Actually we humans were not at all interested in the silent messages of the religious scriptures of the world – be it the holy Quran, the Vedas, the Gita, the Upanishads, the Holy Bible or the Guru Granth Sahib
- Dr Tanveer Hayat
By now, most of us must be fed up with the messages coming via social media on the coronavirus pandemic. So what do we end up doing? Most of us just delete the so-called messages, and forward the jokes related to corona. The fertile Indian minds have plenty of them and good ones too.
The corona virus pandemic is no accident. Like past global epidemics, it’s a warning that nature has had it with the ecocidal proclivities of man. These outrageous actions are changing climate and are warming and threatening planet Earth. Nature (the Earth) is fighting back. Climate change is sowing pandemic diseases. Human destruction of nature is rapidly eroding the world’s capacity to provide food, water and security to billions of people, according to the most comprehensive biodiversity study in more than a decade.
Such is the rate of decline that the risks posed by biodiversity loss should be considered on the same scale as those of climate change, noted the authors of the UN-backed report, which was released in Medellin, Colombia two years back. Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth’s remaining wilderness in the last 25 years and there may be none left within a century if trends continue, according to an authoritative new study.
Now, we had to limit our stupidity and greed to ourselves. We had no right to export our religious fanaticism in polluting the air, water, and land and in threatening wildlife, especially already endangered species. The coronavirus crisis has given us lessons for life – something that all the religious scriptures and the preachers of the world put together could perhaps not effectively teach us. So, who is the biggest teacher of all?
Mother earth has the capacity to take care of herself. She gave us freedom to co-exist with her along with the creatures around her, but we (Humans) crossed our limits, and like a spoilt child, misbehaved. The world, for decades, organise conferences and seminars, only talked about global warming, deforestation, climate change, etc. and just did the opposite. So, mother nature decided to heal herself by locked us up at home’.
‘For the first time, we are realising that Mother Nature is the Almighty. We tried to capture mother nature in the closed doors of edifices that we called Masjids, Temples, Churches and Gurdawaras etc. and visited there just for a bargain – for our personal need and greed.’
‘Most of the power-hungry people in the world tried to limit Mother Nature by giving her different religious names and used her as their brand ambassador, claiming that only they can protect her, forgetting that she protect us all, and we have no capacity to protect her. But we wanted to rule in her name, so we made fellow human beings fight with each other, again misguiding them in the name of Mother Nature.
Now, see the results. The political powers have issued orders shutting down all the religious places namely Masjids, temples, churches, etc. where we have captured Mother Nature. The order reads “all religious places will remain closed. No religious gathering or congregation of any kind will be allowed. There will be no exceptions.
Actually we humans were not at all interested in the silent messages of the religious scriptures of the world – be it the holy Quran, the Vedas, the Gita, the Upanishads, the Holy Bible or the Guru Granth Sahib – or for that matter, the teachings of the saints and Rishis of all faiths. The message was one of love, care, compassion, and of considering the world as one family ‘AlkhalquAyalullah’.
In ancient times, during the Vedic period, when religion was not organised, people only worshipped the five elements of nature – Fire, Earth, Wind, Water and Space – which sustain life. During 14th and 15th centuries, the surroundings were universally virgin and greatly uninterfered by the destructive human mind. Kashmir resembled a paradise; the forests were close even to cities. The area around the Dal Lake was yet unexplored even to the local visitor. When ShaikhulAalam-the patron saint of Kashmir, reached near Dalgate (Srinagar) and his companion Baba Nassar proceeded towards Dal Lake, the leader cautioned his disciple not to proceed. The disciple asked why? The ShaikhulAalam replied that, it is the paradise and we are yet to make sufficient meditation to get ourselves entitled to enter the heaven. This patron saint of Kashmir has consciously fought against disturbance of ecology on his individual level both as a poet and preacher, has also organised a disciplined nucleus of dedicated cadres who fought at various levels to safeguard his environs. The Shaikh is further so devoted to wildlife that he considers the lions, jackals, and foxes etc. as his family members. Islam, as understood by the Rishis sought to subject the felicity of life on this planet to the norms of morality and of responsibility. Man therefore, had to regulate the pattern of human life in such a way as confirmed the truth of the holy Prophet’s dictum: “Religion is indeed man’s treatment of his fellows”. Thus the Rishis aversion to causing injury to animate beings, including even plants, insects and animals; their concern for conserving forests, dissuading hunters from hunting Hangul, the prized possession of the valley’s forests; personal care of pets, tamed animals and birds, planting trees throughout the length and breadth of Kashmir, and above all, their insistence on bringing more and more land under cultivation- all point to the fact that the true religion for the Rishis was to conduct and order life on earth in a way intended by its creator.
So let us take this message, given to us by Nature via corona, and revisit the wisdom of our Rishis who must have been Ph.D. scholars in their time. Thousands of them did research over thousands of years, and the gist of it all came to us in the form of anthologies.
Covid19 is reminding us that we are all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should to. It is reminding us that we are all connected and something that affects one person has an effect on another. It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression. It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them into our home andto strengthen our family unit. It is reminding us that the power of freewill is in our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give, to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, and to look afteronly our self. Indeed, it is difficulties that bring out our true colors.
It is reminding us that this Earth is sick. It is reminding us that we need to look at the rate of deforestation just as urgently as we look at the speed at which toilet rolls are disappearing off of shelves. We are sick because our home is sick.
The coronavirus pandemic is a reminder from Nature, that we are insignificant.
Let us be grateful to Mother Nature, who had to teach us a lesson in the form of this crisis, which all the scriptures of the world had previously indicated – that, the ultimate religious place is within you, and it never gets locked out until you get knocked out. And do not think you can forever abuse the bounty of Nature and get away scot-free. Nature is our true protector, so respect it, or else…
