There is a rhythm to everything in the cosmos. The wind, the rain, the waves, the flow of our breath and our heartbeat—everything has a rhythm. Similarly, there is a rhythm in life. Our thoughts and actions create the rhythm and melody of our lives. When the rhythm of our thoughts is lost, it reflects in our actions. This will, in turn, throw off the very rhythm of life. Today, this is what we are seeing all around us.
Today, the air is becoming more and more polluted; the water as well. Rivers are drying up. Forests are being destroyed. New diseases are spreading. If this continues, a disaster is surely in store for all of nature and humanity.
The current generation lives as if it has no relationship with nature. Everything around us is artificial. Today, we eat fruit and grains grown with artificial fertilisers and pesticides. We add preservatives to increase their shelf-life. Like this, consciously or unconsciously, we are continuously eating poison. As a result, so many new diseases are appearing. In fact, long ago, the average lifespan was more than 100. But today people only live 80 years or less and more than 75 per cent of the population suffer from some disease or the other.
Not only have the food we eat and the water we drink become polluted, even the air we breathe is full of toxins. Because of this, humanity’s immune system is weakening. Already, so many people depend on inhalers to breathe, and this number is continually increasing. In a few years, we may have to walk around with air tanks to breathe, like astronauts in outer space. Most people today are allergic to something or other, even to the most seemingly insignificant things. Due to our increasing alienation from nature, it is becoming more difficult for us to survive.
Today, not only people, but even the animals and plants we raise and cultivate are disconnecting from nature. Wild plants survive regardless of the weather, adapting to nature’s conditions. But houseplants cannot withstand pests on their own and have to be sprayed with pesticides. They are unable to survive naturally.
Nature is like a duck that lays golden eggs. But if we kill the duck and try to snatch all the golden eggs at once, we will lose everything. We must stop polluting and exploiting Mother Nature. We have to protect her in order to ensure our survival as well as the survival of future generations. Nature is the wish-fulfilling tree that gives humanity all abundance. But today, our situation is like that of a fool sawing off the very branch upon which he is sitting.
Nature is our first mother. She nurtures us throughout our lives. Our birth mother may allow us to sit on her lap for a couple of years, but Mother Nature patiently bears our weight our entire life. She sings us to sleep, feeds us and caresses us. Just as a child is obligated to his birth mother, we should all feel an obligation and responsibility towards Mother Nature. If we forget this responsibility, it is equal to forgetting our own self. If we forget nature, we will cease to exist, for to do so is to walk towards death.
In the old days, there was no specific need for environmental preservation because protecting nature was part of worshiping God and life itself. More than remembering God, the people used to love and serve nature and society. They saw the creator through the creation. They loved, worshiped and protected nature as the visible form of God. Let us try to reawaken this attitude. At present, the biggest threat to mankind is not a third world war, but the loss of nature’s harmony and our widening separation from Nature. We should develop the awareness of a person at gunpoint. Only then can humanity survive.
Life becomes fulfilled when humankind and nature move together. When melody and rhythm complement each other, the music becomes beautiful and pleasing to the ear. Likewise, when people live in accordance with the laws of nature, life becomes like a beautiful song.
Nature is a huge flower garden. The animals, birds, trees, plants and people are the garden’s fully blossomed flowers of diverse colours. The beauty of this garden is complete only when all of these exist as a unit. May all our minds become one in love. Let us work together to prevent these diverse flowers from withering away, so that the garden may remain eternally beautiful.
;The writer is a world-renowned spiritual leader
