view with regard to what is now generally called
the ecological situation. The Hindu religion’s concern for peace and harmony in
the environment is well reflected in the famous hymn to the Earth in the
Yajurved:
May
there be peace in the celestial region
May
there be peace in the atmosphere
May
peace reign on earth
May
the waters be soothing
May
the herbs be soothing
May the plants be source of peace to
all
In Rigveda, the sky is called father
and the earth mother. The emphasis has been laid in many hymns in the other
Vedas and epics which for part of the Hindu literary tradition. When the sky
and earth are treated like the father and mother it is meant to establish a
symbolic relationship with the other objects of Nature thereby constituting
what can be called the Universal family of animals and plants. From this, a
theory of not only interdependence but respect for each other and the need to
protect everything in nature has been developed over the years thought this
emphasis got diluted later leading to not only exploitation but even utter
neglect of nature. Mahabharata advocated the protection of trees with utmost
priority. Bhishma’s advice to the Pandava brothers is:
“Although
trees are solid, they have the properties of the sky. They have life, they flower
and bear fruit. They feel warmth and get dry when the sun is too hot and water
is scarce. It shows that they have a sense of touch. Fruits and flowers of the
tree fall down under the effect of thunder, air and fire…. The bad smell of
pollution makes them suffer as it changes their colour and flavor. It shows
that they can smell. They have sensory nerves. They take water from the roots.
If they have any disease the sprinkling of medicine cures them. On cutting them
they feel sorrow and when new branches appear they feel happy. This shows that
they have sense to feel happiness and sorrow and have resendriyas (sensory
nerves)”.
Worshipping of trees became a
tradition and most of the villages in India had Vriksha Devta (Goddes of tree)
and Sacred Groves. Tradition has it that in tribal belts there were instances
of women marrying trees.
The votaries of modernism, while they
scoff at the ancient way of living describing it barbaric or jungle life, seem
to have forgotten the fact that it is this very system that gave them all the
tools that they are using now to decry the worth of the foundation on which
they stand. The problem with modern man is that he now thinks that he is the
conqueror of the universe and that he has the proprietary rights over whatever he
has conquered and this attitude appears to be guiding him in most of his
endeavours.
This self-centered philosophy, and the
systems he has developed on the basis of this outlook-the hallmark of which is
the belief that nature has unlimited resources for all time to come-govern
modern man’s style of functioning. All of us who were lulled into the newly
acquired instruments of liberation which science and technology put in our
hands are rudely awakened by the alarm bells ringing all around now. From the Himalayan
heights of materialistic comforts and beliefs we are being led to the abyss of
all round environmental pollution, ecological devastation, ozone depletion,
green house effect and so on, creating waves of shock in all thinking men and
women.
The importance of the ecosystem which
was uppermost in the minds of our forefathers, in maintaining the quiet rhythm
and symphony of life ( not in the musical sense) has become a thing of past. We
had a sustainable ecosystem which was rooted in a nonviolent ecology. Thus
nonviolent ecology refers to a society which is economically and socially just,
ecologically sustainable, non-killing and compassionate in relating to its
environment.
Many people argue that since violence
is part of life, we need not worry about it. They find it to be inherent and
pervasive in nature and in human nature. One major point is that violence and
nonviolence are relative rather than absolute conditions. Some regions are
prone to violent forces in nature such as hurricanes or earthquakes, however,
there are other regions in which such violent forces are negligible or even
absent. Competitions and predation between animal species can be violent,
however, there are also nonviolent relations between species such as mutualism.
Ecocentric rather than
anthropocentric
Buddhism is ecocentric rather than
anthropocentric since it views humans as an integral part of nature. Buddhism
focuses on the interaction of mind and nature through the three practices of
direct knowing, discriminating awareness and deep compassion:
By cultivating these three practices,
one’s actions in relation to the environment come to be based in relationship
and interconnectedness, rather than in dualistic subject-object modes of
separation. Through this approach, one’s orientation to the world is
fundamentally altered from dominant species to member of a community, from part
to process.
While environmentalism emphasizes that
natural resources are limited, Buddhism is more direct in encouraging
individuals to limit their resources consumption to the optimal satisfaction of
the four basic needs of food, clothing, shelter and medicine. This vantage
point renders ecology a very concrete and personal matter.
We should deal with nature the way we
should deal with ourselves! We should not harm ourselves, we should not harm
nature. Harming nature is harming ourselves, and vice-versa. If we knew how to
deal with our self and with our fellow human beings, we should know how to deal
with nature. Human beings and nature are inseparable. Therefore, by not caring
property for any one of these, we harm them all.
The key to Buddhist ethics is the
primacy of the mind. The Dhammapada begins with the words: “ All we are is the
result of what we have thought” (Smith 1958: 121). From positive thoughts flow
positive actions and positive consequences, whereas from negative thoughts flow
negative actions and negative consequences. Furthermore, the actions of an
individual in the present life can influence the next one as well. The source
of suffering is in the individual, and likewise the source of happiness is in
the individual. Enlightenment derives from the understanding of this elemental
reality (Saddhatissa 1970:33). Thus ignorance rather than is in the problems
(Smith 1958:121). Wisdom and morality are mutually reinforcing (Saddhatissa
1970: 123-124). Accordingly, Buddhism would encourage the cultivation of
environmental understanding through education as well as the practice of
environmental ethics as basis for a nonviolent ecology.
Since the first negative precept
extends to all life, it includes forms such as insects which are not usually
includes forms such as insects which are not usually identified as a concern of
environmentalists. Also because of this precept normally Buddhism would not be
involved in the kind of violence which is sometimes practiced by radical
environmentalists (Manes 1990). A nonviolent ecology would realize its ideals
through its actions toward all life forms, even those which are violent towards
humans or nature. Education and persuasion rather than violent confrontation
would be used to reach those humans who degrade or threaten other humans and /
or nature.
It also depends on following the
Middle Way of detachment and moderation, while satisfying basic needs and avoiding
greed. Meditation on nature is an important part of this process of reaching
nirvana-the union with nature through the extinction of ego and of all mortal
cravings. Thus Buddhism would not blame the ecocrisis of science, technology,
industry, business, advertising, government, or some other amorphous scapegoat.
Rather it would view the ecocrisis as the product of the collective behaviour
of individuals who are driven by circumstance, ignorance, and/or greed instead
of by wisdom, need, moderation, compassion and nonviolence.
All of us are quite familiar with what
has been happening within and outside us – in the troposphere in the cosmic
world, in the planetary positions where exists the fight between spirit and
matter. From the 18th century, science has established a greater
hold on the pace at which humanity has been interpreting itself through
physical developments. That was when science and technology revealed their
tremendous power to alter the rhythm of human life.
Need to toster the inner and outer
dialogue
While science and technology have
given us tremendous material advancement, the problem remains as to where
humanity is heading for. What is happening to the individual, to the inner
dialogue, the perpetual debate between the inner and outer dialogue, the inner
man and outer man, the inner woman and the outer woman, the inner human being
and the outer human being? The best example is of what happened in Gujarat in
India in 2000 when nature which has been protecting us with all its power to recreate,
sustain, develop, shape and control, all along, turned its fury on man.
The manner in which things are
happening – earthquakes, floods and droughts, changes in the troposphere,
atmosphere and in other areas, force us to ask few questions. Questions, which
are disturbing, those which we don’t want to ask, and are afraid of asking
Where do we go from here? What is in store for humanity? We hear people talking
about the role of religion, particularly those who call themselves
intellectuals, who take pride in asserting that religion is dead, that it has
no role in present day society which is essentially based on science and
technology. The world is proud of its IT achievements but what about this world
itselt? Let us not be fooled into believing that IT is going to solve all our
problems.
When do we realize the oneness of the
Living Being and its Environment? Unless and until we move away from our
obsession with material growth and restructure our priorities on the basis of
basic moral considerations all our talks, all the international agreements and
covenants would remain as scraps of paper exchanged between suave diplomats.
Environmental conservation has to become a central issue concerning the very
survival of not only human race but the entire universe itself.
Is there anything more frightening than to be told
that the earth’s forest covers are fast disappearing, the blue waters of the
oceans that surround the earth are getting more and more polluted thereby the
marine products which cater more than a half of humanity’s food requirements
are either getting repleted or threatened, earth’s canopy, namely the sky is
developing holes which would increase several folds the temperature of the
earth? To put more fright we are now told that there are signs of ice melting
in the polar regions which would eventually increase the level of seas which in
turn would spell disaster of an unimaginable scale. The tragedy is, still the
humanity, is unmoved and unconcerned, notwithstanding the much-hyped Earth
Summits and other international gatherings on Sustainable Development. While
whatever is happening to highlight the danger looming large on humanity is to
be appreciated, they suffer from a basic lacuna : they highlight only the
material and physical aspects while the spiritual relationship of all creations
and their organic relationship with Nature are either ignored or side-tracked.
People are to be encouraged to take environmental issues as their personal
concern. In order to drive home the importance of our common future, all
efforts are to be harmonized keeping in view of the holistic nature of the
problem. The spiritual and cultural aspects of survival cannot be
under-estimated or ignored in the din of economic progress and
‘sustainability’.
