Hymn to the Earth

Satish K Kapoor

‘Earth teach me stillness
As the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
As old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
As blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring  
As parents who secure their young….’
—Ute prayer for Wisdom

There is resonance between prithivi, the earth, and living beings. The earth having gentle slopes, plains, mountain-peaks, forests, desert, lakes, rivers, oceans, rocks, plants and animals, is the bearer of treasures, the source of herbs and food, and the abode of all. It is conducive to the welfare of man if he adheres to the cosmic law, says the Rigveda (I.91.7). 

Human exploitation

By cutting down forests, converting grasslands into areas of habitation, leveling and tunneling mountains, changing landscapes, destroying eco-systems, generating chemical and radioactive pollution, producing non-biodegradable matter, endangering plant and animal species, dumping lakes, rivers, oceans, with sewage and industrial wastes, man has disturbed the balance of nature and created conditions, which, if not, altered for the better, can prove to be disastrous. Man has plundered natural resources without caring the least whether these were renewable as quickly as they were being depleted, or non-renewable. The judicious use of oceans, forests and atmosphere - key components of the earth’s environment -is the sine qua non for preserving its eco-system, and saving life from being undermined.

Vedic concerns

The fact that life in all its forms is interrelated and interdependent was emphasised by the Vedic sages’ centuries before ecological problems became a matter of serious concern for humanity. They sensed the rhythmic flow of energy in every object of nature – in heavenly bodies, rivers, oceans, plants, animals, birds and insects - and stressed the need for the preservation of life, which in its various moulds and aspects, emanated from the same source. From the fundamental premise of the oneness of existence ensued a reverential attitude towards the object of nature and a holistic view of life. Sages prayed for peace and harmony not only between man and the earth, but also between the earth and other primordial elements. They prohibited destruction of plant and animal life, and warned against pilfering with environmental conditions. 

Vedic seers wanted humans to adhere to the cosmic law that manifests through nature. ‘Cosmic lawlessness is chaos, and moral lawlessness evil.’ The greatest evil is the sense of greed marked by the passion of acquisitiveness. This leads to indiscriminate exploitation of nature’s resources. 

Earth as goddess

Personification of the earth as a mother goddess in the Vedas is not indicative of primitivism but a recognition of its quintessential need, and its resilience to bear hardships. Bhumi -pujan, ground-worship, before the construction of any structure, is a well known tradition to invoke the power of the earth, and to eliminate any negative forces around. The earth is a living revelation of the divine being - it gives both sanction and strength for its use. To harm the earth is to harm ourselves.

(Dr Kapoor is an educationist, historian and spiritualist)