Time immemorial asserts the unbreakable and incorruptible unity between man and nature. However, as time passes, this natural bond is weakening through growing disconnections from the land; it is wrought with ambiguities, festering immoral conduct and ungrounded actions. In an age of growing ecological and environmental awareness, human beings are faced with the absolute choice of whether to continue the mass pollution and degradation of nature or seek more stringent and sustainable measures to ensure peace on earth, peace in the home and peace of mind.
The latter is not the case, however, as all interactions with nature and elements of the natural world remain stooped in unwavering anthropocentric perpetuations disassociating any logical reasoning that would put nature at the forefront and human interests on the back burner. The environment itself, regardless of whether humans accept this view or not, remains the key influence in the successes and upward mobility of mankind. “Nature versus nurture” debates are being carded to include these issues; issues that involve the influence of corrupted environmental conditions, growing negativities and the fostering of mindless acts of cruelty by humans that are beyond comprehension, pushing the “boundaries of immorality”.
Our concrete jungles make us prisoners in jail cells and our work cubicles nurture growing mental disorders amongst mankind. Our feet barely touch the cool morning’s dew; our eyes rarely glimpse the first rays of sunlight on the horizon; our lungs rarely get that morning breeze of highly oxygenated air that the trees would release overnight; instead our bodies are shielded from the elements, from nature and from that force that grounds and neutralizes our bio-magnetic energies.
The Hindu scriptures relay the importance of the environment yet we seldom appreciate the cultural and religious activities that enforce continuous connections with nature. Our landscape and natural environment is a gift that many take for granted. Our life on Earth is short and, yes, we have the resources to use but generations to come may either praise or condemn us for what we have left for them to live in. The responsibility is ours and we must awake from this stupor.
Jai Prithvi Maa!!!
By Pundit Varistha Persad, BA (Hons.)
