World Rivers Day Special - When nature is considered sacred, conservation comes naturally

Water has a deep relation with life. Apart from making up nearly two-thirds of our body, water is also required in the atmosphere for us to survive. It is present deep in the crevices of earth and far above up in the clouds.

The Sanskrit word for water is apa and the word apta means ‘that which is born out of water’. Water symbolises love and apta also means ‘the dearest one’. All the major ancient civilizations thrived on river banks, whether it was the Ganga or Yamuna in India, Nile in Egypt or Amazon in South America. India has always had a strong cultural connection with its rivers. Lord Rama’s life was spent around the Sarayu River. Ganga is depicted as emerging from Lord Shiva. For thousands of years, saints and yogis have been meditating and doing their spiritual practices on Her banks. While Ganga represents knowledge, Yamuna stands for devotion. The love and devotion of the gopis towards Lord Krishna is immortalized on the banks of Yamuna. All the rivers in India feature in some story or the other in the ancient Purana texts, reminding us of their spiritual significance.

Flowing water has a connection with the mind. It is also symbolic of the flow of life. A river does not stop when it encounters stones; it flows over or around them. Similarly, hurdles are inevitable in life; we don’t stop moving because of them. When you keep flowing, you remain pure and when you keep brooding over past events, you stagnate. Clinging to the past and regretting it makes you feel heavy from inside. Watching the flow of water in a river can wash such feelings from your mind. It has been seen, when people contemplating suicide go to a river or water to jump into it, watching the water flow for a few minutes creates a shift inside them, it uplifts their energy and makes them change their mind.

Water also has the unique ability to hold feelings and vibrations, which has been proven today. This is why spiritual fairs like the Kumbh are visited by saints, so that they can share their positive vibrations and energy with others. Rivers not only support life; they also enrich it in so many ways. Unfortunately, we have neglected them for a long time. A lot of our rivers have dried up and the ones that remain have become extremely polluted. In a land where rivers were considered sacred, we’ve come a long way in the opposite direction.

Faith plays a very important role in motivating people to walk the path of righteousness and to care for the environment. We can have the best policies in place but to implement those policies you need the people at the grassroots to be more aware of what they are, and their significance and here faith-based organizations can make a big difference. Faith and spirituality can also help strengthen the mind and spirit. Any policy made without taking care of the mental health of people on the planet is going to be a waste. That’s what we did in India. Taking along the people at the grassroots, we rejuvenated 75-odd rivers that existed only on revenue records. The dry river beds here were being exploited by the sand mafia; there was no water, crops wouldn’t grow and farmers suffered immensely. The number of farmers taking their own lives rose every day.

So we went to the villages at the grassroots. We encouraged them and taught them meditation, breathing, yoga and other practices to be happy and strong from within. We worked with them to build thousands of ground recharge wells so the rainwater could start seeping in. There was a time when people brought in species like acacia or babool from other countries that were not suited for Indian soil and drained water. No doubt trees like acacia grew fast, and were green but not a bird would sit on them, rivers started drying out and no grass would grow under them. We took up reforestation initiatives, replacing species like acacia trees and planting indigenous trees like mango, peepal and others along the riverbeds.

In river rejuvenation, it is also important to see the path of the river is free from encroachments. Land is so valuable. What happens is when there is no river flowing for a decade or two, people start encroaching on the land. The next challenge is dealing with the sand mafia. Sand is a commodity and people would come and take the sand away, a big task but something that we need to prevent. 

The miracle was, after doing the land surveys, building the recharge structures, and replanting millions of right species of plants, we could see thousands of water bodies, ponds were rejuvenated and today, 75 odd rivers are gushing with perennial water in many Indian states, the birds have started coming back, and so have the clouds. Development need not be at loggerheads with the preservation of nature. We can take our lessons in environmental preservation from nature itself. Nature digests waste materials and produces something beautiful every time.

All the ancient civilizations, in India, China, South America and elsewhere honored Nature; they worshiped mountains, rivers, trees, the sun and the moon. Their view was to see all of them as full of life, because they contribute to and sustain our life. We need to learn about conservation from the indigenous communities. I have travelled around the world and when I go into the tribal areas, whether it is in Africa, say the Maasai Mara community or Indian tribal villages or the aboriginal communities of Canada, I have found them to be the finest testimonies of how conservation should be done. They don’t use plastic or litter. They are filled with a certain sense of sacredness for nature, a certain sense of ownership for natural resources, which seems to be amiss in urban cities. Similarly, if you observe the animals, they preserve the forest perfectly. You will not see animals litter the forest floor, and neither do people who are close to nature.

It’s only when we start moving away from our connection to Nature, that we begin polluting and destroying the environment. In the last few years, however, there is more awareness about environmental issues. More people are learning about the need to save water and the importance of methods like rainwater harvesting in both rural and urban areas. The government and local bodies also have a critical role in spreading awareness and enforcing policies to this end.

The ancient view was to see all of Nature as an extension of one’s Self. Having a sense of belongingness with Nature, one cannot but honor it. Skill is aligning with Nature outside and with one’s own nature within and wisdom is in knowing that they are one and the same.