HAPPY EARTH DAY

The ecological crisis, we face today, is a natural corollary to the accumulative entrepreneurial
motivation of man, arrogating to himself a place of dominance to exploit nature for his
pleasure. Modern technology only comes handy in expediting and facilitating such a process,
amply supported by new cultural values. The modernization syndrome, characterized by
exuberant life style and wasteful consumption for self-fulfilment and happiness, threatens the
ecological balance. Nature is to be understood in its totality as an organic whole in which
man is but one component, and cannot violate forever, its laws with impunity. The United
Nations conference on environment and development at Rio in 1992, exhorted the world to
abandon those practices that are self-destructive in favour of sustainable development.
Sustainable development is much more than environmental protection. It is a wider concept
of economic growth, which ensures fairness and opportunities for dignified life for all,
without further destroying recklessly the word's finite resources.
The planet Earth which has given us life and sustains it is no longer an object of such a
reverence, even though in the Atharava Veda, an entire hymn, the Prithvi Sukta, has been
devoted to praise of Mother Earth. Earth was seen as the abode of a family of all beings,
epitomized as Vasudhaiva Kutumbukam. Moreover, one of the main postulates of the
Bhagavad Gita is that the Supreme Being resides in all beings (vasudeva sarvam) and is the
ultimate source and cause of the universal common good (sarva bhuta hita). Hindu Dharma
requires that a common good (such as the protection of the environment, welfare of the poor
and the needy, or the well-being of other living beings) takes precedent over private goods
(including individual material and personal well-being). It is an obligation that human beings
owe, not only to each other, but also to all nature and the entire cosmos. The Srimad
Bhagavata Mahapurana confirms this basic postulate: a good devotee is the one who sees in
all creation the presence of God: he reveres the sky and the clouds, trees and animals,
mountains, sprigs and rivers as the living expression of the cosmic order from which he
derives his own being. Such veneration, respect and acceptance of God in nature ordains
(Dharma) human beings to maintain and protect the natural harmonious relationship in all
human beings and nature (sustenance).
The idea of the Earth as an integrated whole, a living being, has a long tradition. The
mythical Gaia was the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth, the Greek version of
"Mother Nature" or the Earth Mother. According to Gaia hypothesis earth is a living organism
and faces no threat from the earthlings : if we continue to mess up the environment, it will
eventually reorganise itself and continue its cosmic journey by eliminating us. We must
understand that environmental crisis poses no threat to the planet Earth but imperils our lives.
V P Jain