On the earth day, I decided to google “Environment Hinduism”. One of the hits was from a site called treehugger.com. Obviously an American site. It was refreshing to read the article, which says things about Hinduism, which we Hindus do not consider anymore. In India where, thanks to the English language media and pseudo-secularists, Hindu has become a dirty word. Who has time for concepts like Vasudeva Sarvam or Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or Sarva bhuta hita or sanyam or maryada or karma or santosha or aparigraha to name a few? In this day and age of instant gratification and feeling good at all cost is reducing our great civilization into a collection of lost souls. Hinduism is the greatest religion but we Indians do not seem to either see it or appreciate it. We have taken it and reduced it to rituals of convenience. We have completely ignored the basic tenets, which separate Hinduism from the lesser religions. Maybe that is one of the reasons for all our problems.
Anyway, coming back to the environmental problems that we are facing. We had written on our blog about state of our rivers and our flora and fauna. I wanted to revisit them using two articles. One is about saving the Bengal tiger and the other on a river I have crossed many times.
In a country where crimes against people goes unpunished, it is too much to ask the government to bring poachers to justice. Therefore the responsibility falls on us to do our own bits to save our natural resources. Very often villagers living close to the forests kill predators with inhuman glee. They need to be told by public service announcement and involvement of responsible IFS personnel that we are the ones who are encroaching and not the other way around. One of the initiatives is relocation of the villagers to safer grounds. Money for this could be raised by way of charity and maybe the uber-rich religious trusts could spend some of that money for causes espoused in the religion they seem to practice. It is time for them to put their money where their mouths are! As far as aam aadmi is concerned, at the very least he should be taking sides with the Bishnois in saving the deer rather than continuing to support Salman Khan.
As a child, I spent sometime in the city of Nawabs. Chatarmanzil and similar buildings used to look beautiful sitting on the banks of Gomti River in Lucknow. That very river has now been reduced to a “nullah”. In a very touching article, obviously by a “Lakhnavi” we find out that the quality of water, which is supposed to nourish life around and within is nothing more than a toxic brew.
Element //Quantity //WHO Standard
Iron //96.12 gm/litre //0.30 mg/litre
Chloride //4.45 mg/litre //0.25 mg/litre
Sulphate //9.10 mg/litre //0.20 mg/litre
Mercury //1.06 gm/litre //0.001 mg/litre
Arsenic //4.25 gm/litre //0.01 mg/litre
Chromium //1.65 gm/litre //0.05 mg/litre
E-coli(Faecal Bacteria) //8.1 x 103 MPN/ml //0/100 ml
(Drinking that water is as good as drinking night soil!)
The toxins in the water tell me that all of it is due to unscrupulous industrialists who dump their waste in the river to save money. It is important that people are made aware about the importance of a clean river. Heavy metals in the river are very likely to enter the food chain and thus hurt us all. Local and central governments will have to take serious measures to stop this kind of pollution.
It would seem to an outsider like folks are treehugger.com that Hindus will take care of their environment like they would inside of their houses. The truth however is far from it.
Barring some Hindu groups and leaders like Swami Chidanand Saraswati has been quite outspoken in this regard and has tried to put pressure on the politicians. Of course we know that probably one or two politicians of repute care about the environment. The others couldn’t care less.
Indian villages relocate to save Bengal Tiger
It was a scandal that awoke the world to the depth of the crisis facing the Indian tiger, with a census this year revealing that as few as 1,300 tigers now survive in India, just one-third of the numbers of two decades ago.
Perhaps fittingly, therefore, it is in Sariska that Indian conservationists are launching the fight-back to save their national animal.
Bhagani, home to 21 families, is the first of four jungle villages in Sariska that will be re-located in order to create a haven of tiger habitat where the animals can breed undisturbed.
The article can be read at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3307953/Indian-villages-relocate-to-save-Bengal-Tiger.html
All of Existence Should Be Revered: Hinduism & The Environment
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 03.16.11
People think, "My home is my home, but the street, that's not mine. My farm is mine, but the road is not mine. That's the government's road, the borough's road, or the municipality's road; it's not mine." But that's not correct. It's not just "your home is your home." The street is also yours. Until we have this kind of relationship with the environment, [awareness and action about pollution] will not come.
The article can be read at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/03/all-existence-revered-hinduism-environment.php
The article on Gomti can be read at: http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=10857
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