Respect Mother Nature of Perish (Hinduism & nature respecting cultures alone can lead us out of this mess)

[Guest guest]

Global Warming: A case study in relation to Christianity, Islam.... February

23, 2007

 

*Author: Dr. Durgesh Samant, National spokesperson, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti

 

* [image: Green House Effect (Click to enlarge)]

<http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/image_22.html>

Green House Effect (Click to enlarge)

Our understanding about global warming has reached a definite mode when

scientists across the globe (Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Changes)

have declared a few things in unequivocal terms. They are as follows:

 

1. The global temperature is going to rise by 6.4 degrees Celsius by the

end of this century, resulting in great human misery.

 

2. It is not the nature but man (human activity) himself who is responsible

for the problem. They have clearly stated that the impending doom is not

because of one of those natural cyclical phenomena that appear, creating

damage to human life and property.

 

3. They have asked man to be alert and respect nature.

 

All these points, particularly the second one needs to be taken into

consideration seriously, not only to find remedies or solutions to limit

human suffering, but also to think about the root causes responsible for

this tragedy. Here when I say root causes, I do not mean the causes like

increase in the atmospheric CO2 etc, but the causes, which have made man so

destructive and irresponsible so as to create a problem of such great

magnitude. I think we shall provide serious attention to this particular

aspect of global warming, obviously not only for academic interest.

 

Human mind expresses itself through various actions. Scientists tell us

that, ultimately these actions are the causes of global warming. So it is a

must for any serious person to find out, "Why human actions were in wrong

direction for over so many years?" This is because of the human mind that

dictated man to do so. But why has the mind failed to take the right

direction? Here lies the key to this issue. Many a times it is the ideology

of a person that guides his mind to act in a certain manner. The mind

decides what is right and what is wrong according to the ideology that

influences it. In this manner, he decides upon the course of action to be

adopted. So it is better to analyze the ideologies, which influence the

human mind to find out why human actions in this case were in the wrong

direction.

 

If we study this issue closely, we understand that [image: Global Warming

(Click to enlarge)] <http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/image_24.html>

Global Warming (Click to enlarge)

man went on exploiting mother earth for his needs. And his needs were and

are unending. To get more material comfort and prestige he wanted to earn

more. Yesterday's leisure items became today's essentialities. There is no

end to it. Creation of wealth became the sole aim. And then there were wars,

intolerance, etc. All this happened without paying any attention to mother

earth. And why does he have to pay any attention to mother earth? He was

sure that the Nature, the non-living entity, is not at all going to say

anything to him about her exploitation. So when we study global warming, we

actually understand a story of unlimited, unscrupulous exploitation of the

planet by man. Man has shown absolutely no respect towards nature. He felt

that such exploitation is necessary for his happiness. So lack of respect

for mother earth and an unending quest for happiness in material things are

two peculiar qualities of the human mind, which should be analyzed with

respect to the various ideologies which influenced the human mind. As we can

see that combination of these two resulted in human actions responsible for

global warming.

 

We will take into consideration the major ideologies that shaped the human

mind over the last 200 years in those countries, which are said to be mainly

responsible for problem of global warming. The main actors in the list are

Christianity, Islam, Capitalism and Socialism. These are the major

ideologies that have contributed to the thought process of human mind in

those developed countries, which are considered as mainly responsible for

global warming. There is also a fair amount of agreement on the point that

since the advent of industrialization i.e. over last two hundred years,

things have started worsening.

 

<http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/image_25.html>

 

History tells us that before the ideology of Christianity started prevailing

over human mind, in Europe and elsewhere, there were some other cultures or

ideologies. And these ideologies taught their followers to worship nature.

But Alas! Christian missionaries worked relentlessly to wipe out this

culture. 'Pagan' is the term they used to identify these people. Details of

where, when and how this took place is not the point of our discussion here.

Then came Islam, an ideology that has no concept of worshipping nature. Both

these ideologies were extremely intolerant towards everybody who were not

willing to accept their God as the only God and their way as the only way.

History is full of stories of violence by their followers in the name of

their Only True God! These followers kept on increasing their numbers by

conversion, many a times by force. For them the concept of spiritual

upliftment of an individual meant bringing him to adopt their faith by

whatever means including force.

 

So technically speaking, although perpetrators of such actions might have

done this with what they call as non-materialistic intentions, but their

actions and the thoughts were definitely very materialistic i.e. to increase

the number of their followers. Imperialism was an integral part of these

actions. So the ideologies which inculcated such so called 'non

materialistic' intentions, had no concept of inward journey within one's

mind to reach God or to find bliss within. If at all such a concept did

exist, then it was very primitive in nature, as the history of bloodbath

created by these two ideologies to gain numerical superiority just negates

any existence of such a concept put seriously in practice by the mind they

influenced. Along with such thoughts of intolerance, no teachings to find

bliss or God within and lack of the concept of viewing nature with reverence

were qualities imparted to the mind by these important ideologies. Such was

the state of human mind, which then came under influence of various other

ideologies like Capitalism, Liberalism, Socialism and Communism, especially

after industrial revolution.

 

<http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/image_26.html>

 

None of these new ideologies have any concept of worshipping nature. Neither

have they cared for finding bliss or happiness inwards as stated earlier. So

the results have been devastating. E.g. the man in developed countries takes

material worth 20 times his weight everyday from the planet and then 99 % of

it becomes waste! If others have to use American living standards then we

will require many more earths! The mind that is already convinced that

happiness lies in some material aspect of life then goes in that direction

with no limit. Destructive nature of communism and socialism is well known

to history. For both these ideologies, worshipping nature is out of

question. They too attempt to find happiness for man through material

fulfillment.

 

A mind influenced by such ideologies then just cannot think of preserving

mother earth with conviction nor can limit her exploitation. Someone may

question, "Why is finding bliss or happiness inwards and worship of nature

important? Is it not sufficient just to be careful about nature? The answer

is 'No!' Here to be careful about nature is a thought at a superficial level

or an attempt made by the mind after some explanation or understanding about

the problem. Whereas worship inculcates not only the quality of taking care

of nature but also a sense of gratitude towards nature. One can understand

the ocean of difference between the effort made by the mind, which takes

care of its unwanted actions affecting nature, and the efforts made by one

whose actions affecting nature are governed by gratitude towards it. This

when coupled with an ideology directing the mind to realize God i.e. 'Bliss'

within, by using nature for basic needs honestly makes a big difference. The

mind that seeks happiness in material things or achievements will always end

up in performing some action detrimental to nature. If these two principles,

viz. seeking bliss or the God within and nature worship becomes an integral

part (akin to faith in religion) of any ideology which governs human mind,

then we need not worry about problems like global warming for generations to

come.

 

In contrast to all these above-mentioned ideologies, Sanatan Hindu Dharma

(Hinduism) shines with its peculiarities. There is nature worship in various

ways in Hinduism. e.g. Hinduism tells its followers to pray to Mother Earth

every morning before placing their feet on the ground. Hinduism places a

non-materialistic goal i.e. God Realization in front of every individual in

clear words in day to day life. There are well-evolved disciplines in this

regard and masters who actually practice them. They are free to decide which

way to follow. It is a unique wonder that we find some small areas of

forests (called Devrai meaning God's garden!) absolutely untouched for

centuries together because of such qualities of Hinduism.

 

Before I conclude, I must say that this small article is just to provoke

some thoughts in the reader's minds. It is not an argument. It is my humble

suggestion to scientists and those who are genuinely concerned about global

warming to study Hinduism and other ideologies from this point of view.

 

(The author is a physician and the National spokesperson of the Hindu

Janajagruti Samiti. He is doing spiritual practice for over last 15 years. )

 

*Source: *'Dainik Sanatan Prabhat'

 

Get clear idea about the coming period on earth and spiritual practice to

protect yourself.

> Learn Hinduism

<http://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/books/kshtradharma-sadhana/>

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "bharata desha" <bharatadesha

wrote:

>

> Global Warming: A case study in relation to Christianity, Islam....

February

> 23, 2007

>

> *Author: Dr. Durgesh Samant, National spokesperson, Hindu

Janajagruti Samiti

>

 

Namaste,bd,

 

Very interesting and true. Especially about the demise of the ancient

European Beliefs of the Druids etc, which was very similar to

Hinduism.

 

A belief in preserving life and the life of the planet doesn't seem

to extend to being a pro lifer for the death penalty, according to

the petition on the website.

 

We all have something to learn.........Ahimsa....Tony.

[Guest guest]

Dear Advaitin members

 

PraNamam

 

On a related topic - Global Warming - few days back I was listening

to Rush Limbaugh, very popular and conservative radio talk show host

in USA. He said that he won't believe that Humans are the reason for

Global Warming because he believes in God and God will not have his

children perish. Its Gods duty to protect Earth.

 

It is an interesting thought. If we truly believe in God's creation -

will not humans automatically adapt?

 

Or is it that Global Warming is part of God's design leading to

Pralaya at the Yugantham?

 

Not that I agree with Rush Limbaugh - just thought I will pose this

question.

 

Thanks

 

Sudesh