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• Personal Growth

April 1997

By Dr Kailash Vajpeyi

The eastern vision of the cosmos as an indivisible whole promoted a deep reverence for the earth and all forms of life. Today, this same vision is resurfacing as our endangered planet's sole hope for survival

 'Man is no longer to be the measure of all things, the center of the universe. He has been measured and found to be an undistinguished bit of matter, different in no essential way from bacteria, stones and trees. His goals and purposes, his egocentric notions of past, present and future; his faith in his power to predict and through prediction to control his destiny�all these are called into question, considered irrelevant, or deemed trivial.' When Leonard B. Meyer yanked man down from the exalted status assigned him by the Judeo-Christian tradition, in his 1963 book, The End of Renaissance?, he triggered off a radical shift in the relationship between man and nature. Today, that understanding goes variously by the name of Gaia or Deep Ecology. The Gaia hypothesis postulates that Planet Earth is a living organism that adjusts and regulates itself like any other organism and that for 3.5 billion years, microbes, plants and animals have co-evolved with the environment as one globally integrated superorganism. In much the same vein, Deep Ecology believes in the essential ecological equality of all species, man and mouse, elephant and earthworm. In an interconnected, indivisible ecosystem, each part is as crucial as the next. Here, T.S. Eliot may have been tempted to comment on the return of things to their point of beginning. For interconnection was the fundamental premise of the relationship between all traditional civilizations and nature. Unlike the western equation of conqueror and conquered, traditional people related to nature much as an offspring to a benevolent mother, or a devotee to a deity. Most eastern religions such as Vedic Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, include within nature not only all forms of life but also that which is inanimate and invisible. Vedic texts uphold the doctrine called Madhu Vidya, or interdependence between man and nature. The Vedic worldview is beautifully expressed in that famous injunction, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family). In the Vedas, natural elements play a pivotal role. But the interrelationship of creation was always within the context of its relationship with the creator. The Vedic sages believed that everything in this world stems from divine knowledge (the word) which was first revealed to a group of seers, who then passed on this knowledge to successive generations of Vedic seers. And thus, Saraswati, the Goddess of Divine Speech, holds a special place among Hindu deities. May the divine speech, Saraswati, The fountainhead of all faculties (mental and spiritual), The purifier and bestower of true vision, The recompenser of worship: Be the source of inspiration and accomplishments For all our benevolent acts (Rig Veda 1-3-10) Thus, speech, or vak, has a preeminent role in the Indian tradition. Water, it is believed was literally produced by vak. In turn, if we accept the theory that the theory that the hydrogen molecule is the basis of all life, water could be said to have created the rest of life. Of the five basic elements that make up life earth, space, wind fire and water the last, in the Vedic view, is the primal element. No wonder there are dozens of Vedic verses in praise of water: O water source of happiness, we pray, Please give us vigor so that we may Contemplate the great delight Hail to you divine, unfathomable All purifying waters You are the foundation of all this universe The consciousness of being composed of the same elements was one more proof of the unity of all creation. The elements, both separately and jointly as life forms, were, at one and the same time, objects of reverence and intimately related to us. We hardly realize that there are cosmic forces which are working in cyclical patterns, and that the most fundamental pattern which governs our life is the movement of he earth on its axis. One shudders to think what would happen to life as we know it if the earth stopped spinning on its axis or the sun failed to rise in the morning. We are creatures of the planet but the earth is not a geographical entity, it is us. The earth is not simply dust but a reservoir of all energy. It has given birth to four types of creatures: swedaj, udbhij, andaj and pindaj (aquarian, flora and fauna, avian and mammalian). To the Vedic seers, the idea of subjugating or exploiting the earth was incomprehensible. To them it was an object of worship and not of exploitation. Its conquest was tantamount to dissecting a mother's body to study her heartbeat or chopping her breasts to isolate the gland producing milk. But times have changed. Today, man has no qualms about expropriating the earth's wealth for his own benefit. This has resulted in the creation of a new fifth species, the yantraj�the technetronic being. According to Daniel J. Boorstin, the author of Cleopatra's Nose: 'When the machine kingdom arrived on the scene, it entirely changed the fixedness of the idea of change. A natural species reacts to its environment and learns to adapt to it. But the technetronic species creates its own environment.' For instance, media technology tends to create what can be termed asdiplopia or double image, where it is hard to distinguish reality from illusion. Television, for example, has the capacity to convert an event into virtual reality, what is there is also here at the same time or what is here can also be there if it has been filmed. For the vedic man, the earth was the bestower of blessings, she was the protector of life. All descriptions of Ramrajya, (the reign of Lord Rama, the hero of the Indian epic Ramayana) portrayed the earth as abundant and giving. The Mahabharata eulogized Yudhisthira's reign thus: 'Earth yielded abundant crops and all precious things. She had become the provider of all goodness. Like kamdhenu, the celestial cow, the earth offered thousands of luxuries in a continuous stream.' In Bhumi Sukta we come across verses such as: O purifying Earth, I you invoke O, patient Earth by sacred word Enhanced bearer of nourishment and strength of food and butter, O, Earth we would approach you with due praise Influenced by this holistic vision, the Indian way of life was integral, its purpose the well-being of creation. Even in the matter of eating, our ancestors emphasized the importance of feeding others before themselves. A householder could eat only after propitiating the ancestors, the devas representing different aspects of nature, the bhutas representing all created beings, guests, members of the household and servants. The practice of agriculture was deeply influenced by this sacred vision of interconnection. According to the activist Vandana Shiva's book, The Seedkeeper, new seeds were first worshipped before being consumed. New crop was worshipped before being consumed. For the farmer, field is the mother: worshipping the field is a sign of gratitude towards the earth, who as mother, feeds the millions of life forms who are her children. 'In the place of chemical manures and pesticides, the traditional farmer used nature's own checks and balances to nurture fertility and keep pests at bay. A typical rice field supported and in some places continues to do so 800 species of 'friendly insects' spiders, wasps, ants and pathogens that controlled 95 per cent of insect pests. These practices are still a living presence among India's tribal societies, for instance, the Warlis, a community near Mumbai, worship nature as Hirva (green) and consider all produce to be gifts of Hirva, rather the fruits of their own labor. Conservation of plants and animals was an innate aspect of their culture, illustrated in the concept of the sacred grooves: mangroves, marshlands and other tracts of land supposedly inhabited by spirits, where killing of plants and animals is taboo. The Bishnois of Rajasthan, too, will rather die than let a single tree be felled. The concept of coexistence took many forms. Before felling a tree to construct a temple, the carpenter traditionally sought the permission of the tree. And in Emperor Asoka's time, veterinary hospitals were state institutions. Among the five vital elements which sustain life on earth, the wind in the Rig Veda is called vata. Though the wind is connected with the primordial waters, its origin is not known. Vedas also address it as the spirit: May the wind breathe upon us Prolong our lifespan And fill our hearts with comfort Responding to the current environmental crisis, Susan Griffin in her book Women & Nature writes: 'We live as if nature is only need to provide extras: paper, recreation, specialty foods, a job to provide money.' Unlimited desire and man's greed has devastated this planet to such an extent that by the time you finish reading this article, at least 10 species of birds would be extinct forever. In contrast, personal fulfillment in Buddhism is sought through independence. Here the self is temporary and nonessential rather than the center of the universe. Writes Kerry Brown, co-author of Buddhism and Ecology, about the Buddhist philosophy: 'Where infinite spiritual development is possible within a physical existence that is understood and accepted as infinite.' Buddha attained enlightenment under a banyan tree, J. Krishnamurti had the same kind of realization under a pepper vine. No wonder the author of Bhamini Vilas called the tree Guru. 'O tree! You bear fruits, leaves and flowers and protect people from the scorching sun. Whoever come to you in scorching heat, you take away their suffering and give them coolness. This way you surrender yourself for others. That is why you are a Guru of all kind people.' Anekantavada, the Jain concept that professes multiple views of reality, goes even deeper. Its verdict on the unmindful endeavors of mankind would be damning. The bacterial organism, as understood in modern science, can be compared with what is called nigodiya life in Jainism. And ahimsa or nonviolence, which is fundamental to Jain philosophy, teaches not harming even the basic forms of life. Jainism and other Indian religions advocate that compassion must be the foundation for any truly civilized community. Lawrence Joseph, the author of Gaia, has obviously been deeply influenced by all systems of Indian philosophy which adhere to the universal law of interdependence. Lynn Margulis, co-author of the Gaia theory along with James Lovelock, believes strongly that the biological microcosm provides a key controlling influence in the global environment and argues that the role of these tiny organisms has been underestimated because they are invisible. With the convergence of the most recent scientific understanding and the most recent ancient wisdom, there is hope yet for the survival of the earth and, in turn, life on it. There can be no better sign of it than NASA circulating, all over the USA, a photograph of the earth with the caption: Love your mother.