Pilgrims progress

Pilgrims progress

March 2014

by Punya Srivatsava

Meet Satish Kumar, the world-renowned editor of Resurgence and leading activist and ecologist, says Punya Srivastava A child of nine, born in a small town in Rajasthan, left home to become a monk. His goal was to attain spiritual liberation. However, his formative years were profoundly influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, the tutelage of reformist Vinoba Bhave, and the activism of British philosopher, Bertrand Russell. A life interwoven by such noble associations is bound to be out of the ordinary. And sure enough, Satish Kumar, the globally celebrated ecologist and activist, who turned 77 last year, has left his mark on the world in innumerable ways. Inspired by Russell’s civil disobedience movement against atomic bombs, Kumar, along with his friend EP Menon, took on an 8000-mile arduous journey or ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ to the four nuclear powers of the world then, namely Moscow, Paris, London and Washington. Walking penniless and only accepting vegetarian food, they started their journey on June 1, 1962. They walked across Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Russia, continuing through Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France. “We wanted to meet the French President but were denied the chance. Hence, together with some French peace activists, we demonstrated in front of Palais de l’Élysée. We spent three days in a Paris jail for our demonstration. This was truly following in the footsteps of Bertrand Russell,” reminisces Kumar. Once released, they continued the journey by crossing the English Channel by boat and walking to London, and meeting Bertrand Russell. “Russell helped us to get two tickets on the Queen Mary, by which we sailed across the Atlantic and arrived in New York.” Their journey ended at the grave of John F Kennedy. Apparently, as Kumar writes in his book, No Destination, he was handed four tea bags by two humble women of a tea factory in Moscow, to be delivered to the powers at the helm with a message that said, “When you think you need to press the button, stop for a minute and have a fresh cup of tea.” In 1973, Kumar settled in the United Kingdom taking up the post of editor of Resurgence magazine, a position he has held ever since. He is one of the founders of the renowned Schumacher College (1990), an international centre offering transformative learning for sustainable living. Apart from that, he has been a guiding spirit behind a number of now internationally respected ecological and educational ventures. He has also written a couple of books related to ecological spirituality.

Below is an email interview with the veteran ecologist: You have been a crusader of ecological sustainability.

What motivated you to leave your home and choose this path ?

Satish Kumar: Pushing for the rights of nature for balanced living I left home in search of spiritual liberation. I became a Jain monk at age nine and for nine years, I pursued the path of meditation, non-violence and utter simplicity. Of course Jain religion has a particular and profound understanding of non-violence. As a Jain monk I practised personal non-violence as well as non-violence to other people, and to nature. Non-violence to nature leads to ecological sustainability. In that sense I was following the path of ecological sustainability, but this was not so obvious. My main focus was personal liberation.

How would you describe your journey till now ?

My journey became a pilgrimage of life. As a monk I walked barefoot promoting non-violence and spirituality. Then I came across the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi which inspired me to leave the monastic order behind, and bring spirituality into everyday life. He had said that in order to practice spirituality you don’t have to forsake the world, rather you have to transform the world. Also that you have to be the change you want to see in the world. If your intention is to serve humanity and take care of all other species upon the earth then whatever you do, be it politics, business, or anything else, everything becomes spiritual. This was a powerful message that inspired me to join Vinoba Bhave. I walked with him to persuade the landlords to give land for the poor, not as a charity but as a matter of justice. Thus, my pilgrimage as a monk changed into my pilgrimage for land reform and economic justice for the downtrodden and underprivileged. After working with Vinoba for seven years, I was inspired by Bertrand Russell the great philosopher, who was also a peace activist. Because of his non-violent direct action in the streets of London he was arrested and put in jail for one week, at the age of 90. I thought, here is a man of 90 going to jail for peace in the world. What am I doing as a young man? With my friend EP Menon, I decided to undertake the ‘Pilgrimage for Peace’.

What according to you is an ideal, sustainable world ?

The ideal sustainable world is a state where humanity can live in harmony with nature. The modern idea appears to favour human superiority over nature. Through science and technology, humanity appears to be on the mission of conquering nature, subduing nature, and using nature for a wasteful and extravagant lifestyle. This cannot be sustained. We live on a finite planet, and therefore we have to develop a lifestyle of frugality and elegant simplicity where quality of life and wellbeing of humanity is considered more important than quantity of material possessions and economic growth. What is the role of environment in the development of a spiritually empowered and ecologically stable world ? We are children of the environment. We are actually made of our environment – earth, air, fire and water. We totally depend on nature for our survival. Therefore, development of humility and reverence for nature is essential for an ecologically stable world. How are economy, ecology, ethics, sustainability and spirituality interlinked ? Economy and ecology come from the same Greek words where ‘eco’ relates to ‘home’ and in this case planet Earth. ‘Nomy’ relates to ‘nomo’ which means management. Logy relates to ‘logos’ which means knowledge; therefore, ecology means knowledge of planet Earth and knowing how all the species are interrelated and interdependent. Once we know the relationship between all the species through ecology then we manage our relationships in a harmonious manner. That is true economy. But we have somehow diminished the meaning of economy. Nowadays when we say economy, we mean money or finance. This is a very narrow and reductionist meaning. Once we understand the holistic meaning of economy and ecology then we take from nature only to meet our needs without damaging or polluting our environment. This is what I call nature ethics, or land ethics. When we understand that we are all related and when we develop respect and reverence for all living beings and practice non-violence, then we are in the realm of spirituality as well as sustainability. Therefore, all these concepts are totally interlinked. We are reaching the peak of materialism, consumerism, and commercialism. What will it take to backtrack civilisation from these paths to a more sensitive and holistic way of living ? In order to backtrack from consumerism and materialism we have to change our consciousness, our values and our mindset. Unless and until we realise that the human species is one among millions of species, and we all have to live together in harmony, we cannot create a sustainable future. At the moment we are concerned about human rights but we also need to be concerned about the rights of nature. As people have rights, so do forests, animals, oceans, rivers and birds. When human rights and rights of nature are in balance, we will be able to develop ways and means of holistic and sensitive living. There has been a flood of awareness programmes related to conscious living in the world across but they are a drop in the ocean. Consumerism is invading even small and untouched places. How can we put a lid on this ? Is the way out from top to bottom or vice-versa ? True transformation happens only when people develop a new consciousness at grassroots level, so I believe that true and lasting transformation has to emerge from the bottom up rather than top down. Change towards a sustainable future is not going to come from New Delhi, New York, Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing. It has to come from people. We need a worldwide mass movement of ecological awareness and environmental education. Once such awareness is there, then governments can legislate and bring about a legal framework for sustainability. But the true democratic way of bringing about sustainability is to build a grassroots movement. What role does a family, as the smallest basic unit of this world, play in the development of ethical living ? What is an individual’s role in that unit? As the ocean is made of drops of water, society is made of individuals and families. Therefore each and every individual as well as each and every family has to take responsibility upon themselves to live a life which is ecologically sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling. Such a personal responsibility is a certain step towards a social and political transformation. You lay great emphasis on mindful consumption of food.

What is the solution to curb its wastage ?

Food is fundamental. If we cannot sort out the right and sustainable way of growing our food we will not be able to sort out any other problem. Wasting food should be considered a crime against nature and humanity. How can one waste food when millions of our fellow humans go to bed hungry? We need mass education and mass awareness to treat food respectfully, grow food organically, and give dignity to farm.