- Niraj Kumar Jha
Ecological crisis, which the world faces today, is essentially a
civilisational issue. Ecology has been a victim of the so called civilisational
progress. Mindless appropriation of nature and application of inappropriate
technologies are responsible for the severe environmental imbalance which
threatens the human existence today. It all began with the evolution of
civilisation itself when warlike men-folk tried to defeat their likes in order
to subjugate women, land and nature with the help of enslaved fellow men.
Most of the technologies meant to conquer nature are the result of
the same psychological whims which impel men for aggression and war. Nature was
considered as inexhaustible resource to be enjoyed endlessly by men. However,
now the signs of exhaustion of the nature are clear. No metaphor can be more
appropriate in saying that the global warming is the rising temperature of a
fever stricken nature. Nature is sick
with exhaustion.
Civilisations except the Indic one largely did not view the nature
with respect. They view mankind superior to other living beings and consider
nature with its all animate and inanimate components only meant for
appropriation. The approach can be understood in relation to the Christianity,
which is the dominant system of faith in the world.
Christianity has distanced humanity from nature. As people come to perceive
God as a singular supremacy detached from the physical world, they lost their
reverence for nature. In Christian eyes, the physical world became the realm of
devil. A society that had once celebrated nature through seasonal festivals
began to commemorate biblical events bearing no connection to the earth.1
Nature was instead seen as the realm of the devil. The Church chose
the image of Pan, the Greek god of nature, to portray the devil.2
Nature, which sustains life, deserves the highest veneration but the
most civilisations treated and continue to treat nature with absolute disdain.
The limitless consumerism, the immense lust to acquire and show off wealth and
religious fanaticism, which blinds the practitioners to the concerns of
humanism including sensitivity to nature are taking a heavy toll on ecology.
Civilisation in order to be called so must have the concern for
environment inherent in its cultural norms and mores. Civilisations other than
ours have treated other peoples as subhuman. While the ideal of Vasudhev Kutumbkam or the world is a family defines our approach to humanity, other
civilisations have been seeing others as lesser humans, barbarians or
unbelievers unworthy of living. If their attitude towards mankind was so
bizarre, the status of other living beings and inanimate objects of the nature
in their eyes can easily be guessed. In fact whenever people of these
civilisations got organised to become a force, they brutalised the people
wherever they could go and when their knowledge reached the threshold of
overcoming natural forces with the help of technology decisively, they started
to vandalise nature with the same impunity.
Indian civilisation in its self-perception has viewed ecology
integral to human existence. In fact technological innovations are a matter of
choice. Scientific discoveries are more a matter of human inclination than
natural outcome of human desire to know. Humanity still spends larger resources
on innovating war machines than any thing else and the largest share of state
revenues are spent on militaries and their weaponries. Future generations, if
they are allowed to come, would certainly club our generation in their
classification of historical times as the age of barbarians. The dividing line
between barbarity and civilisation would be the day in their history when
global spending on military and policing would be surpassed by the spending on
education and health. The true civilisation would descend on the Earth that day
only.
However civilisation cannot be seen missing on the planet
altogether. Indian civilisation has been true to this civilisational credo from
the beginning. Vedas, Buddhism and Jaininsm, all expounded ecological concerns.
Asoka extended his humane concerns to all living beings. Here the focus is on
the Ramacharitmanas of Saint
Tulasidas, which is beyond doubt a civilisational epic and the text contains
the civilising sutras for the whole humanity. In the very beginning of the
text, Gosvami Tulasi reiterates the civilsational veneration for the every
component of the creation.
Whatever beings, animate or inanimate, there are in the universe,
recognising them, one an all, as consisting of Sri Rama. I ever adore the lotus
feet of all with joined palms. I reverence gods, demons, human beings, Nagas,
birds, spirits, manes and Gandharvas, Kinnaras and Rakshasas. Pray be gracious
to me all on this occasion.3
Eight million and four hundred thousand species of living beings
classified under four divisions; inhabit land, water, and the air. Recognising
the entire creation as full of Sita and Rama, I make obeisance to them with
joined palms.4
This is the general wisdom of the Sanatana dharma wherein all objects are
seen as the reflections of the Divine alike. Every being or thing or any
component or aspect of nature is part of the Divine order and so is Divine and
hence is as venerable as the Divine is. If this were the approach informing the
psyche of human beings, the drive for knowledge would have resulted in
eco-friendly scientific studies, discoveries and technological innovations.
Such drive for knowledge would fulfil both humanity and nature.
Lord
Rama, who is the all powerful supreme God incarnate and has all the powers,
asks his counsels and commanders how to cross the deep ocean to reach Lanka. Lord
appreciates the counsel of Vibhishana who says, “Although your arrow itself can
dry up innumerable oceans, yet propriety demands that You should approach the
ocean and request the deity presiding over it (to allow you a passage).” Lakshmana disapproves, “No reliance can be
placed on the freaks of fortune. Fill your mind with indignation and dry up the
ocean. Fate is a crutch for the mind of cowards alone; it is the indolent who
proclaim their faith in fate.” Rama
laughs at Lakshmana’s words and says, “We shall do accordingly; pray, ease your
mind.” Then Rama goes to the seashore, bows His head and greets the ocean and
then spreading some Kusa grass gets seated on that.
This is
how the Almighty treats the nature – with utmost humbleness. Similar reverence
he has shown to the river Ganges and others
inanimate objects. In the same episode mentioned above the god presiding over
the ocean fearing the fury of the Lord states that water is dull by nature so
created by the Lord himself and on its own accord it is not amenable to change.5
The message is subtle and yet clear that nature’s sanctity must be upheld.
Natural elements should not be stretched or distorted against what is its basic
trait. Destruction of naturalness of the nature is absolutely unwarranted.
In the whole
Ramacharitmanas the Divine mission is seen as a shared mission in which
different species participate and every being is bestowed with appropriate
respect. The main protagonists are monkeys and bears. Vultures, otherwise
considered inauspicious, play crucial role in the saga. In the final account,
the description of the Ram Rajya includes ecology as its essential part.
Listen, O king of birds, (continues Kakbhusundi,) during Sri Rama’s
reign there was not a creature in this world, animate or inanimate, that was
liable to any of the sufferings attributable to time, past conduct, personal
temperament and character.6
Trees in the forest blossomed and bore fruit throughout the year;
the elephant and the lion lived together as friends. Nay, birds and beasts of
every description had forgotten their natural animosities and developed
friendly relations with one another. Birds sang and beasts fearlessly moved
about in the woods in distinct herds, making merry all the time.7
Contrast this with the Christian tradition.
The perceived separation of nature from God affected the
treatment of animals. The canonized thirteenth century scholar, Thomas Aquinas,
declared that animals have no afterlife, have no inherent rights, and that “by
a most just ordnance of the Creator, both their life and their death are
subject to our use.”8
The Church condemned the veneration of trees and
springs, where people would place candles or decorations.9
This is the civilisational approach
which has resulted in environmental degradation around the globe. This approach
needs to be corrected first in order to deal with the fundamental causation of
the crisis. For this we need to realise the values enshrined in the
Ramacharitmanas as a global way of life.
The Manas is read extensively,
performed endlessly and represented in various art forms and at the same time
has been the basis of the depictions of the saga of Rama in various
audio-visual and electronic media. The way book is followed or cited is
unparalleled. The book narrates Ramaleela, worldly deeds of the Lord Rama, the
supreme God incarnate, in the finest poetry and in the language of the folk.
Many of the values that this highly influential piece of poetry espouses seem
somehow lost in the real life of the body politic India. The text indeed shapes the
cultural norms and also influences the psyche of the people at large and yet
its nobler and sublime idealism does not reflect in the national character or
behaviour. Concern for environment is certainly such an issue. Despite the fact
that ordinary people of the country show extraordinary veneration for flora and
fauna, rivers and mountains etc. but their collective ventures in form of
mindless consumerism and industrialisation has undone their basic cultural
instincts. This is indeed because of the millennia of subjugation which has
distorted the Indian way of life and thought and as a result they ignore their
traditions which espouse humane and sustainable philosophy of life and living.
Notes ------
1
Helen Ellerbe, The Dark Side of Christian
History, Orlando: Morningstar and Lark, 1995, p.139.
2 Ibid.,
p.140.
3 Sri Ramaacaritamanasa, Bala-Kanda, Do. 7 ( C )
and (D).
4 Sri Ramaacaritamanasa, Bala-Kanda, Do. 7, Cau.
1.
5 Sri Ramaacaritamanasa, Sundara-Kanda, Do. 58, Cau.
1-4.
6 Sri Ramaacaritamanasa, Uttara-Kanda, Do. 21.
7 Sri Ramaacaritamanasa, Uttara-Kanda, Do. 22,
Cau. 1-2.
8
Helen Ellerbe, no.1 p.140.
9
Helen Ellerbe, Ibid., p.142.
