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Krishna Says For Nature Conservation In Bhagavad Gita
- Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh
Writer, Author & Social Activist
Blogger - "Climate Diary Of Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh"
The Bhagavad Gita is considered a Ideal work. It explains the purpose and importance of life. In this, it is justified to take up arms for the victory of truth over untruth. In this, the existence of soul and God has been explained. Lord Krishna says that 'I' means God is present in all the elements in this world. So if read carefully, we will find that while preaching the Gita, Krishna also preaches the importance of nature and the need for its protection. We should understand the message of nature conservation written in the form of verses of Gita. Here we will see some verses as examples.
Today the whole world is grappling with the degradation of the environment. Today the situation has become so dire that environmental protection has become a global issue. Due to depletion of ozone layer, the temperature of the sun has started increasing on the earth. Today the world seems to be plagued by the problem of global warming. Somewhere a tsunami is coming, and somewhere an earthquake is coming. All this is due to the imbalance in the environment. Human is responsible for this imbalance of nature. To make his life comfortable, he has tried to harm the natural resources by over-exploiting them.
Today we humans have the illusion that we have conquered nature. We can work in anti-gravity, we've detected God particles, we've got the ability to send rockets to explore the planets, and we've entered the era of artificial intelligence. We take it to mean that we humans can overcome nature. But this is our illusion. When there is a conflict between nature and man, ultimately nature wins. A tsunami has the ability to sweep humans away like straws.
The consciousness of environmental protection is prevalent since the Ancient period. Nature and man have always been complementary to each other. To imagine one without the other is meaningless. Our ancient texts tell us many things about environmental protection. There has been a clear discussion about the balance of nature, the balance of the environment and the balance of the climate. In fact, our ancestors were nature worshipers and they understood the importance of nature very well. The religious texts, which we consider only as religion or philosophy, the description of the importance of nature conservation and nature is also found in those texts. As sin and virtue have been explained in the Bhagavad Gita, taking up arms through justice against injustice has been justified, while the importance of nature has also been established in that book. Every element of nature has been talked about having divine power. That is, when there is God in every element of nature, then all those elements are worshipable and it is the duty of man to serve and take care of them.
The Bhagavad Gita is considered as a holy book to the Hindu community. Bhagavad comes from the word Bhagavan, the God with supreme power and the word Gita means song. Thus the title Bhagavad Gita refers to the song of God. The composition of the Gita is century BC. Actually the Gita is the part of Bhisma parva of the great epic Mahabharata, scripted by Veda Vyasa. The Gita is the advices given to Arjuna by his charioteer Lord Krisha during the beginning of the Kurukhetra war. According to the Bhagavad Gita Prakriti or nature is made up of three gunas which are tendencies or modes of operation, known as rajas (creation), sattva (preservation), and tamas (destruction). Sattva includes the qualities of goodness, light and harmony. In a verse from Chapter 3 of the Gita, the cycle from nature to clouds, rain, food and human behavior has been explained. Meaning: Living beings live on food, which is produced from clouds (rain) and further clouds are produced from 'yajna', offerings made to the Lord.
A verse from chapter 3 of the Gita has explained the cycle of cloud, rain, food and human behavior to the nature. –
Annad bhavanti bhutani parjanyad annasambhavah
Yajnad bhavati parjanyo yajnah karmasamudbhavah (113-1411)
- It means living beings live on food, which is generated from cloud (rain) and further cloud is generated from ‘yagya’, the offering to God. The accumulated ‘yagya’ will be used as a means of action, i.e. todays’ offering will be gained in tomorrow.
Another sloka signify the nature as the key controller of every work. On the other way it can be said that doing harm to the nature will affect its regular activities that may reflect on the human livings. The verse also puts warning to the people, who does not believe in the power of the nature.-
Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah
Ahamkaravimodhātma kartham iti manyate.(3-27)
The Gita (Chapter 7) contains some beautiful verses in relation to living and non-living elements the nature. -
Ahamkarantyam me
bhinina prakrtirastadha (24)
Apateyam tas to anyam prakitim
viddhil ne param
Jivabhutam mahabaho
yayedam dharyate jagat (7-5)
Etad yonini bhutani sarvanity
upadharaya aham
Krishnasya jagatah prabhavah
prayas tatha.(7-6)
- Above these slokas talk about land, water, fire. air, space, mind, intelligence and arrogance these eight are ‘apara’, my non-living elements. In these slokas the lord krishna says that except these eight there is another element of mine, different from those- ‘Para’, the sense. It is the agent which holds the whole universe. All animals are originated from these ‘Para’ and ‘Apara’. I am creating and enforcing the whole world.
We should imbibe the importance of nature which our forefathers have explained to us through philosophical and religious teachings. In fact, the teachings of Bhagavad Gita show us the way to conserve nature.
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(13.08.2023)
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