(The Blog is reverently for all the seekers of truth,
lovers of wisdom and to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the
spiritual path and also this is purely a non-commercial blog)
For Sustainability, Look to India
Wealthy nations can
learn from her frugal, vegetarian-friendly lifestyle
BY PANKAJ JAIN
WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED AT NEW YORK’S JFK airport in 1996, I was
immediately struck by the hundreds of cars plying the airport’s many encircling
highways. I was born in the small town of Pali in Rajasthan and had lived most
of my life in India. I had prepared myself for a cultural shock, and the first
one was environmental. I asked my friend Ajay who had come to pick me up, how
so many cars could be sustained through the world’s current fuel crisis. Having
arrived in the US just months before me, Ajay proudly declared, “Oh, this is
America! They can run their cars on water if they have to, don’t worry!”
Such
was the faith of many in America, whose daily lives rely on modern science and
technological aids such as cars or cell phones. With impending environmental
issues looming large over humankind, I wonder if this faith is weakening now,
just 18 years after my first American encounter. Last month, after my latest
visit to New York, I posted this on my Facebook: “First thought whenever I
reach New York City: ‘How will all this sustain itself?’ First thought whenever
I reach India: ‘How has all this sustained itself?’ ”
Immediately,
my comment was challenged, and what ensued was my defense of India and its
long-standing sustainability, versus the United States’, which towers at the
other extreme. I started by comparing India’s meat consumption to the US, UK,
China, Brazil and others. India remains the foremost vegetarian country in the
world. Even after the globalization of modern Western ways, Indians have
successfully preserved the vegetarian habits that were laid down by their
dharmic traditions several millennia ago. The typical Indian diet still
consists mainly of rice, wheat, beans and vegetables. Even most nonvegetarians
depend on vegetarian food as the chief components of their diet, consuming egg,
meat and fish only occasionally.
In
a ground-breaking 2006 report, the United Nations said that raising animals for
food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world
combined. Senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning
Steinfeld reported that the meat industry is “one of the most significant
contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.” But even after
Western media reported this connection of meat eating with global warming, many
of the issue’s leading politicians failed to take any action to change the
habits of meat consumption in Western society.
Such
clear evidence has seemingly been ignored by Western society in general. For
example, in April, 2007, a leading New York Times columnist rejected any changes needed in the
Western lifestyle, while demanding “greener” initiatives from the US
government.
This
Western dichotomy—expecting environmental initiatives from government and
businesses while failing to acknowledge a need for change in our personal
lifestyles—was the concluding subject of Ramachandra Guha’s book, How Much Should a Person Consume? Guha observes that
Western society comprises only 20 percent of the world’s population but
consumes about 80 percent of global production. The other 80 percent of
humanity gets the remaining 20 percent.
Guha
agrees with conservationist Ashish Kothari and criticizes the hypocrisy of the
developed world. He explains that it is the allegedly civilized who have
decimated forests and the wildlife which had previously sustained both tiger
and tribal. With rifles and a quest for trophies, they have hunted wild species
to extinction; now they disguise themselves as conservationists and complain
that tribal groups are getting in the way. The real population problem is in
America, where the birth of one child has the same impact on the global
environment as the birth of about 70 Indonesian children.
Due
to the dharmic traditions inspired by history’s gurus and sages, Indian society
successfully moved away from the animal sacrifices and killings prevalent in
its ancient past, adopting lifestyles based largely on vegetarianism. But most
scholars ignore vegetarianism, though it is one of the most important dharmic
lessons inspired by Indic tradition and one that could positively impact an
array of threatening global issues.
In
the 1990s India began to embrace the Western capitalist economic model, and
today India is fast transcending its once slow rate of economic growth. Until
this Western market invasion, the so-called “Hindu rate of growth” might have
been both the result and the reason for limited Indian spending for consumer
goods. A 2001 article by Professor Ann Gold of Syracuse University, NY, shows
that consumption is severely constrained and morally limited by the traditional
Hindu ideals of self-restraint such as fasting, detachment from material goods,
eating only what is appropriate, etc.
Four
consecutive Greendex Sustainability Surveys, conducted by National Geographic
magazine in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012 (bit.ly/natgeoenv),
show India continuing to rank first in sustainability, with the US hovering
near the bottom. The survey compares major parameters of a country’s housing,
transportation and food. In all these areas, Indian habits were the most
sustainable. Many Indian houses continue to avoid or lack air-conditioning,
heating and 24/7 hot water, and the dwelling sizes are much smaller. India’s
average use of personal cars continues to be less than in other major
countries, and Indians still prefer public transport for their daily commutes
to work or school. Indian consumption of locally produced food remains high,
while consumption of bottled water, meat and seafood continues to be less than
in other countries.
Westerners
who are sincerely interested in sustainable living would do well to follow
India’s ageless example.
(PANKAJ JAIN, PH.D, is Assistant
Professor of Hinduism, Jainism and Ecology at the University of North Texas.)
Quotes and Quips
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings
when the dawn is still dark.
Rabindranath
Tagore (1861-1941), celebrated Bengali writer
who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913
It
is not the knowledge of words that makes a man wise, but purity of heart and
steadiness of the mind. Yogasri Svami Yogananda Giri, founder of
Svami Gitananda Ashram, Italy
Those
who cannot live in harmony with the world, though they have learned many
things, are still ignorant. Tirukural 140
Your
task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers
within yourself that you have built against it. Rumi (1207-1273),
Sufimystic and poet
There
is no death. Only a change of worlds. Chief Seattle (1780-1866), leader
of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes
Common
men talk bagfuls of religion but do not practice even a grain of it. The wise
man speaks a little, even though his whole life is religion expressed in
action. Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), famed guru of Swami Vivekananda
Our
life is only worth while if we do good deeds and walk the path towards God. Pramukh
Swami Maharaj, guru of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
Build
your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. Farrah Gray,
American businessman, philanthropist and motivational speaker
No
one knows what’s next, but everybody does it. George Carlin (1937-2008),
American comedian, writer and actor
If
you are constantly absorbed in the soul, then only love and goodness is
reflected back. You see the good in everything. Paramhansa Hariharananda
(1907-2002), Indian yogi and guru
Man
possesses unlimited strength, infinite capacity for work and boundless
perseverance. It is because they cannot always realize it that most men are so
miserably inert. Swami Pranavananda (1896-1941), founder of the
Bharat Sevashram Sangha
Never
forget that the universe is a single living organism possessed of one substance
and one soul, holding all things suspended in a single consciousness and
creating all things with a single purpose that they might work together
spinning, weaving and knotting whatever comes to pass. Marcus Aurelius (121-180
AD), Roman emperor and philosopher
In
a moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams. Nigerian
proverb
The
fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright
I
am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying. Nelson
Mandela (1918-2013), South African president, revolutionary and
philanthropist
Never
look back unless you are planning to go that way. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862),
American author, poet and philosopher
Perfection
is the willingness to be imperfect. Lao Tzu (604-531 BCE), founder of
Taoism
Just
as the rays of light share and diffuse the radiance of the sun, so you too
share and reflect the golden glories of Indra, the cosmic soul. Let us meditate
on the divine presence and for our share, enjoy the ecstasy of bliss vibrating in
the world of past and future creations, by virtue of Indra’s omnipresent
majesty. Rig Veda 8.99.3
In India, “cold weather”
is merely a conventional phrase and has come into use through the necessity of
having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass
door-knob and weather which will only make it mushy. Mark Twain
(1835-1910), American writer
God Siva’s
all-knowingness is always inside of us. We don’t have to do anything for it to
be there; that’s the important thing. We just have to look in the right place
at the right time. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of HINDUISM TODAY
We must also have
desirelessness even for the realization of the Self itself in order to freely
proceed and attain the goal. The realization of the Self must never be to us a
need to get away from something, an avoidance, a departure from or a means to
become better than others. Now we can see that desire is the barrier to
freedom, physically, mentally and emotionally. Satguru Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001)
D I D Y O U K N O W ?
Restorative Roots
K
NOWN
AS HARIDRA IN SANSKRIT AND CURCUMA LONGA BOTANICALLY, turmeric is a small plant
closely related to ginger. Found in a variety of cuisines, its bright yellow
roots are commonly ground into paste or powder. Sacred to Hindus and indigenous
to India, turmeric is an essential part of Indian society. In temples, turmeric
water is used daily in ritual ablution of the Deities, and the powder, mixed
with unpolished rice, is an important offering during puja.
Western
researchers have been rediscovering properties in this root already familiar to
ayurveda, such as being anti-swelling, anti-cancerous, an age-abating
antioxidant, a digestive enhancer, liver protector, blood purifier, antiseptic,
cholesterol buster and skin toner. More uses are being discovered as
researchers experiment with curcuminoids, turmeric’s active chemical
ingredients.
According
to a 2013 greenmedinfo.com
article by Sayer Ji, an advisory board member of the National Health
Federation, turmeric’s medicinal properties have been the subject of over 5,600
peer-reviewed and published biomedical studies. Sayer Ji mentions his own
five-year research project on the sacred plant, which revealed evidence of over
600 potential preventive and therapeutic uses, as well as 175 distinct
beneficial physiological effects.
Given
the sheer density of research performed on this remarkable spice, it is no
wonder that a growing number of studies have concluded that it compares
favorably to a variety of conventional medications. These include steroids,
antidepressants, blood thinners, and drugs for inflammation, chemotherapy,
diabetes and high cholesterol.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
ji, Satguru Bodhianatha Velayanswami ji, Hinduism
Today and Articles writers for the collection)
(The Blog is reverently for all the seekers of truth,
lovers of wisdom and to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the
spiritual path and also this is purely a non-commercial blog)
)
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