Global Environmental Crisis: Solution in Indian Philosophy and Culture

Consumerism culture which is born by the capitalism/capital economy has made production as a universal value because the foundation of capital is based on the massive use of nature. If we find the solution area of the environmental problem in Indian Philosophy and Culture we will able to aware the people towards environmental values. || Learn about the Global Environmental Crisis: Solution in Indian Philosophy and Culture || 1^st National Essay writing Competition on Constitution & Constitutionalism 2018 – Click Here to Participate

‘We can not buy love and water’.

This proverb is going to be destructed from our dictionary. When we used to read in classical book that, ‘रहिमन पानी रखिये बिन पानी सब सून’, this proverb is very much important if we think about the relevancy of water, but in the present environmental crisis, if we could define the meaning of ‘water’, we could understand the relevance of given proverbs.

In the culture of India, we have a very important role of

tree worship.

The ‘Peepal tree’ is worshipped as a symbol of married women (Suhagan). In eating material ‘tulshi’ is considered holy which is a panacea for all diseases. We make a relation of ‘Vilva Tree’ to god Sankar. In the Indus Valley Civilization, we used to see ‘stump’ decorated with animal pictures and trees. Kings were very much passionate to grow the trees and digging the well.

Since thousands of years, India is worshipping the forest, river, air, sea etc. We have to keep in mind the thing worship we should not misuse it. As per National Forest Policy, 33 per cent of land should be covered with the forest. In the ancient period, 1/3 of total land was reserved for the forest. Having 1/3 of the forest is very much important for maintaining the ecological balance on earth. It is written in ‘Upanishads’ that; “हे अश्वरूप धारी परमात्मा! बालू तुम्हारे उदरस्थ अर्धजीर्ण भोजन है, नदियां तुम्हारी नाडि़यां हैं, पर्वत-पहाड़ तुम्हारे हृदयखंड है, समग्र वनस्पतियां, वृक्ष एवं औषधियां तुम्हारे रोम सदृश हैं”।

It was the cultural education of India which is presented as a front of the society in a different manner. We have to understand the relevance of water by this fact that, the oldest civilization has first existed around the Indus river. We should be proud of our culture and we should follow that. This is a normal question that why people don’t consider the environment in a serious manner.

It is often said that action change according to the thinking. Today we are facing many environmental changes due to the changing view of people. According to the many environmentalist if the present environmental conditions don’t change the temperature of the earth may increase 4°C and because of this temperature, many countries are going to be under water. Many Coastal States like ‘Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ and Lakshadweep Island are going to be very hard to leave because of hot weather. There was a time when people had a very good relation with the environment and man used to see the environment as a living thing. But because of the capital economy, the environment is in danger.

It is obvious that Consumerism Culture will target nature.

Because the foundation of capitalism is based on the misuse of natural resources. We know very well that, we have a very big issue of the ozone layer or ozone shield which is getting defective day by day due to pollution on earth, we have many ways to save ozone layer but we have to work in a collaboration of the entire universe.

If we want to find the solution of the environmental problem we have to look at Indian Philosophy and culture where nature used to considered as a living unit. We will have to look at the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Buddha and the philosophy of Jain. Mahatma Gandhi used to talk about ‘Simple living and high thinking’ and he had a view to minimizing the consumerism culture.. We know very well consumerism culture is extremely dangerous for nature and it created many other problems.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed”.

The way Gandhi Ji mentioned of Industrialization was handicraft Industry and rural Industries and these two industries were appreciated by Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia as well. Gandhi Ji also mentioned if we promote handicraft industries people will not leave their hometown and we may finish the pollution which is created by heavy machines and we will able to promote sustainable development.

For protecting the earth we should have Intolerance to injustice and unscientific view. We have Science to protect Indian Philosophy, Culture and living traditions. We have to elaborate the science into the universe. Until we don’t accept the Indian Living Culture of India we will not have solutions of global warming, therefore we will have to think again about the traditions and culture of India: World has two major problems one is terrorism and second is changing nature of the environment. Terrorism is the attack of a man on man but environmental change is an attack of a man on nature.

The artificial development is very much dangerous for the environment. The irony is that we are finding artificial solutions for environmental problems.

It is known that in India environmental problem is completely scientific. We have to leave the greediness and we will have to take an oath to protect the environment then we will able to find the solution to Global Warming. Vedic Rishi Pray that earth, water and generic medicines are very useful for having a peaceful life. These may be a source of peace only when we protect these resources.. Today the relevancy of the environment has become very important and we will have to take help of scientific arguments to cycle or face the problem of Global warming and Environmental Changes.

JAI HIND!

Author, Trilok Singh is with MA in Political Science, Kirori Mal College, DU and Founder and CEO at IASmind and the Youth Darpan. And Shri Lal Bahadur Pushkar Meerapore is with Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax (IRS) and Probation Officer at LBSNAA. Notably, Trilok Singh, translate Pushkar’s Hindi article text into English.

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