We have come a long way from an age of ‘worshipping nature’ to movements such as scientology. In this world dominated by science, industry, the bid to ease human effort and the crass pursuit of the material world, the worship of nature will perhaps be counted as a primitive, naive and superstitious quest.
Many of us are scornful and dismissive of our forefathers who worshipped nature and the elements. To quote an example, the earlier generations venerated snakes and made sacred groves for them; many of the sacred groves are now being cleared.
If one tries to comprehend the idea behind ‘worshipping’ an entity, there is always the underlying quotient of a power relation to it. It is a human attribute to revere and worship what we consider powerful. What we worship can be anything — people, money, corporations, nations or governments. Hence, an important idea behind worshipping nature was the very realisation of the power it held over our lives.
At the dawn of the Age of Science, while scientific discoveries and inventions were changing lives and societies, we started dismissing everything ancient as unscientific and superstitious, and as a derivative of it we lost much of the respect we had for nature. We seem to be oblivious to the power of nature.
I remember seeing as a child my grandmother crying when a mango tree was cut down. A few years later my parents brought down another mango tree as it was blocking the view from our newly built house. It is perplexing, the shift in thought through successive generations. I belong to a generation that prefers to buy a bottle of mineral water than carry one from home. I will feel remorse in dumping that plastic bottle into the nearest water body. This generation has no qualms about paying Rs. 5 to buy a plastic bag from the supermarket than carry one with them.
Why do we do this? Where have we failed? There is a multitude of reasons.
Over one or two generations we have failed to fathom the power of nature. In our pursuit to ease our lives, we have resorted to industrialisation with utter disregard to the elements. Most certainly, we might not revert to paganism. It is nearly impossible for a generation planning the next trip to Mars to worship a forest deity or a river goddess. Unfortunately, humans today have somehow acquired the notion that we are a superior form of life.
The news so often tells you that a tiger or a leopard has been lynched to death because it loitered into a human settlement — which actually would have been an encroachment into a reserve forest area.
The recent deluge in Chennai, and similar catastrophes in Uttarakhand and Kashmir earlier, are certainly our creations. While there are many at whom fingers may be pointed — the government, industrialists, builders — the fact is that each of us is equally responsible. It could be the parent who does not admonish a child for plucking a flower, or the person who sells off his inherited farmland to make a quick buck. We have imbibed it in our culture now to have the least concern or respect for nature. The concern and the mourning in our collective consciousness do not last beyond a week — or perhaps until the next such event. To undo this flaw in our thinking, our curriculum and culture should be adapted to learn to respect nature.
Next, it is about the decision-makers. They are wilfully blind towards deforestation, illegal quarrying, blatant pollution by industrial systems, and diminishing water bodies and farmland. They have the same apathetic attitude as the common man who dumps waste on the footpath in the dark: ‘it does not affect me’. When there is air-conditioning in the home, office and in the car, water purifiers around every nook and air purifiers around every corner, money to afford organic vegetables and priority evacuation during natural disasters, it is only natural that they remain oblivious to the real victims.
Another major problem is when you approach society as a whole. A society consists of multiple layers with multiple subjects. In such a situation, information is a luxury to many. Most of the time the deprived ones and the economically challenged groups are unaware of the consequences of their actions. The fruit-seller in my neighbourhood is not aware of the effects on the consumers of the calcium carbide he has sprayed on the fruits in order to ripen them quickly. He has been told that such fruits can be eaten without any harm after being washed. A man like him who is struggling to make ends meet does not have that luxury or time to protect nature. The onus is on civil society to uplift such sections in terms of awareness and information.
The slogans that call for saving and protecting nature are misleading and unimportant as far as the majority of the people is concerned. Saving is for the powerless and the helpless. Indians should learn how to “save ourselves” by not mistreating the ecosystem. What is at stake are our own lives.
resmiprakash@gmail.com
