As goes a story from the Matsya Purana, Goddess Parvati makes no distinction between her dear son Kumara and a Devadaru sapling which she affectionately nurtures by watering as if feeding it with her own breast milk. When other Gods question Parvati about the sense and need for planting the sapling, she responds:
“Dasa Koopa Samo Vaapi Dasa vaapi samo hridha Dasa hridha sama puthra Dasa puthra samo druma”
It mean: “Ten wells are equal to one pond, ten ponds are equal to one lake, while ten lakes are equal to a son and ten sons are equal to a tree.”
That much important a tree is! The same shloka appears in Vrikshaayurveda too. The Hindu culture and its philosophy have gifted mankind with a thousand stories which portray deep-rooted love towards nature.
However, the tradition of worshiping and adoring nature vanished while re-moulding the social mind of mankind. We unknowingly instilled greed and it resulted in the loss of moral values, and thus, man’s view towards nature underwent a paradigm shift.
A monumental catastrophe awaits us if we choose to further neglect the red flag admonitions from the planet and continue the culpable exploitation of our habitat. From the God’s own land “Kerala” in India to California in the United States, nature retaliated in the form of violent flood, scary wildfires and several other calamities in the last couple of years. Should we dismiss them as nature’s careless fury and continue our “hollow” victory march? Call what you may, sowing the wind is only going to end up in reaping the whirlwind. We have progressed to an age of fingertip revolution when all the corpus of knowledge waits to glow up on our mobile screens by mere taps and lazy swipes. However if this mountainous knowledge availability does not help us to live a life of peace and purpose, what use could it be? It has become absolutely indispensable for mankind to recognise the umbilical cord connecting humans and nature and heal the ruptures in order to preserve our living space for a peaceful existence. The exigent demand of the hour is to dig out and connect the missing dots between mankind and nature.
The primitive Man’s belief system or philosophies; however outlandish it might seem now, never considered Nature or Earth and its tenants as something hostile that has to be conquered and ruled over. He learned to live a life in accord with Nature by perceiving divinity in everything around him. The majority Greco-Romans, Pagan sects of the past and Hindus were all Animists and had always nurtured greater respect and admiration for Nature. But then, where did we stop our romance towards Nature?
BCE to CE
One of the most salient aspects shared by all the Pagan and Heathen Gods/Goddesses from around the world is their remarkable connection with Nature. Ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Hittites, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Indians were worshippers of Mother Nature. For instance, Egyptians worshiped cats, crocodiles, serpents, asps, and dogs. They believed that their Gods were threatened by Giants and so the Gods disguised themselves as animals. Some suggest that this faith would have paved the base for the animal worship culture. The Indian temples attributed to different animals and birds are no uncommon affair for us. Each Hindu Gods have their own private vehicles either animals or birds; while some Gods even take forms of wildlife. Pagans had deities of the Fields, Fertility deities, lunar deities, deities of the winter and summer solstices. Pagan worships and practices date back to an age when barbarian humans roamed the land; hunting and communing with the Spirit of Nature. Their rituals are said to contain the oldest spiritual and supernatural perspectives about the world.
As many different Gods, many different festivals of pagans are also associated with Nature worship. Different cultures celebrated the Summer solstice for the lengthening of the day. Apollo, a Summer solstice God, was the God of the Sun from the Greek pantheons. As a part-time, he also presided over music, medicine, and healing. As and when his worship spread throughout the Roman Empire into the British Isles, it assimilated many other aspects of the Celtic deities and he was then seen primarily as a God of Sun and of healing. Similar to him many an ancient Gods and Goddesses from around the world are connected with the summer solstices.
When did Man lose his connection with Nature?
Many scholars are of the opinion that it was Genesis (Bible) which laid the seeds for changing man’s reverential attitude towards Nature to a more heedless attitude towards it. Lynn White, the famous American historian observes that Genesis dispensed Man with a free hand to dominate and subjugate over the plants and animal kingdoms.
“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.” Genesis 1:28. Genesis made it possible to exploit Nature as per man’s greed. “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.” —Genesis 1:29.
While in older pagan traditions and among Hindus, humans were seen as part of nature, rather than the ruler of nature. As the famous Native American proverb goes, “When the blood in your veins returns to the sea, and the earth in your bones return to the ground, perhaps then you will remember that this land does not belong to you, it is YOU who belong to this land”.
April 14: Indian New year
Philosophies and worships associated with the Hindus of India were also environmentally considerate. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I bow my head in reverence to our ancestors for their sense of the beautiful in nature and for their foresight in investing beautiful manifestations of nature with a religious significance.”
Baisakhi is one of the major festivals of Sikhs celebrated on April 13/14 every year. This festival marks the time for harvest of rabi crops as well it also marks the Punjabi new year. Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus celebrate the day by performing Bhangra (a traditional harvest folk dance) and Gidda dance. At the same time, Maha Vishuva Sankranti is celebrated widely in Orissa as Odia new year by offering pujas in temples across the State and performance of folk dances like Chauu dance. Bohag Bihu is one of the most important festivals of Assam symbolising the Assamese new year on April 13. Another biggest and most significant Bengali festival is Pohela Boishakh, which marks the end of the harvest festival where people thank Lord Ganesha and Lakshmi for the reaps of the season gone by.
Towards South India, “Puthandu” is celebrated with neem flowers and raw mangoes, which symbolises growth and prosperity. “Puthandu” in Tamil means “new year” and on the day of Puthandu, a plateful of fruits, betel leaves, gold jewelry, money, flowers, and a mirror are arranged in houses. People in the family see this first in the morning after waking up and consider the sight as auspicious for a brighter year ahead.
Vishu, one of the famous equinox festival of Kerala which is celebrated after the successful harvest symbolises the love and respect our ancestors had for nature. On the eve of Vishu, a plateful of fruits, rice, gold jewelry, golden shower flowers, a mirror, and a Krishna idol are decorated in a grand basin. This decorated plate is the first thing that members of the family would see in the morning. The ever-glowing and prosperous Vishu reminds us of Kerala’s culture of farming and its traditions.
So all these festivals from different parts of the nation have something in common: Traditions that revere nature phenomenon! And at times the existing traditions are needed to be extended to make it more and more nature-friendly; one such extension is “Vishukaineetam” to “Vishuthaineettam”.
Vishuthaineettam
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (popularly known as Amma) a spiritual guru from Kerala, with a richer and deeper understanding of “Sanatana Dharma’, revitalises the traditions and at times gave birth to new additions in order to share and care our Mother Nature. Vishuthaineettam (Malayalam meaning: gifting saplings on Vishu) is one such new tradition performed during the Vishu time.
The tradition of Vishuthaineettam began in Amritapuri in 2015 as Amma conceived the idea to reconnect mankind and nature. She, in one of her discourses, made a clarion call to add one more item to the Vishukkani altar: a few saplings of any tree or fruit-bearing plants. It is an addition to the traditions associated with the festival of Vishu. As Amma put it then, it should be “Vrikshakkani” along with “Vishukkani” and “Vishuthaineettam” along with “Vishukkaineettam”. People of Kerala, now with a more better understanding of the importance of nature conservation, a lesson learned the hard way from floods and scorching heat has welcomed this idea of Vishuthaineettam with all their hearts and literally thousands of tree and vegetable saplings are being planted across the State during this festive day.
It is quite evident that our ancients revered and loved different natural phenomenon by inculcating traditions involving worshiping of natural elements. Even when rationally denouncing the idea of different pagan systems that Gods can’t disguise as animals or Gods cannot travel on animal vehicles, we can’t help but appreciate the end result of such belief systems. The end result was always pure care and love for nature which in many ways kept intact the eco-balance.
The roots of our ecological problems are hence largely a spiritual crisis, so the solution must also be spiritual, which should help man connect back to nature. It is time for us to be concerned acutely about our ecological crisis and address the issue with utmost honesty, to step forward and revive more humane and nature-loving, a nature-worshiping attitude of the pagans and the Hindus! Humanity needs those who see the “oneness in everyone”, Godliness in every living and non-living creatures of this planet, the only cure for Nature related problems.
(Sooraj Rajendran and Rupesh Kalesan are independent researcher from Kerala with keen interest in science, philosophy and the study of Indian civilisation.)
