THANK YOU PUNE I thank all participants for the overwhelming response in Pune after Mumbai. In the Mumbai University lecture not only the hall was full but even the aisles and the stage was packed with participants squeezing in. In Pune it was a huge hall with more that 1200 people attending the VEDH Career Conference where the idea is to expose the youth and their parents to people doing interesting and unusual things, instead of conventional career counseling. A unique format, a brainchild of famous Psychiatrist Dr. Anand Nadkarni who takes the interviews of the resource persons himself. I had many things to say to the youth in both places but one urgent message I wanted to give them and now to you my FB friends is this: We are in the 21st century now and this century might be a critical one for human civilisation, with huge environmental challenges. Unless we change our ways, life on this earth may not continue in the ways we have known. Modern man with all his machines and carefree lifestyle may have changed the very course of life on this earth by the end of the century. And this extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary measures. Our conventional religions condemn killing as a form of violence – Himsa. This normally refers to killing of a human bieng, an anima or even a fly (in Ladakh we go to great lengths to rescue a drowning fly). Fine these are forms of himsa, but in 21st century real violence happens not through old-fashioned guns and daggers but through our rather clean and modern looking lifestyle. When we wipe out entire species of living beings from the face of earth by living this stylish (but polluting and poisonous) lifestyle of 21st century aren’t we engaging in Maha- himsa? Studies say that every 20 minute an entire species is being wiped out, isn’t this Super-violence? When we go on meaningless long drives in SUVs (releasing a Kg of CO2 every 3 Kms), when we unnecessarily buy new products that make industries belch poisonous gases for this… causing the pre-mature death of so many elderly people(due respiratory and other problems) in the metro cities isn’t it Maha-himsa? So can we think of updating our old religions to include these wasteful lifestyles as sinful acts also? Can we have a day when someone says “I am a Buddhist we don’t drive single in cars, we only use bicycles or public transport (except in emergencies)” or “I am a Jain we don’t use Lifts in buildings, I am a Muslim our religion doesn’t permit the use of plastic bottles or bags. I am a Hindu, we consider it sinful to use artificial lighting till late nights instead of rising up early to use natural light”. Just think! By the way our conventional religions have served a great purpose bringing us to this state where we think of stealing, rape and murder as sins. Even if we take these things for granted these were perhaps not always so. Perhaps few thousand years ago we were very violent tribes where rape, fights and murder were common place, (just as blind wasteful consumerism is today). Perhaps that is exactly why religions were invented and it took us thousands of years to reach today’s level of consciousness. But now they have served their purpose and need to be updated… to solve 21st century problems. If half the world’s species are being wiped out and we are still obsessed with drowning flies and vegetarian- non-vegetarian debates we are very out of date. Its like... a flash-flood has reached our doorsteps and we are complaining of the leaking taps in the house. In English its called Penny wise Pound foolish. So I urged them and now I urge you to … 1. Practice an upgraded version of your own religions, 2. If you agree then share this idea with at least 10 others and thereby help make it mainstream thinking, 3. Alone we are very weak but united we are a great strength, so join some environmental initiative, organisation or movement in your own area and work collectively with others to save this earth from … human beings.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 18:37:47 +0000
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