At times, people have told Amma about experiencing a sense of imbalance similar to vertigo. This can be due to the disturbance of cells in the ears. The situation with Nature has also become like this these days. Therefore, we should be aware and alert as one standing at gunpoint.
Amma grew up in a very poor fishing village. People there lived off daily wages. They rarely got to eat every day. I used to go to neighbouring houses to collect food scraps to feed our cows. One day I went to a house for this purpose. They had 11 children. They were all lying in the lap of their mother. The mother said that they didn't have anything to eat the whole day.
I asked for the reason. She said her husband could not find any work and therefore could not buy any food. I asked why she could not borrow some money and buy food. She said her husband walked 10 km to borrow money but didn’t have any luck. On the way back, it was a full moon and he saw turtles coming offshore to lay eggs. He waited for them to go back into the ocean after laying their eggs.
From among the hundred eggs or so he took about half, brought them home, boiled them and fed the kids. Each got two to three eggs. Then one of his children asked why he did not take all the eggs. The father said, "If I lost all my children, how would I feel? If l lost only one of you, at least the rest of you would be there to console me. The turtles will be affected the same way. And if I take all the eggs, the turtles will be extinct very soon."
The father was thinking about the turtle family’s survival even when he was going through hard times. This was the nature of our forefathers. Nowadays, we export these turtles for money and meat. When man cuts a tree, he is actually making his own coffin. It is not enough to plant one tree for each one he cuts. He may have to plant at least 50 trees or more. It is said that about five million people get cancer from polluted air.
"During my younger days, we used cow dung to cure cuts and wounds. Now if we use cow dung, the wounds will become septic. What was medicine in the past has become poison now."
Nothing is inconsequential in nature. Both an engine and a screw are important in an airplane. It will not fly if there is a problem with either. It is from pollination by honeybees that we get fruits and vegetables. The bees would fly out as far as three kilometres to collect pollen and return.
Now the use of pesticides has affected their memory to do so. "People have to plant flowering trees and also install beehives. Thousands of Amma’s children are doing this, but more children should get involved."
When fire breaks out in a 10-story building, the person living on the first floor cries out for help. The person living on the tenth floor says that it is not his problem. But it soon will become his problem too. He does not realise that.
"Amma always says that there is harmony in the universe. Everything in the universe is interconnected. All actions we perform knowingly or unknowingly, alone or as a group are being reflected in the corners of the universe. It will not work if we wait for others to change. Even if they do not change, we should be willing to change."
"Carpooling, nurturing honeybees, planting trees, cleaning the environment, waste management and growing vegetables were recommended many years ago and Amma’s children are doing that. If we all get together and do it with more focus, we will be able to transform this earth into heaven. For that, we should first create heaven within ourselves. I pray to the Supreme to grace us with the blessings to do so."
(The writer is a world-renowned spiritual leader and humanitarian)