Since the dawn of human civilisation, our mother Earth is tremendously exploited and polluted by us in various forms. Our nature is so generous and kind hearted! It is giving only but not taking or demanding anything from us in return. It is needless to say that rapid industrialization has left with us polluted rivers, contaminated soil, depleted wildlife and exhausted natural resources. All living and non living things on the earth are inter-related and are thus interdependent. If these balances and inter dependences are sufficiently altered, it upsets the nature’s equilibrium and results in ecological disturbances which can be seriously damaging for mankind.
Nature reacts and takes revenge of its own course. This is universal truth and nothing unusual in it. We are enjoying natural resources in rampant way without thinking about future. Many seminars, symposium, environmental summits are organised in and around the world. “World Earth Day” is celebrated but everything becomes hollow and superficial when arms race still continues. More nuclear experimentations take place in different parts of the world. It indicates our extreme selfishness and barbarism towards the nature. Can superpower countries of the world take a vow like Japan, that nuclear experiment could not be conducted in future in their own countryIJ Can’t we observe a day in a year or in a month as “smoke free day” to pay honour and respect to the mother earthIJ
It seems to be quite impossible to us. The reality is we are not ready to give up our own comforts under any eventuality in nature. It is the general tendency of exploitation of the mankind and this process has been continuing since the creation of the universe.
Practically, in true sense we are not concerned about our nature or to the mother earth. How many of us enjoy the bright sun and the mellow moon, the visible stars and planets and the distant milky way, the six seasons turning around with their changing offerings of flowers, fruits and luscious crops, rivers in spate, gurgling streams, lowly shrubs, twinning creepers, tall Sals and banyans , birds of countless varieties, plumes, and voices, the innocent antelopes, the gorgeous peacocks, the royal Bengal tigers, and the mighty herds of elephants; the blue seas on three sides, the girdles of hills in the middle, and crowning all, the long and high Himalayas which stand in their mystic and solitary grandeur and invite the weary and contemplative, but smile, with their eternal snows, at the childish attempts of the insolent to spoil nature. The greatest of the ancient and the modern Indian poets — Kalidasa and Tagore — observed, enjoyed, and responded to the diverse charms of nature and thereby won undying laurels at home and abroad. India’s nature has attracted even some of her greatest modern scientists. Sir JC Bose’s epoch-making researches about the sensitivity of plant life and Sir C V Raman’s famous researches about the colors of the sky and the seas have drawn inspiration from that wonderful nature and opened up new vistas of knowledge. Religious aspirants of India have gone always back, for contemplation or for God, to the lap of nature- to the forest, the hills, or the banks of rivers and most of all to the Himalayas which combine all these features.
God expresses himself in the harmonies of nature which overcome discord and in the love and goodness of man which overcome hatred and evil. The harmonies of God enchant the soul. They are the source of beauty. Referring to the practice of tree worship among some people in India, Gandhi once observed: “I find in it an instinct with a deep pathos and poetic beauty. It symbolizes true reverence for the entire vegetable kingdom, which with its endless panorama of beautiful shapes and forms, declares to us as it were with a million tongues the greatness and glory of God”.
In this era of 2G and 3G, everyone’s attention is concentrated on cell phones, computers and internet etc. Today’s youngsters indiscriminately, will be found with headphone and mobile while walking on the road. There is no diversion of attention to the flora and fauna of nature. I cherish this memory in our childhood days when in a long train journey, a seat at the window side was quite demanding to the passengers. We could enjoy the diverse beauty of nature, greenery, river-bridge etc. But today’s journey scenario is absolutely opposite. Everybody is busy with their computer business or listen to music keeping their eyes shut. In this situation can we boast ourselves that we are deeply concerned to natureIJ It is just like a solace to keep old parents in the ”old age home” by detaching themselves from their normal family life. It’s a tragic irony.
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