‘We have not run out of water. We have run out of values’
We have built dams, passed laws, launched river-cleaning missions and still our rivers die, our lakes shrink and our groundwater disappears. Perhaps we have been solving the wrong problem. Water is not just a resource running out. It is a mirror, and what it reflects about us as human beings is deeply unsettling. We all know the importance of water, air and sunlight in our lives. Can we ever imagine a world sustaining life without water? The thought itself is so daunting. Of all the 5 elements of nature, water is the most primary, which impacts human life at many levels and it’s provided to us in abundance by Mother Nature.
It is synonymous with life for when scientists search for traces of life in other planets, they first look for signs of water. The Earth can sustain so many life-forms because 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, which is consumed directly or indirectly through the food chain and various life-supporting activities. One of its most vital sustainable aspects is in the form of a water cycle, which transforms salty sea water into clean water through rains & snowfall, which is otherwise very scarce on earth.
Unlike fire, which devastates everything that comes in its contact, water gets polluted when it comes in contact with soluble impurities. This is precisely what makes water the most accurate metaphor for the human soul.
Like water, human souls are also highly impressionable and degradable, capable of becoming a deity or a demon depending on the environment they inhabit. In the Golden Age, when human souls were utterly chaste & downright innocent, their thoughts, words and mannerism were within the bounds of the highest codes of conduct, as a result, all the elements functioned with inborn harmony & in innate regulation.
Rivers never crossed their banks, rains never flooded lands, and the sun, air and earth gave plentiful resources without causing calamity. That harmony was not accidental, it was a direct reflection of the human consciousness that presided over nature. However, with increasing human greed and ego, there has been rampant destruction of the natural order. Rising mental degeneration has led to environmental erosion on a massive scale.
Deforestation, toxic industrial discharge, reckless consumerism and unchecked population growth have created a devastating imbalance. But these are symptoms. The disease is internal which is in the form of gradual erosion of values, conscience and our sense of responsibility towards something larger than ourselves.
Do we ever thank Mother Earth? How many of us have thanked her for the free- air, water, food, sun and many more things that she has given us since the time we have existed. How many of us have told her sorry for inflicting so much pain to her? Well! The simplest and easiest way to do this is by praying or meditating with positive thoughts, which most of us can do. We must realise that natural disasters in particular, are a wake-up call as to where we are investing all our energies. Today, the situation is grave. In many parts of India, people do not have access to clean drinking water, which is the most basic necessity for sustaining life. Riots erupt over water scarcity. State governments fight bitter legal battles over river-sharing.
The day is not far when nations will go to war over water and when that happens, no dam, no policy and no international treaty will matter if the human being controlling the tap has not changed within. It is high time we learn from these warning signals and change, not just our infrastructure, but our attitudes. Water is endowed with great healing, cleansing and life-giving value. It can only fulfil that potential if we keep it and ourselves clean. Remember! A polluted mind will always find a way to pollute its surroundings. Conversely, a conscious, values-driven human being will naturally protect what sustains life.
The writer is a spiritual teacher and a columnist; Views presented are personal.
