Today, June 5, is World Environment Day and it’s our dharma to reaffirm our commitment to care for nature. The modern world seemed to have woken up rather late on the need to protect the environment, for it’s just 47 years since the first World Environment Day was observed  in 1974. But our ancient race was clearly more aware of the environment than we are today. This is evident from the wise words on the environment in the Vedas. The Vedic seer declares in the Atharva Veda: “Whatever I dig from thee, O Earth, may that have quick recovery again. O purifier, may we not injure thy vitals or thy heart.”  The Atharva Veda says: “The earth is the keeper of creation, a container of forests, trees and herbs.”

Humankind’s love and respect to Mother Earth thousands of years ago is manifest in this Rigveda verse: “Mata Bhumih Putroham Prithivyah”: Earth is my mother, I am her son. And further, “the water from heaven, the water from the spring, the bright pure water which tends to the sea, may these divine waters protect us here.” Isn’t this testimony to the fact that the significance of water for life was well-known to Vedic seers?

This passage from the Srimad Bhagavatam (2.2.41) also shows the linkage between nature and divinity. “Ether, air, fire, water, earth, planets, all creatures, directions, trees and plants, rivers and seas, they are all organs of God’s body. Remembering this a devotee respects all species.” Thousands of year ago, humans were close to the environment and lived in harmony with it. Tamil Sage Thiruvalluvar in a couplet written more than 2000 years ago wrote, “It is the unfailing fall of rain that sustains the world. Therefore, look upon rain as the nectar of life.”

Like other Holy Scriptures, the Bible, too, is replete with passages on protection of the environment. “When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you?” – Deuteronomy 20:19.

But The Supreme Being even in those good old days always reminded man that he would enjoy the fruits of nature only if he followed the law of the land. “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” – Leviticus 26:3-4

When man in the old golden ages was not corrupted with modernity, nature joined him in celebrations. “You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.” – Psalm 65:9-13.

The Quran talks about human beings taking on guardianship of the planet. Guardianship allows humans to make use of the environment for their survival, but this must never be taken to the level of exploitation. Guru Nanak Dev’s teachings include a sacred perspective for the environment in which we live. He said: “Air is the guru, water the father, and the earth is our great mother.”

These days, religious leaders are increasingly waking up to the need to protect the environment. As the Dalai Lama, says, “As people alive today, we must consider future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier, than we found it.”

Author Oswald Pereira

Undoubtedly, today there is some awareness about the need to protect the environment among people. There is a growing interest in organic produce and in promoting natural farming practices to restore the earth to its balanced state. Tree-plantation drives and river cleaning campaigns are being organised to raise awareness, and at least a part of the population prioritises saving the environment in whatever way they can. 

A message on https://www.worldenvironmentday.global  reads: “The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature. Yet, these are exceptional times in which nature is sending us a message: To care for ourselves we must care for nature. It’s time to wake up. To take notice. To raise our voices. It’s time to build back better for People and Planet. This World Environment Day, it’s Time for Nature.”

This should be the message not just today, but for all days ahead.


Oswald Pereira, a senior journalist, has also written eight books, including The Newsroom Mafia, Chaddi Buddies, The Krishna-Christ Connexion, How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life and Crime Patrol: The Most Thrilling Stories. Oswald is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda and practises Kriya Yoga.

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