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Vedic Perspective of Environment

There are five types of yajna that have been prescribed for every house holder, brahma yajna, i.e., reading and gathering knowledge for the benefit of humanity, deva yajaya, i.e., the rituals that signify replenishing nature, pitri yajna, i.e., respecting and taking care of the elders in the family as well as the society, atithi yajna, i.e., respect to the guests who come into your home and finally bhuta yajna, i.e., respect for all flora and fauna. — Vinod Johri

 

Recently there have been fierce floods in Uttarakhand, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Gujrat, Maharashtra and various parts of our country claiming scores of precious lives and loss of harvests, public and personal property. According to information available in public domain, in an average every year, 75 lakh hectares of land is affected, 1600 lives are lost and the damage caused to crops, houses and public utilities is Rs. 1800 crores due to floods.Thousands of people are displaced. As per the Geological Survey of India (GSI), the major flood prone areas of India cover almost 12.5% area of the country.The annual losses from forest fires in India for the entire country have been moderately estimated at Rs 440 crores.

USA, France, Spain and other European countries, Australia are regularly facing ferocious forest fires every year. In 2021, the United States experienced 43 natural disasters, which made it the most natural catastrophe-prone country in the world that year. Total forest area in the world was 6 billion hectares. Today, only 4 billion hectares are left. The world has lost one-third of its forest – an area twice the size of the United States. Between 2015 and 2020, the rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year. As a driver of climate change, wildfires release huge quantities of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In British Columbia, extreme fire years in 2017 and 2018 each produced three times more greenhouse gases than all other sectors of the province combined. Catastrophic wildfires take a large economic toll on communities through property losses, decreased tourism, even changes in the long-term structure of the local economy. However, the record wildfires in the U.S. made for a very expensive year: the global direct cost of wildfires in 2020 was $17 billion. 

The UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) took place in from 31 October to 12 November 2021.  The main goal was to secure global net zero by mid-century and keep a maximum of 1.5C degrees of warming within reach. Net zero means total emissions are equal to or less than the emissions removed from the environment.

Prior to COP26, four goals that needed to be achieved were set out. These were to secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5C degrees within reach by:

  • accelerating the phase-out of coal
  • curtailing deforestation
  • speeding up the switch to electric vehicles
  • encouraging investment in renewables.

Countries stressed the urgency of action “in this critical decade,” when carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced by 45 per cent to reach net zero around mid-century. But with present climate plans – the Nationally determined Contributions — falling far short on ambition, the Glasgow Climate Pact calls on all countries to present stronger national action plans next year, instead of in 2025, which was the original timeline. 

Vedic perspective on environment

Our Vedas have several references on environmental protection, ecological balance, weather cycles, rainfall phenomena, hydrologic cycle, and related subjects that directly indicate the high level of awareness of our saints and people of that time. Ancient treasures of vast knowledge reveal a full cognizance of the undesirable effects of environmental degradation, whether caused by natural factors or human activities. The protection of the environment was understood to be closely related to the protection of the heavens and earth. Between these two lies the atmosphere and the environment that we refer to as the paryavaran. The Rig Veda venerates deities like Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Maruts and Aditya, that are responsible for maintaining the requisite balance in the functioning of all entities of Nature whether the mountains, lakes, heaven and earth, the forests or the waters. Our saints in Vedic period were in fact great scientists, research scholars and teachers who relentlessly worked for welfare of the people and the humanity.  

There are many shlokas seeking the blessings of the five basic gross elements or the panchamahabhoota of Nature: akashor firmament, vayu or air, agni, tejas or fire, apah or water, and prithvi or earth. People were careful to refrain from activities that could cause harm to Nature’s bounties. It was understood that the well-being of Mother Earth depended on the preservation and sustenance of the environment.

The Vedas propound that all of us (every entity of nature), especially the human beings must have friendly relations with each aspect of nature. While the Vedas don’t deny the attitude of indulgence and gratification towards nature, they do say that this attitude should be restrained. The other factor the Vedas talk about is enjoying nature with tyag bhava. The wealth of natural resources does not belong to anybody and must be shared with everyone.

The pandemic has proved that for nature there is no geographic boundary and the effects of nature reaches everybody. Vedas are beyond the borders of religion, geographical boundaries etc. 

The prithvisukta of the Atharvaveda is one of the most important resources we have learnt from the Vedas. Earth in this shloka is symbolic of everything that grows on it. It invokes all the physical and non-physical aspects of nature within its verse. It depicts not only the forms of nature’s aspects but its underlying emotional bonding with them. It describes the earth as one’s mother, the sky as one’s father, and the moon as one’s brother and so on. This is not just the personification of nature but also a description of a way of life. At the same time, three spheres of the universe have been enumerated in the Vedic philosophy expressed in the prithvisukta, the ground to the solid earth, the intermediary or the mid-space and the uppermost or the celestial. The Vedas say that all these spheres exist within and outside of the body. By considering the forces of nature as divine, our ancestors were respectful and mindful towards nature. This is something that has been lost in our greed. Nature has two aspects, the benign aspect and the fierce aspect as seen in its form of natural resources and natural disasters. Today’s natural disasters are not something normal. It puts the vedic teachings in practice as rituals, for e.g. planting a tree, watering a particular plant etc. Overall, it is offering oneself for the collective good. It is derived from the root yaj, i.e., propitiating the divine, communitarian sharing as well as sharing of resources. Following this, there are five types of yajna that have been prescribed for every house holder, brahma yajna, i.e., reading and gathering knowledge for the benefit of humanity, deva yajaya, i.e., the rituals that signify replenishing nature, pitri yajna, i.e., respecting and taking care of the elders in the family as well as the society, atithi yajna, i.e., respect to the guests who come into your home and finally bhuta yajna, i.e., respect for all flora and fauna. 

The Rig Veda makes a clear reference to the presence of a protective layer which we know as ozone layer that filters the harmful rays of the sun and protects the earth and praises the radiation that enters the atmosphere that is responsible for the health of the environment. In a shloka of the Rig Veda the saint prays to the Ashvins for their indulgence for protection against any excessive solar flares that also affect earth’s temperature. All four major Vedas the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda recognise the importance of maintenance of the seasons’ cycles that are likely to get altered due to the climate change owing to inappropriate human actions. It is remarkable that the people in Vedic times regarded Nature and the environment in a holistic manner and revered each of its constituents and entities by carefully preserving them. 

Oshadhi Sukta of Rigveda addresses the plants and vegetables as mother, “O mother! Hundreds are your birthplaces and thousands of your shoots (Rigveda, 10.97.2)” The Atharvaveda mentions some medicinal plants which are useful for treatment of various diseases of human being, e.g. Tulsi, turmeric, vilva, peppal etc. The Tulsi plant is worshiped by every Hindu family and one Tulsi plant is a must in the court yard of every family. This clearly shows the environmental awareness of the people of vedic period towards the nature. 

The view that Yajna cleans atmosphere through its medicinal smoke, and provideslongevity, breath, vision etc., is established in Yajurveda (Ayur Jajnena Kalpatam, Pranajajnenakalpatam, Saksurjajnena Kalptam: Yajurveda 9.21). Vedic texts believe that ‘Jajna’ helps in increasing the crop production, controls the air pollution, protects the surroundings from air born disease etc. This belief shows that the saints of vedic period knows about the effects of gases which were evolved by burning of specific substances like ghrita, vilva etc. They look at every entity of Nature with the eye of a friend and sympathizer– Mitrasyaaham Chakshushaa Sarvaani Bhootani Sameekshe.

Kalyan mantra as we recite religiously sums up our vedic philosophy - 

Sarvebhavantusukhinah; sarvesantunairaamaya, Sarvebhadraanipashyantu, maa kaschitdukhabhaagbhavet.
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)

Vinod Johri: Retd. Additional Commissioner of Income Tax

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