GSM: Chief Seattle ...a plea to cherish Mother Earth as his people have done

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

A reverential love for Mother Earth resides in the heart of Chief Seattle and

his people.

 

Gerlinde

 

 

 

 

 

Chief Seattle

1790 - 1866

 

This letter was written to the

President

of the

United States of America:

 

 

" The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to

buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The

land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the

freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can

you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my

people.Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every

mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming

insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my

people. We know the sap which courses through the trees as

we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are

part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers

are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are

our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the

body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same

family. The shining water that moves in the streams and

rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we

sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each

ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of

events and memories in the life of my people. The water's

murmur is the voice of my father's father. The rivers are

our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes

and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the

kindness you would give any brother. If we sell you our land,

remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares

its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our

grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The

wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell

you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place

where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the

meadow flowers. Will you teach our children what we have

taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What

befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we

know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the

earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us

all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand

in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. One

thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is

precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt

on its creator. Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will

happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild

horses tamed? What will happen when the secret comers of

the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the

view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will

the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And

what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The

end of living and the beginning of survival. When the last

Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory

is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will

these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of

the spirit of my people left? We love this earth as a newborn

loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love

it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it.

Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you

receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as

God loves us all. As we are part of the land, you too are part

of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to

you. One thing we know: there is only one God. No man, be

he Red Man or White man, can be apart.

We are brothers after all. "

 

 

Chief Seattle signed the Port Elliott Treaty with the United

States in 1855, which ceded Indian land to what is now the

state of

Washington.

The city of Seattle was named in his honor.

 

 

[Native Tradition is in beautiful harmony with the teachings of Shri Mataji

Nirmala Devi to respect the Mother Earth.]

 

" Nature is so beautiful, just look at the nature, it is never smelling, it's

never dirty, every leaf is so organized that it should get the sunrays. There's

no quarrel about it. They are so well organized, everything is so beautiful and

it is never destroyed also by any animals. You'll be amazed. The animals also

don't destroy, at the most they might eat grass or something, but normally

animals do not destroy any tree, do not destroy anything as we destroy the

Mother Earth for our own use, we use. Whatever may be the cry for this, we have

to understand that we have to respect the Mother Earth. " (Shri Mataji Nirmala

Devi, Shri Ganesha Puja, Cabella, Italy, September 25, 1999)

 

 

[The Native Peoples worshiped Mother Earth as their Mother. Shri Mataji Nirmala

Devi teaches us very clearly:]

 

" Now the ocean is the Father, and the Mother Earth is your Mother. "

(Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Shri Ganesha Puja, Riffelberg, Switzerland, September

2, 1984)

 

 

[shri Mataji Nirmala Devi encourages humanity to look after Mother Earth, to

cherish, respect and beautify Her. To harm Mother Earth is to harm us also - as

with pollution.]

 

" The Mother Earth Herself we should look after, we can glorify Her, we can

beautify Her, we can do all kinds of things, but the way we are exploiting the

Mother Earth is a wrong idea, is very wrong because it is harming us with

pollution. To cut down the trees, to cut down everything that Mother has

produced and just to use it for money is a very wrong thing. One should think

about it and when you cut one tree also you should put another one there. That

is the beauty of the Mother Earth, all the greenery; everything is the beauty of

the Mother Earth. " (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Shri Ganesha Puja, Cabella, Italy,

September 25,1999)

 

 

" You should have concern about the Mother Earth... " (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi,

Adi Shakti Puja, Nirmal Nagari, Canajoharie, USA, June 20,1999)

 

 

" Of course, the land doesn't belong to anyone, but still, wherever you are born,

that's your land and that land has to be kept with those who are born here, who

own it. " (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Adi Shakti Puja, Nirmal Nagari(Canajoharie)

USA, June 20,1999)